Yora reviews Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - All of it!

[Wraith]

Watching anything 4 or 5 times - particularly a "mystery" story like In the Pale Moonlight (because it is a murder mystery, just one told from the point of view of the killers...) - lessens the impact. I have heard that some people watch stuff like The Empire Strikes Back and still get chills at the "I am your father" scene, but I personally have never been able to maintain that same sort of emotion over years and years, so Star Trek isn't alone... Or perhaps I am just hollow inside? Who is to say, really.

Even so, I still *enjoy* In the Pale Moonlight, even though I know what happens and what the twist is, because it's all done to such a high degree of precision. Garak is slimy and evil... but he's right. Bashir is an arrogant smart-ass, second guessing his Captain and distancing his own involvement under written orders... But he's right.
And Sisko... More than any other episode, In the Pale Moonlight really starts to highlight just how lonely it is being the Captain of a Federation vessel. It's a very different kind of Star Trek to Picard who never had to compromise himself in the same way, or like Janeway who made "the end justifies the means" into her personal mantra in her own extreme circumstances. They're all good interpretations of the role, but Sisko is my favourite.

[Yora]

I have heard that some people watch stuff like The Empire Strikes Back and still get chills at the "I am your father" scene, but I personally have never been able to maintain that same sort of emotion over years and years, so Star Trek isn't alone... Or perhaps I am just hollow inside? Who is to say, really.

The Empire Strikes Back happens to be my favorite movie bar none. I've probably seen it 10 times by now and it still amazes me every time again. But not because of the twist. It's because everything else is also fantastic.
With this episode I am not quite feeling that. My impression was that most of the individual parts are not actually that great. I have to admit that I felt Garak to be actually a bit disappointing when I just saw his scenes. Though that could partially be because this episode has always been hyped up, possibly too much. Garak's plan here amazing, that's certainly true. The plot of this episode is fantastic. But his performance did leave me a bit cold. I think we've seen considerably better from him.
Odo and Quark both could have had great moments this episode, but they didn't. Odo simply rolled over immediately because that's how it was written in the script. Which I think is a small shortcoming in this episode. He could have been made to be at least a little bit more difficult to add to Sisko's stress level. Quark also had an opportunity to really stab Sisko in the heart with mean spirited gloating, but instead he just wants some money and some smuggled creates released from customs, which he gets immediately.
The situation with Bashir is more interesting. When Garak tells Sisko what the seller demands, Sisko says outright no. And after a few seconds during which Garak doesn't say anything, he changes his mind to see what he can do. That's the tension the other scene could also have used. Unfortunately, when he takes the matter to Bashir, Bashir just comes across as very tired. Where is his fire? He's a smart guy so he wouldn't have to stomp off with his orders fuming with anger. But I think a little bit of despair that both he and Sisko are in a situation where this is necessary would have done well. Giving some voice to his frustration.

I think this episode is an 8, but with some additional polishing the plot has the potential to be a 10.

[hamishspence]

Quark also had an opportunity to really stab Sisko in the heart with mean spirited gloating, but instead he just wants some money and some smuggled creates released from customs, which he gets immediately.

Qurk does gloat - after he gets what he wants.


SISKO: I'll handle it. Anything else?
QUARK: No. I think we can call it a bribe. And thank you, Captain. Thank you for restoring my faith in the ninety eighth Rule of Acquisition. Every man has his price.

[Dragonus45]

Qurk does gloat - after he gets what he wants.


SISKO: I'll handle it. Anything else?
QUARK: No. I think we can call it a bribe. And thank you, Captain. Thank you for restoring my faith in the ninety eighth Rule of Acquisition. Every man has his price.

That line absolutely still gives me chills to this day.

[Yora]

S6E20: His Way: Bashir got a holo programm of a 60s Jazz bar. (??????)

S6E21: The Reckoning

Sisko, Kira, and Jake are going to Bajor to see new discoveries in the ruins that Sisko had found a year earlier. Jake isn't happy about being dragged along but Kira reminds him that his father can really use a distraction from the war and they should support his enthusiasm for Bajoran archeology. The monk managing the site tells them they discovered even older ruins below the city, including a relief that welcomes the emissary. When Sisko gets closer to touch it, he gets a vision from the Prophets that a major turning point is approaching.

Sisko offers to take the stone to the station where they have better equipment to analyze it. Dax examinates it and finds her suspicions confirmed: "It's a slab of stone with writing on it." Sisko tells her to keep looking. When he goes to the temple on the station, he gets a call that Kai Winn has arrived to speak with him. She is not happy that the Federation took a religious Bajoran artefact from a site of Bajor without asking the Vedek Assembly. He tells her not to worry, that it's emissary business, and he will return it when they have deciphered the inscription. And she sends a complaint to Starfleet. Dax makes progress and she and Sisko both agree that the inscription seems to warn that a great disaster will happen and the station be destroyed.

Bashir, Worf, and Odo are discussing the news. Bashir thinks they shouldn't worry because messages by the Prophets never seem to mean what they first think they say, but Worf and Odo are both doubtful about that. But the wormhole start acting up, which is reason to worry. Though Odo remains sceptical that the Prophets really have everything figured out and planned.
The disturbances of the wormhole are causing slight storms and earthquakes on Bajor and so Winn comes again to the station to demand that the relief is returned to the planet. And this time she has an official order from the Bajoran government to hand it over. Sisko agrees to have it delivered to her ship when she returns to Bajor in the morning.

Jake comes to see Sisko in his quarters late that evening and has concerns about the emissary stuff being a threat to his life and health. But Sisko assures him that it will be alright.

Sisko wakes up at night and finds himself very agitated and he goes to the lab and smashes the artefact, which releases two energy clouds that disappear through the ceiling. He calls Dax and Odo but they both find no signs of any unusual energies. However, the station is experiencing power disruptions, which probably have something to do with that. And Sisko feels that his mission from the Prophets has been completed and his part is done.

Winn obviously doesn't see it like that. But she and Sisko are called by Odo to come to the temple where Kira has been possessed by something. Sisko thinks its a prophet and it says it took Kira's body because she's eager to serve them. It is waiting for a fallen Prophet to appear and they will have a fight on the station. Winn explains that this fight will determine whether Bajor's future will be a good or a dark age, but when she tries to speak to the prophet it ignores her.

