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Something else I did in 2015 that I never got a chance to write up: finish all of Deep Space Nine!
11. Prodigal Daughter
This episode is notable for a couple of reasons:
1. A routine 'O'Brien Suffers' episode ('Honor Among Thieves' from last season) actually has fallout that lasts for more than forty minutes?! What strange universe do we now live in?
2. Theoretically O'Brien is one of the driving plot forces in this episode also but he actually does basically nothing, which ... I have no problems with, actually.
Anyway, I like that we now know more about Ezri's backstory, dislike that everything awful that Ezri's brothers do over the course of the story is blamed on an archetypal Awful Mom, and am nonetheless a little disappointed that Ezri's emo brother turned out to be a murderer and did not get to come hang out on Deep Space Nine and form an artist's colony with Jake.
12. The Emperor's New Cloak
FERENGI MIRROR UNIVERSE EPISODE! OK, yes, it's cheap pandering to have Rom spend the entire episode attempting to figure out the rules of the Mirror Universe in a hilarious meta fashion, and yes, it's even cheaper pandering to have yet ANOTHER Mirror Universe Lesbian without confirming any more of the main cast as LGBTQ, and yes, OF COURSE I enjoyed every single second of it, what do you take me for?
Also, the entire thing is worth it just for the lengthy sequence in which Rom and Quark's actors act their little prostheses off hauling an INVISIBLE! OBJECT!! around the station.
13. Field of Fire
Question: why do the showrunners of Deep Space Nine hate Vulcans? So far, the only Vulcans I can remember showing up are Sisko's random Vulcan nemesis, the terrorist Vulcan woman that Quark hit on way back in Season 2, and this episode's completely random Vulcan serial killer, which ...
EZRI: The murderer is definitely a Vulcan! I can tell this, as a psychologist, from my knowledge of the fact that VULCANS HATE LAUGHTER AND KITTENS.
Ezri's a sweetheart, but I'm not sure I'm signing on with Ezri Dax, Crime Scene Investigations any time soon.
In other news, watching Ezri fight crime with her murderous past life might have been much more fun if the crime wasn't so ... nonsensical ....... also if Debi and I were not too busy being sad about Adorable Lieutenant Ilario, Victim Of the Week. If Bashir and O'Brien had just let him come to the holosuite with them, he might have lived! HE MIGHT HAVE LIVED.
14. Chimera
Odo meets another long-lost Changeling! ... who shows up and proceeds to judge all of Odo's life choices, exactly like any other asshole long-lost relative.
Then Odo's long-lost Changeling cousin murders a Klingon, and the authorities arrest him for it, and Odo is like 'ANTI-CHANGELING PREJUDICE!!' and we're like 'Odo, you're not wrong about anti-changeling prejudice in general but in this case YOU ARE WRONG, HE FLAT-OUT MURDERED A DUDE.'
In general is one of those almost-but-not-quite episodes -- like, there are a lot of really interesting chances with this setup to dig deeper into the various layers of mistrust in between different Federation species, and the episode pokes at them but doesn't quite get there. Mostly because Odo is wrong, his cousin did flat-out murder a dude, and should probably be penalized for that in some way. (Though actually he will be, because they linked, and as we later found out, Odo was infected with Changeling Flu this whole time! Sorry, Odo's cousin. I hope Changeling Flu doesn't hit you too bad.)
Also Quark's advice to Odo during this episode boils down basically to "humanoids vs. solids is inevitable, sorry Odo" which, to me, feels like an awful missed opportunity -- because Quark, of all people, has really interesting things to say about solid-against-solid prejudice, and cultural misunderstandings, and the ways that humans in specific get panicky around what they don't understand, and we've seen him say all of that before! ... just not here, apparently. Quark, you can give better advice than this!
15. Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang
I mean, if Vic Fontaine is the excuse for us to have an Ocean's Eleven episode -- an Ocean's Eleven episode with Kasidy! in which Kasidy and Sisko get to have a really interesting conversation about black history and revisionist history and escapism and how they each experience those things differently! -- then I guess I can tolerate Vic Fontaine.
