Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV Series) Second Skin (1994) User Reviews

Kira the Cardassian

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 12 April 2010]

When Major Kira is contacted to ask about her memories of her time in a Cardassian prison she is rather surprised as she has no memories of being there, she assumes there must be a mistake with the records till she contacts a survivor who claims to remember meeting her there. In order to solve the mystery she heads to Bajor but finds herself on Cardassia and when she looks in a mirror the face she sees is that of a Cardassian. She is told that she isn't the person she thought she was, instead she is a Cardassian agent who had been genetically altered and had the memories of a Bajoran programmed into her so she could infiltrate the Bajoran underground. They say her memories should return but when they show no signs of doing so they threaten to use more drastic methods to extract information about Federation operations along the border. Her Cardassian "father" doesn't want any harm to come to her so arranges for her to be taken off the planet by a dissident group, this leads Kira to believe that she was never the real target of Cardassian Intelligence. Back on DS9 people realise that Kira is missing and start looking for her, Garak hears where she is from one of his sources and despite wanting to stay away from his home planet finds himself part of the rescue mission.

This was a pretty good episode which kept me wondering what the Cardassians were up to until the final reveal. As well as the mystery involving Kira we got another insight into Garak's past... he clearly knows more than a tailor should about Cardassian intelligence. It was nice to see Kira starting to doubt who she really was, Nana Visitor did a good job in the role although it was odd seeing her as a Cardassian.

Kira Wakes Up On Cardassia As A........Cardassian!!!

[dand1010 · 7/10 · 13 September 2021]

Quick Review:

Kira gets kidnapped.

She wakes up on the Cardassian home world.....but wait - there's more!

She wakes up and she's not a Bajoran anymore.

She's a.........Cardassian!!!!

This one has an excellent plot twist that I'm not going to ruin for you. Suffice it to say - Kira figures it out right there on the screen with you.

Get ready to meet the most honorable man on Cardassia.

Get ready to see Garak go off and be the cold blooded killer he really is.......

Fun stuff.

Cardassians going the distance to expose dissent cells.

[thevacinstaller · 8/10 · 29 March 2020]

You have to stand up and give an ovation to the Cardassian Obsidian Order for the absolute insanity they are willing to go through to expose a suspected dissent leader. You would think they would just surgically alter one of there own operatives to look like Illana but this is the Obsidian order we are talking about here. I suppose they needed the voice to match? Those sticklers.

This is another one of those episodes that helps to soften the overall image of Cardassians. At times the Cardassians can come off as frothing at the mouth villians so it is nice to see the softer side to them. Kira knows how insane the Cardassians can be ---- They had that human spy kicking around for 8 years in that O'Brien Cardassian episode a ---- It's not out of the realm of possibility that she could actually be a Cardassian agent. Nana Vistor does an excellent job conveying what must be a nightmare experience.

When watching this episode it gives me the same feeling I would get when my philosophy teacher would start lecturing about what is reality and truth. Ultimately you end up going down a huge rabbit hole and you are not left uncertain if there is truth and if this is reality.

Duet Part II: Another fantastic episode

[michaeljimmcdonald · 10/10 · 8 August 2019]

I don't understand why episodes like this get so much flak; they're what made DS9 a great show (and why it was so painful when the Dominion War arc took over in the later seasons). The core mystery and its resolution bring many classic Trek themes into play, such as how identity affects a person and how decisions reflect what truly matters to a person, but we also get the deep personal significance for Major Kira that's possible due to the ongoing development of her character and the Bajoran & Cardassian cultures throughout DS9's early seasons (TOS and TNG could almost never do an episode like this because the characters don't have the history and every week they'd move onto a new culture; the only comparable sequences I'd argue are from Worf's character arc in TNG).

Another reviewer criticized how this is similar to TNG's "Face of the Enemy"; that entirely misses the point of the episode. "Face of the Enemy" was an espionage suspense thriller - there were no personal stakes for Troi really, it was much more a "will they succeed or won't they?" type of story. This episode is entirely about the character - what would it mean for Major Kira if her entire life was a lie, if she really was part of the enemy that destroyed her culture, the enemy for which she'd given everything up to help defeat? And how do the events of the episode complicate her (and the viewer's) view of Cardassians? The central uncertainty of the plot perfectly mirrors the moral uncertainty of the DS9 universe, and really harkens back to the brilliant first season episode "Duet" (the central plot device in fact is practically the exact inverse of the central plot device from "Duet").

If you're looking for suspenseful action you'll find this episode dull; but then again if that's the case, why are you watching Star Trek at all?

