Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season Six Rewatch

“A Time to Stand”

The opening visual effects shot of the smashed Starfleet is cool, but a bit of a letdown after the final awesome shot of Starfleet assembled at the end of “Call to Arms.” (I can more easily forgive this on a rewatch, knowing that an awesome battle is coming, just a few episodes down the road.)
It’s a surprise and an interesting twist that Starfleet has been getting their butts kicked. “Three months of bloody slaughter” — yowza!
I like the Garak Bashir scene discussing Bashir’s genetically-engineered nature. Later seasons have somewhat dropped the focus on the Garak-Bashir friendship, and we hadn’t yet seen Garak’s response to this revelation, so it’s nice to get a bit of that here. (I love Garak’s “not so boyish anymore, doctor” gentle dig.) I like how the episode continues to play up Bashir’s genetically-enhanced intellect later as well, showing his ability to do huge calculations in his head.
I like seeing Martok’s easy rapport with Sisko — these two warriors respect one another — and the rest of the DS9 crew.
I love seeing the dynamics between Weyoun, Dukat, Damar and Kira. Jake, meanwhile, is rather staggeringly naive.
We get to see the stock footage of the Regula One model again! But it makes more sense as a staircase with a military function than it did as the visual for a Federation penal facility in “Blaze of Glory.”
We get a great new character: Admiral William Ross!! I really like Ross. It’s nice to, for once, see a Starfleet Admiral who is competent and not evil.
It’s nice to see Joseph Sisko again. He’s not essential to the plot, but it’s a nice touch that they allow us to catch up with this character.
I love the idea of using the captured Dominion ship from “The Ship”! That’s a great continuity touch and makes that episode retroactively more important. I love that the Dominion ship has no chairs, no viewscreen, no replicators, and no infirmary.
What a creepy scene between a power-drunk Dukat and Kira in his office. Dukat really DOES think he’s going to sweep her off her feet!
I like the nice little bit of combat we see towards the end between Sisko and co. on the captured Dominion ship and the USS Centaur. I like seeing that new class of starship, introduced in First Contact. (Though it does raise the question why we don’t see any Sovereign class ships, like the new Enterprise, in any of the Starfleet battle-fleets.)
The episode ends on a great cliffhanger. I love how these Dominion War episodes are able to be episodic — telling a satisfyingly complete story — while still leading smoothly from one into the next.

“Rocks and Shoals”

WHAT an episode!! This is one of my very favorite DS9 episodes! (It has a similar basic set-up as “The Ship,” but it’s much better executed.) The episode looks great, with a terrific use of a very cool-looking location. And the heartbreaking ending packs a hell of a punch.
I love that this picks up right from the cliffhanger ending of the previous episode. I love the cool visual effects shot of the damaged ship heading into the nebula… and then the even cooler shot of the ship falling into the planet’s atmosphere!
I adore Phil Morris as the Jem’Hadar Third, Remata’klan. (After seeing Babu from Seinfeld as Bashir’s dad, here comes Jackie Chiles!! By the way, Phil Morris also appeared as a Cadet in Star Trek III, in a terrific scene asking Kirk if there will be a reception for them when they get back home.) What a noble bad-ass this Jem’Hadar Third is. This exchange always gives me chills: “And if we cannot re-establish communications? “Then we will hold this world for the Dominion… until we die.” I also love the scene in which the Third refuses to give the name of the Jem’Hadar who fired to the Vorta. (“Only I discipline the men. That is the order of things.”) It’s fascinating to see his conviction that the Vorta doesn’t need to earn his loyalty — that he had it from birth. “That is the order of things.” When Sisko begs him to reconsider (“Do you really want to give up your life for the order of things?”), the Third’s response is so heartbreaking: “It is not my life to give up, Captain. And it never was.”
I love the long-shot of the Dominion ship sinking into the water while our crew crawl up on shore.
I like the reference to “Empok Nor,” with Nog’s still not trusting Garak because of the events of that episode.
We get another wonderfully slimy, condescending Vorta, Keevan. He is so dastardly in the callous way he sells his men to Sisko, so he can be taken prisoner and survive.
I like how Sisko subtly plays the Third — surprising him with his knowledge of the “obedience brings victory” slogan, telling him of a Jem’Hadar who killed his Vorta, making HIM promise to honor the Vorta’s assurance that he and Bashir would be set free after they talk to the Vorta, etc.
What an ending, as the Third knowingly leads his men to their death, because he feels any other action would be dishonorable.
Meanwhile, the B-Story back on the station is every bit as awesome as the main Sisko-Jem’Hadar story. I love the device of the two montages of Kira’s morning routine at the start and end of the episode. The image of the Vedek hanging herself in protest is haunting. It’s fascinating to see how easily Kira and Odo have slid into the role of collaborators, even as their decisions all made sense (both to them, and to we as audience members) at the time! It’s also nice to see Jake being a little less naive than he was in the premiere, and actually asking some pointed questions to the two of them.

“Sons and Daughters”

This is a solid episode but easily the weakest of the Dominion War arc in my opinion. It’s great to see Worf’s son Alexander brought onto DS9 and to get some resolution to what he’s up to and what his relationship is with his father Worf these days. But Alexander is just such a buffoon that this episode is often painful to watch, and the drama isn’t nearly as interesting or intense as in the other Dominion War episodes. Worf DID abandon Alexander, so there’s potential for real father-son drama there, but the episode doesn’t really land any of that for me. And the resolution between Worf and Alexander at the end is week. What exactly changes between them after Alexander locks himself in the damaged corridor?
It undermines everything that the new actor playing Alexander is TERRIBLE (though, to be fair, he’s not well-served by the script). Hilariously, Marc Worden is the fifth person to play Alexander, following Jon Steuer in TNG’s “Reunion,” Brian Bonsall throughout all the rest of Alexander’s appearances on TNG, James Sloyan (as the fully adult Alexander from the future in TNG’s “Firstborn”), and Richard Martinez in the photo Worf unpacked in “The Way of the Warrior” (and which he also looks at in this very episode).
It’s nice to see Martok still in command of the Rotarran. We get some interesting new Klingon crewmembers introduced in this episode, though it’s a big letdown to me that they didn’t bring back ANY of the great Rotarran crewmembers introduced in “Soldiers of the Empire”!!
I like that Sisko and Martok bet over who will set foot on Deep Space Nine first.
I like continuing to see Worf’s close bond and friendship with Martok, and that he can talk honestly to Martok about Alexander.
We get some fun action in the fight between the Rotarran and the Jem’Hadar.
It’s great to see Ziyal back on DS9, and of course the way Dukat uses Ziyal’s presence to continue his imaginary relationship with Kira is suitably gross and creepy.

“Behind the Lines”

Things get back on track with this spectacular episode.
I like the ritual the Defiant’s crew has created around the drained power cells.
It’s fun to see how Kira is fomenting unrest on the station by pitting the Cardassians and the Jem’Hadar against one another. It’s also juicy and interesting to see the growing schism between Kira and Odo, centered so strongly in their different characters. He wants order, and is also feeling trapped by both his position on the station’s ruling council and his feelings for Kira.
It’s great to see the Female Changeling return! This is the first we’ve seen of her since “Broken Link.” I love the scene when she first visits Odo’s quarters, and we see how he has taken her advice from “The Search” to heart, at the same time as he’s rejected his people as a whole. (“To become a thing is to know a thing.”) I absolutely love this whole story of how the Female Changeling slowly seduces him (both literally and figuratively!), slowing wearing down his objections to linking with her. I love the scene towards the end of the episode in which Odo asks the Female Changeling all sorts of questions about their people that I, as a fan, also wanted answers to!!
It’s great to see Sisko get a well-deserved promotion, and to see how he wrestles with how that promotion pulls him off of the Defiant’s bridge and off of the front lines. (He too is now “behind the lines,” giving the episode’s title a delicious double-meaning.) It’s cool that DS9 has allowed Sisko to rise through the ranks (something not done on the other Trek shows).
It’s cool to see Dax step smoothly into command of the Defiant!
Damar has become such a great scoundrel!! He’s come so far from being a glorified extra in his first appearance. I love how he throws in Kira’s face how much time Odo has been spending with the Female shapeshifter, when Kira walks into Odo’s office and finds Damar there instead.
“I’ve just shared a bottle of kanar… with Damar!” So funny! I love that whole scene when Quark warns the gang of Damar’s plan to take down the minefield. (Rom is in top comedic form there too. “What do you think, Rom?” “I’m glad it wasn’t me!”) Also, after Quark’s speech about how this occupation really wasn’t so bad in “A Time to Stand,” it’s nice to hear him admit, here, that he doesn’t like the Cardassians or the Dominion and that he wants the Federation back so he can sell root beer again.
And that cliffhanger — WOW!!! Love it!! Rom is arrested, there’s nothing to stop Damar from taking down the minefield, and Odo has turned to the Dark Side. Spectacular.

