Sisko’s fleet begins fighting the vastly larger Dominion force while Dukat watches with glee and prepares to take down the minefield around the wormhole. At Damar’s suggestion, Kira, Jake and Leeta are all taken into custody (where Rom was being held pre-execution), leaving Quark as the only member of Kira’s resistance cell able to do anything. Quark, getting an assist from Ziyal, frees Kira’s team, and Kira and Rom work to disable the station so it can’t remove the minefield. The Defiant eventually breaks through the Dominion lines — with some late help from Worf and the Klingons — and sets course for the station. Odo picks his side and helps Kira and Rom, but Rom is just a second to late — and cuts the station’s weapons after the minefield has been destroyed. The Defiant arrives just in time to watch the mines explode and Sisko sets course into the wormhole, where the ship runs into the huge Dominion fleet. Then, the Prophets summon Sisko, asking him if he’s trying to die. Sisko talks the Prophets into intervening — “If you want to be gods, BE gods” — which they do, after telling Sisko there will be a penance. The Dominion ships disappear, and the Defiant comes out of the wormhole, firing on a disabled DS9. Weyoun orders evacuation and a retreat to Cardassian space and a stunned Dukat starts to fall apart. He finds Ziyal, who admits to helping Kira, and just as Dukat has apparently forgiven her, Damar shows up and shoots and kills Ziyal. After the Dominion evacuations, Sisko and company retake the station and find Dukat, a broken man from the ordeal.

Why it’s important

That’s likely the longest plot summary we’ve written, so you can tell that a lot happens here. The Federation retaking DS9 is a HUGE domino, of course — as is the decision by the Prophets to take on a more active role in “corporeal matters,” which plays into the seventh season in a major, major way. And then there’s the matter of Dukat …

Dukat’s breakdown and subsequent actions, which we’ll get into in future reviews, really change the math for the rest of DS9. Instead of merely fighting the Dominion, Sisko must face a random element in Dukat who decides to take on the Bajorans, Sisko and the Prophets because of their actions there.

What doesn’t hold up

Before I get started, let me be on record as saying I really like this episode, despite what may come across as ranting.

As the episode begins, occupied DS9 has at least a handful of Dominion and Cardassian ships in the area. There’s no discussion of these ships being sent to help with the fighting. And yet, they seem to magically disappear after Rom disables the station’s weapons. This is very important, in that the Dominion gives up the station (too easily) when the Defiant emerges from the wormhole. If even one of those ships was still around, it could have at least tried to take on the Defiant. I know that subsequent dialog establishes that the Starfleet/Klingon ships were on their way to the station after breaking through the Dominion lines. But if the Dominion had kept even a ship or two at DS9, they might have been able to hold off the Defiant until the station’s weapons were fixed so they could hold off the Starfleet and Klingon attackers.

And, BTW, we KNOW that some Dominion ships were still at the station, as the Dominion used them to evacuate its personnel. The creators somewhat weakly sidestep this by not showing the evacuation ships, meaning that maybe they were just shuttles or something that would have been unable to stop the Defiant. But that’s really weak sauce, as it would suggest that the Jem’Hadar and the Vorta would be cool putting a Founder in a small (and presumably lightly armed) ship in the middle of a war zone (among a host of other reasons).

And, frankly, Weyoun and the female Changeling are just WAY too chill about losing the station. Keep in mind that a season-plus later, we learn just how much the Dominion doesn’t like to lose.

As long as the complaint fest is going on, let’s address the fact that the Defiant still has the cloaking device on loan from the Romulans — despite the fact that the Romulans (at this point) have a non-aggression pact with the Dominion. The cloaking device is disabled during the battle early in the episode, but it is mentioned. Shouldn’t the Romulans have gotten that back when the war started?

While this is a criticism that might be best addressed after this episode, it makes sense to mention here: Why wouldn’t the Dominion take action against some weird wormhole aliens who just (apparently) destroyed 2,800 of their ships? After this episode, Dukat is the only one who seems to grasp the Prophets as a threat and a potential enemy. That’s really unlike the Dominion, who take every opportunity to strike out at perceived foes. We learn after this episode — too late, really, as the question is left unaddressed until the end of the season — that the Prophets will begin keeping ships from using the wormhole, preventing reinforcements from the Gamma Quadrant. That’s another reason the Dominion likely should have been looking for ways to attack the Prophets.

