non-exhaustive list of profoundly sinister things about 7x03 “afterimage”
- bashir delicately hovering over garak with that little medical tricorder in the infirmary scene and how sisko carefully asks him if there’s anything he can do for garak after garak leaves
- the politically charged element in the storyline - garak has to get better so they can win the war - and how this provides a reason for garak to treat literally everyone’s concern on his behalf with suspicion, even bashir’s
- the scene where quark bugs bashir, a married man, about how he can get a second chance at sleeping with jadzia now and the scene ends with a menacing “you’re going to lose”; bashir ‘wins’ the competition quark is talking about but he LOSES as a whole
- this scene immediately being followed up with ezri entering garak’s shop and garak reverting to his peak season one mannerisms and going “ah! you must be ezri dax! i hear you’re here to….. counsel me” in the most passive aggressive tone possible. that’s what he SAYS but what he means is “bitch don’t even try it. i don’t know what you’re gonna try but don’t try it.”
- garak saying that tain used to lock him in a closet. HMMM what kind of FREQUENTLY-USED METAPHOR does this remind you of . “did you think you deserved to be locked in that closet” “i knew he’d let me out as soon as i learned my lesson”… What Could It All Mean
- everything about the profoundly cursed conversation between ezri and julian but we’ve all gone over that already. also the fact that while this conversation is happening garak is busy throwing himself out of an airlock. and that it’s this piece of news that disrupts their conversation
- okay actually while i was aware of the degree to which this episode reads like “some the fuck kind of tennessee williams play” i am only now realizing how easily it can be read like a subtextual commentary on garak’s character and the production limits thereof. like “look at that sky, it just goes on and on.” “but it doesn’t. there’s a holosuite wall not ten meters in front of us.” charlie kelly pepe sylvia image