Dax and Bashir want to drive the Prophet of the station so the fight will take place somewhere else, but Sisko decides that they will evacuate the station instead. The Prophets have been great allies who saved the Alpha Quadrant from the main Dominion fleet, and now they have to support them in their fight against their enemies. However, Winn and some of her followers want to stay around and support the Prophet with prayer, and Sisko tells her he will kick them out if she doesn't tell them to leave on the last ship. While Sisko is still talking with Winn, the wraith arrives in Jakes body. Sisko offers himself instead, but the wraith has no interest in switching. Dax calls Sisko that they can still force the beings off the station and keep Kira and Jake from being harmed. He forbids it and tells Dax and Winn to leave the station with everyone else. Dax comes across some straglers and tells Winn to go ahead, but she sneaks to ops and activates the device to expel the beings, just before the Prophet was about to win.

Jake is pretty roughed up and Sisko goes to apologize to him, but Jake tells him that he felt the thoughts of the wraith and that it was absolutely the right choice to risk their lives to stop it. Kira is a bit overwhelmed that she was chosen by the Prophets and Odo tells her to look at it positively. Winn is grumpy that Kira is taking her to ship instead of Sisko, given that she saved the station and Sisko's and Jake's life. But Kira tells her she doesn't buy her motives and that she did it because she didn't want a non-Bajoran to be the hero at this crucial moment of Bajoran history. And she just messed up the Prophet's plan to save Bajor for her own ambitions.

--

This episode continues S5E10: Rapture, and from what I remember sets up the main plotline for season 7. And there's five more episodes in season 6 to go. Clever move, and I think now someone has really been taking notes from Babylon 5.
I think the episode is quite good. It is a bit rough and doesn't quite come together smoothly, but most parts are very well done and it all works as a whole.

I believe the main thing this episode does is to give a reminder of how Winn really craves to be the religious hero who has the favor of the Prophets and raises Bajor back to greatness from the disaster of the Cardassian occupation. She has a real desire to see Bajor recovering, but she also really wants to be the one who gets the credit for it. And as in the past, the Prophets don't really consider her useful for their plans. Possibly because her motives are self serving, though there's no direct evidence given for that. Maybe Kais in general don't seem any more important to them than any other people.

Picking Kira and Jake as the bodies for the two spirits was exactly the right choice and is key to making the whole thing work. Looking back at the last five and a half seasons, Kira is indeed a perfect candidate for a Prophet. She absolutely would have volunteered if asked and be completely ready to risk her life for this important occasion. And in turn it reflects very positively on the Prophets that they made their selection based on those criteria. Jake works great because that makes it really high stakes for Sisko. Risking his own life in face of certain death is something he has done before, so even if he did not have full confidence that the Prophet wouldn't harm him, it wouldn't have bothered him to be in danger in the fight. But having enough trust in the Prophets that they wouldn't harm Jake when the wraith is destroyed is on a completely different level. And the episode very wisely had an earlier scene in which Jake tells Sisko that he wishes the Prophets would leave them alone and not put Sisko's life in danger. Because of this, Sisko knows for certain that Jake absolutely would not have volunteered to be involved in that fight. This means Sisko needs to have enough faith to go against Jake's completely justified fears. That's really a lot of faith. And it weighs heavily on him, but fortunately Jake did change his mind when he felt the wraith's thoughts.
And of course we need Sisko's moment of greatest faiith to contrast with Winn's frustration of being constantly ignored by the Prophets.
This is really very well written. It's one relatively short scene that builds on my different things that have gradually been established in small pieces here and there over several seasons. When it all comes together like this, it really gives a huge payoff. And in the case of Deep Space Nine, we know with pretty high confidence that this wasn't secretly planned years in advance. This was elegantly put together from pieces that were already in place. That's a lot tougher to make work.

But the one thing I noticed negatively is how the episode uses her objection to the artefact being taken without her permission as one of the ways to show how self-centered and annoying she is. But she is actually making a really valid complaint and I think Sisko is clearly in the wrong to simply brush it aside. He did offer to the excavation leader, who was a monk, to take the relief to the station and analyze it with their equipment, and the monk was very eager to accept it. So I don't blame him for stealing it. But when Winn stated her disapproval, I think he should have apologized for his oversight to get proper official permission. But instead he is "Shush, little girl. I know what I'm doing." Winn even points out that it had been pretty disrespectful to the Bajorans, especially considering the recent history of widespread Cardassian art theft.
I admit that probably she mostly complained because the Emissary got to play another important part in the research on the important ancient religious site and she didn't. When she said he did not ask for permission from the Vedek assembly, she most likely really meant from her. But still, Sisko did something that would be genuinely seen as insulting and disrespectful by the Bajoran people if he wasn't the Emissary and the episode clearly takes the stance that it's irrelevant. I don't quite remember when the whole discussion about colonial art theft began, but I think it really started only some years after the show. But from today's perspective this part of the episode trivializes a very serious historic crime.

[Yora]

S6E22: Valiant: Jake and Nog end up on a warship crewed only by cadets.
S6E23: Profit and Lace: Widely considered to be the worst Star Trek episode ever.
S6E24: Time's Orphan: O'Brien's daughter got stuck in a time anomaly for 10 years.
S6E25: The Sound of her Voice: A sappy shaggy dog story.

S6E26: Tears of the Prophets

Sisko is getting a medal and while he's there, the admiral informs him that Starfleet is getting ready to launch a major offensive against Cardassia. And Sisko is going to be in command of the invasion. Martok is all for it, but the Romulans will be hard to convince to join.

On Cardassia, Weyoun and Damar are brooding over strategy when Dukat shows up to make another of his endless comebacks. Weyoun has been well fed up with Dukat and wants to throw him out, but Damar wants to know why he has come. And Dukat claims that he has a way to win the war.

The Romulans come for a conference, but think it's too dangerous to go straight for Cardassia. Sisko and Worf don't think that they can wear down the Dominion through attrition and will have to take out its leadership.

Quark and Bashir are down because Dax seems to be lost to them forever.

Jake wants to come along with the invasion as a war correspondent. Sisko doesn't want him on the Defiant, but Jake threatens to ask Martok instead, so he can come. When he is alone, Sisko gets a vision from the Prophets that he should not leave Bajor now. But of course they give no indication why. Sisko tells the admiral, who tells him to forget about this nonsense and do his job.

The admiral has new information that the Dominion is reinforcing their defenses and they have to put their invasion plan into action soon, or it won't be possible any longer. Fortunately the Romulans have just changed their mind and the invasion can go ahead now.

Dukat returns to the war room with a box he found among the stolen art the Cardassians took from Bajor. He tells Weyoun and Damar that he discovered enemies of the Prophets who are preventing the Dominion from sending reinforcements through the wormhole. He pulls out a wooden statue and performs a ritual to break it, and becomes possessed by a wraith that was trapped inside it.