Final thoughts

Of course, I could quibble with the deus ex machina allowing Sisko to get rid of 2,800 Dominion ships. Watching this in 1997, I felt the ending was a cheat. But I’ll give the DS9 creators credit for how they incorporated the penance later — and how they use this as a springboard to make the Prophets more active participants. Put another way, it was a cheat — but it was a well-done cheat after the creators (in true DS9 style) stacked the deck too highly against themselves and our heroes.

Lastly, I really love that Quark kind of saves the Alpha Quadrant here.

Coming next week …

We see just how badly this all messed up Dukat.

Sisko begins plans to retake DS9 as things go from bad to worse on the station. Kira does all she can to save Rom, but Dukat and the Dominion are set on executing the Ferengi engineering genius. Sisko, meanwhile, gets buy-in from Starfleet to try to retake the station on the premise that the wormhole is the “key to the Alpha Quadrant”. He begins massing a big fleet — without Klingon assistance, as Gowron needs more convincing to participate. Then, Sisko gets a message from Kira and Jake — sent through Morn — telling him of the Dominion’s plan to take down the minefield and bring 2,800 ships into the Alpha Quadrant. Sisko leaves with 600 or so ships he has and ends the episode facing a Dominion fleet twice the size.

Why it’s important

Like our last review, the summary covers a lot of why the episode is important. This sets in motion one of the biggest battles of the Dominion War.

Not mentioned in the review is the return to form by Odo — or, at least, the beginning of the return to form. After he seemed lost to the Great Link forever in “Behind the Lines”, his loyalties seem more conflicted here. And that’s a big deal going into the next episode and the rest of the series.

What doesn’t hold up

There’s the awful speech by Dax to Sisko at the beginning of the episode that basically insinuates that Sisko is a desk jockey who doesn’t understand what’s going on amid the fighting. Considering that Sisko was IN the fighting the previous week, the scene was just horribly written (not to mention poorly acted by Terry Farrell, who really seems like she had one foot out the door at this point).

There’s also the sloppy business with Worf and Martok going to the Klingon homeworld to convince Gowron to send ships to help Sisko’s task force. While I can get behind the idea of sending a friend and an enemy to talk to Gowron, it’s too hard to swallow that Starbase 375 (where Sisko was posted), the Klingon homeworld and DS9 are so close that Worf and Martok could get to Gowron quickly enough and return quickly enough to help in the fighting. Remember that the timing of the attack had to be moved up, thanks to Morn’s message.

The Klingon piece, really, just side-stepped something I’m guessing the creators didn’t want to handle: Why not send a cloaked fleet of Klingon ships to DS9, decloak near the station and try to take it back over?

Sure, the station is well-defended. But wouldn’t the odds be better for our heroes if 600 or so ships showed up at DS9 before having their ranks thinned by the Dominion fleet? I know the Starfleet ships wouldn’t have cloaking devices (other than the Defiant, and that’s another matter) but it seems like having the Klingons positioned to enter the fighting late in the next episode was just a workaround for the cloaking issue. In some late TNG, there’s discussion of technology that can detect cloaked ships coming from Romulan space to the Federation. But it’s never very clearly explained. Likewise, the Dominion found ways to detect a cloaked Defiant in some episodes. So, maybe the idea is that a large cloaked fleet would likely be detected anyway? Hmmm …

And, the biggest problem: If Sisko and Starfleet are in agreement that the wormhole is the “key to the Alpha Quadrant” why did they give it up with relatively little effort back in “Call to Arms”? Remember, Starfleet committed resources elsewhere leaving just the station, the Defiant and Martok’s ship as a defense. Even if most resources HAD to be committed elsewhere, couldn’t Starfleet have risked another 20 ships or so — in hopes of maintaining control of the wormhole and successfully completing the other mission?

Final thoughts

While this episode works in a lot of ways, it’s a great example of one of DS9’s biggest flaws: The creators would bite off so much as far as problems facing our heroes in efforts to increase the drama that the ultimate solution would be somewhat unbelievable and almost stupid.

