Sulu's dad had died like the day before or something, so he left the Maru in the Neutral Zone and went about his day. Was kind of funny in that the other cadets were all, "Are you allowed do that"?
Which seems like the kind of thing that says "you know what, maybe you aren't command ready. I'm obviously picking nits...
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CambiataCommander ShepardThe likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered Userregular
I'm well aware it's still a huge problem. But it's not a problem the way it was in the 90s, which is reflected in the politics of that two-parter. Immigration was just not the issue it was then like it is now and vice versa with homelessness and crime in cities and all that.
I'm agreeing 100% on the immigration side, but it's worth bearing in mind that based on any numbers I can find, there are actually a greater percentage of the population homeless now than in the 80's, and generally for many of hte same reasons.
I thought the prime directive only applied to pre-warp civilizations.
It's part of it. For pre-warp, the Federation prefers to avoid contact until they achieve FTL to avoid cultural contamination. For societies that are post-warp, it's more along the lines of non-interference in general. Mostly, to avoid diplomatic incidents I would guess, but it 100% depends on the writer, unfortunately.
Also that's only if the culture forbades Federation interference in internal affairs. If they ask for medical supplies or to mediate an internal dispute, the Federation will totally have their back.
I thought the prime directive only applied to pre-warp civilizations.
It's don't contact pre-warp civilizations, and don't interfere in the internal politics of post-warp ones.
In TOS it was pretty clearly just the former, and even then more of a "don't get caught". The crew didn't even blink at upending the societies of Stratos, Vendikar, et al; the only multi-system civilizations, the Klingons and the Romulans, were both enemies of the Federation and had no internal politics to speak of, so it was moot, but it's doubtful they'd be shy about that either. (Americans in the 60s generally weren't, when it came to messing with other countries, and might be surprised if you even raised the concern.)
The PD expanded considerably in the TNG era and onward; opinions vary as to what the in-universe cause might have been, while out of universe it was probably a combination of changing sensibilities and how writers (chose to) interpret it / what kind of stories they wanted to tell.
Commander Zoom on
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Gabriel_Pitt(effective against Russian warships)Registered Userregular
I thought the prime directive only applied to pre-warp civilizations.
It's part of it. For pre-warp, the Federation prefers to avoid contact until they achieve FTL to avoid cultural contamination. For societies that are post-warp, it's more along the lines of non-interference in general. Mostly, to avoid diplomatic incidents I would guess, but it 100% depends on the writer, unfortunately.
Don't sell phasers to Cardassians to fund anti-Romulan revolutionaries.
Sulu's dad had died like the day before or something, so he left the Maru in the Neutral Zone and went about his day. Was kind of funny in that the other cadets were all, "Are you allowed do that"?
Which seems like the kind of thing that says "you know what, maybe you aren't command ready. I'm obviously picking nits...
On the other hand he was the only one to not lose his ship, get everybody aboard killed (technically while Chekov did evacuate his ship survival was unlikely) and possibly incite a war
Edit:
I appreciate that Bashir and Sisko do everything but look directly into the camera and say "THIS IS FUCKED UP, HUH?"
One of many DS9 episodes that are even more relevant today than when they first aired.
Kinda. I've said this before, but those episodes are fascinating because they get so much right in terms of human nature but so much wrong because they are from the 90s and thus the cultural context is completely different. If you were making the episode today you would do a swap from "homeless" to "immigrant" and need to change basically nothing else.
Well, the only parts they got wrong was that a rich media mogul cared enough about the oppressed people in the sanctuary districts to use his media empire to broadcast their stories to everyone and that a black guy getting murdered would shake the public out of their apathy and force the government to address the problem.
I'm well aware it's still a huge problem. But it's not a problem the way it was in the 90s, which is reflected in the politics of that two-parter. Immigration was just not the issue it was then like it is now and vice versa with homelessness and crime in cities and all that.
I'm agreeing 100% on the immigration side, but it's worth bearing in mind that based on any numbers I can find, there are actually a greater percentage of the population homeless now than in the 80's, and generally for many of hte same reasons.
