6-25. The Sound of Her Voice.

A wake for a lost friend.

THE PLOT:

The Defiant is on its way home from a convoy escort mission when it intercepts a Starfleet distress call. Lisa Cusack (Debra Wilson), captain of the USS Olympia, is stranded on a planet whose atmosphere will not sustain her for long. When they make contact, they learn that she has barely enough supplies to keep her alive until they reach her. To monitor her condition, and to keep her from being alone as she waits, they agree to take turns talking with her over the intercom, in a series of conversations that become increasingly personal across the six-day journey.

Back on the station, Quark has a rare business opportunity, one that can only be completed if a wanted criminal can make his way onto the station undetected. Odo's vigilance would normally make this impossible. But, as Quark observes to an attentive Jake, Odo has been distracted since the start of his relationship with Kira. A nudge from Quark to celebrate their one-month anniversary is all that it takes to keep Odo clear long enough for the criminal exchange to take place.

Until Odo informs him that he plans to celebrate the anniversary of their first kiss - Which happened exactly one day after their first date. A delay of exactly one day... And with no way to reach his contact, that one day may leave Quark with a lengthy prison sentence!


CHARACTERS:

Capt. Sisko: Kasidy Yates is aboard the Defiant, having served as convoy liaison officer during the escort mission... Something which makes Sisko uncomfortable. Not because she did a bad job - He acknowledges to Lisa when it's his "turn" to speak with her that Kasidy did a fine job of it. He's just not comfortable with the intersection of his personal life and his duty. At the end, when Sisko talks to her, it's clear that she fears he's about to end their relationship, and is visibly relieved when he tells her that his behavior was all about his issues, something he promises to discuss with her privately later.

Dr. Bashir: Has changed a lot. The war, likely combined with some feelings of isolation now that it's known that he's genetically engineered, has transformed the gregarious young idealist into a taciturn, even dour, man focused solely on his work. He isn't even particularly interested in speaking with Lisa, focusing more on his reports than on what she is saying - Something she calls him on, reminding him that it isn't enough to care - Others have to see that he cares.

O'Brien: Has also become more isolated due to the war, something that in his case is entirely self-imposed. As a veteran of the war with the Cardassians, he knows only too well the emotional danger of getting close to people who might not be alive tomorrow. He admits to Lisa that he won't talk to his friends or family about his feelings, and he doesn't like the idea of talking to a ship's counselor... Which leaves him to stew, even as he pretends to still be the cheerful engineer he used to be.

Quark/Jake: The "B" plot revives the rivalry between Odo and Quark, something that's been little-seen since the Dominion War started. I love the joy Quark feels at "beating" Odo, which gives him more pleasure than the prospect of the actual payoff. That makes his devastation all the greater when Odo throws a wrench into his timing. Jake makes a great straight man to Quark, performing what are effectively the henchman duties that traditionally have belonged to Rom, resulting in some fun exchanges between two characters who have rarely interacted. Yet again, even this late in its run, Deep Space 9 combines characters in a new way and creates an enjoyable new dynamic.


THOUGHTS:

The Sound of Her Voice is basically a bottle show. It features the regulars, Kasidy, and one guest star who is present only as a voice over a communicator. Save for a brief sojourn to the venerable Star Trek cave set, it alternates between shipbound scenes and station-bound scenes, and features only standing sets. I strongly suspect it was made in part as a budget saver, squeezing a few pennies before the doubtless more expensive season finale.

In the hands of writer Ronald D. Moore and this most excellent of Trek ensembles, it is highly effective, if suffering from an entirely unnecessary indulgence in Technobabble near the end.

I'll deal with the Technobabble issue first, as it's the episode's biggest weakness. The basic ending is easy enough to see coming, and doesn't require a labored Technobabble explanation. This bit only works if we assume Sisko never checked records about the person he was diverting to rescue, and didn't exchange any messages with Starfleet about the situation during the almost week-long period it takes to arrive. It's a bizarre choice, one that undermines an otherwise very fine episode.

Fortunately, it is an otherwise very fine episode. The script is an ensemble character piece, with excellent scenes for Sisko, Bashir, and O'Brien (and some pretty darn good ones for Quark and Odo in the subplot). All the characters ring true, the actors are excellent as usual, and the material works. Alexander Siddig and Colm Meaney are particularly good in their scenes, and it's fitting that they get the best moments of the tag. Bashir's insistence on telling his friends how much he cares is a fine moment...

One which is immediately upstaged by O'Brien, saying the simple truth of the situation of the war and what he's decided it means to him (and handily foreshadowing the following episode at the same time):

"We've grown apart, the lot of us. We didn't mean for it to happen, but it did. The war changed us, pulled us apart... I want my friends in my life, because someday we're going to wake up and we're going to find that someone is missing from this circle. And on that day we're going to mourn, and we shouldn't have to mourn alone."


Overall Rating: 7/10. Would be an "8" without the Technobabble at the end.

Previous Episode: Time's Orphan
Next Episode: Tears of the Prophets

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6-14. One Little Ship.

A shrunken runabout must save the Defiant!
 - after it pushes a button on a console, that is.

THE PLOT

Sisko and the Defiant crew take a break from the Dominion War to investigate an anomaly. One of those Star Trek anomalies that operates on the science of High Concept - in this case, that it shrinks the Rubicon, the runabout sent into the anomaly, to a tiny fraction of its normal size, shrinking crew members Dax, O'Brien, and Dr. Bashir in the process. All of this is according to plan - with full assurances that they will return to normal size when they exit the anomaly.

The investigation is cut short when a Jem'Hadar warship attacks the Defiant. Caught unawares in mid-experiment, the Defiant is forced to surrender. Sisko and his crew are taken captive. The battle-hardened Jem'Hadar Second (Fritz Sperberg) recognizes Sisko as a threat and urges his immediate execution. But his First (Scott Thompson Baker), an inexperienced soldier bred in the Alpha Quadrant, decides to keep Sisko and his crew alive in order to repair the ship's warp engines, in order to get their prize to Cardassian space.

The Rubicon crew is unaware of the Defiant's capture. Dax, O'Brien, and Bashir just know that something went wrong and that they need to get back to the ship. They find the Defiant very quickly. But something has gone wrong - They did not return to normal size. As they enter the warship, and discover its capture, they know they must do something to help Sisko and the others. And they have to do it while the size of a child's toy!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Sisko: When he sees the hostility between the arrogant, inexperienced First and the veteran Second, he uses that. He plants the idea in the First's mind that he and his crew can repair the warp drive much faster than the Jem'Hadar would be able to, then works with his crew to simultaneously repair the drive and break through the ship's security systems to take control from the engine room. When the First barks about their slow progress, Sisko blames the Second's constant interference, with the end result that he frees his crew from detailed scrutiny as they go about their sabotage.

