Deep Space Nine 7x17 "Penumbra"

rating: ***

the story: Sisko proposes to Kasidy; Ezri goes in search of the missing Worf.

what it's all about: Here's where the series begins its endgame, the start of ten heavily serialized hours (including the two-hour final episode, "What You Leave Behind").  "Penumbra" is one of the few episodes in this stretch that have a definitive story within it, which is Sisko plotting a future that he won't get to enjoy, settling down with Kasidy and plotting their home on Bajor.  Parallel to that certainty is the doubt between Ezri and Worf, who've had problems all season reconciling their relationship, since Ezri is the next host of the Dax symbiont who was once married to Worf as Jadzia.

Of the two, Ezri and Worf have a more compelling story, considering that they finally confront the messiness of their relationship, something Worf has long avoided.  If anything complicates it, the fact that they get caught by the Breen, who are soon revealed as new allies of the Dominion, which ultimately has nothing to do with Ezri or Worf, and that Ezri undertook Worf's rescue without the rest of the crew, diminishes "Penumbra" as a definitive moment, if that makes sense.  While the element has more weight to it, you almost wish Sisko and Kasidy had been allowed to have their moment.  Sisko is forced to wonder if he's made the right call, but only because his Prophet mom gives him a vision of doubt, but that doesn't end up meaning anything until the final hour of the series, which is still a long way off.

There's also Dukat surgically altering himself to appear as a Bajoran, which has more significance once we learn why he does it.  He meets with Damar, who has become an alcoholic, which has more significance once we learn what that leads him to.  And the Female Founder is suffering from a plague, which has...you get the point.

The problem with these serialized episodes is that they're so serialized that they don't stop to tell any single story in a single episode.  Even if the six-episode arc at the start of the sixth season had some strong and some weak material, there were still standout episodes that stood alone within it.  I don't think that's the case in the coming episodes.

But I'll continue giving my thoughts about what each of them adds to the arc, and whether or not they provide something that might sell them individually.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Even though there's at least one big moment general fans might appreciate, it's buried in a lot of other material that you need to keep watching to appreciate, and thus meant squarely for fans.
• series - Which by definition means there's a lot of significant things happening.
• character - To a lot of characters, but most obviously Sisko & Kasidy, Ezri & Worf.
• essential - Sisko finding new and lasting happiness is something that was unthinkable when the series began, and this is the culmination of that journey.

notable guest-stars:
Penny Johnson (Kasidy)
Deborah Lacey (Sarah)
Marc Alaimo (Dukat)
Casey Biggs (Damar)
Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun)
Salome Jens (Female Founder)

Deep Space Nine 7x16 "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"

rating: ****

the story: Bashir is tricked into working for Section 31.

what it's all about: "In times of war, the law falls silent."  This is kind of a cult-within-a-cult-within-a-cult sort of deal.  If Star Trek became a cult sensation, and Deep Space Nine became a cult sensation within a cult sensation, then "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" became the episode that was the cult within the...well, you get the picture.

In the preceding season, "Inquisition" introduced Luther Sloan and the concept of Section 31, Starfleet's answer to the long-established Tal Shiar of the Romulans and Obsidian Order of the Cardassians, a secret spy organization subject to no one and capable of anything.  It was itself a classic piece of work, and yet it's an achievement that pales in comparison to "Silent Leges," the episode that perhaps crystalizes the Deep Space Nine approach to the franchise.

This was always a series that took a different look at the lore, a more nuanced one, that dared to suggest there was more to Gene Roddenberry vision of a utopian future than met the eye.  While attending a conference on Romulus, Bashir is confronted with the idea of Section 31 all over again, and he becomes determined to expose it.  Except he doesn't take into account just how clever it really is, and that's what's so special about the episode, really, how it takes what was always one of the hallmarks of Star Trek and turned it on its head, the idea that geniuses could work miracles.  The miracle of "Silent Leges" is that it explains how and why Section 31 exists, as a support structure for Starfleet's highest ideals.

In these days of constant revelations about what real world organizations like Section 31 have been up to, it's hard to appreciate that they were founded to do that kind of work, that there really is justification for what looks so awful in the news.  "Silent Leges" serves as an argument in their favor even as Bashir can only consider Section 31 with disgust, as a necessary evil.  And yet (there's even a classic episode with that name in the second season), that was a concept at the very heart of the series, so "Silent Leges" is kind of the final statement of the series about that, in such a sensational, new way that it becomes, well, a cult within a...well, you know.