“Favor the Bold”

This is a magnificent episode, as the show is firing on all thrusters leading into the culmination of this arc with “The Sacrifice of Angels”.
I like the opening bit of action with the Defiant and the Rotarran.
“Engage, retreat, engage, retreat, that’s becoming our favorite tune.” (I like hearing O’Brien say “engage,” like Picard!)
“We’re going to retake Deep Space Nine” — YEAH! That’s a great opening!
The Odo-Female Changeling story continues, and I love every minute. (My only teeny quibble is that this episode pulls back a bit from the cliffhanger ending of the previous episode, in which Odo seemed totally turned to the Dark Side and uninterested in the lives of solids. Here he’s a bit more conflicted/a bit more himself.) “So that is how the solids experience intimacy” — YUCK! I love how the Female Changeling continues to use her wiles to wear down Odo in all of his weak spots. (“None of that has anything to do with you! You are a Changeling! You are timeless.”) She goes too far when she talks of breaking the solids of their love for freedom. I love the moment, towards the end of the episode, when she says to Weyoun that returning Odo to the Great Link means more to her than the Alpha Quadrant itself. That is an important moment!!!
I love the Rom-Quark-Leeta scene in the holding cells. I love this funny Rom-Quark exchange, when Rom tells Quark that “The fate of the Alpha Quadrant rests in your hands — billions and billions of people are counting on you,” and Quark replies: “Boy, are they going to be disappointed.” I love what a badass hero Rom is here!! First when he demands of Quark that “you’ve got to finish what I started” and then, when Quark protests that he doesn’t want to die, Rom tells him firmly: “If that’s what’s written, that’s what’s written.” This is an interesting peek at something approaching religion or faith in Ferengi philosophy! What’s also interesting is that Rom actually DOES convince Quark here!
The Ziyal-Dukat stuff continues to be heartbreakingly twisted. I love the moment in which Ziyal practically begs her father: “show us… that you’re capable of mercy.”
Kira just kicks all kinds of ass here, figuratively and literally. She’s amazing telling Damar “You don’t like my attitude, Damar? You’re welcome to try to change it!” (I love the Damar-Quark exchange that follows, with Damar commenting to Quark: “I don’t know what Dukat sees in that woman,” to which Quark replies: “Then you need to have your eyes examined.”) I love how uncomfortable Damar is when Dukat tells him to talk to Kira for him. I love how Marc Alaimo delivers the line “It’s a matter of some… delicacy.” I absolutely love the moment when Ziyal stands her ground and angrily retorts to Damar: “It should be obvious, even to you, Damar, that I am NOT a true daughter of Cardassia!” And then, of course, when Kira DOES finally wipe the floor with Damar? Mwah, beautiful!
Damar is foolish to talk to Quark about his secret plans for taking down the minefield… but on the other hand, what other Ferengi in the galaxy would act as Quark does here?
I love that MORN is the one to deliver the message to Sisko! (And it’s nice to see Jake being useful by being the one who suggests this idea to Kira.)
It’s a beautiful and super-important moment (esp. in light of what’s about to happen at the end of “Sacrifice of Angels”) when Sisko waxes poetic to Admiral Ross about Bajor. I love hearing Sisko talk about how he’ll never say goodbye to Bajor, and that he plans to build a house there some-day. (This is so in-character for Sisko, by the way — he’s a builder.) “When I go home… it will be to Bajor.” I get chills when he says that. (It’s as critical a moment for the show as the Female Changeling’s comment about returning Odo to the Great Link, which I noted above!!)
Nog’s now an ensign!! Look how far he’s come!
I love the visual effect shot when we see Starfleet start to move out. It’s cool to see Garak on the bridge of the Defiant.
1200 Dominion ships versus 600 Starfleet vessels? What a cliffhanger!!

“Sacrifice of Angels”

What a spectacular episode.
We get what is probably the very best space battle Trek has ever done. Extraordinary visual effects and a thrilling pay-off to this Dominion War arc.
But this episode isn’t just about the space battle. It is jammed full of incredible character moments, one after the other. And the ending — it hurts.
I love Dukat’s “to the conquerers of the Federation!” toast with himself, clinking his two glasses together. I love Weyoun’s declaration that “the key to holding the Federation is Earth,” and how, while he wants to eradicate its population, Dukat doesn’t. “A true victory is to make your enemy see they were wrong to oppose you in the first place. To make them acknowledge your greatness.” And he goes on: “Perhaps the biggest disappointment of my life is that the Bajoran people still refuse to see how lucky they were to have me as their liberator.” Wow, has there ever been a more perfect expression of Dukat’s specific narcissistic psychopathy?? (And I love the scene’s little button. Weyoun: “Then you kill them?” Dukat: “Only if it’s necessary!”) I also love all the scenes in which we see Dukat’s playing with Sisko’s baseball. (That he hands it back to Sisko at the end of the episode is so perfect.)
All of the Odo-Female Changeling stuff is so Return of the Jedi!! He’s watching out his viewport into space, while she tempts and taunts him. “You cannot help her, Odo… you cannot help any of the solids… it’s too late for them.” It is perfectly fitting that the one miscalculation the Female Changeling makes is when she sentences Kira to death. It’s interesting that she sees her mistake right away; and stops any further pushing of Odo at that point. (She’s still confident in her ultimate victory. “Odo will join us someday… it’s only a matter of time.”)
The Defiant’s being the ONLY ship that breaks through the lines — at least at first — is silly, but I can live with it for the drama.
Quark being able to take down two Jem’Hadar soldiers is also silly — but it’s so satisfying to see him be a hero that I can live with it!
I love the cool shoot-out in the Cargo Bay (this episode is so packed!), and Odo’s arrival is so satisfying. (“Never underestimate the element of surprise.”)
I adore the shocking moment in which the minefield is detonated!! Rom and Sisko were both too late! It’s such a great “oh shit, what now??” moment.
I love the Klingons arriving just in time to bail out Starfleet!!
And then we get to the amazing scene in which Sisko convinces the Prophets to help him destroy the Dominion fleet traveling through the wormhole. I have heard some complain that this is a cop-out, a deus ex Machina moment. But to me it works so perfectly. There ARE gods on this show!! Gods who DO have an interest in protecting the Bajoran people (for whatever reason). So this development feels perfectly right for what has been established on this show. (Sisko is absolutely correct: despite their denials, the Prophets ARE concerned with corporeal matters. They’ve sent Bajor orbs and an Emissary.) I love when one of the Prophets questions Sisko by saying “you desire to end the game.” That’s an awesome call-back to Sisko’s using baseball to teach them about linear time, from the pilot! (Also interesting: the Prophets call Sisko “belligerent… aggressive… adversarial” just like they did in the pilot. It’s another nice call-back, but maybe something more. Sisko IS being those things this time — in contrast to his calm behavior in the pilot. Since the Prophets exist outside of time, is Sisko’s behavior here why they called him that back in the pilot??)
And then we get to this key moment: “A penance must be exacted” — “The Sisko is of Bajor… but he will find no rest there.” That moment gives me chills.
I love the moment when the Defiant emerges from the wormhole… alone. Weyoun’s “time to start packing!” line is funny… and I must admit I have some sympathy even for evil Dukat, as we see his horrified and mystified reaction. (“Victory was within our grasp!”)
Ziyal’s final scene is magnificently heartbreaking. I love that, in this final moment, she stands her ground to her father. (Dukat: “These people are our enemies!” Ziyal: “They are not my enemies.”) I’ve seen this episode so many times, and each time I see Damar’s murder of Ziyal, it is still shocking and horrifying. I hate to see this character go. But I am glad that, between this and Sisko’s “penance,” the writers found ways to make the Federation’s victory here also feel — to the characters and the audience — like it came with a real cost. When we see Garak looking around on the Promenade for Ziyal, while everyone else is celebrating, it’s so tragic.
I love Nog’s “actually, you’ll be working for me!” reunion with his father!
Dukat’s mental break, and his transformation from a loathsome character to a figure of pity in those final moments, is an interesting twist and yet another surprising journey for this very complicated character. Lots more to come. (Personally, I think smart, evil, powerful Dukat — as see in this arc of episodes — is my favorite version of the character. I don’t fully love where they take him from here… but it IS an interesting choice. More to discuss in future episodes…)
What an incredible end to an incredible run of episodes!!! And I’m glad that the ending clarifies that the war is NOT over, even though the Federation has achieved a major victory…
The show enters a lower gear for the next run of episodes, as we shift back into episodic storytelling. It’s a bit disappointing after seeing how amazing this fully-serialized batch of episodes was, but the studio was dead-set against serialization, so getting what we got here was a huge victory by the writers. I try to remind myself to be thankful we got this incredible serialized story, rather than regretful we didn’t get more. Luckily I think we get a lot of very solid episodes coming up, which softens the sting of stepping back into the episodic format.

