Grey the Federation is becoming, and grey the Romulans already are; clothes, buildings, and people. Grey-skinned "Gardener" Garak points out that the Romulan heart itself is literally grey, and one doesn't want to inquire just how he learned this. Garak finds Romulans 'unimaginative', and I find myself wondering what happened to the 'passionate people' described in the original series.Federation-Protecting Quasi-Government Creepozoid Sloan from Section 31 (also grey) returns when Dr. Bashir is invited to a conference on Romulus. Sloan's Romulan counter-creep Fleckus Koval (You know? Identical cousin of Taibak? Tal Shiar operative who tortured Geordi years ago? Never un-grits his teeth?) is eager to hear the good doctor's thoughts on the horribly deadly Teplan Blight. Although not the cure, if any.
Sloan pits Bashir against Koval, gets our hero beaten up and mind-scanned, secrets are kept, people get shot (or DO they?), and a perfectly innocent Romulan woman (Cretak the Barbeau-Bot) has her career ruined and probably went to jail. Merely for trying to help Bashir keep the unsteady new alliance intact! Aw, who am I kidding? Romulans don't have jails. They sent her to NEW JERSEY.Admiral Ross turns out to be a Section 31 patsy (or apologist) as well. He tells us the title is a Cicero quote meaning: "In times of war, the law falls silent". Bashir echoes Picard's dead prof Galen in accusing the Federation of decaying like the Roman Empire. Then they attend a toga party. At least, they might have.
"Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" is intriguing intriuge-y intrigue. I love Romulans, I love Bashir, I love John Fleck. I'm not so fond of the 'compromised Federation' stories... but it's cracking good drama no matter how much I personally prefer optimism to cynicism.
Mike, you're doing better than me. I posted reviews of The Original Series, the Animated Series, and the first six movies, and now I've stopped for awhile. Your posts make me remember how good Deep Space Nine and Voyager could be. Well, except for "The Disease", which you gave 1 "tawdry" star out of five! I love it!
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