It's all the more ironic that it's Bashir who stars in the episode, as he was at the start of the series the most naïve Star Trek character ever, so gung-ho to take a posting "at the edge of the final frontier" (so the premise was originally posed) that he was actually fascinated by the idea of Garak, a Cardassian spy who never got to come in from the cold, that he never even considered the danger posed by such an individual.  (It's to be reminded that these dangers were eventually explored in the third season.)  So to become entangled in the very real depths of spy business, the messiness of the frontier, of Starfleet's mission in general, is a way for Bashir to take the series out of the war context it had become immersed in and would end its run exploring. 

It's an ideal episode to view Deep Space Nine at its very best.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - When Star Trek Into Darkness later brings Section 31 to the masses, it's this episode that made the organization truly relevant.
• series - This is what Deep Space Nine was all about.
• character - Shows how far Bashir has come in the course of the series.
• essential - An episode you could sell the whole series on to a reluctant fan.

notable guest-stars:
William Sadler (Sloan)
Andrew Robinson (Garak)
Barry Jenner (Admiral Ross)
John Fleck
Adrienne Barbeau

Deep Space Nine 7x15 "Badda-Bing Badda-Bang"

rating: ****

the story: The crew has to come to Vic Fontaine's rescue.

what it's all about: Pretty much the ultimate holodeck episode.  Holodeck episodes became notorious in the franchise because they so often involved some convoluted malfunction that changed the rules holodecks were supposed to follow. Deep Space Nine technically didn't feature a holodeck but rather a holosuite (just as Voyager tried to change the term to holonovel), but all the same, its characters were always going into the holodeck and even had classic holodeck malfunction episodes ("Our Man Bashir").  "Badda-Bing" shares heritage with the classic "A Piece of the Action" and Voyager's "Worst Case Scenario," where insane things had to been seen through to the end (actually, that goes for "Our Man Bashir," too, and even Next Generation's "A Fistful of Datas").

What sets "Badda-Bing Badda-Bang" apart is that it's such a celebratory moment, the last opportunity for Deep Space Nine to have a little fun before things get really dark as the series wound down to its final episodes.  Unlike "Take Me out to the Holosuite" before it, "Badda-Bing" plays itself straight, but it's just such a fun concept, a heist story (years before the rebooted Ocean's Eleven, I might add), and such an unexpected one, that it becomes easy to enjoy on just about every level. 

Let's start with Vic.  This was the lounge singer introduced last season in "His Way," but who took on much greater significance earlier in the seventh season, thanks to "It's Only a Paper Moon."  I wouldn't be surprised if "Badda-Bing" was envisioned while the producers were working on "Paper Moon," as a thank-you.  Vic was a character who should never have worked as well as he did, much less deserve so many spotlights, as the series was coming to an end.  I mean, Deep Space Nine was never exactly hurting for supporting characters, and of all of them, Vic doesn't seem like he warrants so much special attention.  I mean, he's a hologram who admits he's happy living in his holoworld!  And "Badda-Bing" is all about the crew saving that world for him!  I mean, what's the point? 

It's about family.  Vic quickly became symbolic of the family Deep Space Nine cobbled together, a voice who could bring everything into perspective.  And so helping him out is really about putting the emphasis on that family, seeing everyone come together, because in the episodes ahead, they all get flung in opposite directions.  When he and Sisko duet at the end of the episode, it sends chills down your spine.  Next time they're all together, it's the final hour of the series...

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Classic change of pace, light material.
• series - Everyone comes together for this one.
• character - It's Vic's spotlight!
• essential - Classic romp.

notable guest-stars:
James Darren (Vic Fontaine)
Penny Johnson (Kasidy Yates)
Aron Eisenberg (Nog)
Robert O'Reilly

Deep Space Nine 7x14 "Chimera"

rating: ***

the story: Odo meets another changeling who never joined the Great Link and thus didn't become a Founder of the Dominion.

what it's all about: Regardless of when it finally happened, "Chimera" is one of those episodes that always needed to happen, ever since Odo found out the truth of his origins in the third season premier, "The Search."  Turns out he was one of a hundred children sent off to explore the galaxy.  In some alternate version of the series, he would've spent the rest of it trying to find the rest of them.  In this one, "Chimera" is where he finally encounters one.