“You are Cordially Invited”

It’s hard to top the climax of the Dominion War arc, but this episode is a strong follow-up. It’s very cool to see, for the first time ever on Star Trek, the marriage of two series regulars!! It makes me so happy that the writers allowed Dax and Worf’s relationship to progress like this!
I love the opening shot of all the ships around the station.
It’s great to see Martok promoted! And amusing to see his frustration about it. (And funny to see his curious looks at Sisko’s baseball!)
It’s nice to see Alexander back for this episode. (Martok is VERY kind in how he describes Alexander to Sisko…) After reintroducing Alexander to the story, it makes sense he’d be present at his father’s wedding. (It’s a shame that they didn’t bring back Worf’s human parents… nor anyone from the Enterprise. You’d think Riker and Picard should be participating in Worf’s pre-wedding kal’hyah ritual with his closest male friends… but I can understand of course why the realities of TV production meant no one from TNG was there.)
It’s great to meet Martok’s wife Sirella!! (We’d previously met Martok’s son, so it makes sense to now meet his wife. Mentioning his son does remind me that it’s curious we never saw Martok’s son again after “The Way of the Warrior.” I assume they had a hard time reconciling the jerk that character was there with the awesome dude we’ve seen Martok actually is. Still, that’s a character I’d have loved to have circled back to after we met the real Martok.) I love how smitten Martok is with his wife!
The gag of Bashir and O’Brien’s expecting a raucous Klingon bachelor party and instead being forced to suffer for days (were they relieved of duty for those days??) is funny. I love the moment when the guys all step back, so Bashir finds himself volunteering for the “blood” ceremony! I love O’Brien’s “I’m gonna kill Worf” mantra.
I like the Quark-Jake scene. It’s interesting to see that they’re closer now, after having gone through the occupation together. It’s exciting that Jake has sold his stories, and funny when he admits to Quark that “sold” is just a figure of speech. I also like the Jake-Kira scene, where we see that they too have a different relationship now, after the occupation. They’re more like peers now.
Dax’s party is a hoot. I love Nog’s dancing!
It’s fun to hear Dax reference Captain Shelby! I assume that is Elizabeth Shelby, from “The Best of Both Worlds”!!
It’s interesting to hear that Curzon Dax helped negotiate the Khitomer Accords. I don’t think we’d learned that in “Blood Oath” or any previous Dax-Klingon episodes…
It’s a very funny gag, with Dax finding Odd and Kira in her closet… though I do wish we’d actually seen their conversation, as this is an important moment for those two characters.
The “the wedding is off!” stuff is a bit cliche, but I do like that Worf acts more in the stereotypically female role here, obsessing over the wedding and being the one to (temporarily) call it off. (I wish O’Brien had a joke about how his wedding was cancelled and then un-cancelled too — back in “Data’s Day”! Keiko sadly isn’t in the show much in these later seasons, but it’d have been great for her to have a scene here.)
I love Quark’s description of Worf-Dax’s “he said – she said” fight. I love Bashir and O’Brien’s reaction (“Dinner!”).
We get a great Sisko-Dax “old man” scene when he convinces her to swallow her pride and make things right with Sirella. (It’s weird that we don’t actually see what Dax does to change Sirella’s mind, but then again, this isn’t Sirella’s episode, it’s Dax’s. So the important moment isn’t Sirella changing her mind, it’s when Sisko convinces Dax to change hers… and also when Martok convinces Worf to change his.)
I love the wedding!! I love Sirella’s speech about the Klingon heart. I love Dax and Worf’s blood-red wedding outfits!

“Resurrection”

Ugh, after the amazing Dominion War arc, this is a huge misstep, and easily the weakest of the series’ annual Mirror Universe episodes. It’s a boring, by-0the-numbers story without any real surprises. I find Mirror Bareil’s charms unconvincing, and Kira should be smarter than to be so taken with him. His cover story HAS to be fake because otherwise how could he have gotten that (presumably rare and expensive) technology allowing him to beam between universes?
I like hearing another mention of Captain Boday and his transparent skull.
I’m surprised that an Orb is just hanging out in the shrine on DS9. That, and Bareil’s Orb experience, lead me to ask all sorts of questions. How often to average Bajorans have an Orb experience? I’m surprised that Kira feels an Orb experience isn’t meant to be shared — why is that?
Why isn’t Odo AT ALL present in this episode??? You’d think he should be a huge part of this story of Kira’s falling back into a relationship with Bareil (albeit his MU counterpart).
Why wasn’t the Intendant’s beaming into the station detected? (Bareil’s was.)
I do like the sweet scene when Quark tells Kira that he likes the idea of her with this Bareil… and his warning to her is genuine, because he’s worried about her. It’s great to see a new relationship between these two, after going through the occupation together. (I also love the way Quark berates his workers: “What is this, a union meeting?”)
There’s no real character-based reason for Bareil NOT to stay at the end. It’s just a writerly excuse not to keep him as a regular on the show. I am shocked Kira allows him and the Intendant to hold onto the device that allows them to beam between universes!!! That’s very dumb!!
The only good thing I can say about this episode is that Nana Visitor is amazing. I particularly love the scenes where she plays the Intendant wearing Kira’s uniform. Even though she now looms exactly like normal Kira, there is NO DOUBT that this is the Intendant. It’s an incredible acting achievement by Nana Visitor, that she can change her manner so completely that even when dressed in Kira’s normal outfit it’s so clear that this is a different character. Very cool.

“Statistical Probabilities:

This episode has an interesting idea, exploring what life was like for other people who were illegally genetically engineered, like Bashir was. It’s nice to see the way this season has been exploring this revelation from season five’s “Dr. Bashir, I Presume?”
It seems like a terrible idea for the “Jack Pack”‘s regular therapist to not STAY on DS9 to oversee Bashir’s work with them!
The senior staff chat at the beginning of this episode is very interesting. We get some explanation for the ban on generic tampering, though the idea that parents felt pressured for their children to compare rings hollow in a Federation filled with aliens, like Vulcans, who are smarter and stronger than humans. It seems like the ban is motivated more by fear (of accidentally creating another tyrant like Khan) than it is anything fully rational. The Federation seems to embrace all sorts of other technological advances – they’re not afraid of A.I. – so it’s interesting how in Trek we see this resistance to any sort of alterations/enhancements to an actual human being. (Geordi has his VISOR, but that seems like the exception not the rule – and we don’t see anyone who’s not born blind CHOOSING to have bionic eye-implants to improve their vision…)
Damar is now in charge of Cardassia!! Look how far he’s come!
I love that, here again, the Dominion is using strategy and cunning even more than brute force. Of course Starfleet will accept their offer of peace negotiations. It’s a nice twist that the Jack pack figure out that this is all part of a scheme for the Dominion to get the resources they need to be able to manufacture Ketracel White in the Alpha Quadrant.
I love when they pause the holographic recording to allow us to hear a few snippets of Weyoun speaking “Dominionese” rather than English. (I love getting an occasional acknowledgement that aliens don’t all speak English. However, “Dominionese” sounds silly…)
Bashir’s description of their method of statistical analysis, that gets MORE accurate the farther into the future they project, is reminiscent of the concept of “psychohistory” from Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels!
It’s very interesting that nothing in the episode’s end disputes the Jack Pack’s findings that there is no way for the Federation to win the Dominion War. Nine hundred billion casualties — wow. This is ominous!