Sisko, Kira, Worf, and Garak go to war with the Defiant and Dax stays behind to command the station. They attack the first Dominion stronghold and there is much pew pew.

Dax gets news from Bashir that the DNA alterations to make her genetically compatible with a Klingon seem to be working. Because Kira made a prayer for her at the temple the day before, she feels like going there to thank the prophets for their help. While she's there, Dukat appears and zaps her with his demon magic to get at the Orb of the Prophets and the wormhole closes. Sisko gets an unclear call for help from the Prophets and isn't feeling well, so Kira takes over for him. They take out the orbital defenses and start landing troops on Cardassia.

Weyoun is pissed because Dukat calls to tell him that the wormhole is closed. But Dukat thinks that's not really that important. He thinks what matters much more is that Sisko can't get help from the Prophets anymore, and so winning the war should be a cake walk. Weyoun thinks he has gone completely bonkers.

The Defiant speeds back to the station and people are begging Sisko to find where the Prophets have gone. Bashir has bad news that Jadzia's injuries are untreatable and Dax will need a new body quickly. Sisko and Jake go on a trip to Earth for unspecified reasons. Because he's doing this a lot between seasons. Kira is worried that he took his baseball with him.
To calm his mind, Sisko is brushing potatoes behind his father's restaurant deep into the night.

--

This episode has some good ideas and is well executed, but the plot feels rather disjointed. It feels simultaneously a bit rushed and not having much happening.

Having Sisko organizing the war against the Dominion at the start of season 6 made some sense, since it was a new enemy and Sisko was the only one in Starfleet who really had personal experiences with them. Having a captain being supreme commander of a major invasion against a neighbour of the Federation and all the admirals working for him makes no sense. I may have skipped a couple of episodes, but here it is stated directly that Starfleet is only now ready to go on the offensive instead of only defending. Last I heard the Dominion was getting ready to attack Vulcan, which is just next to Earth. So Starfleet is going straight from being almost defeated to invading the enemy homeworld? You could say since it's in space and everyone has warp drives, controlling territory means nothing. But in that case, what has this whole war been about so far?
And why do the Romulans refuse to attack and then in their next scene change their mind without any new developments?

Kira going with the Defiant and Dax staying back doesn't make any sense. Their respective duties have been well established to be the other way around. And then she steps into the temple for the very first time and gets killed there. Was it ever established that they have one of the orbs on the station? I wonder on how short notice they had to make a season finale that accommodates for a cast change? It all feels a bit forced and not natural, so I assume the script was finished pretty late in the production of the season.
Since of all the main cast characters in all of Star Trek, Dax is the one who can jump between bodies, I can completely understand that they had to kill her off and replace her with her next incarnation. Having the character simply leave for some other place would have been a huge waste of interesting potential. And with her character development up to this point it also wouldn't have made any sense to have her reassigned to a new position.

Now Dax has always been one of my favorite characters on the show, together with Garak and Odo. But aside from her Klingon adventures, I don't think they did anything interesting with the character for a pretty long time by this point. Season 7 is the one I remember the least about, and I am actually quite curious how well the character turns out for the last 26 episodes. I remember I liked Dax in season 7, but that was when I was an uneducated pleb who knew nothing about storytelling. Will be an interesting thing to watch out for on the home stretch.

The whole thing with the Prophets seem to come out of nowhere as well. I skipped the previous four episode, but they all don't sound as if they have anything to do with the Prophets or Dukat.
Dukat's role this episode was small but looked promising. He comes across as pretty deluded, but as the audience we know that all his Bajoran magic ramblings are actually true. But still he seems to have his priorities really messed up. Nobody but him can see how having Sisko out of the picture is going to defeat the Federation, the Klingons, and the Romulans while Cardassia is under attack.

There's a nice little moment between Weyoun and Damar, where Weyoun thinks the Bajorans are primitive and superstitious for believing that the Prophets are gods. Damar points that Weyoun thinks the Founders are goods. "That's different! The Founders are gods."

But yeah, overall this episode has pretty good acting and looks good, but the plot is really quite janky.

[Wraith]

This episode, and the one that you reviewed prior to it, are where DS9 really started to unwravel for me. I just... don't care about this stupid "magic space ghosts" crap.

Captain Kirk defied "God" with a question that pierced the armour of a would be deity: what does God need with a spaceship? Captain Picard met Q, a whole race whose omnipotence put s actual deities to shame, and verbally smacked him down every few episodes. That's how I think of Star Trek; the universe is vast and wild and unimaginable strange, but if you meet "God" and can understand or recognise it, then it can't actually be God because God is mysterious and ineffable.

The Prophets and the Pah Wraiths are bollocks. Magic Space Ghosts that just get to shoot Magic Space Ghost Lazers at each other and everyone just goes, "Well, they're mysterious, we'll just go along with that". As a writing convention it's incredibly weak and there are so many other more interesting ways in which DS9 could have been brought to an end, even from a point later than this episode.

[bguy]

Having Sisko organizing the war against the Dominion at the start of season 6 made some sense, since it was a new enemy and Sisko was the only one in Starfleet who really had personal experiences with them. Having a captain being supreme commander of a major invasion against a neighbour of the Federation and all the admirals working for him makes no sense.

Was Sisko actually in command of the invasion or was he just responsible for planning it? Staff officers can be responsible for doing the planning for a major military operation while being much lower in rank than the actual commander. (IIRC Erich Ludendorff was only a Colonel when he served as Hindenberg's chief of staff at the Battle of Tannenberg.) I assumed it was a similar dynamic here with Sisko serving as the Chief of Staff to Ross (who was in overall command of the invasion or at least the Federation forces involved.)

I may have skipped a couple of episodes, but here it is stated directly that Starfleet is only now ready to go on the offensive instead of only defending. Last I heard the Dominion was getting ready to attack Vulcan, which is just next to Earth. So Starfleet is going straight from being almost defeated to invading the enemy homeworld? You could say since it's in space and everyone has warp drives, controlling territory means nothing. But in that case, what has this whole war been about so far?

Well they aren't attacking the enemy homeworld just a Cardassian colony. It's still a long way from Chintaka to Cardassia.

Also it was mentioned in an earlier episode ("The Reckoning" I believe) that the Romulans had liberated the Benzite system from the Dominion. If the Romulans have started pushing the Dominion back on one front then it makes sense that the tide might have shifted enough for Starfleet to also take the offensive.

