‘INTER ARMA ENIM SILENT LEGES’ (DS9)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
The episode’s title is translated from Latin to English as ‘In times of war, the law falls silent’ and it comes from Cicero’s ‘Pro Milone’. The title is also a line by Admiral Ross to Dr. Bashir in the episode.
This happens to be the last standalone episode featured in the ‘DS9’ series. This is before we move onto the epic nine-part finale of ‘DS9’. I wouldn’t regard this as one of my favourite ‘DS9’ episodes.
Maybe it’s because I can’t get my head around a lot of the political intrigue stuff that’s going on in the episode. Or maybe because it’s not exciting as its predecessor ‘Inquisition’ featuring Luther Sloan!
Yes, this happens to be a sequel to ‘Inquisition’, the episode where Dr. Bashir was abducted by Section 31 to determine whether he’d be a useful agent. Bashir is haunted by Section 31 once again.
Just to recap, Section 31 is an unofficial organisation within the Federation that does underhand covert operations. Starfleet doesn’t admit nor confirm its existence. Bashir is in a tight spot with them.
In the episode, Bashir prepares for a conference on Romulus. He has a scene with Andrew Robinson as Garak at the replimat on the DS9 promenade to establish what’s going to occur at the conference.
Later at night, Bashir receives a visit from William Sadler as Section 31 agent Luther Sloan in his quarters. Sloan has an assignment for Bashir concerning the conference. Bashir is reluctant to accept.
When he sees Captain Sisko the following morning, Bashir is advised to accept the assignment in order to learn more about the secretive agency. Bashir gets swept into being a secret agent for real.
What’s surreal about Bashir’s journey to Romulus is that he travels in a starship that looks a lot like the starship Voyager. Admiral Ross’ office and the mess hall also look pretty similar as in ‘Voyager’. 🙂
Bashir’s mission is to find out whether John Fleck as Koval, the anti-Federation head of the Romulan Tal Shiar intelligence agency is suffering from the degenerative disease known as Tuvan syndronme.
When discussing the issue with Barry Jenner as Admiral Ross, it’s suggested it would be better for the Federation if Adrienne Barbeau as Senator Cretak was appointed to the Continuing Committee.
This is instead of Koval of course. Cretak has been in ‘DS9’ before. She was in Season 7’s first two episodes ‘Image in the Sand’ and ‘Shadows and Symbols’, although she was played by Megan Cole. 🙂
When Bashir learns that Koval does have Tuvan syndrome, he suspects that Sloan is plotting to assassinate him. Once he tells Ross about this, it’s suggested that Sloan could have an accomplice. 😐
At some point in the episode, Ross suffers an illness. With no-one else to turn to, Bashir tells Cretak of his suspicions about Sloan. Cretak agrees to help Bashir in identifying Sloan’s accomplice. 🙂
But it doesn’t go well for Bashir when he’s arrested and tortured by Koval. Bashir and Cretak are soon brought before the Continuing Committee and Bashir reveals the Section 31 plot to kill Koval. 😐
Koval eventually brings in Sloan who’s been badly beaten and says that Section 31 doesn’t exist. Sloan is made out to be a renegade Starfleet officer who’s obsessed with getting revenge for his mentor’s death.
The committee decides to convict Cretak of treason for planning to share Tal Shiar intelligence with Bashir. Sloan is soon vaporised by Koval before he’s about to be taken away for further interrogation.
But Bashir is unconvinced that Sloan is truly dead. He soon has a bitter ‘off the record’ confrontation with Ross (who has just recovered) about the fact that Koval is secretly working for Starfleet here. 😐
The real mission was to discredit Cretak who would abandon the Federation alliance if she thought it was in the best interest of the Romulans to do so. Bashir describes the Federation as being like a 24th century Rome.
Disgusted by the Federation’s machinations, Bashir receives a final visit from Sloan in his quarters on DS9 who says he’ll be needed again for Section 31. How Bashir will encounter Section 31 again, we’ll wait and see.
‘Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges’ isn’t what I would call a favourite ‘DS9’ episode. It has too much political intrigue and not enough action. It’s intriguing how Bashir’s story with Section 31 does continue though.
‘Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges’ (DS9) rating – 7/10
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