“The Magnificent Ferengi”

There’s a great idea at the core of this episode: the sheer fun involved in bringing back most of the best Ferengi characters we’d seen over the course of the season. The actual episode doesn’t quite live up to the comedic potential of that premise, but this is still a fun episode and a nice diversion.
I have sympathy for Quark in the opening, when we see that the crowd in his bar is far more interested in the Starfleet heroes than in hearing about Quark’s business exploits. I like how that leads into Quark’s desire to prove that Ferengi can handle the mission to rescue Moogie from the Dominion without help from anyone else.
It’s great fun to see Rom, Nog, Moofie, Brunt, Gaila, and Lek all together for the mission. (Lek is the only one in the group who hadn’t been well established before. He only had a brief previous appearance in “Ferengi Love Songs.”)
It’s fun to go back to Empok Nor, and also great to see Keevan from “Rocks and Shoals” back.
But the episode’s highlight has to be Iggy Pop as a Vorta! Wowsers! He’s kinda perfect!!
The idea that Quark’s mom gets kidnapped by the Dominion is silly (made only the teensiest bit more plausible because the show had established that she was in a relationship with Grand Nagus Zek), and ultimately it’s unbelievable that these bumbling Ferengi could get the better of a garrison of Jem’Hadar. But I can forgive all of that because the episode is fun.
Wow, it’s interesting to see how Kira sticks her neck out to help Quark! (She convinces Starfleet to let Quark & co. take custody of Keevan.) I love seeing their new relationship following the events of the Dominion Occupation. (Quark did bust Kira out of jail!)

“Waltz”

This episode isn’t entirely successful (and the way the title invites comparison with the magnificent “Duet” means this episode suffers by comparison), but there certainly is a lot of very interesting stuff here. I can’t say that anything the series did with Dukat after “Sacrifice of Angels” was entirely successful. But this certainly was an interesting and unexpected direction in which to take the character — coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs. His conversations with imaginary DS9 characters were fun to see.
The ending is chilling, with Dukat apparently throwing off all shackles of reason and restraint and unleashed as a madman, to wreak havoc across the galaxy. (Dukat swears to burn Bajor to the ground, while Sisko in turn declares that “from now on… it’s him or me.”) Unfortunately, none of his future appearances really capitalized on this idea.
But sticking to just a consideration of this episode, it’s certainly fun to see Dukat and Sisko go at it. We know from Dukat’s conversation with Weyoun in “Sacrifice of Angels” that it’s critical to him to convince his enemies that they were wrong, so it makes sense that Dukat is so obsessed with getting Sisko to see things his way. (When imaginary Damar says to Dukat “You know in your heart he secretly admires you,” it’s almost certainly true that Dukat DOES think that about Sisko!) I love when Dukat says “Just you, me, and the truth.” Dukat’s long self-justification speech shows us exactly how he thinks. It’s horrifying. The Bajorans are all “ignorant fools,” and “we were the superior race”.
I love the opening shot of the starship Honshu.
Jeffrey Combs is just kicking all sorts of ass on DS9 during this run. He was hugely important in the opening six-episode arc, and now he’s appeared in three episodes straight, as Weyoun in “Statistical Probabilities,” as Brunt in “The Magnificent Ferengi,” and now here as Weyoun again.
Nice editing trick when we see O’Brien detecting a signal just after Sisko activities it, making us think that the Defiant has found him and Dukat.
I’m glad Worf doesn’t disobey Kira’s orders, despite being goaded to do so by Bashir and O’Brien. This is war-time, and of all the characters, Worf should respect the chain of command.

“Who Mourns for Morn?”

I adore the idea of Morn, the silent character who has been seen sitting at Quark’s bar since the pilot episode, would finally get a spotlight! And that title is genius. Ultimately, this is a good but not great episode. This episode either needed to be much funnier or much more exciting/dramatic. It’s sort of somewhere in between, and so while this is a fun little aside, it feels like a trifle of an episode.
I love that Quark has installed a Morn hologram in his absence. I love the continuation of the long-running joke about how the always silent Morn is, in fact, a chatterbox. (Quark: “It’s a relief not to have to hear him go on!”) Part of me wishes we’d finally gotten to hear Morn speak in this episode, but part of me is glad they continued to leave his voice up to our imaginations.
We get to learn lots of fun new tidbits about Morn in this episode. He sparred with Worf! Dax had a crush on him! I love seeing Morn’s weird mud bed.
Quark’s eulogy of Morn is a delight — slightly self-serving, but still genuine.
Seeing a woman pop out of Morn’s mud-bed is a fun surprise! (I sort of wish she really HAD turned out to be Morn’s ex-wife in the end, rather than that being a con she’s telling to Quark.) I like seeing Gregory Itzin (last seen as a different character in season one’s “Dax”) as one of Morn’s old comrades-in-crime, who are all now after his money.
I always laugh at Quark’s line that puts a whole new spin on the much-referred-to “gold-pressed latinum”, which is the Ferengi’s primary currency — “…suspending liquid platinum inside worthless bits of gold.” Ha! I like Dax’s comment that the gold is there so that people don’t have to use an eye-dropper in order to make change. And then later, at the end, it’s great when Quark laments that “there’s nothing in here but worthless gold!” (Also, I love that it’s the SOUND of the gold-pressed latinum that tips Quark off that something is wrong.)
The usually savvy Quark is far too trusting of all of these characters who pop up on the station. This always bugs me when I rewatch this episode.
I love seeing Morn spit out some of the liquid latinum at the end!
Fun continuity note: we saw Morn buy that matador painting — which here gets smashed over Quark’s head — back in “In the Cards”!

“Far Beyond the Stars”

Just when you’re thinking to yourself, OK, we’re deep into the sixth season of DS9 and so I have a pretty solid handle on this show and what it’s all about, here comes Benny Russell.
Is Benjamin Sisko “the dream” or “the dreamer”, or — as the end suggests — both? I love how this answer encompasses the reality of this show’s actual existence in our world. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is, after all, just a TV show. But in watching it, it’s also a fully-realized world that I fully accept. I believe in the dream, even as I know that the names listed in the credits are, in fact, the dreamers — as am I, the fan watching the show at home.
This episode is a powerful look back at the realities of racism in the 1950’s. This sort of moral-statement episode is a hallmark of Star Trek, though it’s not a path DS9 has gone down all too often. But it works so beautifully here in this very surprising and unusual episode of DS9. There are so many powerful little moments that hit the episode’s message home: both Benny and Kay have to “sleep late” on the magazine’s photo day; the racism Willie Hawkins (the baseball player played by Michael Dorn) knows he’ll face if he moves into a more affluent neighborhood from the white people there prevents him from doing so; Jimmy (Cirroc Lofton) scoffs at the idea of “colored people on the moon” and eventually winds up shot on the street, killed by racist white cops — and, of course, all of the indignities that Benny suffers, from being taunted by the white cops to then getting brutally beaten by them and ultimately — far more painful to Benny than the beating — is his inability to get his story of a Negro captain published.
It’s a joy to see the cast out of makeup. I love seeing Nog (Aron Eisenberg) selling newspapers on the street; Martok (J. G. Hertzler) as an artist; Dukat (Marc Alaimo) and Weyoun (Jeffrey Combs) as racist cops; Kira (Nana Visitor) and Armin Shimerman as writers, Dax (Terry Farrel) as a secretary, and Odo (Rene Auberjonois) as the magazine’s editor; and Worf (Michael Dorn) as a Willie Mays type baseball star.
The production values and performances are, across the board, amazing. Obviously, this episode belongs to Avery Brooks, who really shines. (His breakdown at the end is a bit over the top — a tiny flaw for me in an otherwise spectacular episode — though I know many people praise his bravery for allowing himself to so completely inhabit this character and to go down that dark emotional rabbit hole.)
The episode opens strong with Sisko’s grief over the destruction of the Cortez. Even as the show has stepped back, for a while, from showing us the actual battles of the Dominion War, I’m glad the show continues to regularly remind us that it’s still going on, and that Starfleet is continuing to suffer losses.
It’s great to see both Joseph Sisko and Kassidy back on the show!
I love the scene of the writers all sitting around the table in the magazine’s office, reading Benny’s story page by page.
I love the layers of meaning in all of the dialogue of the priest (Brock Peters — Joseph Sisko). “The path of the Prophets sometimes leads into darkness and pain.” I love that he grabs Benny’s ear, just as Bajoran religious figures often do.
The covers for the sci-fi magazines seen in this episode all use matte paintings from the original Star Trek!
The ending is so moving to me. “You are the dreamer… and the dream.”
So what does this all mean? There’s a lot to unpack here — I think we’re seeing the prophets trying to help gird Sisko for the difficult times ahead — specifically, the events of “The Reckoning” and the fallout of “the penance” that was exacted from him in “Sacrifice of Angels.”