I'm not talking about the numbers though, I'm talking about the politics.
(DS9) Turns out that Inquisition (the first Section 31 episode) comes right before In the Pale Moonlight, and that really makes Section 31 look even more clownshoes than just viewing it by itself.
In Inquisition, Section 31 operatives kidnap Bashir and run him through a holodeck simulation because they think that he's been turned into a Dominion agent via brainwashing during the time he spent in their prison camp. They do that despite the fact that when the Dominion wants to implant an agent, they kidnap someone and replace them with a changeling...Which is the very reason Bashir was in the prison camp to begin with. They wasted everyone's time pursuing a stupid lead. Oh, but they have cool all-black uniforms! (Due to the lack of contrast, they look like they put leather jackets on backwards.)
In In the Pale Moonlight, Garak starts a war between the Romulans and the Dominion.
(DS9) Turns out that Inquisition (the first Section 31 episode) comes right before In the Pale Moonlight, and that really makes Section 31 look even more clownshoes than just viewing it by itself.
In Inquisition, Section 31 operatives kidnap Bashir and run him through a holodeck simulation because they think that he's been turned into a Dominion agent via brainwashing during the time he spent in their prison camp. They do that despite the fact that when the Dominion wants to implant an agent, they kidnap someone and replace them with a changeling...Which is the very reason Bashir was in the prison camp to begin with. They wasted everyone's time pursuing a stupid lead. Oh, but they have cool all-black uniforms! (Due to the lack of contrast, they look like they put leather jackets on backwards.)
In In the Pale Moonlight, Garak starts a war between the Romulans and the Dominion.
Garak is consistently portrayed as spectacularly more effective than Section 31.
I remember the time they have to board Empok Nor and Garak basically kills 2 highly trained Cardassian commandos like he's cleaning up the mess someone left behind.
While the folks are away I watched ahead on some DS9.
I like season 2 so far. I struggle to think of another 3 parter in Star Trek.
Episode 5, Cardassians, is kinda amazing to me (mostly because M'FIN GARAK BABY), but the fact that you don't really get to see the resolution of the custody hearing is a bit disappointing, if understandable for time reasons. It's also the rare situation in Star Trek where there is no easy way out. In the end, I guess Sisko made the right call: even if it's not what the kid wanted, and even if the bajoran adoptive parents did love him, the fact that they were raising him to hate what he is was not healthy.
While the folks are away I watched ahead on some DS9.
I like season 2 so far. I struggle to think of another 3 parter in Star Trek.
Episode 5, Cardassians, is kinda amazing to me (mostly because M'FIN GARAK BABY), but the fact that you don't really get to see the resolution of the custody hearing is a bit disappointing, if understandable for time reasons. It's also the rare situation in Star Trek where there is no easy way out. In the end, I guess Sisko made the right call: even if it's not what the kid wanted, and even if the bajoran adoptive parents did love him, the fact that they were raising him to hate what he is was not healthy.
(DS9) Turns out that Inquisition (the first Section 31 episode) comes right before In the Pale Moonlight, and that really makes Section 31 look even more clownshoes than just viewing it by itself.
In Inquisition, Section 31 operatives kidnap Bashir and run him through a holodeck simulation because they think that he's been turned into a Dominion agent via brainwashing during the time he spent in their prison camp. They do that despite the fact that when the Dominion wants to implant an agent, they kidnap someone and replace them with a changeling...Which is the very reason Bashir was in the prison camp to begin with. They wasted everyone's time pursuing a stupid lead. Oh, but they have cool all-black uniforms! (Due to the lack of contrast, they look like they put leather jackets on backwards.)
In In the Pale Moonlight, Garak starts a war between the Romulans and the Dominion.
It also makes the ending of Inquisition with Sisko’s reaction to the whole thing in that last group scene unintentionally silly. Like we had to wait all of a week to get an answer as to whether he might be willing to do something underhanded in order to win the war.
(DS9) Turns out that Inquisition (the first Section 31 episode) comes right before In the Pale Moonlight, and that really makes Section 31 look even more clownshoes than just viewing it by itself.