And why do the Romulans refuse to attack and then in their next scene change their mind without any new developments?

Well we never definitively saw the Romulans refuse to join the attack. Senator Letant expressed concerns about the plan but that scene ended with Sisko making a solid argument that the war could not be won without taking the war into Cardassian space. Presumably the Romulans were convinced by Sisko's logic.

The whole thing with the Prophets seem to come out of nowhere as well. I skipped the previous four episode, but they all don't sound as if they have anything to do with the Prophets or Dukat.
Dukat's role this episode was small but looked promising. He comes across as pretty deluded, but as the audience we know that all his Bajoran magic ramblings are actually true. But still he seems to have his priorities really messed up. Nobody but him can see how having Sisko out of the picture is going to defeat the Federation, the Klingons, and the Romulans while Cardassia is under attack.

Agree with this. The show very much failed to provide a convincing explanation why cutting the Prophets off from Sisko would damage the Federation war effort.

[Rodin]

S6E22: Valiant: Jake and Nog end up on a warship crewed only by cadets.
S6E23: Profit and Lace: Widely considered to be the worst Star Trek episode ever.
S6E24: Time's Orphan: O'Brien's daughter got stuck in a time anomaly for 10 years.
S6E25: The Sound of her Voice: A sappy shaggy dog story.

Valiant is a pretty good one-shot showing the bad side of throwing kids into combat, and also goes back to address Nog's idolization of Red Squad. I liked that they didn't have the plucky ship full of kids take down a battleship and had a realistic result. When I first saw the end of DS9, I missed this episode and assumed it was the one where Nog picked up his PTSD. It still surprises me that it isn't referenced more in later episodes.

Profit and Lace I skipped based on the recommendations from here. I almost want to watch this episode and Threshold just to see how legendarily bad they are.

Time's Orphan I skipped based on the description, and looking on the Wikipedia page it made the top 20 of worst Star Trek episodes ever. Not missing much then.

Sound of her Voice was one I really enjoyed though. I guessed the twist almost immediately, but the stranded captain was so personable that it was a joy to watch anyway. Her conversations with Bashir were a definite highlight.

The whole thing with the Prophets seem to come out of nowhere as well. I skipped the previous four episode, but they all don't sound as if they have anything to do with the Prophets or Dukat.
Dukat's role this episode was small but looked promising. He comes across as pretty deluded, but as the audience we know that all his Bajoran magic ramblings are actually true. But still he seems to have his priorities really messed up. Nobody but him can see how having Sisko out of the picture is going to defeat the Federation, the Klingons, and the Romulans while Cardassia is under attack.

You didn't miss anything with the Prophets and the Pah Wraiths. That stuff really does just come out of nowhere. They introduce Pah Wraiths as being a thing in a single filler episode in season 5, don't mention them for an entire season, have a random doomsday prophecy happen in episode 21, and then have a Pah Wraith help kill Dax.

Dukat doesn't really make sense here without watching the events of Waltz. He's obsessed with Sisko because he's insane, and his actions for the entire rest of the show are based around how his character developed during his crazy-time.

This episode, and the one that you reviewed prior to it, are where DS9 really started to unwravel for me. I just... don't care about this stupid "magic space ghosts" crap.

Captain Kirk defied "God" with a question that pierced the armour of a would be deity: what does God need with a spaceship? Captain Picard met Q, a whole race whose omnipotence put s actual deities to shame, and verbally smacked him down every few episodes. That's how I think of Star Trek; the universe is vast and wild and unimaginable strange, but if you meet "God" and can understand or recognise it, then it can't actually be God because God is mysterious and ineffable.

The Prophets and the Pah Wraiths are bollocks. Magic Space Ghosts that just get to shoot Magic Space Ghost Lazers at each other and everyone just goes, "Well, they're mysterious, we'll just go along with that". As a writing convention it's incredibly weak and there are so many other more interesting ways in which DS9 could have been brought to an end, even from a point later than this episode.

I don't mind having "Elder Ones" that can do stuff that seems like magic to us. G'Kar's speech about what an ant thinks when we pick it up is a great analogy for how difficult alien tech can be to understand.

The problem with the Prophets and the Pah Wraiths is that they were poorly utilized. The Prophets occasionally show up for stand-alone episodes featuring them, and the Pah Wraiths are barely mentioned at all until they're suddenly important in season 7. The other issue is that they're kept completely removed from all the other storylines. The Dominion only encounter them that one time when the wormhole eats their fleet. The Pah Wraiths have nothing to do with the Dominion. Only Sisko (and to a much lesser extent Kira) get involved with them from the main cast. Kai Wynn's entire final arc happens in isolation from the rest of the story, and the timeline of her going to the Fire Caves doesn't even begin to match up with the pace of events elsewhere. The Prophets themselves speak even less clearly than Kosh does, and their infuriating vagueness causes most of the problems they're trying to stop.

I feel like the writers never knew what they wanted to do with the Prophets long-term, so they got used as a convenient plot device throughout the show. When they were coming up on the final season, they suddenly realized they had to deal with this whole "Emissary" business and brought back the Pah Wraiths as a way to try and fix it. This was something they needed to have planned out from the very beginning, and the lack of planning shows.

[comicshorse]

Well they aren't attacking the enemy homeworld just a Cardassian colony. It's still a long way from Chintaka to Cardassia.

"It's a long way to go"
I now have an overwhelming image of Starfleet crew singing this as they go into battle

[bguy]

"It's a long way to go"
I now have an overwhelming image of Starfleet crew singing this as they go into battle

Better for morale than "The Charge of the Light Brigade" at least.

[Yora]

Garak: "How did that poem end, Chief?"
O'Brien: "You don't want to know."

[Yora]

Season 6 Summary

E1: A Time to Stand
E2: Rocks and Shoals
E3: Sons and Daughters
E4: Behind the Lines
E5: Favor the Bold
E6: Sacrifice of Angels
E7: You are cordially invited
E8: Resurrection
E9: Statistical Probabilities
E10: The Magnificent Ferengi
E11: Waltz
E12: Who mourns for Morn?
E13: Far beyond the Stars
E14: One Little Ship
E15: Honor among Thieves
E16: Change of Heart
E17: Wrongs darker than Death or Night
E18: Inquisition
E19: In the Pale Moonlight
E20: His Way
E21: The Reckoning
E22: Valiant
E23: Profit and Lace
E24: Time's Orphan
E25: The Sound of her Voice
E26: Tears of the Prophets

Season 1:
Season 2:
Season 3:
Season 4:
Season 5:
Season 6:

Best Episode: S6E2: Rocks and Shoals, don't throw rocks at me.