“One Little Ship”

This episode shouldn’t work! It’s a very silly, cliche, B-movie idea. But I love this episode! It’s so much fun. I enjoy the whimsical tone the episode strikes, that’s fun without being farcical. And the special effects are gorgeous throughout. The phenomena is cool-looking and the Jem’Hadar attack is exciting. I particularly love the pull-back from the tiny Runabout to the giant hull of the battle-damaged Defiant. I also love seeing the miniaturized Runabout fly through the Defiant’s impulse engine system.
It’s fascinating to see this new group of Jem’Hadar who have been bred in the Alpha Quadrant, and to discover their rivalry with the “Gammas”. I like the dynamic between the “Alpha” First and the “Gamma” elder. It’s interesting that this First is not as honorable nor as smart as some of the Jem’Hadar we’ve seen before (such as, for instance, the Third Remata’klan in “Rocks and Shoals”). I like that we’re seeing different Jem’Hadar characters!
“Get these chairs off the bridge!” Ha! That tracks with what we’ve seen before, that the Jem’Hadar don’t have any chairs on their space-ships.
I love hearing the Vorta mention the Dilithium miners on Coridan, a nice reference to “Journey to Babel” from the Original Series!
I love the “isolinear forest” that Bashir and O’Brien have to go out and do work in.
I love Worf’s poem at the end (“There once was a little ship that took a little trip”), and I am delighted by the way Odo tortures O’Brien and Bashir by saying he thinks they’re a few centimeters shorter than they were. (Quark to Odo: “And they say you don’t have a sense of humor.”) That’s so great!
The episode’s one flaw for me is that I think the miniaturized Runabout was still way too large not to have been noticed by the Jem’Hadar while it flew around the Defiant. It was the size of a shoe — I think I’d notice that flying around, and I’m not a genetically-engineered super-warrior like the Jem’Hadar!

“Honor Among Thieves”

I don’t have much patience for this waste of time episode. It’s not bad, per se. There’s nothing embarrassingly painful here. But the premise is absurd, and the episode doesn’t have any connection to or affect on any of the show’s main stories.
I always question why Starfleet would ever send the main characters on Star Trek shows on secret undercover missions. (See: TNG’s “Chain of Command” and DS9’s “Apocalypse Rising” as examples.). It’s even more absurd here. Why is the married-with-kids Chief of Operations on the most important space station in the quadrant sent on this random undercover mission?? Nothing about the mission in any way connects with O’Brien’s particular skills or background. (Yes, he uses his tech knowledge to get in with the criminals, but seriously, surely any well-trained operative for Starfleet Intelligence could have done exactly the same.) Look how the station is falling apart with out O’Brien around! Why would Starfleet allow DS9 to be compromised in order for O’Brien to go on this mission? It’s absurd.
I like Bilby — guest star Nick Tate (who previously appeared in TNG’s “Final Mission”) does a fine job — but this half-baked Donnie Brasco story is boring and predictable.
I love the matte shot of the alien city (though using it over and over again in the episode dilutes it somewhat!).
I liked the alien transporter effect on Raimus and his goons.
It’s interesting to see someone in the oft-mentioned Orion Syndicate (see: “The Ascent” and “A Simple Investigation”), though no one in this episode appears all that threatening. (Why aren’t there any actual Orions in the Orion Syndicate??) It’s a fun surprise to discover Raimus is working with the Vorta. (It’s a fun continuity nod that the Vorta, Gelnon, is the same Vorta we just saw in the previous episode, “One Little Ship”!)
O’brien’s handler is played by Michael Harney, who went on to have a major role in the early seasons of Orange is the new Black. I kept expecting HIM to turn out to be the Starfleet mole. I’m glad the episode didn’t go down that predictable path — bout it’s weird that we never actually learn how the Orions infiltrated Starfleet.
The gang robs the Bank of Bolius, which was mentioned in “Who Mourns for Morn”.
Bilby’s “don’t tell me you don’t like girls?” line feels very archaic for the 24th century, even for a criminal.
It’s weird that Bilby’s cat — which O’Brien takes back to DS9 at the end — isn’t regularly seen after this. (We see Chester once at the start of “Time’s Orphan,” and I believe that’s it.) As I noted above, this episode is totally irrelevant to the larger DS9 story.

“Change of Heart”

Another mediocre episode coming after “Honor Among Thieves.” Although the resolution of the Worf-Dax story is interesting, it’s a dreary slog to get there. I had no patience for this episode when I first saw it; I can enjoy it a little more upon a rewatch. I quite like the surprising choice that Worf makes, deciding that Jadzia’s life is worth more to him than anything else. The main problem is that it’s lunacy that Starfleet would ever allow a husband-and-wife pair to go on a mission alone together. (I’m fairly certain that 21st century American military rules forbid that.)
It’s unusual that the B-story (the O’Brien/Bashir story, in which they try to beat Quark at Tongo) ends quite early in the episode. I understand dramatic reason to do that, in order not to pull focus away from the dramatic Worf-Dax story in the episode’s 4th and 5th acts. But this contributes to my feeling that the B-story is incomplete. I feel like we’re, at minimum, missing one more scene to wrap this story up. It feels very unlike O’Brien to give up on an obsession so easily after Bashir loses the game to Quark. So I wanted to see the scene in which he resolves to give up his new Tongo obsession… and/or a scene of him and Bashir talking about Bashir’s feelings for Dax, or O’Brien talking about his difficulties handling Keiko and his kids being away from the station for so long.
I like the sweet Worf-Dax opening. It’s cure how proud Worf is, watching Dax play Tongo.
I like Worf’s insistence that he has a sense of humor. (“On the Enterprise, I was considered quite amusing!”) I like Dax’s “he’s the funny one” line, later in the episode.
They tease another Bashir Bond adventure, but it doesn’t happen — instead, the story becomes about O’Brien’s obsession to beat Quark at Tongo.
There are some cool visuals in this episode. I like the cool effects shots of the Runabout navigating the asteroid field. And then Worf says “most impressive” — a great Empire Strikes Back reference!
I like how Quark skillfully distracts Bashir during the Tongo game by talking about Dax. It’s interesting to see Bashir’s having some lingering regret that Dax married Worf. (Question: Where did O’Brien and Bashir get their suitcase filled with gold-pressed latinum?)
I like that, when Worf tells Dax the story of going camping as a boy with his father, he’s talking about his adoptive human father, but he just calls him his “father.” That’s sweet. It’s also fun to hear Worf discuss his human brother Nikolai! (Nikolai was mentioned in TNG’s “Heart of Glory” and seen in the bad 7th season episode “Homeward”.)
I like Sisko’s scene with Worf, after Worf and Dax are back on the station. Sisko has to reprimand Worf, but I like hearing him admit that he wouldn’t have let Jennifer die, either.
I’m glad we got to see the moment at the end in which Worf tells Jadzia what he’d done.

“Wrongs Darker Than Death of Night”

Wow, this episode! One of the show’s final big secrets is revealed, as we discover that Dukat and Kira’s mother were lovers. That is so wrong on so many levels. This totally recontextualizes every Dukat-Kira interaction we’re seen throughout the show. This makes Dukat’s obsession with Kira even MORE creepy.
This episode goes into very dark places, as we’re forced to look at some of the darker aspects of the Cardassian occupation. The scene in which Kira’s mother, and other Bajoran women, are torn away from their families in order to become “comfort women” for the Cardassians is horrifying. The episode bumps up against the limitations of this very PG show — the way Kira gets out of being forced to have sex with a Cardassian officer feels like a writerly device that I don’t quite believe — but I’m still impressed that the show decided to explore this.
Kira is sent back in time via the Orb of Time (previously seen in “Trials and Tribble-ations”), which prompts so many questions for me. Was Kira actually sent to the past, or is this all unfolding in her head? Was she there, but the Prophets somehow prevented her from changing the timeline? Or is the idea that this is a loop, and that Kira was ALWAYS there for a few weeks with her mother? Also, how often are Bajorans using this Orb to travel back in time (or, at minimum, to watch events from long ago)??? This seems like SO powerful an object that it makes it hard to believe this Orb isn’t a huge part of Bajoran society…
It’s nice to see Kira’s father again (we saw his death in season five’s “Ties of Blood and Water”) — and is this the first we knew about Kira’s having two brothers?? What happened to them? But of course, this episode is significant for introducing us, finally, to Kira’s mother, Meru. Leslie Hope (who will go on to play Teri Bauer on 24) is great as Meru. I really like this character. Meru’s actions wind up seeming questionable if not despicable to Kira, and perhaps to some members of the audience. But Meru was put in an impossible situation, and forced to make terrible choices to do what she felt was best for her family, and for herself to survive… I think she’s a very interesting and sympathetic character.
This episode gives us O’Brien and Bashir’s first conversation about the Alamo! This will grow into something of an obsession for them, before too long…
I like the gentle way that Odo is able to get Kira to relax and deal with what’s making her crazy.
It’s interesting to watch the fat Cardassian officer comment on Dukat’s “performance,” which clearly he’s done repeatedly in order to woo Bajoran women. (It seems Dukat was obsessed with Bajoran women even before meeting anyone from Kira’s family.)
The argument between Nerys and Meru, when Nerys discovers that Meru is in love with Dukat, is a great tense scene. This is classic Kira, who even at this point in the series tends to see things in black and white. (When Meru tries to say to Kira that “it’s not that simple,” Kira’s response is: “Yes, it is.”)
Watching the video of Kira’s father, to Meru, at the end, is a gut punch.