In Inquisition, Section 31 operatives kidnap Bashir and run him through a holodeck simulation because they think that he's been turned into a Dominion agent via brainwashing during the time he spent in their prison camp. They do that despite the fact that when the Dominion wants to implant an agent, they kidnap someone and replace them with a changeling...Which is the very reason Bashir was in the prison camp to begin with. They wasted everyone's time pursuing a stupid lead. Oh, but they have cool all-black uniforms! (Due to the lack of contrast, they look like they put leather jackets on backwards.)
In In the Pale Moonlight, Garak starts a war between the Romulans and the Dominion.
It also makes the ending of Inquisition with Sisko’s reaction to the whole thing in that last group scene unintentionally silly. Like we had to wait all of a week to get an answer as to whether he might be willing to do something underhanded in order to win the war.
(DS9) Turns out that Inquisition (the first Section 31 episode) comes right before In the Pale Moonlight, and that really makes Section 31 look even more clownshoes than just viewing it by itself.
In Inquisition, Section 31 operatives kidnap Bashir and run him through a holodeck simulation because they think that he's been turned into a Dominion agent via brainwashing during the time he spent in their prison camp. They do that despite the fact that when the Dominion wants to implant an agent, they kidnap someone and replace them with a changeling...Which is the very reason Bashir was in the prison camp to begin with. They wasted everyone's time pursuing a stupid lead. Oh, but they have cool all-black uniforms! (Due to the lack of contrast, they look like they put leather jackets on backwards.)
In In the Pale Moonlight, Garak starts a war between the Romulans and the Dominion.
It also makes the ending of Inquisition with Sisko’s reaction to the whole thing in that last group scene unintentionally silly. Like we had to wait all of a week to get an answer as to whether he might be willing to do something underhanded in order to win the war.
I think there's a significant difference between the two setups. Is Sisko willing to do something underhanded to win the war? Yes. Bringing the Romulans into the war was vital, and there weren't any other options on the table. An unethical action or two is reasonable under the circumstances. Sisko also got approval for his actions from Starfleet Command. (Though I suspect he glossed over some of the details for plausible deniability, and he wasn't aware Garak was going to kill people.)
What Section 31 did is create an entire department committed to performing unaccountable unethical actions, and that never turns out well, because it gets staffed by people who like the concept of being allowed to do anything they want without consequence. It's the difference between torturing a terrorist to get the code to disarm the bomb, and creating an entire department of torturing terrorists. (And making sure they don't report to anyone, don't appear on the org chart, and nobody knows they exist.)
To put it another way, I'll point out that Section 31 could totally have called up Sisko, let him know that they were concerned that Bashir might have been brainwashed in a way not even he would know about, and to keep an eye out for any suspicious actions, such as looking up fleet movements, or sending messages to Dominion space. Instead, they went directly to kidnapping and holodeck mindgames, because they're the department of doing unethical stuff, and that singular purpose prevents them from seeking ethical solutions to their problems.
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RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
I want to both awesome and agree with that post
I've never seen it put so plainly
(It being the enormity of an evil failure of American foreign policy that Section 31 both highlights and predicts)
While the folks are away I watched ahead on some DS9.
I like season 2 so far. I struggle to think of another 3 parter in Star Trek.
Episode 5, Cardassians, is kinda amazing to me (mostly because M'FIN GARAK BABY), but the fact that you don't really get to see the resolution of the custody hearing is a bit disappointing, if understandable for time reasons. It's also the rare situation in Star Trek where there is no easy way out. In the end, I guess Sisko made the right call: even if it's not what the kid wanted, and even if the bajoran adoptive parents did love him, the fact that they were raising him to hate what he is was not healthy.
I think Voyager had some 3-parters.
I think an argument can be made that DS9's final season is just one massive 26-parter. I'm pretty sure every single episode starts with the same "Last time on DS9 ~...~ And now the continuation.".
