



kindakinda NSFW g/b behind cut
Example of Star Trek Addressing Social Issues - Mental Illness
This scene got me right in the gut when I first saw it. It was revealed earlier in the episode that Garak suffers from extreme claustrophobia, experiencing a severe attack just a few scenes before this one. I was already expecting Martok and Worf to dismiss Garak’s mental illness, especially because the Klingon Empire prides its people on physical strength. I was waiting for them to call him a coward, not “getting over it” like I’ve heard so many times in my own life about mental illness. But as seen above that’s not what happened, the exact opposite does. Its moments like this that make me love Star Trek, even for all its flaws. Sometimes I get to see past my conditioned reaction of the worst, and get to see the best in people instead.
TDLR; Star Trek may be about aliens in the future, but it connects to me on a human level - more than most modern shows do today.
This also surprised me. I so frequently skip Klingon episodes because I find Klingons just do the same thing over and over, and I expected to see more of the same stuff here. That people who value actually going to war recognize a mental battle really shocked (and then delighted) me.

My Baby Bean Bag Garak, caught in his regnar footie pjs, accompanied by lemonsweetie ‘s rocketship-clad matching BBB Bashir.
Yay, iscribble.
from a stitch in time - top to bottom: garak, barkan, palandine, pythas. (not that there’s much difference, since all cardassians i draw end up looking identical)
also sjmillerart is basically responsible for pretty much all elements of character design here, especially the super-trendy bamarren uniform