We’ll get into this more with our next review, but one of the key points in this episode is that Sisko had to rush his plan without a large number of Starfleet ships that hadn’t yet arrived and without the Klingons (as noted). The creators amped up the drama unnecessarily, as even a fleet of, say, 1,000 ships would have been vastly outnumbered by the Dominion and would have had to take on the heavy-duty station defenses in the hands of Dukat.

Coming later this week …

See above, and get ready for some deus ex machina.

After rescuing Sisko and Co., Worf and Martok (on board Martok’s Bird of Prey) take on a mission to defend a convoy, with five new crew members, including Worf’s estranged son Alexander (Marc Worden) who’s a substandard warrior, to say the least. Meanwhile, as Kira starts planning her new resistance, Dukat brings his daughter Ziyal back to DS9 from Bajor, where she’d been since “Call to Arms”. Alexander struggles to adapt to life as a warrior, but eventually wins over the crew and becomes, like Worf, part of the House of Martok. Kira, again, feels herself getting too close to accepting Dukat — this time, by trying to be involved in Ziyal’s life — and eventually pulls back, saddening Ziyal.

Why it’s important

This one just barely made the tapestry. It’s by far the weakest of the six-episode arc, but the return of Ziyal is really, really important going forward (as we’ll discuss in further reviews). To a much lesser extent, the continued bond between Worf and Martok is important, too. But then there’s the Alexander matter …

What doesn’t hold up

Alexander, of course, is one of Trek’s least popular characters. As a child in TNG, he rarely contributed much and too often was not present when he should have been (shouldn’t there have been two crazy “de-evolved” dinosaurs running around the Enterprise in “Genesis”?). The character was mentioned in passing (and seen in a photo) when Worf joined the DS9 crew, but he was explained away as being happier with Worf’s adopted parents on Earth. And, really, the creators should have left it there. Bringing him back here just makes no sense.

For one thing, how is Alexander old enough to serve in the Klingon Defense Force? He was apparently the result of Worf and K’Ehleyr knocking boots back in “The Emissary”, which occurred in 2365, and we first met him in “Reunion” in 2367. This episode takes place in 2374, so, at most, he would be 8. The creators apparently explained this away by saying Klingons age faster. While I find that highly, highly questionable, I probably could shrug it off if the payoff here was worth it.

There’s also the really goofy idea that the commander and first officer on a Klingon ship wouldn’t know the names of the crew replacements before they showed up on the ship. Keep in mind that Martok’s ship and the Klingon cruiser carrying the replacements were flying in formation for early in the episode. Wouldn’t the cruiser send the names over — thus negating the “reveal” of Alexander?

And, frankly, how could the Klingon Defense Force send someone so unqualified to serve in the military? A mistake by Alexander could have easily resulted in the death of fellow soldiers or defeat to the Dominion. I know the idea is that the Federation and the Klingons are somewhat desperate, but they wouldn’t have been THAT desperate.

Finally, the episode ends in a laughable way, considering what we see of Alexander going forward. Worf agrees to make him a warrior and Martok brings him into his house. And, then, Alexander goes back to Alexander land, showing up only once more and being mentioned in passing another time. As was typical of so many Worf/Alexander shows on TNG, the verbal commitment made by the two of them here results in nothing.

So, I ask again, what the hell was the point of bringing the character back?

Final thoughts

The stuff on the station is much stronger in this episode. It cements the idea that Dukat takes so much of his own self-worth from the approval of others (notably Kira) while also being an amazing opportunist. His move to give Ziyal the dress Kira had returned was almost too perfect.

That leaves Ziyal, who’s really an interesting character in that she routinely takes me to the edge of what I can take. She seems far too accepting — she’s willing to forgive Dukat for nearly killing her back in “By Inferno’s Light” — while also believably conveying the idea that she’s very much alone, aside from Dukat and Kira. Melanie Smith occasionally goes overboard with the “happy Ziyal” stuff (see above) but she does a good job of portraying the character.

Lastly, we see Kira, Odo, Jake and Quark discussing the new resistance in a public place at the beginning of this episode. It’s really the first sign of the ridiculousness of Kira’s new resistance and it’s lack of proper discretion.

Coming next week …

Odo’s loyalties are tested. Again.