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
wait a sec, i thought the whole thing with S31 and Bashir was they were trying to recruit him and see if he has the right stuff, not that he was a spy? Or is that a later episode?
wait a sec, i thought the whole thing with S31 and Bashir was they were trying to recruit him and see if he has the right stuff, not that he was a spy? Or is that a later episode?
It was both as I remember. First they were checking him over and then they thought he'd be an asset so they wanted him to join up.
wait a sec, i thought the whole thing with S31 and Bashir was they were trying to recruit him and see if he has the right stuff, not that he was a spy? Or is that a later episode?
It was both as I remember. First they were checking him over and then they thought he'd be an asset so they wanted him to join up.
Yeah. 99% of the episode was them thinking he was a Dominion spy, but after they clear him they try to recruit him.
wait a sec, i thought the whole thing with S31 and Bashir was they were trying to recruit him and see if he has the right stuff, not that he was a spy? Or is that a later episode?
It was both as I remember. First they were checking him over and then they thought he'd be an asset so they wanted him to join up.
Yeah. 99% of the episode was them thinking he was a Dominion spy, but after they clear him they try to recruit him.
“Saaaay, you held up to our infernal mind bending torture regime pretty well ...how’d you like to come work for us?” is certainly a bold maneuver. Good to see the ethics-free deniable spook squad isn’t burdened by a crippling lack of hubris.
(DS9) Turns out that Inquisition (the first Section 31 episode) comes right before In the Pale Moonlight, and that really makes Section 31 look even more clownshoes than just viewing it by itself.
In Inquisition, Section 31 operatives kidnap Bashir and run him through a holodeck simulation because they think that he's been turned into a Dominion agent via brainwashing during the time he spent in their prison camp. They do that despite the fact that when the Dominion wants to implant an agent, they kidnap someone and replace them with a changeling...Which is the very reason Bashir was in the prison camp to begin with. They wasted everyone's time pursuing a stupid lead. Oh, but they have cool all-black uniforms! (Due to the lack of contrast, they look like they put leather jackets on backwards.)
In In the Pale Moonlight, Garak starts a war between the Romulans and the Dominion.
It also makes the ending of Inquisition with Sisko’s reaction to the whole thing in that last group scene unintentionally silly. Like we had to wait all of a week to get an answer as to whether he might be willing to do something underhanded in order to win the war.
I think there's a significant difference between the two setups. Is Sisko willing to do something underhanded to win the war? Yes. Bringing the Romulans into the war was vital, and there weren't any other options on the table. An unethical action or two is reasonable under the circumstances. Sisko also got approval for his actions from Starfleet Command. (Though I suspect he glossed over some of the details for plausible deniability, and he wasn't aware Garak was going to kill people.)
What Section 31 did is create an entire department committed to performing unaccountable unethical actions, and that never turns out well, because it gets staffed by people who like the concept of being allowed to do anything they want without consequence. It's the difference between torturing a terrorist to get the code to disarm the bomb, and creating an entire department of torturing terrorists. (And making sure they don't report to anyone, don't appear on the org chart, and nobody knows they exist.)
To put it another way, I'll point out that Section 31 could totally have called up Sisko, let him know that they were concerned that Bashir might have been brainwashed in a way not even he would know about, and to keep an eye out for any suspicious actions, such as looking up fleet movements, or sending messages to Dominion space. Instead, they went directly to kidnapping and holodeck mindgames, because they're the department of doing unethical stuff, and that singular purpose prevents them from seeking ethical solutions to their problems.
Didn’t really need the differences explained to me as I never thought the setups were identical. I just thought it was kind of funny on my rewatch that those two eps were back-to-back...
(DS9) Turns out that Inquisition (the first Section 31 episode) comes right before In the Pale Moonlight, and that really makes Section 31 look even more clownshoes than just viewing it by itself.
In Inquisition, Section 31 operatives kidnap Bashir and run him through a holodeck simulation because they think that he's been turned into a Dominion agent via brainwashing during the time he spent in their prison camp. They do that despite the fact that when the Dominion wants to implant an agent, they kidnap someone and replace them with a changeling...Which is the very reason Bashir was in the prison camp to begin with. They wasted everyone's time pursuing a stupid lead. Oh, but they have cool all-black uniforms! (Due to the lack of contrast, they look like they put leather jackets on backwards.)
