Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Cardassians
5. Duet Broke The Mould And The Monologues Flowed
Ira Steven Behr cites Duet as the episode that truly began the 'Cardassian monologues' trend. Maritza, in his attempt to condemn himself, delivers several monologues throughout the episode, after which many Cardassians would be seen eloquently orating to the masses.
Though perhaps none quite as much, or as slowly, as Gul Dukat.
Duet was the penultimate episode of Deep Space Nine's first season, serving as a bottle show to save money. It also serves as one of the finest hours of television that the show had to offer, capitalising on Nana Visitor and Harris Yulin's chemistry.
The Cardassians had been somewhat single-minded up to that point, rarely stepping outside of thuggish brutes. Here was a man so consumed by the guilt of his people's actions that he would sooner see himself executed, under a false name, than see the Cardassians go unpunished.
The obvious parallels to collective guilt in the post-war years aside, Duet proved that there was more to the species than simple overlords. There were people in there too.