The Massive Continuity of Ducks

philosopherking1887:

setacourse4home:
kiranxrys:
kiranxrys:
S05E14 ’In Purgatory’s Shadow’
ok can I talk about this moment for a second here because I have too many thoughts to keep them in the tags. I’ve always felt like what makes garak and julian’s relationship so special is the trust between them and this scene really just exemplifies that for me? garak comes to trust julian in a way we don’t really see him trusting anyone else. there’s something so powerful about that.
not only in this scene is he okay with julian hearing one of his greater personal secrets (that tain was his father) but one of his deepest emotional secrets too - his desire to have a family who loved him, how hard he tried and what he gave up only for tain to betray him. but when tain asks him whether anyone else is there, garak says “there’s no one else but you and me”. like to garak, julian is not a dangerous outsider but almost a part of/an extension of himself.
he could’ve easily asked julian to leave and we know that he would’ve right away, but he doesn’t. maybe he even wants julian to be there with him and hear the truth. that level of trust is so strong, and so difficult for someone like garak. and that depth of emotional honesty is what always makes their relationship so beautiful to me, makes even small moments like these so compelling to watch.
I kinda wanna double-down on how important this little exchange is:
The way Garak looks over his shoulder at Bashir when he first answers Tain has always made my heart hurt.
Garak is answering Tain’s question, but he’s speaking to Bashir. So it’s not just that he didn’t ask Bashir to leave – it’s also Garak is asking Bashir to stay.
He not only doesn’t mind; he wants Bashir there. And that, as you say, is an ultimate trust – and so beautiful and so compelling.
In another reblog branch, @copperplatebeech wrote:
To me this is the most poignant moment in all of Trek, any series. I enjoy a good Garashir fic as much as the next fan but this is the onscreen moment that crystallizes both who Garak is, how he was wounded, and in a perfect understated way what Julian is to him. He’s inside the defenses, he’s a witness. And the way Siddig played the scene telegraphs that Julian knows it.
And in a reply, @beacuzz-i-can wrote:
if you look closely you cam see Julian nodding. “Yes I’ll stay”
I looked at the full script for “In Purgatory’s Shadow” on the Star Trek Minutiae website, and some of the notes/instructions between the lines really took me by surprise.
TAIN: Are you alone?
Garak looks over at Bashir, then back at Tain.
GARAK: Yes. There’s no one here but you and me.
Garak sits down next to him, unsure of what to do.
So, first of all, Bashir’s little nod wasn’t in the script. I’m pretty sure that’s something Sid and Andy worked out between themselves that not only added a depth of significance that wasn’t present in the script, but actually contradicted a later direction:
GARAK: I’ll do as you ask, on one condition.
Garak hesitates. He looks over at Bashir. Whatever he has to say, he doesn’t want Bashir to hear it, but he doesn’t have the luxury of waiting.
GARAK: (continuing) That you don’t ask me this favor as a mentor, or a superior officer… but as a father, asking his son.
Reading that really threw me for a loop, as I’m sure you can imagine. Like… what? If Garak didn’t want Bashir to be there listening, why didn’t he tell him not to come in with him, or gesture that he should leave when Tain asked if they were alone?
I’m guessing that Sid and Andy decided that direction didn’t make any sense and agreed to change the significance of Bashir staying for Tain’s shri-tal and Garak revealing their relationship to him. It couldn’t be just “he was there and Garak didn’t really want to tell him, but it was too late to shoo him out and he decided it was OK if he knew.” They made acting choices that turned Garak’s look over his shoulder at Bashir from “uhhh… you just gonna sit there while I hear my dad’s last words?” to asking him to stay, and turned “There’s no one else but you and me” into a signal that Bashir is “not a dangerous outsider but almost a part of/an extension of himself,” as @kiranxrys put it. The actors are the ones who made this into a deeply intimate moment in which Garak deliberately chooses to reveal to Bashir his most closely held secret, the one that has shaped his whole life and caused him so much pain.

conceptadecency:

iowacornfarm:
“Doctor, I’m fine.”
“You said you had a sore throat and you can’t take it back. Open up.”
“Can’t you use your medical tricorder?”
“Personal touch is best sometimes. Now stop talking and open your mouth.”
“Doctor, really, I don…” (the rest is unintelligible)
“Say ‘ahhhhh’.”
“…”
“Garak…”
“Ahhhhhhhhh.”
“Swallow.”
(Garak swallows.)
“Does it hurt when I press here?”
“Really, Doctor, those ridges on my neck are rather personal…ow! Yes, it hurts.”
“Hmmmmm.”
“What?”
“You’re definitely sick.”
“I didn’t need an invasive examination from you to tell me that.”
“You have tonsillitis brought on by Kinvarian fever. You need antibiotics, hot tea with honey, and to rest your throat.”
“Rest my throat.”
“Yep. No talking for twenty-four hours.”
“But Doctor…”
“Ah ah ah. Shhhh.”
“Doctor, I…”
“Keep talking and it’ll be forty-eight hours..”
“…”
“Oh, don’t look at me like that. It’s for your own good.”
“…”
“Garak!”
“…”
“Fine. I’ll come over to your quarters tonight and read to you from The Never Ending Sacrifice, how about that?”