Dax: In command of the runabout mission, which carries over once they discover that the Defiant has been taken. O'Brien's engineering knowledge is key to helping Sisko retake the ship, but Dax does a good job of listening to his technical knowledge and to Bashir's scientific knowledge and applying both to the current situation. She also has fun embarrassing Worf by publicly announcing that she's looking forward to him writing her a poem - Something which he amusingly turns around on her in the tag.

O'Brien/Bashir: Very much a double-act. O'Brien has trouble wrapping his head around just how small they currently are, something Bashir delights in needling him about. When they have to beam off the runabout to reroute a bridge console from the inside, O'Brien begins hyperventilating, unable to clear his head enough to figure out which circuit is which. Bashir steps up, pushing O'Brien to stop looking at the giant circuitry surrounding them and instead draw on his ingrained knowledge of which components are where, which both calms the engineer and allows him to orientate himself to finish the job at hand.

Jem'Hadar: Dominion presence in the Alpha Quadrant has lasted long enough for them to start breeding Jem'Hadar here. This is creating a conflict between the veteran Jem'Hadar from the Gamma Quadrant and the new Jem'Hadar "Alphas," which I hope we see Sisko exploiting in future episodes. Here, it mainly plays out in the friction between the highly competent Second and his superior. The Second is correct at every turn: Sisko is a threat, and is actively working to retake the ship. Disrupting Sisko's crew and their attempted "repairs" also disrupts their planned resistance. The First's refusal to listen, to the point that he treats the Second with more hostility and suspicion than he does Sisko, is the main reason why the Dominion doesn't end up with the Defiant and its crew at the end. "Obedience breeds victory," the Jem'Hadar insist - But that doesn't hold true when you're obeying bad orders issued by a fool.


THOUGHTS

One Little Ship is a lightweight episode built around a silly and ridiculous concept. It reduces most of the Jem'Hadar to the status of guards so dumb they would qualify as Star Wars stormtroopers, and its situation plays out more as a comedy/adventure than as a thriller. It is, at heart, a rather dumb episode.

It's also a lot of fun to watch. The script, by Bradley Thompson and David Weddle, zips along merrily, taking viewers on a ride through two cliche stories: the "shrink" episode and the hostage episode. There is a lot of humor, from the tiny runabout hiding from view by flying directly behind the oblivious First's head to the way Dax pilots the shrunken ship to gently press buttons on a keypad. But the humor, while infectious, never compromises the characters. The situation itself is funny, but the regulars take that situation seriously - which keeps it just the right side of campy.

Some of the visuals are imaginative, as well. I particularly enjoy the scenes in which O'Brien and Bashir are working inside the bridge console. With giant, Tron-like components surrounding them, it looks - as Bashir observes - like they are "in the middle of an optronic forest."

In the end, One Little Ship is thoroughly silly, but also thoroughly entertaining. Another winner.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Far Beyond the Stars
Next Episode: Honor Among Thieves 

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6-4. Behind the Lines.

Odo links with the Female Changeling (Salome Jens)

THE PLOT:

Kira's Resistance cell has found a way to strike a blow against the Occupation with no backlash: By playing on the animosity between the Cardassians and the Jem'Hadar. Damar (Casey Biggs), Gul Dukat's right-hand man, penned a report recommending poisoning the final available dose of ketracel white should no new source be established. Kira and Rom arrange for that report to be left where the Jem'Hadar would find it. The result is a full-blown riot, with casualties among both the Cardassians and the Jem'Hadar.

Odo is not pleased, worrying that Kira took a reckless chance. Their argument doesn't get very far, however, because a new arrival steps into his office: the female changeling (Salome Jens) who was Odo's first contact with the Dominion, and who presided over his sentence to become a solid. She has been trapped in the Alpha Quadrant by the minefield, and has come to Odo for the companionship of another changeling.

The link she offers to his past is too much for him to resist. He still has so many questions about who and what he is, and about the nature of changeling society and The Great Link. But as he links with her, he becomes distant from Kira and the situation on the station. And when Damar appears to have found a way to deactivate the minefield, fast action is required - action that the constable may be too distracted to be trusted with...


CHARACTERS

Capt. Sisko: In the episode's "B" plot, Sisko is made adjutant to Admiral Ross (Barry Jenner). This means more responsibility for the large-scale war effort... But it also means giving up command of the Defiant. Refreshingly, the dilemma Sisko wrestles with isn't whether or not to accept the promotion - He does so without question. His dilemma is watching his ship and crew going out on a dangerous mission without him. He has no worries over Dax's ability to command; he simply worries over not being there, something Admiral Ross frankly addresses by telling him that the Defiant will be sent out on a lot of missions, and that Sisko had best get used to it.

Major Kira: She genuinely cares for Odo and is concerned for his well-being. That concern manifests itself in hostility toward the female changeling, whom she knows has manipulated Odo at every encounter. Unfortunately, that same hostility plays right into the female changeling's hands. When Kira all but demands that Odo refuse to link with the female, her arguments play perfectly into the other changeling's insistence that solids are the ones manipulating him. He sees Kira as worried about her resistance cell, and Kira's arguments focus on the war effort and the need to conceal their activities. It takes too long for Kira to appeal directly to their friendship - something she does only when it may already be too late.

Odo: "I tried to deny it, I tried to forget, but I can't. They're my people and I want to be with them in the Great Link!"So Odo revealed to Garak in Season Three's The Die Is Cast, and that desire comes into play in a big way in this episode. When the female changeling appears, so warm and friendly as she offers him the link he has craved, the temptation is too much for him to resist. He links with the female changeling twice, and both times he is left not just calm, but detached - his manner eerily similar to that of the alternative Odo from Children of Time. As he tells Kira that in the link, the war no longer seemed to matter, she almost certainly can hear the echo of that other Odo: The Odo who decided that in the face of what he most wanted (Kira's life in that case; the link in this case), everything else just didn't seem to matter.

Quark: Uses guile, along with a healthy dose of kanar, to loosen Damar's tongue and learn the Cardassian plan to deactivate the minefield. He reports that information to Kira's resistance cell - which is significant for Quark, because it means that he's finally stopped being neutral. He has chosen his side, and proclaims as much: "I don't like Cardassians. They're mean and arrogant. And I can't stand the Jem'Hadar. They're creepy. They just stand there like statues, staring at you... I don't want to spend the rest of my life doing business with these people. I want the Federation back. I want to sell root beer again."