Now I can't really rate this season, having watched less than half of it. But I very much doubt that I would have rated any of the episodes that I skipped as great, which brings the total of episodes I really liked to only five. That's the worst since season 1, which is considerably shorter. I don't know if this would have had more episodes that I really hated than season 3 did, but that one at least had a decent number of episodes that I really quite like. So I guess I would make season 6 share the bottom rank together with season 1. Though it is very important to note that season 1 is regarded by general consensus to be the worst of the whole show, while season 6 has the reputation of being the best. And I really am not seeing this.
I think one important factor is that season 6 is the Dominion War season, and this subject really isn't doing it for me. It already didn't in season 5, but there it was more of a side show and there were plenty of other great episodes. But this season is full of episode that just made me cringe from only reading one sentence summaries. Some of them sound really silly, like bad episodes from other season, but I also think that this season seemed to have wanted to really dial of the pathos that always made me cringe.

You didn't miss anything with the Prophets and the Pah Wraiths. That stuff really does just come out of nowhere. They introduce Pah Wraiths as being a thing in a single filler episode in season 5, don't mention them for an entire season, have a random doomsday prophecy happen in episode 21, and then have a Pah Wraith help kill Dax.

If there ever was a point to accuse Deep Space Nine of ripping off Babylon 5, this season is it. People often forget that both shows started in 1993, with DS9 actually launching six weeks earlier, so you can't really say either was immitating the success of the other. But the first episode of season 6 aired in September 97, right when Babylon 5 was reaching it's grand finale that wrapped up the big plot that had been brewing for four seasons. (The show did get a fifth season, but that was tacked on after the whole mythology arc was already resolved.)
Season 6 of Deep Space Nine is where the show gets a true metaplot that just continues between episodes without true breaks. The season basically begins with a six-parter. It's also the season where we suddenly get this space magic and space demons stuff appearing, which was one of the huge draws for Babylon 5. I think accusations of immitations on the side of Deep Space Nine are fully justified this season.

I went over the list of episodes in season 7 and there are 10 episodes I don't plan on watching and 16 that I probably will. We'll see how that will turn out, but I fully admit that I'm mostly looking forward to move on to Babylon 5.

[Dragonus45]

If there ever was a point to accuse Deep Space Nine of ripping off Babylon 5, this season is it. People often forget that both shows started in 1993, with DS9 actually launching six weeks earlier, so you can't really say either was immitating the success of the other.

Funny story, but there is some real circumstantial evidence that the Star Trek people saw Straczynski shopping around B5 and DS9 was initially going to be Babylon 5 but retooled into being a star trek property before they decided to just make their own thing. The details are bit complicated but he walks through the order of events in his autobiography and it matches up.

[The New Bruceski]

How much was stolen from whom basically depends on people's mood when you ask them. On a good day it's "they knew about each other but did their own thing and tried not to step on toes" and on a bad one you can imagine how the story ends up. I think the main thing everyone's been clear on is that individual episodes were generally a coincidence; there are a couple of times when they both had surprisingly similar stuff happen in the same week and production times just didn't allow for one to have borrowed from the other.

[Yora]

I can't really think of anything that was straight up ripped off Babylon 5. But season 6 really looks a lot like "what they are doing is super succesful, we have to have us something like that". Season arcs, more galactic war, more space demons and magic. Produce what the market us demanding right now.

[Arcane_Secrets]

Profit and Lace I skipped based on the recommendations from here. I almost want to watch this episode and Threshold just to see how legendarily bad they are.

I'd call out Threshold for being drastically worse for several reasons. The first is that it makes absolutely no sense on all sorts of different levels. The second (which sort of relates to the first) is that the ending makes no sense whatsoever. The third is that its a complete throwaway episode which in no way advances any storyline in Voyager whatsoever, while Profit and Lace at least had...that. Its in no way one of my favorites (Profit in Lace); I'd say that several of my favorite episodes and moments are coming up and I won't spoil them but I wouldn't call it as bad as other things I've watched, even in a Trek series.

[Seppl]

The big difference is that Threshold is bad because it is stupid, whereas Profit and Lace is bad because it is cringy. If you have to watch one of them, watch Threshold. There at least, you can derive some measure of amusement out of making fun of the writers. With Profit and Lace on the other hand, you will feel more embarrassed for the writers. Bad drama you can laugh about, but bad comedy will leave you stunned.

[Yora]

It's not just cringy, the whole idea for the joke it outright offensive.

[Cikomyr]

It's not just cringy, the whole idea for the joke it outright offensive.

I think SFdebris put it best. The problem isn't making a joke about a man in a dress.

The problem is making a joke about a man in a dress, where the man in a dress is the beginning, middle and end of the joke. And then you keep saying it again and again.

It's not bigotry, it's laziness.

[Yora]

S7E1: Image in the Sand

Kira has been in charge of the station for three months and things are going reasonably well, but with the disappearance of the Prophets there has been a new wraith cult appearing among the Bajorans. As commander of the station, Kira has been promoted to colonel and has an argument with the Starfleet admiral about the Romulans wanting to station troops on Bajor. She isn't really convinced that the Romulans will just leave once the war is over.

Sikso and Jake are still staying at his father's restaurant on Earth, where Sisko is just spending his days working in the kitchen and playing piano. Suddenly his baseball rolls from the piano and when he reaches down to pick it up, he has a vision of being in a desert where he starts digging and uncovers the face of a woman. When he comes back to, he tells Jake that this vision was what made him come and stay at the restaurant, and that he now has to go and find that woman.

On Cardassia things are looking up again for the Dominion. Damar is quite happy about the situation while Weyoun still has a lot of doubt, and also voices his concern that Damar might be developing a drinking problem.

Sisko is trying to reconstruct a digital image of the face he saw in the vision. Jake thinks she looks really familar and finds a photo of her in the restaurant with Sisko's father. When they show him the photo he gets visibly spooked and tells them to forget about it.

Worf is still upset about Jadzia's death and goes to the bar in the holosuite to calm down. It doesn't work out for him. Bashir and Quark come to see what happened and talk with the holo singer. Bashir finds it strange that Worf is so on edge, as Klingons usually accept and deal with the dead of the fallen very well.

Kira goes to see the Romulan delegation that is on the station and finds the leader to be actually quite pleasant to talk to.

Sisko has another talk with his father and explains that he saw the woman in a vision and has to know who she is and they both get unusually agitated. Eventually his father explains that the woman was his first wife and Sisko's true mother. When he was one year old, she suddenly disappeared. His father tracked her to Australia where she had been living for three years before she died in a crash.

