Why Star Trek’s Most Vital Relationship Is Garak And Bashir

“Star Trek” is stuffed with unimaginable odd couple friendships, beginning with the hot-tempered human Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and stoic half-Vulcan Commander Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Kirk and Spock had been a terrific pair due to how a lot they balanced each other and discovered from one another, displaying the deep bonds that may develop between very totally different folks. Spock is even the one who helps Kirk start to know his racism towards the Klingons in “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Nation,” displaying that even after many years collectively the 2 nonetheless have issues to show one another. Their friendship is a really stunning factor, however there may be one notable issue: they’re each in Starfleet, and from Federation planets. They could be very totally different, however they’re by no means actually adversarial (until one thing wacky occurs, like that entire Pon Farr factor). 

Then there’s Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) and Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson) of “Star Trek: Deep House 9.” The 2 are unlikely buddies aboard the house station Deep House 9. The station was previously known as Terok Nor and was run by Cardassians of their occupation of the close by planet Bajor, which has simply regained its independence. Garak is the one Cardassian left on the station: a tailor and presumably an outcast spy. Bashir is a Federation golden boy: a (genetically enhanced) human physician whose work is so spectacular that he’s used because the mannequin for brand new Starfleet medical holograms. Garak and Bashir have a sophisticated friendship with plenty of depth, and due to the sheer breadth of their variations, they’ve crucial and highly effective relationship in all of “Star Trek.”

Gene Roddenberry’s imaginative and prescient for “Star Trek” was of a utopian future, and the Federation was purported to symbolize the perfect of humanity. In “Deep House 9,” which has lengthy been thought-about the odd, darkish offshoot of the franchise, the aliens aboard Deep House 9 symbolize the ugly realities of humanity. Not solely that, however the aliens had been typically at odds: although Roddenberry by no means wished “Star Trek” to be about struggle, the present nonetheless handled the tough truths of battle with the Dominion Wars, which compelled Captain Benjamin Sisko to desert his Starfleet morality with the intention to save hundreds of thousands and hundreds of thousands of lives. 

Alien characters like the Ferengi bartender Quark (Armin Shimerman), Garak, and shapeshifter Odo (René Auberjunois) offered a really totally different have a look at Starfleet, in ethical shades of grey that had been nicely exterior the vary of different “Star Trek” exhibits. Nobody represented ethical ambiguity fairly like Garak, who ought to have been utterly despicable in each method merely due to who he was: a member of the Obsidian Order, the Cardassian spy group, one thing akin to a reptilian house Nazi. He was by no means outright evil, although, and over the course of the collection and his friendship with Bashir, he started to do issues for seemingly selfless causes, belying his very nature. 

In an interview with TrekMovie.com, Robinson defined that he likened Garak’s exile on Deep House 9 to that of a Nazi officer left in Jerusalem, asking himself “What is that this man doing right here the place he’s universally hated?” with the intention to hook up with the character. As we start to study extra about Garak and his previous, he turns into much less villainous and extra tragic, and he is a really perfect foil to the virtually too-perfect Dr. Julian Bashir.

Dr. Bashir is younger, hopeful, and a bit naive after we first meet him on “Deep House 9,” and he meets Garak within the third episode. The 2 hit it off instantly with a form of flirtatious and feisty friendship wherein Bashir desperately tries to resolve the thriller of Garak’s true identification and Garak tries to get into Bashir’s pants (extra on that later). Bashir is a little bit cocky however understandably so, as we uncover afterward that he is been genetically enhanced and is smarter, stronger, sooner, and extra agile than most people, although he needed to disguise this truth as a result of genetic modification is banned in Starfleet. He is extra human than human — an earnest and heartfelt younger man who loves an excellent thriller and has a holosuite program the place he pretends to be a personality that’s principally James Bond. His greatest pal in your entire world is put-upon engineer Miles O’Brien (Colm Meaney), crucial man in Starfleet historical past, and the 2 of them collectively actually symbolize the very best people have to supply the Federation. 

Bashir and Garak’s friendship begins out of curiosity on Bashir’s half, as he tries to study as a lot as he can in regards to the eternally enigmatic Garak. He is fairly certain Garak is definitely a Cardassian spy, and he typically picks at Garak’s phrases to try to get him to elaborate on the artwork of espionage. It is solely after Garak almost dies from an habit to a tool in his mind planted by the Order to maintain him quiet throughout torture within the season 2 episode “The Wire” that the 2 actually develop into buddies, and their bond runs deep.

In “The Wire,” a few of Garak’s partitions start to interrupt down a bit as a result of withdrawal from the chemical compounds produced by the system, and he tells Bashir, “being on this station is torture for me, Physician.” He reveals that he was despatched to Terok Nor and left there as a result of he had proven mercy to Bajoran POWs, largely girls and kids, permitting them to go free. He nonetheless has to lie a bit, although, and the pinnacle of the Obsidian Order, Enabran Tain (Paul Dooley), explains to an investigating Bashir that Garak has an unimaginable present for obfuscation, and that the majority of his lies have a seed of fact. 