A Solid Character Piece

[frankelee · 8/10 · 12 September 2020]

This episode revolves around Major Kira as she is abducted to Cardassia and wakes up to find herself surgically altered to look like a Cardassian. The question is whether the alteration was merely restoring her to her natural state, or whether this is all some kind of over-wrought game by Cardassian intelligence.

It would have actually been great if the writers had the balls to just go through with it: Kira doesn't regain her original memories, but it turns out she really is a sleeper agent. Then she gets rescued and has to tell all her friends on DS9 it was just some crazy scheme to get Federation secrets from her after Bashir restores her face... and spend the rest of her life knowing she's living out the existence of an executed Bajoran insurgent.

The actual twist is not so bad though, and it makes sense given some of the clues, such as why the Obsidian Order would be so obsessed with gaining minor tactical information about the Federation within only days of her return, as if their real spies couldn't get anything a non-Starfleet liaison would have access to.

And oddly Cardassian Kira is a lot cuter than Bajoran Kira.

Treason, like beauty.....

[snoozejonc · 9/10 · 9 April 2022]

Kira finds herself in Cardassia Prime with her identity in question.

This is a very good episode with strong themes and performances.

The plot has a nice tribute to Phillip K Dick stories and a great running theme of the different identities people assume in various aspects of life. This always works well in tales of deceit and espionage.

Several characters have opportunities to shine, particularly Kira, Garak and other Cardassians. Nana Visitor and Andrew Robinson are great as always, plus the guest actors support them very well, particularly Lawrence Pressman. It is the performances of the actors that really elevates the material.

Visually it has plenty of great art direction, especially in the set design, makeup and costuming.

For me it is an 8.5/10 but I round upwards.

I'm Bajoro-federa-cardasan...call me Kira!

[qsbcvdw · 10/10 · 19 August 2023]

Like the best stage magicians, the writers of this episode divert your attention completely away from the trick that is being played in plain sight. By the time the penny drops, I was amazed at how my cynical TV-viewer brain was fooled, and I was absolutely delighted!

The third act of this episode may be my favourite experience with DS9 thus far. The perfect lines and scenes kept coming one after another. These days, there have been so many TV shows, miniseries and films that it's hard to experience any surprises. Most things are derivative of other things that have come before, and I find it shocking that the most exciting story I have experienced recently is from a show that was made before I was born. 10/10, would recommend.

Kira...the Cardassian.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 20 December 2014]

Major Kira is supposed to be going down to Bajor. However, the Obsidian Order of the Cardassians have instead intercepted her and brought her back to Cardassia Prime. Here is the weird part--they've also done extensive cosmetic surgery on her so that she now LOOKS just like a Cardassians. Additionally, they're now telling her a crazy story that she's ALWAYS been a Cardassian and that her memories are fake--because she is a Cardassian agent! Of course this isn't true...but WHY would they do all this? See the show to discover the answer in this strange but otherwise okay episode. I say okay because although the premise is interesting enough, the actual answer and what happens next isn't particularly thrilling.

Very effective episode of its type

[bgaiv · 10/10 · 31 January 2022]

This one works on many levels. Most fundamentally, it's actually plausible. Contrast with the TNG episode where Deanna Troi is kidnapped and placed on a Romulan ship to impersonate a Romulan. While fun, and however the universal translator works, wouldn't the Romulans notice she wasn't speaking Romulan? And that are the chances that plan would have worked?

Here, the plot is built on an actual ploy the Cardassians use, placing brainwashed operatives in deep cover as Bajorans.

And since Kira's purported father Ghemor is the true target of the ruse, he's shown in a very sympathetic light, making the ruse extremely convincing.

I've watched it several times and I'm still impressed how convincing the charade is. Kira ultimately seeing through the ruse upon learning Ghemor is a dissident is also pitch perfect.

And great interplay with Garak, Sisko and Odo here.

Kira's "he's with us-- I think--" regarding Garak is perfect as is Ghemor's quite serious warning to Kira to never trust Garak.

Quite Dull

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 10 October 2018]

Kira is at the center of all this. She is altered to look like a Cardassian so she can be used to get information. She is made to think she was held in a prison camp. A man who lost his daughter is made to think she is the missing one. The forces move in. Garak gets off the space station for the first time in years, which is interesting.

The Obsidian Order: Best Hackers of the Trek 'Verse

[XweAponX · 10 December 2011]

This ep innocently starts out with Kira investigating a conundrum. A Conundrum which the Cardy Obsidian Order initiated using 20th century hacking skillz.

