Coming this Fall. Keeping up with the Cardassians.
Very important, IMO:
This is the first episode where we see Dukat express a desire for Kira, something that would return many times in the future, perhaps seen at its most forceful in the fourth season episode “Return to Grace” and the sixth season episode “A Time to Stand”. In this episode however, his attempt to impress her is treated humorously, something which displeased Nana Visitor. According to Visitor, “I would have liked my character to make the point that only a few years earlier, Dukat’s wanting me would have meant that he could have had me, and I wouldn’t have been able to do a thing about it. So it shouldn’t have been seen as a ‘cute’ moment. It was actually a horrifying moment, one that would make Kira feel disgust and panic. To Kira, Dukat is Hitler. She’s not ever going to get over that. She can never forgive him, and that is important to me. Kira may have started to see Cardassians as individuals, but she will always hate Dukat.” (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) In subsequent episodes, Dukat’s longing for Kira would take on a much less humorous tone.
(from Memory Alpha)
That’s just it. Garak is the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, and Spy.
Dukat losing his access codes is full of schadenfreude, isn’t it
I’m not sure how much Nana’s disapproval influenced the writer’s but I’m glad they chose the route they did. It’s wonderful to hear about the actor’s take on their characters.
And Garak calls Dukat out on his stupid posturing for Kira! Huzzah!
(though at the same time, I get Nana Visitor’s point about the problematic nature of the humor of that moment)
This episode had an extremely difficult gestation. According to Ira Steven Behr, “It was one of those back-breaking, horrible, horrible experiences,” although he does acknowledge that “it was terrific at the end.” The original pitch by Mike Krohn was intended as a bottle show, and while the basic man-against-machine element of the plot was fine, the problem, according to Ronald D. Moore, was in trying to find a way “to make the jeopardy intriguing, to find the inner story.” By the time of production, virtually every writer on the staff had had a go at the script, but every single draft was rejected by Michael Piller. According to Behr, Piller called him at 8:00am on a Monday morning to tell him, “I hate to say this Ira, but I’m not buying any of it – it’s not working.” In the end, after much work, the staff finally got together a script which Piller approved, and the episode was green-lit, but even then, there were more problems. According to Behr, “The writing process turned out as painful and disgusting as we thought it would be.” However, he does acknowledge that “in the end, it turned out solid, with some nice twists and some great stuff for Garak and Dukat, and the paired up teams.”
I know there’s no money in the future (though there’s latinum), but in this kind of episode I can’t help but think of the cost of repairs for all of the damage done. 
I think it shows in the pacing of the episode. While I think there’s some really good character development I feel like it drags a bit
I forgot that it was hinted that Garak had something to do with Dukat’s father’s death. No wonder the animosity. I always thot they were rivals because of Dukat was a patriot and Garak an outcast.
Replicators.
You walk in there. Suck the damage up and spit out a new wall, table, console, whutevers.
Yeah it’s much more than that, that… animosity is almost too tame? … whatever it is is particularly intense. Making it personal, beyond their political differences (whatever they may be), must contribute to that
And time? Think of all the things people could have been doing instead of repairing these things
That greenish smoke can’t be good for them
OK that fusion reactor overload into the shields looked pretty cool
Spockbrow It has always been easier to destroy than create.
McCoyfume Not anymore. According to myth, the Earth was created in 6 days. Now watch out! Here comes Genesis. We’ll do it for you in 6 minutes!!
thanks for joining me, 'talos 
Lady D mentioned that the next episode turned her off DS9 for half a season, so I’m facing it with a bit of trepidation
I’m blind frakkin. You’ll have to enjoy it for the both of us.
Well here’s a still of part of it
it was an effect that stood up better than some of the others I’ve seen recently
What is next? … Ooohhh, Meridian. Ugh!
Here ya go. I’ll leave it to a writer to explain it better:
“Meridian” is based on Brigadoon, a musical about a magical Scottish village that appears only once every one hundred years. Co-Executive Producer Ira Steven Behr, an admirer of Brigadoon, confessed to originating the idea about making an episode based on the musical. Of his idea to do a Star Trek show based on Brigadoon, Behr says “I am a moron.”