Star Trek: Improbable Cause

Episode: "Improbable Cause"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 3, Episode 20

Original Air Date: April 24, 1995

via Memory Alpha

Garak episode!

A bomb destroys Garak's tailor shop.  The prime suspect, a Flaxian named Mr. Retaya, makes a run for it.  Odo and Garak pursue in the runabout but Retaya's ship suddenly explodes.  When Odo digs a little deeper, he learns five other Obsidian Order operatives were killed the same day as the attempt on Garak.  Evidently the Romulans are involved.  Meanwhile, Enabran Tain, the retired head of the Order, has gone missing.  What's going on?  Quite a lot as it turns out.

"Improbable Cause" marks an important turning point in the series.  Here is where we first learn of the impending war between the Dominion and the Alpha Quadrant powers, the driving narrative force for Deep Space Nine from here on out.  It's also the best episode in a while.  Surprises abound.  Odo's interrogation of Retaya is stellar.  And, of course, Garak is spectacular.  This is the first episode in which he gets to play primarily off of Odo rather than Bashir or Sisko and the results are wonderful.  Their best exchange:

Odo: I'm not about to leave you alone in here so you can look through my security files.
Garak: What makes you think I haven't already looked through them?

So good and yet I couldn't find room in my running Top 10 list of episodes.  That's what it's like with DS9.  The list of rock solid gems is long.  A lot of elements go into making the engine hum and so many of the stories feel essential, even some of the ones that seem frivolous on the surface.  

That's not to say there aren't occasional problems.  Odo's suspicion of Retaya is straight-up racial profiling. 

Acting Notes

via Mighty Med Wiki

Carlos Lacaméra (Retaya) was born in Havana, Cuba, November 11, 1958.  His family moved to Washington, D.C. after the Cuban Revolution.  He attended UCLA.

Lacaméra has had principal roles on Nurses, The Brothers Garcia and its sequel series, The Garcias.  He has had recurring roles on Close to Home, Mighty Med and Major Crimes.  Lacaméra is an accomplished playwright.  His plays Nowhere on the Border, Havana Bourgeois and Cuba Libre, a musical for which he wrote book and lyrics, have all been performed by professional companies.