“Inquisition”

This juicy episode introduces us, at last, to Section 31! This is one of DS9’s most interesting (and controversial!) additions to the Star Trek mythos. (It’s also one that has been tremendously overused by future spin-offs, including Enterprise, Discovery, and the J.J. Abrams films. I hate how overused and lame 31 has become. But here on DS9, it’s fantastic.) I am absolutely fascinated by the idea that, lo and behold, the perfect Federation has also had a “secret service” out to do whatever it takes to protect their society. I like that Odo isn’t at all surprised, at the end, about the existence of Section 31: “Every other great power has a unit like Section 31.” “Section 31 was part of the original Starfleet charter,” according to Sloan. Wow!
We meet Sloan! William Sadler (Die Hard 2) is spectacular as the tough, take-no-prisoners Sloan.
I like Odo’s dig about doctors always having their medical conferences in beautiful locations.
I love seeing Kukalaka again!
The initial set-up, after the presence of a possible mole is revealed, is silly. Who is running the station of all of the senior staff are confined to quarters? (Of course, this is later revealed to be a holographic simulation.)
I love how Sloan references lots of previous DS9 episodes to question Bashir’s actions. It’s fascinating to see him throw in Bashir’s face how he kept his genetically engineered true nature a secret for 30 years, how he tried to cure the Jem’Hadar of their Ketracel White addiction in “Hippocratic Oath,” and most especially, I love hearing him ask why in the world the Dominion would leave their runabout orbiting the prison camp in “By Purgatory’s Light”!! It’s a good question!!
The mind-bending aspect of this episode works, because it’s not impossible that Bashir WOULD have made the moral choice that Weyoun describes: helping the Dominion in order to prevent a war that would claim hundreds of BILLIONS of lives. He almost made that very choice back in “Statistical Probabilities”!
The device of O’Brien’s dislocated shoulder allowing Bashir to realize he’s been trapped in a holographic simulation is a little silly, but I can live with it. (It’s also a nice continuity nod, as O’Brien has been injuring his shoulder while engaged in holographic kayaking has been happening since way back in TNG’s “Transfigurations”!)
I love the twist that all this is about Sloan trying to RECRUIT Bashir to join Section 31! Sloan is right about a lot: Bashir HAS always been fascinated with spy adventures, and he has never been afraid to bend the rules if he thinks it’s justified. And Sloan makes a persuasive argument that sometimes the ends DO justify the means — he’s right that all of the people whose lives Bashir has saved in his career would probably not care one whit that Bashir lied about being genetically engineered.
And I love the ending! Sisko to Bashir: “We don’t have to find them. They’ll find us” — “The next time he asks you to join his little group, you will say YES.” What a cliffhanger!

“In the Pale Moonlight”

Many people consider this their favorite DS9 episode. It might not be in my personal type five, but it’s pretty close. This is definitely a magnificent and eyebrows-raising episode.
I like the sense of dread that the framing device of Sisko’s log entry gives to the episode. I like how Avery Brooks underplays Sisko’s discomfort here. He’s in “we’re losing the peace” mode (from “Call to Arms”).
How spectacular is Garak in this episode?? I love the gentle way, at the beginning, that Garak questions Sisko’s willingness to participate in what promises to be “a very bloody business” (as indeed it turns out to be!). It’s chilling when we see, later, that ALL of Garak’s remaining contacts on Cardassia have been killed within one day of speaking with him. Of course, Garak has another plan. I love the scene when Garak tells Sisko in the turbolift that he’s given the forger the impression that his locked door will explode if he tries to exit his quarters. (Sisko: “I hope that’s just an impression!” Garak: “Eh, it’s best not to dwell on such minutia.”) Later, after the forger has completed his work, I love Garak’s ominous but jolly delivery of the line “I’ll be along later to say… hello.”
I LOVE the twist that Garak’s plan all along was to blow up Vreenak’s shuttle, because the explosion would cover the evidence of flaws in the faked holographic recording. Wow!! I love the Sisko-Garak confrontation after Sisko puts all the pieces together. I love Andrew Robinson’s delivery of Garak’s line “I suspected Tolar might not have been up to the task.” And Garak just lays it all right out on the table when he says to Sisko: “That’s why you came to me in the first place, isn’t it, Captain? Because you knew I could do those things you weren’t capable of doing.”
And what a journey for Sisko! Sisko’s grim certainty that he’s ready to do “whatever it takes” is a bold turn for this Starfleet Captain. Then, later, he goes along with Garak’s plan to manufacture the evidence! I LOVE how painful it is for Sisko to ask what it’d take to convince Quark not to press charges against the alien doing the forgery. And I love Quark’s pure joy at the idea that Sisko is offering him a bribe! Wow!! Also: I love Sisko’s Darth Vader “I am altering the deal” moment when he grabs the forger and growls “we are making a new agreement!”
The scene in which Sisko posts the weekly Starfleet casualty list really drives home that, while the war has been off-screen for a while, the conflict is still continuing, and its bloody. Also: the Dominion invaded Betazed! Wow!
I love Sisko and Dax’s play-acting of a conversation with the Roman pro-consul. I love how Dax delivers the line: “that doesn’t make me very sad.” (Also: the pro-consul mentioned is Neral, who we met in TNG’s “Unification” two-parter!)
I like how Bashir smiles in a comradely way when Quark says “Superficial? Do you know how much this shirt costs?”, rather than sneering at him as he might have done a few years earlier.
I love the faked holographic recording of the Dominion meeting. I can totally imagine that the holographic argument between Weyoun and Damar really happened! (Garak: “All I had to do was add a little petty bickering and mutual loathing!”) Also: it’s funny that we see Weyoun as a holographic fake for two episodes in a row!
I love seeing the cloaked Roman skip dock!
I love Vreenak. I love his conversation with Sisko in his quarters — it’s an interesting discussion. I love his “it’s a fake!” moment.
The Romulans enter the war! This is a huge moment! I love that now, all three classic Star Trek super-powers are allied together against the Dominion!
The only flaw in the story to me is Worf’s line that Vreenak’s shuttle blew up two days after leaving the station. Surely he’d have had time to transmit the information about Sisko’s deception to the Romulan government in that time? Why not just say that his shuttle blew up sooner after leaving the station?
I love Garak’s summation at the end, that “all it cost was the life of one Romulan Senator, one criminal, and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer.” (It’s interesting that this episode comes just one episode after the introduction of Section 31, in which Bashir asks “when push comes to shove, are we willing to sacrifice our principles in order to survive?”)
“I can live with it.” What an ending!! (Though I didn’t need the extra “computer: erase that entire personal log” button.)