Kira runs into the Romulan on the promenade and is pleasantly surprised to see her being interested in the Bajoran stores on the station. The Romulans have a request to set up a hospital on an uninhabited moon in the system and Kira says she will pass the request along, but it's sounding awfully like they are trying to get a foot into the door.

O'Brien tells Bashir that he is going to try talking with Worf. Worf really doesn't want any visitors but when O'Brien keeps pushing they sit down and talk for a good while. When he makes it back to the bar, Bashir and Quark are grilling him about what Worf said, and he tells them that Worf didn't really want to talk about Dax at all, but eventually mentioned that she isn't in Klingon Valhalla. Being murdered from behind doesn't count as a glorious death, and he feels that instead he will have to win glorious battles in her name, to vouch that she is worthy. The Defiant hasn't had any real battles since the offensive stalled, and the admiral isn't going to give them permission to go a raid against the Dominion. But O'Brien thinks they should ask Martok.

Sisko is brushing potatoes again and mentions to his father that he is missing Dax, since she always had good advice for him in difficult times like that. His father found an old necklace from his mother and Sisko notices symbols on the back that he recognizes as ancient Bajoran writing. After some work he manages to translate it as "Orb of the Emissary". None of the orbs are known by that title, but Sisko has a hunch that another orb exists and that it is hidden in the desert, waiting from him to make contact with the Prophets. Since he knows the desert from the vision, that's the place where he wants to start his search.

Odo catches Kira because he got information that a Federation medical ship was turned away from the Romulan hospital, even though most of the wounded they had were Vulcans, who are physically almost identical to Romulans. Kira thinks that the Romulans have been very friendly and helpful so far, but Odo also has sensor readings from the hospital that indicate the storage of weapons.

Worf is practicing his swordfighting in the holosuite when Martok walks in and attacks him. He tells Worf that he is going to attack the Dominion and wants Worf to come along so they can proof that Jadzia is worthy.

Sisko is cleaning up behind the restaurant to close up when a Bajoran walks up to him and turns out to be a wraith cultist and tries to kill him. Jake arrives to knock him out and get Sisko to the hospital.

Quark is badmouthing Martok's and Worf's plan to make a sneak attack on a Dominion shipyard and thinks there's no chance of success. Bashir decides that he has to go with them as well, and O'Brien wants to come along to,

Kira goes to the Romulan leader and tells her that the hospital can stay, but the weapons depot has to go. If they think the Bajorans aren't able to defend the hospital, they just have to leave entirely. Weyoun brings the news about the event to Damar and they are both very pleased with it.

Sisko is ready to leave Earth and Jake and his father tell him that they will be going with them. He says okay but they are interrupted by a Starfleet ensign knocking at the window and introducing herself as Dax.

--

Quite decent episode. As usual for the first episode of a new season. This episode doesn't really have an ending, but I guess that's now the new format for this show, so I'm not going to count that as a shortcoming.

Being the first episode of a new season, it does a lot of setting up new circumstances and giving reestablishing what happened before.
Kira's storyline with the Romulan is pretty good, even though each scene is actually very short and to the point. But this also means that there's quite a good amount of content in the short timespan it had in the episode. We don't need any dialog to explain that Kira is pretty pissed about the Romulan acting extra friendly with the intention to mislead her. That she is handling it very professional instead of blowing up in public doesn't negate that but rather shows how much she has grow into her position and responsibilities. I think that shows some real confidence by the writers both in the audience and their own previous work. I wonder if this one continues into the next episode or if this is concluded now by serving the eviction notice.
The Valhalla Quest story is also very solid, though this episode we really just get the setup for something that is going to happen in a later episode.
I am actually quite surprised how this episode manages to cover three separate storylines in just one episode. There is little time wasted in any of them, which makes the episode feel considerably longer than it actually is.

I don't really want to crap over it, but I couldn't help by noticing that the Sisko plot in this episode really smells a lot like Babylon 5 again. Sisko isn't just chosen by the Prophets when he happens to discover the wormhole. His mother was actually chosen and guided by the Prophets before he was even born. And somehow they stored an unknown orb on a remote planet that apparently has nothing to do with Bajor, probably long in the past. Not a terrible idea, but this has Valen all over it. We'll see how that works out as the season arc. The scenes with Sisko, his father, and Jake are all quite good as well. Though Sisko getting near fatally stabbed in a dark alley and then being all fine again after an off screen visit to the hospital felt needlessly overdramatic. It would have been enough to simply have a struggle with the knife and Jake coming to the rescue before Sisko gets stabbed. Having him bleeding in a puddle was too much.

Dax only has two sentences at the very end of the episode, but I felt like there's actually a hint of the familiar way of speaking and expression coming through. Not perfect, and of course it really doesn't need to in this context, but I think there was an effort made and I appreciate that.

[Serenity]

Since the Prophets exist outside of linear time, my headcanon is that the stuff with Sisko's Prophet-Mom became retroactively true after he discovered the wormhole. Could also explain how the Prophets went from barely being aware of Bajor to always having cared about it.

[Cikomyr]

Since the Prophets exist outside of linear time, my headcanon is that the stuff with Sisko's Prophet-Mom became retroactively true after he discovered the wormhole. Could also explain how the Prophets went from barely being aware of Bajor to always having cared about it.

Just because they are not linear in time the way we perceive it doesn't mean they probably don't have their own sense of continuity, albeit alien to us.

Because you cannot have "we don't understand linear beings" transition to "we understand you" if they don't have a sense of continuity, otherwise they would always have understood the Sisko.

In a sense, they decided at a later continuity to enact plans in what we perceive as our past.

[Serenity]

Just because they are not linear in time the way we perceive it doesn't mean they probably don't have their own sense of continuity, albeit alien to us.

Because you cannot have "we don't understand linear beings" transition to "we understand you" if they don't have a sense of continuity, otherwise they would always have understood the Sisko.

In a sense, they decided at a later continuity to enact plans in what we perceive as our past.

Yeah, that's basically what I was trying to say, thanks for helping me clarify it!

[russdm]

Based on how they end up describing it in the episode, it comes across that Benjamin's mother may have been possessed by the prophets to sire him. It comes across looking back it as slightly more creepy than intended, with the feel that the human mother was not exactly a willing partner in what was going on. They seem to struggle with explaining it well. So, is Benjamin a product of a loving relationship? or what?

