25 Best Episodes Of Star Trek EVER

25. The Wire - Star Trek Deep Space Nine

Elim Garak stands as one of the franchise best written and best acted characters. Andrew Robinson simply is Garak, taking his time to paint layer after layer on the shadowy, simple tailor. It is in this second season episode of Deep Space Nine that some of the layers begin to unravel as truths about him come to light.

He is being slowly killed by the implant he uses to make his life on the station bearable. Dr. Bashir has to sit with him while he goes through withdrawal, seeing the ugly underside of the man explode out at him while his body writhes. He confesses to many crimes and admits to helping Bajorans.

He claims he betrayed his best friend. He says he wants nothing more than to go home. Bashir has to sift through the stories before he can get to the truth, a journey that involves a trip to Cardassia and meeting Enabran Tain, Garak's former mentor. The answers he gets, while they save Garak's life, do not afford him much more understanding. He is left in the dark but their friendship becomes stronger from this point on.

Deep Space Nine, being set on a station, allowed greater development of both the main and supporting characters. A man like Garak wouldn't have survived on The Next Generation or even Voyager, but here he has a chance to life the drudgery of life and the show displays his suffering for it. His longing for a return to his homeworld would be revisited again and again but it is here that Robinson gives some of his best work and Garak slides into the audiences' minds.