“His Way”

There’s some silliness in this episode — and I understand that this episode, so much of which takes place in a holographic recreation of a 1960’s Las Vegas jazz lounge — is not what some people are looking for in their Star Trek. But I really dig it. I think this is a sweet story and I love how unusual it is. Plus, we’re finally introduced to Vic Fontaine!! I can’t believe how deep we are in the series before meeting this wonderful character! James Darren is just so joyful in this role. And I love his singing!! (It’s cool how long the show allows the sequences with Vic’s songs to run.)
I am super-intrigued by the concept of Vic as a self-aware hologram. I have lots of questions that the episode doesn’t answer, but I’m OK with that. I love seeing how unique and unusual Vic is: he can transfer his matrix into another holosuite (as he does to interrupt Kira’s meditation); he can access the station’s comm system to talk to Odo; he can control things within his own program; he can create other holographic programs (as he does when he first creates the holographic Kira — I love his explanation of how he borrowed her from Bashir’s Bond program, as seen in “Our Man Bashir” — I always laugh at Vic’s line that “it took me over an hour to get rid of the Russian accent”!); and he can even say “computer, end program” to turn himself off! Wow!
Vic: “You do know what a square is?” O’Brien: “It’s… one side of a cube.” Ha!
I love that Vic describes himself as “a light-bulb.”
I like that only Quark gives Odo advice on Kira (at least, before Odo talks to Vic). I love that Quark puts his advice in business terms!
I love hearing Vic describe Odo’s “Nanook of the North thing”!
I love when Sisko starts singing with Odo in his office! Avery Brooks has a good voice!
It’s funny that Bashir is oblivious to Odo’s feelings for Kira. (“Odo, what’s he got to do with this?”)
Nana Visitor singing “Fever” — Wow! (We’re in Barclay territory, morality-wise here — it’s a twisted thing to create a holographic replica of a real human being — but because Vic and Odo’s intentions are sweet and not salacious, I can sort of live with this…)
Kira and Odo’s date at Vic’s is the perfect combination of awkward and sweet. It’s interesting to hear the supremely confident, capable Kira admit that she’s nervous, and I like the acknowledgement that they both have sometimes used work to avoid living their lives.
That big kiss on the Promenade is awkward but so sweet — a lovely pay-off to this long-running story-line! Lots more interesting twists and turns to come for these two…!

“The Reckoning”

I love this episode! What a fantastic development in the long-running story, since the series premiere, of Ben Sisko’s journey as the Emissary. I like hearing Dax point out that Sisko calls them Prophets now, not Wormhole Aliens like he did at the start of the series. It’s interesting to see that Jake is frightened by Sisko’s status as Emissary, referring back to both “Rapture” and “Far Beyond the Stars.” There are so many Biblical levels to the events of this episode! Sisko smashes the tablet, like Moses — and then is forced to risk sacrificing his own son, like Abraham! It’s a remarkable moment when Sisko refuses to use tech (“chroniton radiation” — which we learned back in “The Assignment” can harm the Wormhole Aliens) to force the Prophet/Pah-Wraith out of Kira and Jake. Sisko’s faith in the Prophets is now complete.
Suddenly the importance of “The Assignment” from season five is revealed, with the Pah-Wraiths positioned as the powerful cosmic adversaries of the Prophets. (They’re called Kost’Amogen here, as they will be from here on out.)
The Dominion War continues — we hear that the Dominion is still in control of Betazed.
It’s nice to see Odo and Kira together and happy as a couple. I like hearing Odo say that he does have faith — in Kira. And I love that, later, Odo stands up for Kira, confirming that he has no doubt she was a willing vessel for the Prophet who inhabited her.
I love seeing B’Hala again (from season five’s “Rapture”). I love the mystery of the “Welcome, Emissary” glyph from 30,000 years ago.
It’s interesting to hear Winn admit that the Prophets have never spoken to her. This is interesting insight into why she resents Sisko so much. I love the moment when Sisko tells Winn that he’s willing to take a leap of faith, and he asks her to take it with him. I love the moment in which the Kira-Prophet totally ignores Winn, only speaking to Sisko. Ouch! All of this helps bring us to the surprising moment in which it’s Winn who defies the Prophets (rather than Sisko). That’s a great twist. Their roles are reversed.
Things get epic and crazy when the Prophet possesses Kira — and the Pah-Wraith possesses Jake! Like something out of Lord of the Rings! I love this. That battle on the Promenade is awesome.
I’m not sure what it means exactly that the non-linear Prophets don’t know what happens next. Since they exist out of time, didn’t they see this coming? However, it’s only corporeal characters who suggest that the Prophets don’t know what happens now — we never exactly know what the Prophets do/don’t know. Since the Prophets exist out of time, it could be that they both know and don’t know at the same time, as incomprehensible as that sounds.
“The time of reckoning is at hand — the Prophets will weep” — look ahead to the season finale, which is called “Tears of the Prophets”…

“Valiant”

This is a decent episode, showing the dangers of blind obedience to a charismatic leader.
The episode is elevated by some spectacular visual effects. I love the cool shot of the Runabout dodging the Jem’Hadar fighters at the beginning. And of course, the awesome battle between the Valiant and the high Dominion battleship is amazing. The final shots of the battleship annihilating the Valiant are spectacular.
This episode could have easily been super-annoying, and it does have some big plot holes, but it works because I quite like all of the cadets. They got a good group of young actors here, and that helps the episode a lot.
The opening scene is weird, with Quark’s sexist objections to Dax (a female)’s fixing his replicator. This feels more like early-seasons Quark to me. (I suspect the idea here is not that Quark is sexist, but that he still has feelings for Jadzia, and so that’s why he doesn’t want to see her doing menial jobs for him. But it’s still a weird scene to me.)
Jake and Nog have come a long way from not knowing how to control anything on a Runabout (in the season two finale, “The Jem’Hadar”) to here, when Nog expertly pilots the Runabout in an attempt to evade their Jem’Hadar pursuers.
It’s interesting to see Red Squad again (introduced in “Homefront” and “Paradise Lost”) — and I love that the Valiant’s helmsman is the same Red Squad cadet Sisko grilled in “Paradise Lost”!
It’s funny to see Star Trek’s version of the Valiant’s assault on a Death Star like huge battleship with a fatal flaw.
It’s a surprising twist that they fail! And we never know exactly what went wrong!
I love that the Jem’Hadar blow up the Valiant’s escape pods! Because of course they do! (It’s a ridiculous contrivance that the one pod with Jake and Nog on it manages to survive…)
At the end, when Sisko orders them to cloak the Defiant, it’s a nice reminder that the Defiant still has a cloak — we haven’t heard about that for a while.
If the Valiant has been on radio silence for eight months, how did they receive the new orders (addressed to the captain) to track the new Dominion battleship? While we’re picking on plot holes, it’s also insane that Starfleet would use a Defiant class warship for a training cruise, rather than an older, out-of-date vessel…

“Profit and Lace”

One of the worst episodes of DS9, and I think it’s easily the worst episode since the start of season 4. This episode should be the awesome next step in the long-running Ferengi story-lines we’ve been following for years. The episode’s plot hinges on the fallout from Grand Nagus Zek’s finally allowing females to leave their homes, wear clothes, and earn profit. But instead, the episode turns into a dumb Quark-in-drag story that, even worse, tries to mine comedy from the worst sorts of female stereotypes. (Once Quark has been transformed into a woman, he starts to act like a stereotypical woman, which is so lame and stupid, and the exact opposite of the progressive message this episode should be sending!!) The this is also the 2nd episode in a row to show Quark having regressed into an ugly, sexist persona. The opening scene, in which he uses his position as boss to sexually harass one of his Dabo Girls (basically telling her she has to give him oomox in order to keep her job) is gross, and not funny. (That scene is not redeemed by the ending in which Quark, having now been a woman, sees the error of his ways.)
It’s fun to see Brunt temporarily on top, as “acting” Grand Nagus. (Though it’s a little absurd that he’d leave Ferenginar during his moment of triumph.) I like hearing Moogie call Brunt “limp-lobes”. I also like seeing the stink-eye that Zek’s man-servant Maihar’du gives to Brunt’s servant of the same alien race…
I like Nilva, the Sluggo-Cola owner, who seems funny and less conniving and evil than many Ferengi… at least until he turns into a slobbering sexist fool chasing after Quark in drag. (Also, why does he give away free bottles of his cola? That seems like a very un-Ferengi thing to do!)

