The Wire: In Discussion - Especially the Lies

In association with Star Trek Club Stoke, this time we're digging into Deep Space Nine's second season instalment, The Wire.

This episode focuses on Garak, the Cardassian tailor and possible spy and his unlikely friendship with Doctor Bashir. Garak suffers debilitating pain, which he initially tries to hide until he eventually collapses. Bashir discovers he has been fitted with a device by the Cardassians which is degrading his nervous system (presumably, this is the ‘wire’). Is this some kind of punishment?

As Bashir seeks further information, Garak tells various tales of his fall from favour in the eyes of Obsidian Order overseer Enabran Tain. This in turn caused his exile to Deep Space Nine although each of the explanations turns out to be false and subsequently replaced by new lies as Garak becomes increasingly hostile and deranged. Did he betray his friend Elim or did Elim betray him? Did he murder Bajoran children or save them?

Garak's nuances and frailties would only be covered again through his claustrophobia in In Purgatory's Shadow and this instalment gives Deep Space Nine fans a rare chance to see the chinks in the armour of the most secretive man on the station. You have to wonder if there would be a point at which he would give up anything he was asked but we never quite reach that point. Ironically it's a device implanted to create euphoria and counter torture that has the potential to end Garak's life.

Bashir has to be strong enough to navigate the lies and hostility, eventually tracking down the now retired Tain who seems to retain a fondness for Garak and gives Bashir the information he needs. The episode ends with a now recovered Garak joining Bashir for lunch, telling him that all his stories were true; ‘especially the lies’.

From the outset this appears to be an episode to explore, after two years, the background of Garak even if it all turns out (or doesn't) to be lies. With the benefit of hindsight and a further five years of stories, do we ever really get to a finite answer on this episode? Do we really ever know why he was exiled from his homeworld? Simply, no. The nearest we probably get is his reunion with a dying Tain in By Inferno's Light but that only confirms that Garak might be Tain's biological son as it's not firmly set out in the dialogue, only inferred.

What The Wire actually turns out to be is a coming of age story for Bashir. Initially seen as young and naive especially back in Emissary and any away missions thereafter (note to The Storyteller, Battle Lines...) but here in the latter half of season two there's definite change in the character noticeably from Armageddon Game and here. The arrogant self-belief that he has all the answers has long since dissipated, replaced with a wiser, more open Julian Bashir who, in this case looks as though he might be beaten in a scenario where the patient is a "close friend". 

The discussion on the episode suggested this made him a match for Garak however it may be that by the end of the story he is seen as having more potential than the Cardassian initially believed. Julian has to see past the lies and try and discover what actually happened and how Garak ended up in this state. The weird thing is that by the end titles we're no clearer on anything apart from two things; Garak's first name is Elim and secondly that you can't trust a word that comes out of his mouth. 

It was also suggested that Garak’s cryptic references to his ‘friend’ Elim could support the fan rumours that the Garak character is either gay or bisexual. Indeed, it was pointed out that he had been the one to initiate the relationship with Bashir back in Past Prologue and continues it to the conclusion of the show although nothing is ever made of this directly on screen.

The Wire is a definitive moment in the relationship of the doctor and the tailor, cementing their unusual friendship and exploring both in a new and unexpected way that looks at the way in which they are seen from the outside - and are not quite the same individuals by the end. It's also the first time we get to hear about the Obsidian Order (much more on them over the next few years) plus we're introduced to The Never-Ending Sacrifice and Meditations on a Crimson Shadow - two of the finest pieces of Cardassian literature written.

Thanks to Alan Boughey for his assistance in this discussion summary of The Wire.