Weyoun/Gul Dukat: After the riot that opens the episode, Dukat is quick to defend his people and not shy about being vocal in a public place. Weyoun, who recognizes the importance of demonstrating their alliance, quickly reigns him in. He gets Dukat to agree to discipline his men with a promise that he will do the same. But while Weyoun may continue maintaining a public facade of friendship, it is obvious that these two men have come to intensely dislike each other. The female changeling observes how avidly the two compete for credit and attention, and asks Odo if this is normal behavior - Which Odo confirms is very much the case.


THOUGHTS

Behind the Lines is a difficult episode to review. The episode is less a story in itself than a foundation for future events.  It feels very much like what it is: A set-up episode.

It is however, a very good set-up episode. It moves swiftly, and writer Rene Echevarria's attention to characterization insures that both the "A" and "B" plots are abosrbing.  Both plotlines have big implications for the episodes still to come, and they echo nicely off each other. Odo is torn between his friendship for Kira and his longing to be part of the world of changelings. Sisko is torn between his responsibility to the war effort, by taking on a larger role for Admiral Ross, and his longing to be on the front lines - coordinating the war effort, when what he really wants is to be directly fighting the war.

Sisko chooses responsibility over desire; Odo falls to temptation. Which leaves him in an interesting place going into the next episodes. The series' long-term structure demands Odo reclaim his former place as an ally. It will take a lot for him to redeem himself for his actions (and inaction) here - and likely will take even more to salvage him in Kira's eyes, as someone she can once again trust.

Really, Odo has disappointed Kira several times over the past season. Past Odo was revealed as a disappointment to her ideal of him as someone who was dedicated to the truth in last season's Things Past. An alternative future Odo left her not only disappointed, but actively appalled, in Children of Time. Now the Odo of the present - her Odo - has disappointed her. That's going to be a lot to forgive, and impossible to forget.

Assuming the next episodes pay this off well, I think it merits a strong score - though if the followup disappoints, I reserve the right to adjust this downward.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: Sons and Daughters
Next Episode: Favor the Bold

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5-26. Call to Arms.

Deep Space 9 under attack!

THE PLOT

The Dominion is preparing for war.

This has been true for some time, but now it seems imminent. Convoys of Dominion warships are coming through the wormhole on a weekly basis, further reinforcing their already strong presence in Cardassian space. More and more Alpha Quadrant governments are signing non-aggression pacts with the Dominion, with the Romulans the newest addition to a growing list. If this continues, Sisko knows, the Dominion will become unstoppable. So he orders his crew to mine the wormhole; and when Odo protests that this could start a war, he acknowledges as much but points out that they are "losing the peace."

Rom comes up with a plan to create cloaked, self-replicating mines to prevent the Dominion from simply vaporizing the minefield from the mouth of the wormhole, and Dax and O'Brien are quickly able to make that idea into a reality. But the Defiant has barely begun the painstaking work of laying the mines before the Dominion learns of their plans. Weyoun comes to the station, for once devoid of grins or patter. He is there to deliver an ultimatum:

"Either you remove the mines, or we will take this station from you and remove them ourselves!"


CHARACTERS

Capt. Sisko: Lives up to his role as the Emissary by endorsing the non-aggression pact between Bajor and the Dominion. As he confessed to Kai Winn in the previous episode, and repeats to Kira in this one, the Federation cannot guarantee Bajor's safety. The only way to protect the planet and its recovery is to keep it out of the fight. Left to hold off the Dominion with limited resources, Sisko relies on tactics and surprises. He orders Martok to warn him when the Dominion but not to engage until he gives the word. He uses the station's upgraded defenses to engage the enemy while the Defiant finishes the minefield. And he prepares a final surprise to avoid anything useful being left on the station - along with a last message for Gul Dukat. Avery Brooks is superb throughout, and his expression at the end of the episode is genuinely, frighteningly fierce.

Kira/Odo: Have been avoiding each other ever since the revelations of Children of Time - which would have been nice to actually see, given that their only interaction since (in Blaze of Glory) seemed entirely friendly and comfortable. Here, the awkwardness is obvious - though much alleviated once Odo reassures her that he will make no move to change the nature of their relationship, at least not until after the crisis has past. Kira visibly relaxes, and Odo cannot help but make an ironic observation about how comforting it is to only have to deal with imminent war, rather than a (gasp) relationship crisis. They are once again firmly established as a team at the episode's close; and where things leave off, they will probably need to rely on each other quite a bit over the next season.

Rom: The episode's limited "B" plot sees Rom and Leeta finally get married... Something Rom frets over even as he works with the station's command staff to make the minefield work. A very amusing scene sees Rom switching between random wedding jitters and brilliant solutions to the problems posed by the minefield: One sentence of "Rom the Idiot," followed immediately by one sentence of "Rom the Engineering Genius," and back again. It works, thanks equally to Max Grodenchik's delivery and his co-stars' nonplussed reactions as he basically solves all of their problems as an afterthought!

Weyoun: A false and smarmy good cheer has marked Weyoun's every appearance to date - which makes it all the more effective when he arrives in this episode, still and humorless and entirely determined to get his way. The scene between Weyoun and Sisko is masterful, as each man first tries to intimidate each other, then goes through the hollow motions of a diplomacy both recognize as pointless before leaving to prepare for battle. Weyoun is equally firm with Dukat. When the Cardassian wants to attack Bajor, noting that Cardassia did not sign a non-aggression treaty, weyoun has to remind him very firmly that as a part of the Dominion, he is bound by their treaties. Weyoun jerks Dukat's leash a second time, at the end, reminding him that the Dominion's highest priority is not the station but the minefield Sisko has left to block further reinforcements.

Garak: Muses about how, when the Klingons attacked Deep Space 9, he and Gul Dukat fought side by side. "At one point, he turned his back to me - And I must to admit that, for a moment, he made a very tempting target." When Odo asks if Garak regrets not killing Dukat, he replies bluntly: "Before this day is over, everyone on this station is going to regret it."

Gul Dukat: From his perspective, the assault on Deep Space 9 is simply re-taking that which is rightly his. He wants to push on to Bajor, as well, and Weyoun has to remind him that Bajor's non-aggression pact with the Dominion is binding. This scene and others show signs that Dukat is starting to resent taking orders from Weyoun and the Dominion. I suspect he's already looking for weaknesses, since a man like Dukat isn't going to be satisfied serving under an outsider's rule for very long...