Spoiler: Next episode stuff

Show

Of course, it turns out to be an actual prophet more so than someone possessed maybe. (Its not made clear whether Ben's mom is a prophet or a human woman that the prophet possessed and made marry Joseph and have a child with)

[tomandtish]

Unfortunately (IMHO), season 7 made the mistake of replacing Dax. There's nothing wrong with Nicole de Boer's performance, but since they KNEW that season 7 was the last season, why waste the time on that? You have three episodes where she's the main focus (all basically stand-alone episodes), and several others where she's a major focus.

The time could have been better spent.

[Yora]

S7E2: Shadows and Symbols

Dax explains to Sisko and Jake that she was dying on the transport from the station to her homeworld and there was only one Trill on the ship. Unfortunately, Ezri never had any plans to become joined and had no psychological training to be prepared for it, but she agreed to do it on very short notice rather than letting Dax die. Her new joined mind is still a complete mess and the experts at the joining commission didn't really have any useful advice for her situation, so she decided to go and stay with Sisko and Jake while trying to get used to everything. And she's more than happy to come along on their adventure to search for an unknown orb which will give her something to do.

Worf is doing a ritual with Martok, Bashir, and O'Brien to begin their quest to proof that they can vouch for Jadzia being worthy of Klingon Valhalla. Quark shows up and declares that he also wants to come with them. Worf and Martok don't like it, but won't deny him the opportunity to honor a fallen hero.

Kira has a discussion with the admiral about the situation with the Romulans and he hates to admit it, but the Romulans are much more important members of the alliance against the Dominions than the Bajorans are. Which the Bajorans need to keep in mind when they decide what how to proceed.

When Sisko and the others reach the planet where the orb should be and prepare to beam down from their shuttle, he is hearing voices, which are in reference to S6E13 Far Beyond the Stars, but it quickly ends.

Worf has a plan to destroy the Dominion shipyard by causing a solar flare from the nearby star. Quark is complaining to Bashir and O'Brien about Worf being so unfriendly to him, which only makes Worf even more annoyed.

Sisko doesn't really know what he's looking for but trusts that they will find something to guide him if they keep walking through the desert. Dax is a bit concerned about Sisko setting a pretty fast pace and his father struggling to keep up, but when Sisko asks him how he's doing, he obviously says he's totally fine.

Weyoun finds that Damar is now bringing women he just met to the command center for drinks, which is of course a complete violation of all kinds of security regulations.

Kira plans to command a blockade of the Romulan weapons depot and Odo tells her that he really wants to come with her and help it not getting ugly.

Sisko's father is struggling to keep up but insistent that he's with them on this search for answers about Sisko's origin. Sisko gets tired with walking around and drops all his stuff except for his baseball and a shovel. He's hearing the voices again and when he doesn't react to Dax talking to him, she takes away his baseball he's fiddling with and throws it away. He gets an intuition that he has to start digging where the ball landed.

The Bajoran blockade fleet gets a call from the admiral that a convoy of Romulan warships with medical supplies is heading for the Romulan base and that Kira should really let them pass. Kira is not impressed and tells the Romulans that they won't move. The Romulan leader doesn't buy it, though.

Sisko is acting increasingly disoriented and mutters to himself while hurriedly digging in the sand.

Martok is quite angry with Worf at how badly he is treating Jadzia's friends who have joined them on their quest. Seeing that he's right, Worf goes to them to apologize and that he is grateful that they have always been such good friends to her.

Sisko actually finds one of the boxes that contain the orbs, but before he can open it he has a vision of being in a mental hospital and writing the story of what he's just doing. The doctor tries to tell him to stop writing his delusions.

The Romulans arrive at the moon and the admiral and the Romulan leader call again to tell Kira to move her fleet out of the way, but she still refuses to budge.

In Sisko's vision the doctor is telling him to destroy his writing, which causes him to start burrying the unopened box with the orb again.

O'Brien tries using a beam on the star to cause a flare, but it doesn't work and some Jem'Hadar ships notice them and go after them.

Dax is trying to stop Sisko and tells him to remember how important it is for him to find the prophets. She finally gets through and in his vision he doesn't destroy his writing but instead continues to write more. He opens the box and a blue light comes out that races across the galaxy to Bajor and reopens the wormhole. some orange Wraith light comes out and implodes. Kira takes that as a sign and gets ready to attack the Romulans.

O'Brien tries again and successfully causes a solar flare that destroy the Jem'Hadar ship and then takes out the shipyard.

The Romulans back off and the admiral calls Kira again to tell her that the Romulans will remove their weapons depot from Bajoran space since he told them the Federation would take the Bajoran's side.

Sisko gets a vision from the prophet he released with the appearance of his mother, who tells him she removed the wraith that had been attacking the wormhole and that he has fulfilled his purpose. But Sisko demands answers and the prophet tells him that it possessed his mother for several years. But he doesn't get any useful answer as for why.

Everyone is back to the station and everything is normal again. Except that some random Trill ensign is greeting everyone before running along.

--

Usually I switch scenes slightly around in my summaries to get longer paragraph, but here I thought I'll keep the structure mostly intact. This episode has three plots and is jumping between them like crazy. On average, the episode jumps between the different plot every 2 minutes, but sometimes it's even faster than that.
This is a terrible idea. Though it does do the job of creating the appearance that it's fast paced and that there's a lot going on. But that's mostly a lie. There really isn't that much content in this episode. I think the Kira storyline was pretty unnecessary. It's not bad, and it let's Kira do something these two episodes, and gives Odo an opportunity to stand around in the background. But I think it would have been much better to give the time to the other two stories and give them a little bit more complexity. And why do we have to squeeze in a Weyoun and Damar minute? It really does not contribute to any of the three plots at all. The only thing it seems to be doing is to remind us that they exist, and I believe to have us later think "Oh yeah, things have been tense between these two for a while now and Damar is really letting himself go". We'll have to see what comes out of this.

The first scenes with Dax are fine, but she doesn't get much opportunity to do anything after that. Though I really like that moment where Sisko is spaced out and she takes away his baseball and throws it away. I think this works very efficiently to get across that it's still Dax and not a new stranger who just joined the party. It's not something that you would do with people not close to you and something that we'd really expect to see from Dax as we had come to know her. It's also in these moments that she becomes much more focused, since she is occupied with taking care of Sisko as he is unravelling. Well done, thought it's really just a short moment.

