"In the Pale Moonlight" is the 143rd episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the 19th of the sixth season.
In this episode, Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) works with former spy Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson) to trick the Romulans into joining the war against the Dominion.
The episode is told in flashback, as Sisko records a personal log entry on the events of the past two weeks.
At Garak's request, Sisko secures the release of a forger named Grathon Tolar from a Klingon prison.
To obtain an authentic Cardassian data rod, he is forced to trade a large quantity of bio-mimetic gel, a rare, dangerous and strictly regulated material, over Dr. Bashir's protests.
As Sisko faces the possibility that his actions may drive the Romulans to side with the Dominion, he learns that Vreenak's ship was destroyed en route home.
At the end of his log entry, Sisko wrestles with having condoned forgery, selling prohibited materials, bribery, and murder for the good of the Alpha Quadrant.
They began working on an idea in which Jake Sisko discovered some incriminating information regarding Shakaar, the leader of the Bajoran government.
Writer Michael Taylor wrote a screenplay which saw Jake Sisko attempting to interview Garak, but following the evasiveness of the Cardassian, he realises that something is amiss.
Sisko tells him to back off from Garak, but Jake's investigation reveals that the duo were attempting to bring the Romulans into the war against the Dominion.
[3] Ira Steven Behr added the final line of the episode, "I can live with it", as a reference to the 1962 film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
The script had called for Sisko to get more and more drunk during those sequences as he descends into the flashbacks; Lobl had expected the studio to pull that idea before filming, but they did not.
Lobl also had Sisko begin to remove various parts of his uniform at the same time, which he felt demonstrated that the character was baring his soul about the story.
[4] "In the Pale Moonlight" featured several recurring characters and actors, with Combs as Weyoun, Biggs as Damar and Robinson as Garak.
[6] Executive producer Rick Berman said that when creating Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, he had to obey the rules as set out by franchise creator Gene Roddenberry, and compared the behavior of normal Starfleet officers to that of Boy Scouts.
[9] Among first-run syndication series, it was placed second for the week behind Xena: Warrior Princess, but ahead of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
[13] Lexi Watson ranked "In the Pale Moonlight" in first place out of the whole franchise for Digital Spy in 2016, saying: "Do [Sisko's] good intentions matter?
[15] Frank M. Robinson in his 1999 book, Science Fiction of the 20th Century, describes "In the Pale Moonlight" as: "Captain Sisko is forced to betray his ideals to save the lives of millions on a galactic scale at the cost of one petty criminal and one ambassador of an unfriendly nation.
[6] In 2003, Mark Jones and Lance Parkin said in Beyond the Final Frontier: An Unauthorised Review of Star Trek that the episode was "good" but "not half as shocking and dangerous as some fans would have you believe".
[18] In 2015, Geek.com recommended this episode as "essential watching" for their abbreviated Star Trek: Deep Space Nine binge-watching guide.
[19] In 2016, Radio Times ranked the Sisko's deletion of his logs the 27th greatest moment of all Star Trek film and television.
[23] SciFiNow ranked this one of the top ten episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, remarking that "This could be the show’s finest hour".
[35] In 2019, Screen Rant ranked a character introduced in this episode, Vreenak, as the third most important Romulan of the Star Trek franchise.