Preface: This post may include spoilers for "A Stitch in Time".
I started on a DS9 re-watch a few weeks ago but paused about halfway through the first season so I could read Andrew Robinson's "A Stitch in Time".
If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. I'll spare you the book report/review, but suffice it to say it puts every one of Garak's scenes in the show in a new light. While I'm aware the novel is not necessarily canon, there's nothing in it that contracts established canon, and nothing since DS9 has contradicted anything portrayed in it. So, that's good enough for me.
There's a lot to take away from the read, but the biggest are all the blanks that are filled in. For starters, Garak's entire affable demeanor is a carefully constructed mask based on training, self-control, patience, and cunning. He's definitely still a good man, honorable even (in his own way), but due to Cardassian culture and its ingrained sense of duty to the state, things get a little gray. And that's before his time with the Order.
Some other takeaways include:
- A recount of his time as a gardener on Romulus which was only mentioned in the show as an offhand remark but you knew was a good story (spoiler: it is)
- His history with Dukat and why there's so much animosity between them (and the reveal of Dukat's non-canon first name)
- A more in-depth look at the emotional toil he was going through leading up to the invasion of the Dominion-controlled Cardassia as well as the lingering hostility toward him from the Bajorans. In the show, we mostly see this as his claustrophobia flares up, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.
- How he ended up in the Obsidian Order as well as some of his missions with them
- Why and how he fell from grace with the Order
- His early life and relationship with Enabran Tain and exactly how much influence Tain had over him from his early life and even after Tain's death.
- The exact circumstances and what it was like when he was first exiled to Terok Nor (he was forced to be a tailor rather than choosing that as a cover)
- How absolutely full of shit Dukat was when he described himself as benevolent toward the Bajorans. The show makes it clear he's not exactly remembering correctly, but the novel makes it clear he was "excessive" in his methods even by Cardassian standards. Marc Alaimo's extremely charismatic performance left you wondering if maybe there was some truth to the way Dukat remembered things, but the book puts that notion to bed.
- And just so much more.
The whole novel added depth to an already deep character that had hidden depths and still left you wanting more. I think my only gripe with the novel was that it wasn't 300 pages longer.
So yeah, looking forward to continuing my DS9 re-watch with Garak's full backstory in mind.
Actual Spoiler
One curve ball that got me was that I was fully expecting "One Charaban" to be Dukat. The way he was described, especially with "the gruff voice" being his distinguishing feature, as well as the eventual betrayal, just seemed like he was setup perfectly to be Dukat (at Bamarren, the military school he went to, no one used real names, only designations). Turns out he wasn't, though he was associated with Dukat later in the book.
Lol, of course. I need to do a re-watch.