In In the Pale Moonlight, Garak starts a war between the Romulans and the Dominion.
It's reasonable to assume that the Dominion has other ways of infiltrating other races. Plus four Founders had died in a very short amount of time, which is something that very rarely happens. That would be a good reason for the Dominion to use fewer Changelings.
Also, Section 31 had already infected the Founders with the virus at that point. If they thought that the Founders had detected the virus, they'd assume the Dominion would start using other ways of infiltration and intelligence gathering.
Remember when Section 31 tried to commit genocide? Oh, those scamps!
Considering that the Dominion was seriously considering making Earth an example and wiping it out, they might have been on to something.
I wonder if the Dominion ever suspected the Federation was the source of the illness before Odo returned to the Link with the cure.
Edit:
Did the Dominion invade the Alpha Quadrant because it discovered the illness and suspected the source was from an Alpha Quadrant power?
Edit2:
Or was it just business as usual for the Dominion and some fortuitous timing by S31?
As I recall from the timeline. the Dominion invading the Alpha Quadrant was business as usual for them. They'd even had it in their plans for a long time, but the discovery of the wormhole forced them to bump it up the schedule. Section 31 infected them with the virus when they judged war was inevitable and that taking out the Founders would destroy the Dominion overnight.
I feel like “destroy the Dominion overnight” is a firm maybe. It’s just as likely that the Jem’Hadar go insane and start an endless genocide spree that no one can control.
But it’s definitely a desperation move rather than mustache-twirling villainy for villainy’s sake. Until the Prophets took out the reinforcements, the Alpha Quadrant was doomed.
I feel like “destroy the Dominion overnight” is a firm maybe. It’s just as likely that the Jem’Hadar go insane and start an endless genocide spree that no one can control.
But it’s definitely a desperation move rather than mustache-twirling villainy for villainy’s sake. Until the Prophets took out the reinforcements, the Alpha Quadrant was doomed.
The Jem'Hadar rampage ends pretty quickly though I imagine. After they all die of withdrawal.
I feel like “destroy the Dominion overnight” is a firm maybe. It’s just as likely that the Jem’Hadar go insane and start an endless genocide spree that no one can control.
But it’s definitely a desperation move rather than mustache-twirling villainy for villainy’s sake. Until the Prophets took out the reinforcements, the Alpha Quadrant was doomed.
Except it won't be endless. The Jem'Hadar live only a few years. The Vorta won't clone them, because the Jem'Hadar hate the Vorta and the only thing stopping them from killing them all is the Founders telling them not to. And without Founders to strategize, their attacks will be brutal but random and easier to twart.
I think the more practical threat is that the Jem'Hadar will go full scorched earth policy and will just suicide bomb every major home world they could reach.
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
Remember when Section 31 tried to commit genocide? Oh, those scamps!
Considering that the Dominion was seriously considering making Earth an example and wiping it out, they might have been on to something.
I wonder if the Dominion ever suspected the Federation was the source of the illness before Odo returned to the Link with the cure.
Edit:
Did the Dominion invade the Alpha Quadrant because it discovered the illness and suspected the source was from an Alpha Quadrant power?
Edit2:
Or was it just business as usual for the Dominion and some fortuitous timing by S31?
As I recall from the timeline. the Dominion invading the Alpha Quadrant was business as usual for them. They'd even had it in their plans for a long time, but the discovery of the wormhole forced them to bump it up the schedule. Section 31 infected them with the virus when they judged war was inevitable and that taking out the Founders would destroy the Dominion overnight.
My only ethical gripe to Section 31 gene-bombing the Founders was that they seemed to do it before it was certain that the Founders ran the Dominion or that the Dominion was even a threat, and that they made the decision without consultation.
