Synopsis: Three seasons too late, we finally get a kickass humanoid adversary.

Memory Alpha Summary: The minstrel boy to the war has gone

Review: I heart the Cardassians.  They’re smarter than the Romulans, less obvious.  Their presence in a room is also quite formidable.  They become a huge part of DS9 for a reason.  We’ll just ignore the fact that the Federation was supposedly at war with them just one year ago, as they were never mentioned before.

I also love this episode.  It’s a lot of talking between Picard and Gul Macet, but their conversations are calculated and tense.  O’Brien develops a personality, knows as “O’Brien must suffer,” and he almost becomes a main character before he leaves for DS9.  The interactions between O’Brien and Benjamin Maxwell are also quite dramatic.  I’m surprised Roddenberry even allowed this episode to be made, what with Maxwell giving into the primal human emotion of revenge.

Picard’s final speech to Macet is dynamite, a perfect ending.