THOUGHTS

The fifth season draws to a close as the Cold War with the Dominion, which has built up over the past three seasons, finally erupts. In a big way, too. Deep Space 9 has consistently raised the bar on Trek combat sequences.  The Die Is Cast was the biggest space combat scene yet seen in televised Trek (or a lot of movie Trek for that matter); The Way of the Warrior was bigger.

The combat sequence that makes up the last third of this episode makes both of those look almost small by comparison. The station is under attack by an unstoppable force, and the effects work and editing allow us to see Deep Space 9 as a small speck engulfed by a locust-like cloud of enemy ships. Jay Chattaway's excellent score, the editing, and most importantly the context built up by the carefully-constructed script all combine to make the scene as desperate and exciting as the situation demands.

What really makes the battle so effective is the groundwork laid by the first two-thirds. Stalwarts Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe take time to make sure we understand the stakes, and create a scenario where it's entirely believable that Deep Space 9 has been left to deal alone with this overwhelming force. The script also finds plenty of time for human moments: Rom's wedding jitters, and his insistence on watching out for his brother; Odo and Kira, agreeing to avoid exploring any romance until after the crisis has past; Quark, smuggling in Cardassian yamok sauce in preparation for the station's inevitable fall; Sisko reflecting on how the place he hated to be assigned to has become a home he hates to leave. This is done consistently: A big scene establishing the larger situation, a small scene showing how individuals react to it. We get to see the larger tapestry while at the same time viewing several of the individual threads.

The battle itself is splendid, but even better are the closing scenes. The last part of the episode acts as an epilogue to the combat, and it also sets the stage for next season. The characters are scattered, each becoming ready to fight his or her own part of the war that has officially begun. Some will work from behind enemy lines; some will fight on the front lines; others will stay with the main fleet to help coordinate. It's a tantalizing set-up, one which leaves me eagerly anticipating the season to come.

The final three shots could each have served as a memorable ending shot: Gul Dukat, pondering the message Sisko has left for him; Sisko, seeming to give a glare that can cut through light years to reach his nemesis; and the actual final shot, of an enormous joint Starfleet/Klingon fleet. Two nations that had been at war at the start of this season, now firmer allies than ever as they prepare to face the most formidable foe they have ever encountered.

Any one of the three shots would be a fantastic closing. But what's even more impressive is how each builds upon the one before, until the slow fade to black that leaves you desperate for the next installment.


Overall Rating: 10/10.

Previous Episode: In the Cards
Next Episode: A Time to Stand

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5-22. Children of Time.

Odo reveals his feelings to Kira.

THE PLOT

The Defiant, carrying virtually the entire station command staff, is at the end of a week-long reconnaissance mission in the Gamma Quadrant. They are about to head home when the ship picks up what may be life form readings beneath an energy barrier surrounding a planet. Dax assures Sisko that the ship can safely fly through the barrier with just a few shield modifications. Instead, the ship is badly damaged, and Kira is hit by a burst of energy that will kill her in a few weeks if she isn't returned to the station for proper treatment.

That's when the ship are contacted by the colony on the surface - a colony whose leader, Yedrin Dax (Gary Frank) informs them that all the people on the surface are descendants of the Defiant crew. When the ship completes its repairs and leaves orbit, the energy barrier will throw them back in time 200 years, with no hope of rescue. With this knowledge, Sisko and his crew could easily avoid that fate, returning to their lives and saving Kira's. But if they do so, then this successful colony of their direct descendants will not only have been killed - They will never have existed at all!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Sisko: "We're not actually considering this?" "No. We're not." I like that Sisko's immediate reaction to this dilemma is to refuse Yedrin. His explicit responsibility is to his crew, not to a colony that either will or will not exist, depending on his decision. He will not ask Kira to sacrifice herself for the colony, nor will he deny O'Brien the chance to return to his family. At the same time, Sisko isn't callous or unfeeling. He admits to Yedrin that he wishes he could help, and he allows his officers to give free voice to their views - Even ultimately allowing himself to be influenced by them.

Major Kira: Though hers is the life that will be lost if they go back in time and found the colony, she is the one most strongly in favor of doing so. This is in part because of her religious convictions. Part of her belief in the Prophets and in prophecy is that certain events are meant to be: "We're all given one destiny, one path." She also is a pragmatist, and when she does the math she comes to the same conclusion Yedrin does: That one life is a small sacrifice for 8,000 lives.

Odo: The "future" Odo is emotionally open with Kira. However, he is never seen interacting with anyone except Kira, nor he is talked about by the people in the colony. We see no evidence of friendships, relationships, or even what his role in the society might be - all of which leaves me suspecting that he is even more separate from the colony than "our" Odo is from Deep Space 9. His loss of Kira, not long after learning that she had broken up with Shakaar and was once again available (which dredged up all his old desires and fears), appears to have been the central fact of his past 200 years. Our Odo had nothing to do with the action this alternative version takes at the episode's end... but Kira's knowledge that he has the potential to do such a thing is far more likely to drive a wedge between them than the revelation of his feelings for her. I hope to see at least some strain in their interactions as a result.

Dax: Two Daxes feature in this episode: Jadzia and Yedrin, who will become the Dax symbiont's host after 200 years in the colony. Both Daxes feel responsible for the crew's situation, since Jadzia had pushed Sisko to take the ship through the energy barrier. But those 200 years make a big difference in perspective. Jadzia feels a direct loyalty to Sisko and the Defiant crew, and feels an urgency to save Kira. Yedren feels the guilt of the crew being stranded and of Kira's death, but he has spent 200 years watching the colony grow (probably most of that time, leading it), and his loyalties lie with his people. Refreshingly, Yedren does not try to force Sisko into repeating the accident. He relies mainly on persuasion, and his arguments are effective. Both Terry Farrell and Gary Frank give strong performances, making the similarities and differences between these two Daxes come to life.

O'Brien: After the original crash, he was the last to give up hope of a return home. Which makes sense: Not only does he have the strongest family ties (Jake is almost an adult; Worf only occasionally sees his son), he also has been separated from them before for a years-long period only to finally be returned. Our O'Brien works hard to reject the colony as valid. He avoids interaction with his descendants, because he needs to focus on returning home. Once he finally is forced to interact with some of his great-great grandchildren, and forced to see them as real people, he changes his mind in an instant and tells Sisko that the crew can't simply leave these people to die.


THOUGHTS

Children of Time is a character episode masquerading as a time anomaly show. The time travel elements make the story possible, but Rene Echevarria's teleplay keeps its focus squarely on the regulars, using the situation to explore their personalities and their reactions. Echevarria, arguably the show's best character writer, is able to give every regular some strong moments, and in every case the characters' reactions feel genuine.