Ultimately we study that Tain was Garak’s father (although he by no means admitted it publicly as a result of Garak was illegitimate), and he was as merciless as one would possibly count on. In actual fact, Garak has a extreme case of claustrophobia that doubtless got here from Tain locking him in a closet for hours at a time as a baby. Nonetheless, it is clear that every one he is ever wished was to earn his father’s approval. So whereas Garak has accomplished some fairly terrible issues, he was raised by one of the terrible folks within the galaxy and did not actually know something totally different till he was despatched into exile and bought to know Bashir and the opposite people of Deep House 9.

Bashir helps Garak study to be a greater individual, to some extent, with a bit extra consideration and empathy. He begins doing issues to assist others even at his personal expense, like serving to Quark’s Cardassian dissident ex-girlfriend escape. By having lunch collectively as soon as per week for years, the Cardassian and the human begin rubbing off on each other. Within the season 3 episode “The Die is Forged,” Bashir tells Miles that Garak has gotten him to consider lunch as “form of enviornment for philosophical debate.” Many buddies won’t ever problem each other like Bashir and Garak do, however their back-and-forth pushes them each to be extra full, advanced folks.

So Bashir helps Garak develop into a greater individual and develop significant relationships, however what does the great physician get out of it — moreover the enjoyable of attempting to determine the wily Cardassian? Nicely, together with the mind exercise, Garak really helps Bashir develop a little bit of survival intuition and sharpens his espionage abilities. Within the episode “Our Man Bashir,” wherein the 2 characters get caught in Bashir’s James Bond-esque holosuite program with out security protocols engaged, Bashir even stops Garak from doubtlessly killing different crew members with the intention to survive himself by taking pictures Garak, grazing him. For the primary time Bashir proves himself as doubtlessly harmful as Garak, and it raises him within the spy’s esteem. It is form of humorous, but it surely additionally works out for Bashir in the long run as a result of he later finally ends up coping with Starfleet’s personal model of the Obsidian Order, Part 31, and Garak’s robust classes assist him endure.

Bashir and Garak’s understanding of the world is greatest proven by means of their conversations about literature. Garak prefers Cardassian epics the place folks dwell devoted lives in service to the state, whereas Bashir appreciates mysteries and tragedies like Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar.” Garak can not perceive that one, nevertheless, as a result of he deduced so early on that Brutus would betray Caesar. Bashir tries to clarify that the tragedy lies in the concept Caesar couldn’t think about that his greatest pal would attempt to kill him, and Garak is amused, saying that as an alternative of tragedy, it’s farce. In Garak’s world, these closest to you might be probably to stab you within the again. However he learns to belief Bashir, and vice-versa, which is a strong factor. 

All through “Deep House 9,” there’s a good bit of flirtation between Garak and Bashir, but it surely’s by no means absolutely acted upon as a result of TV within the ’90s simply wasn’t prepared for decent homosexual alien loving. Robinson considered Garak as “sexually ambiguous” and believed his motivation for attending to know Bashir was initially sexual, as he advised TrekMovie.com:

“In that very first scene when he meets Dr. Bashir it is clear as a bell — and this was my alternative — that he was sexually drawn to this handsome younger Starfleet physician. And though they did not observe that up with an explicitly homosexual character, that ambiguity about Garak remained. And it was acceptable for what they’d written about his ambiguity, is he a tailor, a spy, what’s he?”

Whereas Robinson says that he was by no means advised to tone it down, producer Rick Berman additionally notoriously saved Garak from being brazenly queer on the collection. Within the yr since, nevertheless, Siddig and Robinson have carried out fanfiction collectively for the YouTube channel SidCity, and within the readings Garak and Bashir are romantically concerned. (The 2 actors are good buddies in actual life.) In season 5 of “Star Trek: Decrease Decks,” alternate universe variations of Garak and the Bashir hologram are married to at least one one other, and the actors reprised their roles (in cartoon kind). It was deeply satisfying for followers who had at all times wished to see them collectively as a romantic couple, however did not make any assumptions or adjustments to the unique “Deep House 9” timeline, making it form of an ideal strategy to say goodbye to those two deeply sophisticated characters. 

Even for those who’re not a fan of “Garashir” (because the pairing is named), it is inconceivable to disclaim the ability of their friendship. Garak was not like every other protagonist in “Star Trek” — a morally ambiguous alien with an allergy to honesty — however he and Starfleet’s most excellent physician in some way managed a bond as deep as every other within the franchise. “Star Trek” is about discovering widespread floor and seeing ourselves in each other, and Garak and Bashir are its strongest, greatest examples of that concept.