Other than that, I have no issues with using a gene weapon against a people that was almost-unanimously (Odo being the lone exception) dedicated to destroying the Federation and considered things like blowing up inhabited star systems as mere collateral damage to reach that victory. The Dominion was built from genocide and death and that's how it was maintained, and the Founders just pridefully assumed they would be forever superior to solids. I have zero sympathy for them getting the treatment they used on who knows how many races, and the fact that they turned so petty and selfish in the end was great for showing how totally full of bullshit they were.
In the end, they were as barbaric as anyone else, they just happened to finally get caught on the sharp end of the spear for once.
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It's don't contact pre-warp civilizations, and don't interfere in the internal politics of post-warp ones.
I'm agreeing 100% on the immigration side, but it's worth bearing in mind that based on any numbers I can find, there are actually a greater percentage of the population homeless now than in the 80's, and generally for many of hte same reasons.
It's part of it. For pre-warp, the Federation prefers to avoid contact until they achieve FTL to avoid cultural contamination. For societies that are post-warp, it's more along the lines of non-interference in general. Mostly, to avoid diplomatic incidents I would guess, but it 100% depends on the writer, unfortunately.
In TOS it was pretty clearly just the former, and even then more of a "don't get caught". The crew didn't even blink at upending the societies of Stratos, Vendikar, et al; the only multi-system civilizations, the Klingons and the Romulans, were both enemies of the Federation and had no internal politics to speak of, so it was moot, but it's doubtful they'd be shy about that either. (Americans in the 60s generally weren't, when it came to messing with other countries, and might be surprised if you even raised the concern.)
The PD expanded considerably in the TNG era and onward; opinions vary as to what the in-universe cause might have been, while out of universe it was probably a combination of changing sensibilities and how writers (chose to) interpret it / what kind of stories they wanted to tell.
Don't sell phasers to Cardassians to fund anti-Romulan revolutionaries.
On the other hand he was the only one to not lose his ship, get everybody aboard killed (technically while Chekov did evacuate his ship survival was unlikely) and possibly incite a war
Well, the only parts they got wrong was that a rich media mogul cared enough about the oppressed people in the sanctuary districts to use his media empire to broadcast their stories to everyone and that a black guy getting murdered would shake the public out of their apathy and force the government to address the problem.
Where are all the hot aliens for us now?
I'm not talking about the numbers though, I'm talking about the politics.
Morn is always in Quarks.
In Inquisition, Section 31 operatives kidnap Bashir and run him through a holodeck simulation because they think that he's been turned into a Dominion agent via brainwashing during the time he spent in their prison camp. They do that despite the fact that when the Dominion wants to implant an agent, they kidnap someone and replace them with a changeling...Which is the very reason Bashir was in the prison camp to begin with. They wasted everyone's time pursuing a stupid lead. Oh, but they have cool all-black uniforms! (Due to the lack of contrast, they look like they put leather jackets on backwards.)
In In the Pale Moonlight, Garak starts a war between the Romulans and the Dominion.
Garak is consistently portrayed as spectacularly more effective than Section 31.
I remember the time they have to board Empok Nor and Garak basically kills 2 highly trained Cardassian commandos like he's cleaning up the mess someone left behind.
I like season 2 so far. I struggle to think of another 3 parter in Star Trek.
Episode 5, Cardassians, is kinda amazing to me (mostly because M'FIN GARAK BABY), but the fact that you don't really get to see the resolution of the custody hearing is a bit disappointing, if understandable for time reasons. It's also the rare situation in Star Trek where there is no easy way out. In the end, I guess Sisko made the right call: even if it's not what the kid wanted, and even if the bajoran adoptive parents did love him, the fact that they were raising him to hate what he is was not healthy.
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I think Voyager had some 3-parters.
It also makes the ending of Inquisition with Sisko’s reaction to the whole thing in that last group scene unintentionally silly. Like we had to wait all of a week to get an answer as to whether he might be willing to do something underhanded in order to win the war.
"The only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I’d beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it." -- Jack Kirby
(yes)
I think there's a significant difference between the two setups. Is Sisko willing to do something underhanded to win the war? Yes. Bringing the Romulans into the war was vital, and there weren't any other options on the table. An unethical action or two is reasonable under the circumstances. Sisko also got approval for his actions from Starfleet Command. (Though I suspect he glossed over some of the details for plausible deniability, and he wasn't aware Garak was going to kill people.)