The episode plays fair with its situation. Yedren produces a Technobabble solution to allow Sisko and his crew to return home while still saving the colony... but it's rapidly debunked as a fabrication, an attempt to trick Sisko into going back in time. From then on, the choice is clear: If the Defiant returns home, Kira lives and they return to their lives, but the colony will be wiped out; if the ship replicates the original crash, the colony will live, but Kira will die and none of them will ever see home again. Yedren doesn't make any further attempts to trick them, nor does he attempt force. Sisko and his crew are left to weight two terrible alternatives and decide on their own.

That this decision is taken away from them at the end is narratively necessary, but again it's not used as a cheat. When Odo reveals exactly what happened, it feels true to the story and to the characters, and reveals (not for the first time) that Odo has a legitimate dark side. It also brings a new perspective to the future Odo's apparent peace, which is revealed to be not wisdom but rather an extreme narcissism, elevating his own desires above everything else. Our Odo probably wouldn't make the same decision in the same circumstance... but we (and Kira... And Odo, for that matter) know now that such a decision is within him, and that may color our view of his future actions.

It's all splendidly shot, with director Allan Kroeker making the most of beautiful location shots and making them feel convincingly like part of the same geography as the colony sets. The pace is just right, slow enough to allow the character material to play out, but turning the plot in new directions at regular enough intervals to keep the situation fluid and alive.

Another great episode, in a season that's already had several great episodes.


Overall Rating: 10/10.

Previous Episode: Soldiers of the Empire
Next Episode: Blaze of Glory

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5-13. For the Uniform.

Michael Eddington (Kenneth Marshall), leader of the Maquis.

THE PLOT

A Maquis informant gives Sisko a long-awaited lead in his pursuit of Michael Eddington (Kenneth Marshall), the once-trusted security officer who betrayed Sisko eight months earlier. Eddington is now a leader in the Maquis, and he has been waiting for the inevitable rendezvous with his old captain. He activates a virus he had planted deep within the Defiant's systems, allowing him to escape after warning Sisko that it is time for him to "walk away."

Starfleet apparently believes so, as well. Captain Sanders (Eric Pierpoint) tells Sisko that Eddington's pursuit has been taken away from Sisko and assigned to him. Starfleet apparently has lost confidence in Sisko's ability to get the job done, believing that his personal feelings are clouding his judgment. When evidence surfaces of a Maquis attack located too far away from Sanders' position, however, Sisko disregards orders, taking the still-damaged Defiant out to track down the Maquis leader once and for all!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Sisko: Took Eddington's betrayal as a personal failure. Not only did he fail to notice anything was off about his officer, he actually recommended him for a promotion. Though we haven't seen him pursuing Eddington (whom I don't believe has even been mentioned since For the Cause), he has apparently been trying to track him down for eight months without success. Once he finally does have the scent, he pursues his quarry relentlessly. To defeat Eddington at the end, he orders a particularly ruthless action - an order that gives Worf and Kira a moment's pause before they follow it.

Dax: Though she supports Sisko's actions, she also tells him to remember his insistence on pursuing Eddington without authorization the next time he wants to lecture her about hot-headedness. She continues to act as a friend, listening as Sisko vents. She also picks up on the key point about Eddington's love of Les Miserables,allowing Sisko to fold that into his own tactics.

Odo: Only has a small role in this episode, but he does get a couple good moments. His best bit comes early on. He asks Sisko if he had ever reminded Starfleet that they assigned Eddington because they didn't trust him. When Sisko replies that he hasn't brought that up, Odo says: "Please do." Good to see that the constable has neither forgotten that snub nor forgiven it.

Eddington: During his time on Deep Space 9, he prepared for being a fugitive by planting viruses in the systems of both the Defiant and the station. Though he is definitely a criminal, he sees himself as the hero of the story. He compares Sisko's pursuit of him to Inspector Javert's pursuit of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. This tic, complete with his actually calling Sisko "Javert" in later conversations, ultimately makes Sisko realize that Eddington's view of himself as the "romantic hero" is a weakness he can exploit.


THOUGHTS

DS9 picks up the Maquis thread for the first time this season, in a direct sequel to last year's For the Cause. The episode not only marks the return of Eddington and the Maquis storyline, it features one more welcome return as well: writer Peter Allen Fields. Fields wrote some of the best episodes of Seasons One and Two. Duet, The Circle, Necessary Evil, and Blood Oath were all his. He also collaborated on Dax (one of the best early episodes) and Crossover.

While this script isn't up to most of the level of most of those shows, it is still a good, tight thriller. It does a good job of ratcheting up the stakes for Sisko by showing how much Eddington's betrayal was a personal insult to him."He played me... And what is my excuse? Is he a Changeling? No. Is he a being with seven lifetimes of experience? No. Is he a wormhole alien? No. He's just a man, like me - And he beat me!"

Judging the episode only as itself, with no broader context, Sisko's turmoil is a great strength. It makes the chase very personal, and adds a needed emotional level to the proceedings. In the greater context of the series, though, his rage doesn't fully convince. It's been eight months... and in all that time, Sisko hasn't mentioned Eddington nor has he seemed particularly on-edge. We're apparently meant to believe he has been following up leads to find Eddington offscreen. But with that pursuit getting not so much as a throwaway line until now, I can't quite buy into it.

None of which stops this from being good entertainment. The story is swiftly-paced, and does a fine job of making Eddington into a formidable opponent. We see him outmaneuver Sisko twice in the first twenty minutes, then see him trick both Sisko and Capt. Sanders around the midpoint of the episode. His tactics are well-played and believable. Also, since each of these encounters sees Eddington fooling Sisko yet again, it effectively builds Sisko's anger at being fooled by a man he had once trusted.

The ending is effective in wrapping up the plot of the episode without tying off the Maquis strand. As Sisko says, his actions in this episode maintain the balance of power in the disputed region without actually stabilizing the larger situation. The show clearly plans to revisit this thread. I just hope it won't take another eight months for it to do so.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: The Begotten
Next Episode: In Purgatory's Shadow

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4-26. Broken Link.

Odo returns to The Great Link.

THE PLOT

Odo is ill. He is having problems maintaining his form, resulting in debilitating attacks that see him literally reduced to goo. Dr. Bashir doesn't have the knowledge needed to reverse the effect. As Odo's condition worsens, it becomes clear that he has only one hope: A return to the Great Link!

