Synopsis: Kai Winn finds a friend on Deep Space Nine, while Lt. Dax and Lt. Commander Worf find an even more unexpected ally on Cardassia Prime.
This episode can be seen as illustrations of the ongoing relationship between the Logos-driven rational conscious ego and the Eros-driven irrational unconscious that Carl (C. G.) Jung called the union of opposites, as part of the individuation process.
In “Strange Bedfellows” On Cardassia Prime the Dominion forms an alliance with the Breen Confederacy, making the Cardassian leader Legate Damar very uncomfortable. Meanwhile, on Deep Space Nine Kai Winn develops an intimate relationship with someone she believes is a well-read Bajoran farmer, Anjohl Tennan, but who really is the Cardassian Dukat altered to appear Bajoran. Winn tells him that she experienced a vision from the Prophets. She asks for the Orb of Prophecy be brought to her and when it does not speak to her, Anjohl reveals to her that the visions that she has been seeing are not from the Prophets, but from their enemies, the Pah-wraiths. Realizing that if she truly wanted to follow the way of the Prophets she would have to give up her political power, Winn decides to follow the path of the Pah-wraiths instead. Meanwhile, after the Dominion allowed 500,000 Cardassians to die, Damar decides to seek vengeance on the Dominion and the Breen. He frees Lt. Ezri Dax and Lt. Commander Worf from the cell in which they waited to be executed, so that they might return to Deep Space Nine with a message that the Federation has a friend in him.
In this episode, when Winn finally admits that the Prophets never spoke to her and understands that in order to try to follow their high ideals that she will need to give up what she truly wants, she decides to open herself to the influence of the Pah-wraiths. This can be analogized to when the conscious ego decides to allow bits of unconscious material to integrate into itself to become more flexible. Similarly, when Damar realizes that the Dominion, to whom he has been loyal is not honoring him, he decides to do something that normally he would never do, to help the other side, whom he believes is closer aligned to his desires. This can also be compared to the conscious ego acknowledging bits of unconscious material into itself to become stronger and the psyche more whole. Jung wrote: Psychology does not know what good and evil are in themselves; it knows them only as judgments about relationships. ‘Good’ is what seems suitable, acceptable, or valuable from a certain point of view; evil is its opposite” (1951/1968, p. 53 [CW 9ii, para. 97]). This suggests that when a point of view changes, then what is acceptable or valuable also changes. The changes in points of view can be compared to the ongoing changing relationship between the conscious ego and the unconscious.
Reference:
Jung, C.G. (1968). Aion: Researches into the phenomenology of the self. In R.F.C. Hull (Trans.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (Vol. 9ii). Princeton University Press. (Original work published in 1951)
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