What Section 31 did is create an entire department committed to performing unaccountable unethical actions, and that never turns out well, because it gets staffed by people who like the concept of being allowed to do anything they want without consequence. It's the difference between torturing a terrorist to get the code to disarm the bomb, and creating an entire department of torturing terrorists. (And making sure they don't report to anyone, don't appear on the org chart, and nobody knows they exist.)
To put it another way, I'll point out that Section 31 could totally have called up Sisko, let him know that they were concerned that Bashir might have been brainwashed in a way not even he would know about, and to keep an eye out for any suspicious actions, such as looking up fleet movements, or sending messages to Dominion space. Instead, they went directly to kidnapping and holodeck mindgames, because they're the department of doing unethical stuff, and that singular purpose prevents them from seeking ethical solutions to their problems.
I've never seen it put so plainly
(It being the enormity of an evil failure of American foreign policy that Section 31 both highlights and predicts)
I think an argument can be made that DS9's final season is just one massive 26-parter. I'm pretty sure every single episode starts with the same "Last time on DS9 ~...~ And now the continuation.".
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It was both as I remember. First they were checking him over and then they thought he'd be an asset so they wanted him to join up.
Yeah. 99% of the episode was them thinking he was a Dominion spy, but after they clear him they try to recruit him.
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Didn’t really need the differences explained to me as I never thought the setups were identical. I just thought it was kind of funny on my rewatch that those two eps were back-to-back...
"The only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I’d beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it." -- Jack Kirby
It's reasonable to assume that the Dominion has other ways of infiltrating other races. Plus four Founders had died in a very short amount of time, which is something that very rarely happens. That would be a good reason for the Dominion to use fewer Changelings.
Also, Section 31 had already infected the Founders with the virus at that point. If they thought that the Founders had detected the virus, they'd assume the Dominion would start using other ways of infiltration and intelligence gathering.
Considering that the Dominion was seriously considering making Earth an example and wiping it out, they might have been on to something.
I wonder if the Dominion ever suspected the Federation was the source of the illness before Odo returned to the Link with the cure.
Edit:
Did the Dominion invade the Alpha Quadrant because it discovered the illness and suspected the source was from an Alpha Quadrant power?
Edit2:
Or was it just business as usual for the Dominion and some fortuitous timing by S31?
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As I recall from the timeline. the Dominion invading the Alpha Quadrant was business as usual for them. They'd even had it in their plans for a long time, but the discovery of the wormhole forced them to bump it up the schedule. Section 31 infected them with the virus when they judged war was inevitable and that taking out the Founders would destroy the Dominion overnight.
But it’s definitely a desperation move rather than mustache-twirling villainy for villainy’s sake. Until the Prophets took out the reinforcements, the Alpha Quadrant was doomed.
The Jem'Hadar rampage ends pretty quickly though I imagine. After they all die of withdrawal.
Except it won't be endless. The Jem'Hadar live only a few years. The Vorta won't clone them, because the Jem'Hadar hate the Vorta and the only thing stopping them from killing them all is the Founders telling them not to. And without Founders to strategize, their attacks will be brutal but random and easier to twart.
My only ethical gripe to Section 31 gene-bombing the Founders was that they seemed to do it before it was certain that the Founders ran the Dominion or that the Dominion was even a threat, and that they made the decision without consultation.
Other than that, I have no issues with using a gene weapon against a people that was almost-unanimously (Odo being the lone exception) dedicated to destroying the Federation and considered things like blowing up inhabited star systems as mere collateral damage to reach that victory. The Dominion was built from genocide and death and that's how it was maintained, and the Founders just pridefully assumed they would be forever superior to solids. I have zero sympathy for them getting the treatment they used on who knows how many races, and the fact that they turned so petty and selfish in the end was great for showing how totally full of bullshit they were.
In the end, they were as barbaric as anyone else, they just happened to finally get caught on the sharp end of the spear for once.