Sisko makes the Defiant ready for a mercy mission to Dominion space. Without its cloaking device, and broadcasting a message to the Dominion about Odo's condition, the ship makes a rendezvous with the enemy - and thankfully, the Dominion responds with equal diplomacy.

The Founder (Salome Jens) comes aboard promising no aggression, and she even allows the "Solids" to accompany Odo to the shapeshifters' new homeworld. In private, however, she discloses to Odo that his illness is no natural occurrence. He broke the Founders' most sacred rule when he killed a changeling to save his friends. For that, he must face judgment - and punishment!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Sisko: When Odo announces that his only hope is to return to his people, Sisko doesn't hesitate. He orders the Defiant prepped and takes the Constable to the Gamma Quadrant with the intention of attracting the Founders' attention. He accedes to every demand made by the Founder, but he stands firm in remaining with Odo, refusing to simply turn him over and withdraw.  This firmness tempered by his diplomatic accommodations seems to earn a level of respect from the Founder - who likely also has heard of his conduct a few episodes earlier, when he teamed with a Jem'Hadar group.

Odo: It's no surprise to see that Odo is a very bad patient, pushing to get out of Medlab as quickly as he's taken there. When Kira brings him a crime report to keep his mind occupied, he finds something that incriminates a smuggler. The sensible thing to do would be to contact his security people to take care of the matter. Instead, he slips out to arrest the criminal himself, making himself far sicker in the process. He refuses to show weakness even at his worst, drawing himself up as he walks through the Promenade to the Defiant, battling his illness for these few minutes with his own indomitable will.

Dr. Bashir: Shows no fear or deference to the Founder when she visits Odo. When she demands he clear the room, he declares that Odo is his patient and only leaves when Odo gives his permission. He argues against Odo's faith in the Founders' "justice," his recent experience with the synthetic plague doubtless at the front of his mind when the topic of Dominion justice comes up.

Klingons: Emboldened by his success against the Cardassians, Chancellor Gowron (Robert O'Reilly) is now provoking the Federation. He is demanding that Starfleet give up all rights to the Archanis Sector, territory the Klingons had voluntarily relinquished 100 years earlier. Federation colonies near the Klingon border are starting to panic, and calls are being made for preemptive action. War has become a likelihood - A war that would leave both Federation and Klingons weakened, easy prey for the Dominion.

Garak: Joins the mission in order to ask about survivors from the Cardassian attack on the Founders' homeworld. He gets his answer, in the episode's most chilling scene, as the Founder reponds to him with absolute coldness:

"There were no Cardassian survivors... They're dead. You're dead. Cardassia is dead. Your people were doomed the moment they attacked us. I believe that answers your question."

Garak then reminds us of how dangerous he is when he processes this within two seconds, then responds with a courteous smile and a bow. Had the Founder a stronger sense of self-preservation, she would have killed him right then, as the action he is pushed to take would have likely proved effective (and probably not wrong) had Worf not intervened.


THOUGHTS

An excellent season ends with a fine finale, one which is very effective in tying together many of this season's threads. For much of the season, the Klingon aggression has seemed like a digression. For the first time since The Way of the Warrior, that arc is tied into the larger Dominion story, in a way that promises much for the future.

It does this with great economy. The Klingons are only the focus of two scenes, totalling all of about five minutes' screen time. Gowron's declaration at the start of the episode reminds us of that thread, which has lain completely dormant since Rules of Engagement. Then the ending ties the Klingon thread into the Dominon story like a loop closing around a bag, sealing it shut in a single tug.

The rest of the episode is about Odo and his return to the Great Link. This story is a direct consequence of his actions in The Adversary At the end of a season in which it was intoned as Divine Law that "No changeling has ever harmed another," Odo killed one of his own people. That was already enough to leave him haunted. Now his people have decided to judge him for his crime. Odo reacts as might be expected of a man who clings to the law, any law that applies, with Javert-like devotion: He not only agrees to be judged by the Founders' standards, he actually wants to be.

This isn't just an Odo episode, however. The script is just as much about those who take him to the Link as it is about the Constable himself. In The Search, the changelings urged Odo to consider his friendships with Solids as false. Here, his friends prove their loyalty at every turn.

It's easy to talk about moments of high drama, so let me close out this review by noting how well-done and genuine the smaller moments are. There are several semi-comic character bits here: Sisko, Worf, and Dax betting on how many times Kira will sneeze, and Sisko taking a moment to enjoy having made the right guess; O'Brien, feeling outnumbered in a home full of women; Julian, having to stop himself from skipping a stone through the Changeling goo of the Great Link. All of these bits feel rooted in who these characters are, and all of them ring true.

Which I think is why Deep Space 9 continues to be my favorite Trek series: When the show is at its best, the universe feels textured and lived-in, something that often isn't true of other shows in the franchise. When the characters are properly written, they feel real. And if they feel real in the little moments, then that makes the big dramatic moments that much more powerful.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: Body Parts
Next Episode: Apocalypse Rising

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4-18. Rules of Engagement.

Worf, on trial for his life.

THE PLOT

Worf is in command of the Defiant as it escorts a Cardassian convoy to a colony suffering a plague outbreak. The colony is in the Pentath system, a strategically significant location near the Klingon border, and it is all but a given that the Klingons will try to stop the convoy. When the attack comes, Worf is ready and even eager for the battle - until he fires at the wrong moment, destroying what appears to be a Klingon civilian vessel that had gone off course into the combat area.

The Klingons demand Worf's extradition, and Deep Space 9 becomes the site of a hearing to decide the matter. Sisko represents Worf, opposite the craftly Klingon advocate, Ch'Pok (Ron Canada). Ch'Pok does not dispute the Klingon attacks, nor does he dispute any of the official reports. Instead, he focuses on Worf's motives, claiming that Worf was possessed by Klingon bloodlust. It's an effective line of attack, with every witness seeming to confirm Worf's eagerness for battle. And all the while, as Sisko fights for his officer, he does so knowing that if Worf is extradited then the Klingons will press this as an advantage to further their aggression - possibly into all out war!


CHARACTERS

Avery Brooks' already commanding performance has really come into its own in Season Four. This year has seen him deliver one outstanding performance after another, effortlessly dominating every scene he's in. It's hard to remember how wooden he was, or how generic the writing for Sisko was, in early Season One - At this point, he's the most entertaining of all the Star Trek captains. He defends Worf with the expected vigor, and he relishes the moment at which he finally gets the advantage over Ch'Pok. But his best scene is the episode's final scene, as he and Worf have a frank conversation about the mistakes Worf did make in the mission, and about the complexities of command.