“Time’s Orphan”

I don’t have much patience for this, one of the weaker “let’s torture O’Brien” episodes. It fits into about the same “late in the season time-travel story” as season five’s “Children of Time,” but that was an awesome episode while this is mostly a time-waster. It’s great to see Keiko and Molly and Kirayoshi back on the show, but I wish they’d returned for a stronger episode. I’m not nearly invested enough as Molly as a character to care too much about any of this. It’s absurd that there just happens to be an old time portal right by the O’Briens’ vacation spot. I don’t believe that the O’briens wouldn’t want to keep trying to recover Molly at the right age — the business about not wanting to take those years away from teenaged/feral Molly is silly — what parent wouldn’t want to spare their child such horrors? And their plan at the end of returning Molly to the planet to live the rest of her life alone also seems crazy — how about allowing her to get treated by some actual pshchologists/psychiatrists who maybe could help her, before condemning to live out the rest of her life in solitude? Sheesh.
I do like the actress hired to play the teenaged version of Molly, Michelle Krusiec. She did a great job.
We see Chester the cat again, from “Honor Among Thieves,” for what I believe is his only return appearance.
I like Odo’s sad look when Kira talks about wanting a baby of her own someday.
I also like how Worf smiles when he first sees Yoshi. I like the whole B-story of Worf learning he’s capable of being a father. I love seeing Word and Dax’s relationship continue to progress, and to learn that they want kids together someday.
I like hearing Worf refer to the Kelvans (from the Original Series episode “By Any Other Name”.)

“The Sound of Her Voice”

This is a decent episode that is worth watching for some lovely character moments for our cast. The ultimate twist that Lisa has been dead for years — that there’s some sort of time dilation surrounding the planet on which she crashed — is sad, and a strong gut-punch of an ending. But it doesn’t really work, because surely someone would have checked her name in the ship’s computer, to see that her ship was lost years ago, not weeks ago, right?
The best part of the episode is Quark’s scheme to take advantage of the distracted Odo… and the wonderful surprise that Odo actually allows Quark to get away with it, in appreciation of all Quark has done for him, in particularly helping him eventually start a relationship with Kira.
I love how — unlike TNG — DS9 could do a show like this with no actual jeopardy for our characters, or the ship or station. Just character-based drama.
I like Jake’s involvement, following Quark around to get inspiration for a character he’s writing.
Sisko is pretty much a jerk to Kassidy, which feels a bit out of character. (I can imagine his being uncomfortable having Kassidy on board, since his first wife Jennifer died while aboard a starship on which he had a command position. Why wasn’t that mentioned in the episode??)
Whereas “Time’s Orphan” feels like a parallel with season five’s “Children of Time,” this episode feels like a parallel with season five’s “In the Cards.” In both cases, I like the season five version better.
I like the cool shot of the shuttle exiting the Defiant’s shuttle bay. I like the design of the shuttle!
I like the Irish wake at the end, and Worf’s comment that it “sounds almost Klingon.”
O’Brien’s comment that “someday we’re going to wake up, and we’re going to find that someone is missing from this circle” is haunting in light of what happens in the next episode. (Though that also makes Dax’s absence from this episode even more weird. Seriously, where was Dax this week???)
Debra Wilson is great in her audio-only performance as Lisa Cusak.

“Tears of the Prophets”

This is a strong end to the season (thankfully, after a somewhat weak run of episodes). The Star Trek book “Action!” is full of fascinating behind-the-scenes info about the making of this episode, and after having read that, I wish this episode had the enormous scale that the writers had originally imagined. Sisko was supposed to lose even more badly than he did in the finished episode, with the Promenade in flames and chaos everywhere when the Orbs went black and the wormhole vanished. But still, there’s a lot to enjoy in this episode.
The episode is most notable, of course, for killing off Jadzia Dax. Wow, the death of a series regular is a very rare thing on Star Trek! It’s shocking here and is a nice way to ratchet things up as we enter the final season. (Dax’s departure came because actress Terry Farrell felt treated poorly by the studio during the contract negotiation process, and so walked away. I’ve read a lot about this, though even to this day most of the players involved seem to keep quiet about what exactly went down. It seems like Ms. Farrell was indeed treated poorly, though it also seems like a classic failure to communicate situation on both sides, and that an accord could have and should have been reached.) It’s a shame to lose Jadzia before the final season, though story-wise I think it works well for the show. It certainly was a huge surprise for me at the time.
I love seeing Admiral Ross back on the show. I love that this smart, competent Admiral (a rarity on Trek!) has continued to be involved with the show. I love that Sisko gets the Christopher Pike medal of honor! (That’s an awesome call-back to the Captain of the Enterprise in the original Star Trek pilot, “The Cage”). Most of all, I love that we finally see Starfleet going on the offensive, for the first time in Trek history! They’re going to invade Cardassia! That is awesome.
It’s tragic that the episode shows us that Worf and Dax want a baby (building off of plot threads from “Time’s Orphan”). Quark and Julian react poorly. (I’m of mixed-feelings by the episodes in the late 6th and early 7th season that showed us that both Quark and Julian hadn’t quite gotten over Jadzia’s choosing Worf over them. It feels very human, and I like Trek characters having human failings…. but at the same time it seems rather small of both of them, and a little out of character for where they both are here, near the end of the show.)
I love Martok’s declaration that “by this time next year, the three of us will drink blood wine in the halls of Cardassia Central Command!” (Cut to — the series finale, one year later!)
I love seeing the Federation-Klingon-Romulan dynamic. This alliance isn’t an easy one!
It’s fascinating to see Dukat again, and that he has taken this deep dive into Bajoran mysticism. We saw how crushed he was by his defeat at the end of “Sacrifice of Angels,” and we can imagine that he would have been obsessing over what happened in the wormhole, when the Prophets destroyed the Dominion fleet. I love the twist of seeing Dukat now allied with the Pah-Wraiths. I love seeing the powerful Pah-Wraith-possessed Dukat stick his hands right through the force field protecting the Orb in the shrine on DS9.
Weyoun hits the nail exactly on the head when he says “You’re right, Dukat, you have changed. You’ve grown from being a self-important egotist to a self-deluded madman.”
It’s nice to see Vic Fontaine again! This episode establishes him as a recurring character. I love hearing him say “why the long face, pally?”
Sisko receives a warning from the Prophets — and, after seeming to have complete faith in them in “The Reckoning,” even when Jakes’ life was in jeopardy — he disobeys them here! It’s a surprising choice but also understandable. His identity is completely tied up with being a Starfleet officer, so how could he not due his duty and participate in the invasion of Cardassia?
The Odo-Kira fight is cute; it’s nice to see that they can still have disagreements even while being in a relationship and caring for one another. The only part that doesn’t work is that Kira is surprisingly clueless how Odo would react to her being angry with him.
I don’t understand why Kira goes on the Defiant, rather than staying to command the station. For that matter, there’s also no plot reason why Dax and Bashir wouldn’t go on the Defiant. (It actually does make sense for Bashir to stay on the station, but since he’s gone on pretty much every other one of the Defiant’s mission, it’s a weird plot contrivance for him to stay behind here.) Also, why is cadet Nog piloting the Defiant? Surely there are more experienced officers who should be doing that?
The battle of Chin’toka is fantastic!! Great visual effects! This is another great space battle. I love seeing the combined Federation/Klingon/Romulan fleet in action! The weapons platforms are cool.
I love this Weyoun-Damar exchange — Weyoun: “All this talk of gods strikes me as nothing more than superstitious nonsense.” Damar: “You believe that the Founders are gods, don’t you?” Weyoun: “That’s different.” Damar: “In what way?” Weyoun: “The Founders ARE gods.”
Dukat kills Dax and turns the Orbs black. Crazy stuff. I love the moment when Sisko feels a great disturbance in the Force. I love how Kira takes command instantly (though shouldn’t that be Worf?)
The child actor playing the Bajoran kid at the beginning and end is weak. Blech. (Reminds me of the dumb framing sequence in the season 4 finale with the buxomy Bajoran woman flirting with Odo…)
Dax’s death scene, with Worf at her side, is sad. Strong performances from Terry Farrell and Michael Dorn. I love that Worf does the Klingon death yell, shouting her way to Sto-vo-kor (as established way back in the 1st season TNG episode “Heart of Glory”). Poor Worf has lost his second true love.
I love the final Sisko-Jadzia “old man” scene, in which Sisko monologues over Dax’s coffin. “I failed as the Emissary… and for the first time in my life, I’ve failed in my duty as a Starfleet officer.” Great performance from Avery Brooks.
I love the twist that, in contrast to the end of season five, Sisko takes his baseball with him when he and Jake leave the station. Kira: “He’s not sure he’s coming back.” It’s a sad image of Sisko, alone in the back alley behind his father’s restaurant, cleaning clam shells, having run all the way back to Earth. Great cliffhanger!!
The episode’s title is a great call-back to “The Reckoning” (the prophecy reads: “The time of reckoning is at hand — the Prophets will weep”), as well as to how the Bajorans refer to the Orbs as “Tears of the Prophets”, as established way back in the series premiere.

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