That thing with Sisko's vision is a bit weird, but okay I guess? Interesting that it seems to say that S6E13 Far Beyond the Stars was a mental attack against Sisko by the wraiths. Now I have not watched that episode in probably 20 years now and so I might have forgotten some relevant details, but this does smell a bit like backpaddling here.
The episode also does spell it out that the prophet did hijack the body of Sisko's mother for a few years. And the implication seems to be that she freaked out when she got control back and ran away halfway across the world. But nothing more is said about that, because this was the 90s and that's just not something to talk about.

Visually and in regard to the acting, this episode is of course as great as the show is all the time at this point. But again, the acting of Sisko does't work for me. I don't want to call it hamfisted, but this form of intensity doesn't really work for TV. It seems much more appropriate for stage performances. (And I notices for the first time that the doctor in the vision is the actor of Damar.)

[Yora]

S7E3: Afterimage

Dax is still feeling weird about being back on the station. While wandering around on the promenade she passes by the shrine and decides to go inside to see the place where Dukat killed her. She then goes to Quark who offers her blood wine, which she now finds disgusting, which Quark is happy to hear. Interestingly, Quark seems to be the only one of her old friends who has no problem with continuing on where they left. Which reminds her that he still owes her money. Then Worf comes in, and seeing her he turns around and leaves.

Dax goes sneaking into Sisko's office through Dukat's private escape back door because she does not want to run into Worf in ops. She doesn't know how to deal with him and needs support from Sisko. He thinks she should stay on the station, but she feels better about transferring to a new ship.

Garak is stressed out by his work of decoding Cardassian military messages and is starting to have panic attacks. He almost passes out but fortunately Odo happens to be coming by that moment to call Bashir. He calls Sisko to tell him he can't continue with the work.

Since Ezri Dax has psychology training, Sisko wants her to try helping Garak, but she thinks she's in no shape to help anybody. But Sisko thinks she can do it and she agrees to give it a try.

Quark asks Bashir what he's thinking of Ezri and Bashir says he doesn't know because he barely met her yet. Quark finds it surprising because he thinks she's still their old friend Dax they always admired so much.

Dax goes to see Garak to offer her help. She tries to be helpful but Garak very quickly figures out that she's just as afraid of unresolved problems from her past. As she leaves she runs into Worf. She wants to talk to him, but Worf tells her he doesn't want to have any private relationship with her.

The next day Garak resumes his work, and since she did such a good job with him, Sisko wants Dax to take a position as the station's psychologist. He talked with her superiors and since her training period was almost over they gave her the full required qualifications for the job. Later she wants to go eat something but can't decide what she wants to eat. Bashir makes a suggestion, which she thinks is a really good idea. As they are talking she think's he trying to hit on her again and tells him not to do so because she isn't Jadzia anymore. Not being able to filter what she's saying she tells him that before Worf came to the station, she actually started to get really interested in him, which is rather awkward to say.

They are called away by security who are reporting that Garak has gone delusional and is trying to go out an airlock, Dax takes him to a beach in the holosuite to calm him, but it's not working for him. He's rather distressed by the thought that he can't keep living on the station because he has no idea where else he could possibly go. But Dax does a pretty good job of assuring him of her optimism that they will get his issues solved.

While Quark is in the infirmary to get a parasite removed from his ear, Worf comes in and is very angry with Bashir for flirting with Dax.

Dax finds Garak in his shop working very angrily. She tries to talk with him and Garak tells her that he thinks she's a total fake who isn't either a true psychologist or really Dax, and more in need of help than him. It's all too much for him and she goes to Sisko to tell him she quits. He's sympathetic to her troubles but isn't letting her off easily.

O'Brien goes to Worf after Bashir told him of his outburst. Worf finds it insulting that Bashir and Quark still treat Dax like Jadzia, and it would be completely inappropriate for them to hit on his wife. O'Brien reminds him that completely ignoring Ezri isn't kind to Dax either. Worf is simply really frustrated by how confusing the whole situation is. O'Brien recommends that he really should go and talk with Dax to learn what she considers appropriate in this situation.

Dax goes to Garak to tell him that she's leaving and also to let him know that the messages he decoded were really useful for Starfleet and they are starting a new offensive based on the information. Garak is absolutely not happy to hear that. He's trying to save the Cardassians from the Dominion, but all he's really doing is helping their enemies to kill them, because they are probably going to fight until the very end. She takes him to the infirmary where he calms down and once he's better again he decides that there really isn't any better alternative and he will continue with the code breaking.

Dax goes to Sisko again to tell him that she thinks she's ready to go to work again and still wants the position on the other ship. Sisko is happy to hear that though he would prefer if she stays on the station.

While she is packing her things, Worf comes to her quarters to finally talk and apologize for his hostile behavior toward her. He also tells her that she shouldn't leave the station because of him. He also asks her to give him some time to figure things out.

She takes the position on the station and everyone is quite happy to have her there.

--

This is obviously a somewhat strange episode, but overall a pretty good one.

This is such a unique situation for a character, that quite possibly nobody had ever tried writing before. Dax is now clearly very different. And I really have no clue if that was the best choice, or if it would have been more interesting to have a new Dax who still has much in common with Jadzia. Who knows, we don't really have anything to compare. I think it changes quite a lot between situations. When she is talking with Sisko, it very much feels like it's still Dax with a new face. But when she's with Garak, a character Dax never had any close interactions with, she really doesn't feel like Dax at all. With Bashir and Quark it's a bit in the middle Which I won't call a bad thing. It does fit the very confusing situation everyone is in. Except Sisko. He's been through that before and takes it in complete stride.

What really surprised me was that Quark ended up to be the only other character who doesn't have any difficulty seeing Ezri as Dax. His dialog also makes it quite clear that he's attracted to her because he sees her as Dax and he's long been past the point where he just was interested in the pretty feisty lady. Nice character development.

Once again, this episode is jumping around a lot. At least here it's all in a single storyline instead of three. But Dax is to Sisko's office to talk with him about reassignment or resignation three times, and talking with Garak in his shop also three times, which feels repetitive and not quite right. Pretty much all the scenes this episode are very short, which gives it all a somewhat disjointed feel.

But overall, I quite liked it.

[GrayDeath]

One of my absolute favourites.

They did an excellent job on showing the problems inherent in a "New Dax", and Nicole deBoer also acted the mix of shy/old Friend trying to reconnect/New Girl Mix.

[Rodin]

I liked that they didn't magically cure Garak here. He's still under deep stress, he's still claustrophobic, but he'll do his best to push through because his work is important. He doesn't have some revelation and "fix" his issues, he just has to deal with them.

Unfortunately I don't think we see him dealing with them in future episodes, which is a bit of a shame.