Worf: Stands by his decision to fire on the decloaking transport. He insists that had he hesitated, he would have been negligent and would have endangered both his crew and the entire convoy. He makes his case well when put on the stand - until Ch'Pok pushes just the right buttons to make Worf angry. Worf is able to stoically respond to reminders about the treatment of his House by Gowron and to accusations that he is not a "true" Klingon. But when Ch'Pok turns his verbal assault toward Worf's son, he cannot help but lash out, seemingly proving Ch'Pok's point about his innate violence (though, honestly, he was admirably restrained not punching Ch'Pok much earlier in his rant).

Odo: "I'm always suspicious of people who are eager to help a police officer." While Sisko defends Worf in the courtroom that is the front line of this engagement, Odo investigates the background of the incident. He looks into every person on the destroyed civilian transport. He initially discovers nothing, but he indicates to Sisko that he believes there is something there. People are "too eager" to talk, which encourages the shapeshifter to keep digging. Naturally, there is something significant for him to find, a detail which Sisko relishes brandishing against Ch'Pok in the episode's final Act.

Klingons: Ch'Pok (Ron Canada), the Klingon advocate, views the Starfleet hearing as a battlefield, and looks forward to combating Sisko on Starfleet's own terms. When Sisko protests that the hearing is a search for the truth, Ch'Pok replies that "the truth must be won." He is very candid with Sisko that, should the hearing go his way, the Klingons will exploit the sympathy that this victory would bring as an excuse to annex more Cardassian space. "Any move we make against you will be seen as a legitimate response to an outrageous slaughter," he tells Sisko, with a predatory grin on his face. Canada is excellent, presenting a strong and crafty adversary worthy of Sisko.


THOUGHTS

Star Trek has a pretty good track record with courtroom episodes, and Deep Space 9 has done particularly well by the genre. With a script by writer Ronald D. Moore, bringing his special affinity for the Klingons in general and Worf in particular, it's no surprise that Rules of Engagement is another solid entry in this tradition.

It's another episode developing the Klingon strand. We have seen in previous episodes that they have not given up their aggression, continuing raids against the Cardassians and sabre-rattling near the Bajoran border. Here, we see more increased aggression, with Ch'Pok openly admitting that the Klingons are looking for any advantage to pursue against Cardassia and the Federation alike. I'm starting to wonder how much further this aggressive Cold War can be taken before it erupts into a full-blown conflict. Deep Space 9 being the show it is, I don't think the Klingon aggression is going to go away quietly or easily.

Levar Burton directs with his usual competence. One noteworthy flourish Burton uses is to have the witnesses testify from inside their flashbacks, talking directly to the camera and delivering their accounts to the courtroom as the events they are discussing surround them. This is carefully introduced, being utilized in less crucial scenes in the first half of the episode (some exposition by Dax and Sisko, a comical bit with Quark) so that it doesn't jar at all when it is used in the second half during critical dramatic moments. It's hardly revolutionary stuff, but it's well done and brings added life to the witnesses' testimony.

There is an element of deux ex machina to the final stretch, with Odo finding a piece of evidence that has not been planted at any point early in the episode. The scene in which Sisko uses it against Ch'Pok is quite good, Avery Brooks selling it for everything he's worth, and it fits with the Klingons' motives. Still, it feels a bit convenient - a sense that might have been assuaged had any mention of it been made in the first half.

This is still a good episode, though, one that shows again how well Ronald D. Moore understands both Worf and the Klingons.


Overall Rating: 7/10

Previous Episode: Accession
Next Episode: Hard Time


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4-7. Starship Down.

Worf finds himself suddenly in command.

THE PLOT

The Defiant has traveled to the Gamma Quadrant to meet with Hanok (James Cromwell), the Karemma minister who has been trading with the Federation through Quark. The meeting has only barely begun when two Jem'Hadar vessels appear. The Jem'Hadar attack Hanok's ship to punish them for dealing with the Federation. The Karemma ship breaks and runs, taking cover in the turbulent atmosphere of a nearby gas giant. The Jem'Hadar follow the Karemma ship, and Sisko orders the Defiant in after them.

The atmosphere all but eliminates visibility, forcing the Defiant to rely on sensors and ingenuity. A trick from Kira's days fighting the Cardassians allows them to search for nearby ships - but at the cost of giving away their own position. The stresses from both combat and the atmosphere take their toll, making it as much a battle to keep the ship together as to find and neutralize the Jem'Hadar and rescue the Karemma.

Then the Jem'Hadar score a direct hit, leaving the ship crippled and rendering the bridge useless!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Sisko: Very conscious of his responsibility to protect the Karemma. How can Starfleet have dealings in the Gamma Quadrant, after all, if they can't protect those they deal with? He pushes his ship past its limits, and shows ingenuity that matches his determination. When he believes Jadzia is dead, we see him reacting nonverbally, but he doesn't lose focus on the fight at hand.

Major Kira: I have issues with the repetitive nature of some her scenes in the second half, but Nana Visitor does a tremendous job with what she's given. She conveys a lot of emotion as she talks to the wounded Sisko, trying to keep him conscious. I wish her monologues revealed more, as most of what she discusses is ground already tread: That she recognizes Sisko's discomfort at being the Emissary, but still thinks of him that way and has difficulty relaxing around him.

Worf: When Sisko is injured at the episode's midpoint, Worf takes over as commander of the ship, with O'Brien acting as his second in command. Worf's instinct is to treat his remaining crew - O'Brien's engineers - as warriors, barking orders and expecting instant obedience. O'Brien takes him aside and asks him to give the engineers a bit of breathing room to solve problems on their own ("what they're good at"), but he does so respectfully. O'Brien's nudge pays off when Worf works with the engineers to execute a trap for the Jem'Hadar. It's all potentially hackneyed, but Michael Dorn and the writers are smart enough to make Worf appear uncomfortable when approaching the men or paying compliments, both things that run counter to his nature. As a result, these fairly unoriginal interactions still manage to work.

Quark: Acting as the intermediary between the Federation and the Karemma, Quark gives into his own nature: He cheats both sides to maximize his own profits. Hanok is furious, of course, threatening to sabotage all of Quark's dealings in the Gamma Quadrant. But Quark's other defining trait is persistence. He works on Hanok, pushing past the other man's resistance. Quark's ode to the joy of gambling and the thrill of risk is genuinely seductive, and Armin Shimerman is wonderful in these scenes.


THOUGHTS

Not for the first time, a DS9 episode begins as an action piece only to morph into a character drama. Starship Down has excellent scenes, both of tension and of character drama, though the end result somehow adds up to a bit less than the sum of its parts.