The Cardies must have left many puters on Bajor, and one of them had the records of the "Elemsberg Detention Center" (a highly unlikely name for either a Cardy or Bajoran facility). Actually, it was the Bajoran Central Archives- basically, the planetary Mainframe. It amazes me how EASILY the Cardies invaded those Bajoran PCs, we'd think that in the future, they would not use the same Puter conventions we use - Local storage facilities and independent operating systems in workstations. Even Windows 8 is now veering toward an "Appliance Based" system, where the user's files will be stored not on the local, Mechanical Hard Drives, but on a remote server. We know that federation uses some kind of "Data Crystals" - This is similar to storing info on Flash Drives. Soon, we will have Hard Drives that are wholly non-mechanical - As a matter of fact, there are many Solid-State storage devices being sold today - Eventually the prices will drop and more people will use them.

But on Bajor, it has been three years since the Cardies left the planet in ruins... So we must imagine that the Bajoran Techs have "Paper Clipped, Taped and Glued" together many Systems out of the wrecked systems the Cardies left.

Kira is way too easily tricked into leaving the station, and she is then kidnapped by a Cardy Agent- One that looked like the same species as Ty Kajada (Julie Caitlin Brown) from the season one ep "The Passenger" - So the Cardies are using 3rd parties to infiltrate DS9.

This ep explores the intricacies of The Obsidian Order and we learn now, that "Plain Simple Garak" is neither Plain nor Simple, he's a former member of the Obsidian Order.

A great 'Sode, but wracked with various statements that will come into question in later 'sodes - Kira's father did of course get killed fighting the Cardies, but her Mother had a fate different than the fate Kira tells the Obsidian Order agents. We do not know at this time what Gul Dukat reveals to Kira about her mother... So table that for a later (6th Season) 'Sode.

What is of import here, is that it is revealed that the Cardies have photographic memories, and also that the cardies use Intrigue more than Brute Force to obtain objectives. So in fact we learn a LOT about Cardies in this Ep and especially Garak.

Ultimately, Kira herself is not the target for the Obsidian Order. Who is? Watch this Ep and find out! But when you do it, you will have to take all of the 20th century computer-isms for granted. Take it from me, it is NOT so easy to gain entry to computers on a network! But yet we've seen, Kirk, Riker, Worf, even Picard as well as Data enter computers "at will" during the reign of Trek. It is simply, if you take it too seriously, you will lose the ability to enjoy some of the other more interesting things about both the Series of DS9 and this particular 'Sode!

Kira and Garek

[trghpu · 8/10 · 2 May 2020]

Garek to the rescue. He needs more development. Kira tends to be an annoying character but this is an intriguing episode. What if her entire life was a lie?

We've seen this before

[phenomynouss · 3/10 · 20 June 2010]

DS9 taking to ripping off a TNG episode barely a few years older than this one. In one episode, Deanna Troi wakes up to find herself suddenly Romulan. It's eventually revealed this was done by the Romulan underground so that she could take the place of a murdered Tal Shiar agent in smuggling a Romulan Proconsul to the Federation for the purpose of peace with the Federation and re-unification with the Vulcans.

This episode starts almost exactly the same way, Kira wakes up to find herself suddenly Cardassian, and a part of the Obsidian Circle, the Cardassian equivalent of the Tal Shiar.

We see everything that happens leading up to it, with the usual Next Generation-era complete and total lack of subtlety, including the "LOOK AT ME I'M A SUSPICIOUS-LOOKING BAJORAN WOMAN" closeup, and the subsequent reveal that she is behind knocking out and kidnapping Kira, and the smug bad guy revealing his entire plot at just the hint that Kira has figured it out.

At the very least, they come up with a decent explanation why she would be Bajoran and have a history as a Bajoran, but there is nothing in this episode that stands out as particularly good or even necessary.

It's just another filler episode with the added shame of ripping off a far superior TNG episode.

"Kira, I can't remember when I've ever seen you looking so ravishing."

[iamirwar · 10/10 · 26 January 2023]

It has to be said that there is a particular beauty about the Cardassian women, which was first confirmed by the arrival of Natima Lang on the station but wouldn't the Major have suspected that something was wrong when she realised that the room temperature was too hot and humid and not to her 'Bajoran' liking?

Entek had one simple task to perform. We went to such great lengths to infiltrate the space station, capture the Major, and surgically alter her appearance in our endeavour to extract some useful information about Deep Space 09 and the Federation.

Its personnel, it's fire power... and what is its strength in the demilitarised zone. But all to no avail. We had such high hopes for Entek... not only has he disappeared but it seems that he helped that suspected dissident Ghemor escape. It has to be said that the order isn't what it once was... if only we had a few more like Garak in our ranks, but instead we get stuck with these rank amateurs.

Just for the record: We will not bother to comment on those episodes we do not believe merit our attention.