What's fascinating about it is that the episode allows Odo to retread familiar material but from a fresh perspective.  Between his own experiences and obviously what the rest of the Founders chose to do, fitting in among "solids" always seems to be a problem.  Until "Chimera," though, we really only had the Female Founder's word for that.  It might have been mere propaganda on her part, playing on Odo's vulnerabilities, but as it turns out it's probably pretty accurate.  (Although it certainly would've been interesting to do a variation of "Heart of Stone" where Odo thinks he's found one of his lost siblings, but it's really such a Founder trick.)

So instead we get to revisit what exactly makes Odo so inherently interesting, his sense of alienation but also how he's managed to work around it.  At this point he's very much centered that around Kira, and the episode ends sweetly with them sharing an intimate moment that means something for both of them.

Nitpickers insist there's a huge continuity goof, however, based on developments later in the season, where we learn Section 31 used Odo as a carrier for a fatal virus against the Founders.  At the point he meets the stray changeling in "Chimera," Odo has always been infected and passed it on, starting with the Female Founder (which backdates the infection to at least the sixth season, the last time they spent time together), which means he passes it along to the innocent changeling, too, who will have no idea Odo's friends find a cure that he soon enough passes along to the Great Link...So, bye-bye Laas?  It certainly seems that way.  That implies the point we last see him he stops developing.  If there'd been a follow-up with the character, there's always the possibility that his experiences with Odo inspire him to get past his prejudices, and he finds someone or a community that could help him.  Or perhaps some Starfleet cleanup team tracks him down.  I mean, if Section 31 could engineer the problem, Starfleet could just as easily undo it, once it proves possible.  A thought, anyway.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Like a lot of excellent Deep Space Nine material, it's pretty specific to series.
• series - It's an alternate look at familiar elements from past seasons.
• character - Odo's last chance to reconsider his bond with Kira.
• essential - An episode that needed to happen.

notable guest-stars:
J.G. Hertzler (Laas)

Deep Space Nine 7x13 "Field of Fire"

rating: **

the story: With the help of the volatile Joran, Ezri hunts a killer.

what it's all about: This is actually another of those valuable war stories.  Fans at the time thought it was a pretty random and poor excuse to put Ezri in the spotlight again, but really, it's best seen as a war story, once you reach the end of it, and understand it for what it is.

"Field of Fire," like "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" before it, was part of a trend that season to depict Vulcans in unusual ways.  Both times it's how they're processing their experiences in the Dominion War.  If there's a weakness, it's that both episodes feature characters who mean nothing except in the context of their stories.  The Vulcans, I mean.  It's odd to think Deep Space Nine, which had about a billion recurring characters, didn't have a Vulcan one.  In hindsight that would've been really helpful in these particular episodes.  But I still think they handle their insights well.

"Field" really owes its greatest debt to the third season, in which the hidden host Joran is first explored in "Equilibrium" and "Facets."  Here it's Ezri dealing with him instead of Jadzia, who was the one who had to go to the trouble of reintegrating his memories into the Dax symbiont and thus the current host as well.  It's actually pretty neat to see Joran again.  It's a shame that more prior hosts didn't become relevant.  Even Curzon, the "old man" Sisko was always referencing to Jadzia and/or Ezri, really didn't have that much of a legacy (except "Blood Oath," and "Facets").  That's another creative oversight of the series.  Curzon was basically Deep Space Nine's Sarek, and in seven seasons it seems he could've been fit in more than he was.  But that's nitpicking.

Ezri ends up a curious means to solve a mystery, regardless of how she does it, because her function aboard the station really has nothing to do with such things.  It's always odd when characters do that in TV shows.  But then, the history of TV shows is all about unusual people solving crimes, in some respects. 

Not the most consequential episode, but enjoyable.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Casual fans will probably be baffled.
• series  Connects nicely with existing lore.
• character - Especially concerning all things Dax.
• essential - Not especially.

Deep Space Nine 7x12 "The Emperor's New Cloak"

rating: ***

the story: The chronologically finale Mirror Universe episode.

what it's all about: In hindsight it kind of seems inevitable.  And hugely, hugely appropriate.  Deep Space Nine's fifth and final Mirror Universe episode (sequels to the classic episode "Mirror, Mirror") is also a "Ferengi episode."

Let me briefly explain: in the first three series Mirror Universe episodes, a Ferengi dies.  First Quark then Rom then Nog.  (That's the big three Ferengi in the series, by the way.  But it was all the Mirror Universe counterparts.  Brunt's counterpart dies this time to continue the tradition, by the way.)  So it was only a matter of time, really, until things finally worked out for the Ferengi (mostly) in the Mirror Universe.