Which is not to say it's a bad episode. The first twenty minutes are particularly strong, with Star Trek space combat doing what it does best: Evoking submarine imagery to create tension not out of the shooting but out of the spaces between it. The lack of visibility effectively forces the Defiant to use sonar to detect the other vessels, and they have to get close to be able to tell whether they have found the ships they need to destroy or the ship they need to rescue - A dilemma that doesn't face the Jem'Hadar, as they intend to destroy everyone. This stacks the odds against our heroes rather nicely.

At about the 20 minute mark, however, the tension goes slack. There isn't the budget to make this a full-length episode just about the conflict, so the writers have the ship get badly damaged, separating the characters into various areas. From here until the climax, Starship Down becomes almost pure character drama. Much of it is good: The Worf/O'Brien scenes anchor the story while honing the development of Worf in his new role; the Quark/Hanok scenes are a lot of fun, with some good dialogue and smart writing; and the Dax/Julian scenes balance out their comfortable friendship now against Julian's early romantic pursuit of her in Season One (and confirm my suspicion that Dax actually quite enjoyed being chased).

The Sisko/Kira scenes don't work for me, however. This is through no fault of Nana Visitor, who does a splendid job with her material. But by rendering Sisko insensible, these scenes are made into Kira monologues. This can work for a single scene, but not for three or four scenes. After a while, listening to Kira tell (very dull) Bajoran stories, watching her pray, and watching her talk about her difficulty balancing Sisko the captain against Sisko the Emissary just... becomes a bit dull, frankly. Since Sisko isn't really contributing a side to the conversation, it's just Kira's inner monologue. Nana Visitor may be acting up a storm, but there's very little here that's new for her character, and I quickly found my interest in these scenes waning.

The climax manages to wrap up the conflict in a way that also feeds the Worf/O'Brien strand, and there's an effective epilogue. All of which makes Starship Down a solid enough addition to the Dominion arc... but given the promise of the first Act, I can't help but feel that it falls short of what it might have been.


Overall Rating: 6/10.

Previous Episode: Rejoined
Next Episode: Little Green Men 

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3-26. The Adversary.

Sisko enjoys a long-overdue promotion.

THE PLOT

Krajensky (Lawrence Pressman), a Federation ambassador, arrives with news: There has been a coup on the homeworld of the Tzenkethi, a race whose relationship with the Federation is already strained. Without information about which faction is now in control, Krajensky asks Sisko to take the Defiant to that sector in order to "raise the flag" in order to discourage potential moves against nearby Federation colonies.

The Defiant is twelve hours from the border of Tzenkethi space when a transmission is received from a colony world. The colony is under attack. When the transmission cuts off suddenly, it appears everyone's worst fears have been realized. Sisko orders an immediate report to Starfleet, and that's when another horrible discovery is made: Communications have been tampered with, the control mechanisms blocked by force fields. There is a saboteur on board the Defiant, and it could be any one of them. Quite literally...


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: Is promoted to full captain. He appreciates the promotion and the good wishes of his crew, but he insists it doesn't actually change anything. "I have the assignment I want, the crew I want," he says, which means that rank isn't that important. Once he discovers there is a saboteur, and that the saboteur is a changeling, he focuses on dealing with the situation at hand. Every step he takes to counter his opponent is sensible within the situation, though the sight of security locking non-essential crew behind force fields is still disturbing.

Odo: Given that Eddington's arrival on the station almost caused him to quit, it's surprising how well the two security men work together here. It makes me regret once again how little we've seen of Eddington this season, as it would have been nice to have seen this working relationship evolve. Odo refuses to take a phaser to hunt the saboteur, telling Eddington that in all his years working security, he has never needed a weapon and has never taken a life. "I don't intend to start now," he declares - and this being a season finale, I knew as soon as he said it that the episode would end with him being forced to cross that line.

O'Brien: His friendship with Dr. Bashir has evolved to a point where the two men are almost like brothers. It is that level of loyalty O'Brien feels he is breaking when he tells Sisko that he saw Bashir in the conduits. He doesn't really believe Bashir is the saboteur (though his relief is visible when the doctor's innocence is confirmed), but he still feels like it's a betrayal to briefly make his friend into a suspect. At the episode's end, when there are two Odos facing off in Engineering, O'Brien refuses to be distracted from his efforts to regain control of the ship.  "I have more important things to do than play Choose the Changeling," he declares, sealing Engineering and then focusing on his work.


THOUGHTS

There are many reasons why Deep Space 9 is my favorite Star Trek spinoff. Its darker tone appeals to me.  I also love the way it keeps building on its own continuity, making events from episodes not simply pay off down the line, but resonate through multiple episodes and even seasons.

"No changeling has ever harmed another." This has been repeated all season long, ever since Odo first encountered his people in The Search. It's become an axiom, echoing through episodes such as The Abandoned, Heart of Stone, and The Die Is Cast. We've been told this is true in the season opener. We've seen its truth in the changelings' rescue of Odo in The Die Is Cast and in their multiple attempts to get Odo to join their Great Link.

It is the way in which this has been established as Fact, even as Divine Law, that makes the ending so devastating for Odo. Add in his own, perfectly in-character declaration of pride in never having killed, and the way in which this particular cat-and-mouse game plays out becomes all but inevitable. Since that axiom is the only absolute law established among the changelings, we also realize what Odo must realize: With this act, he has likely forever closed the door on any chance of joining Changeling society. Which, as The Die Is Cast revealed, has been his one great wish.

If the Odo material was all this episode had going for it, this would still be a very strong episode. But The Adversary is superbly executed on pretty much all levels. It starts off already looking like it will be a strong suspense/action piece. Then, at every Act break, the stakes are raised. It appears the Tzenkethi are attacking Federation colonies; the Defiant has been sabotaged by a changeling; the ship is out of control, and Sisko may be forced to destroy it to avoid starting a war. It's as if the characters are caught in a vice that just keeps slowly, steadily tightening. Kudos to writers Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe for such a superbly-structured script.

And also to director Alexander Singer, who amplifies the tension with judicious use of tight shots and sudden bursts of action. As the tone of the episode darkens, so does the overall lighting. As the tension increases, the camera frames the characters ever more tightly. Nor does it truly lighten at the end, the foreboding atmosphere maintained as Odo reports the changeling's final message:

"We are everywhere."


In the Hands of the Prophets, The Jem'Hadar, and now this episode. It must be said: Deep Space 9 definitely knows how to close out a season!


Overall Rating: 10/10.

Previous Episode: Facets
Next Episode: The Way of the Warrior

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