But it's also a "Ferengi episode."  At this point in the series, it was considered Deep Space Nine's greatest creative liability, especially after the perceived fiasco of last season's "Profit and Lace."  In fact, it's the only "Ferengi episode" of the final season.  When Ferengi congregate, things tend to go a little silly.  Basically, the Ferengi were the Jar Jar Binks of Deep Space Nine (and maybe the franchise as a whole).  I never had that problem.  I loved the guys, and their episodes were always highlights for me.

If "The Emperor's New Cloak" seems weaker than previous Mirror Universe episodes, it's because the tone is so different.  But it's also the big bombastic finale of the whole thing, and it pokes fun at the whole thing, and is the kind of statement the final season needed, because in five more episodes, everything was going to become a lot more grim, and there was never a guarantee of a happy ending.  So the Mirror Universe saga finally concluding ("Crossover" in the second season proved how "Mirror, Mirror" ended up with different results than Kirk anticipated) with a decisive win for the good guys is worth celebrating, regardless of its creative departures.

I like how everyone gets to let loose.  Michael Dorn, especially, seems to have enjoyed the opportunity, giving Worf his most energetic scenes in the whole series.  And for the record, the Vic Fontaine who's not a hologram but rather a flesh-and-blood (and very quickly dead) guy, I have a theory for that, and it's simple enough: Bashir based the lounge singer on a real person.  Maybe not a singer, but, y'know.  Simple.  Obvious.  Sends everyone home happy!

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Again, the final sequel to "Mirror, Mirror."
• series - Which ends a Deep Space Nine tradition, too.
• character - I think this one was just meant to be fun.
• essential - And to my mind, wildly succeeds.

notable guest-stars:
James Darren (Mirror Vic Fontaine)
Jeffrey Combs (Mirror Brunt)
Andrew Robinson (Mirror Garak)
Chase Masterson (Mirror Leeta)
Max Grodenchik (Rom)
Wallace Shawn (Zek)
Tiny Ron (Maihar'du)
J.G. Hertzler (Martok)

Deep Space Nine 7x11 "Prodigal Daughter"

rating: ***

the story: Ezri has an incredibly awkward family reunion.

what it's all about: Technically, "Prodigal Daughter" is a sequel to last season's "Honor Among Thieves."  O'Brien has a supporting role in the episode where he attempts to find some resolution in his undercover work among the Orion Syndicate.  But this is really an Ezri episode.  I think there was some resistance to "Daughter," originally, among fans resentful of the fact that a new character was hogging attention in the final season of the series.  This is one of three episodes (including the earlier "Afterimage" and the later "Field of Fire") that showcase Ezri's attempts to rediscover her footing.  This was a character who never had the same confidence as her predecessor, Jadzia Dax, and I think for some fans that was hard to reconcile, all the more so because Ezri kept stealing time from the familiar characters whose time was drawing to a close.

It's their loss.  Ezri was a unique character in a series where it was far more common to have an abundance of confidence, overconfidence.  But more tellingly, to be filled with doubt.  That was often the unspoken undercurrent of these characters, who often struggled to admit it, and that was the irony of "Afterimage," because Ezri was paired with the one who struggled with this the most, Garak.  But in "Daughter," Ezri has to struggle with a different set of characters, her family, including a brother crippled by his inability to live up to expectations.  And seeing where she came from, it's all the more clear how Ezri became who she is, and actually proof that she's actually much tougher and more resilient than was apparent before "Daughter."

For one episode, the series really does seem to become the Ezri show.  It's incredibly rare in Star Trek to meet the whole family of a character.  Granted, it's far more common in Deep Space Nine, but aside from the Ferengi, it's rare to be thrust into the workings of that family.  Like all of them, there always seems to be someone missing, and in this case it's the father.  His absence is a telling detail of the family's story, the void they're all trying to fill, and failing.  It makes Ezri more relatable, watching her endure it.

For anyone who really struggles to empathize with Ezri, there's the return of the Orion Syndicate, which breathes further life into the baseline reality of the franchise, away from Starfleet, away from the Federation.  Yeah, they're gangsters, but there's always someone like them, forcing lives to be altered by arbitrary power plays, forcing impossible decisions, forcing terrible choices.  And of course there's O'Brien to drive the point home.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - You really need to be invested in Ezri to care about the episode.
• series - It works as a sequel to "Honor Among Thieves."
• character - It's in some ways the most important Ezri episode.
• essential - It has a universal message that humanizes the character, and her hapless brother.