ALSO SISKO GOT TO SING AND EVERYTHING IN MY HEART SANG WITH HIM.
Where was Jake for this heist though? I miss Jake. :( And Jake missed seeing his dad sing! UNFAIR. (I also miss Jadzia, who would have loved this whole episode more than basically anything in the world.)
16. Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges
Does anyone on Deep Space Nine ever get to go to a conference without something awful happening? Just once, can't they go and present and get their swag bag and come home and faceplant into a pillow like normal people?
...anyway! Bashir goes to a Romulan conference, there are some incredibly shady SHIELD/HYDRA evil political shenanigans, and it all ends with our favorite Romulan taking the fall for treason. :( Senator Cretak, you should have just stayed on Deep Space Nine and been Kira's nemesis! It would have been better for you, and for all of us. Also, we might have been spared DS9's attempts to make us believe that Bashir is the conscience of the show.
(Also also, Ross' role in all of this makes it significantly dfficult to enjoy him presiding over Sisko and Kasidy's wedding!)
17. Penumbra
THE FINAL ARC BEGINS. Serialization, ahoy!
Plot 1: Kasidy and Sisko are going to get married, but Sisko's Prophet mom shows up in a vision and complains that this marriage will bring them nothing but sorrow. This is pretty stupid all around, so it's a good thing that nobody ends up listening to her.
Plot 2: Ezri goes to rescue Worf! They end up stranded in the jungle, as Daxes and Worfs are wont to do, and argue with each other and then bang, as Daxes and Worfs are wont to do, and then get captured.
Plot 3: Dukat gets Damar to get him Bajoran plastic surgery, which is ALREADY gross in context of his history, but GROSSER IS YET TO COME.
18. Til Death Do Us Part
Plot 1: Sisko comes to the realization that not marrying Kasidy because a vision told him not to is stupid, for which we are all very grateful. There is a wedding! Which is nice, though it would be nice if we saw like ... anyone ..... worrying over the fact that Ezri and Worf are presumed dead? Bashir makes a joke about it?
Plot 2: Worf and Ezri start to work through their issues and move on from awkward leftover Jadzia feelings, which is awesome! Less awesome is the attempt at sowing the seeds of Ezri/Bashir, sigh, but I guess if we gotta we gotta. Ezri trying to psychoanalyze her own dreams, however, is adorable.
Plot 3: Bajoran!Dukat seduces Kai Winn by making her believe she's the chosen of the Prophets, which:
a.) GROSS GROSS GROSS
b.) I'm not sure I ever understood how much I loved Kai Winn until we were screaming "STAB HIM, STAB HIM!" at the screen. I love Kai Winn. I .... love Kai Winn Adami.
c.) but, God, banging the Bajoran Pope is clearly Dukat's dream. It's even better than banging Kira's mom! It's banging ALL OF BAJOR'S MOM. I mean, Dukat should never have gotten to achieve this dream, or any other of his awful, awful your-mom-jokes dreams, but we can't say it's not in character. I'm pretty sure immediately after this happened he scheduled messages to Sisko and Kira, to active on their birthdays, and the entire message was just a romantic selfie of Dukat and Kai Winn with Dukat's voice singing "I JUST BANGED THE KAI" playing over it.
19. Strange Bedfellows
Plot 1: Damar frees Ezri and Worf and runs off to start an anti-Dominion revolution. I can't remember if this plot is actually great, or if I just have fond memories of it because of the greatness it's about to set up.
Plot 2: Kai Winn finds out that the visions she's been having come from EVIL instead of GOOD, has a crisis of conscience, consults with Kira, things go horribly awry, and commits to the side of EVIL. God, Kai Winn is so interesting. And this crisis of faith plot is really interesting! And it is really kind of a shame that everything about this is now going to be overshadowed by the grossness of Dukat, who's not even supposed to BE in this Bajoran mythology.
Plot 3: Bashir and O'Brien and Quark finally remember to be sad that Ezri is gone and/or presumed dead. Nobody remembers to be sad about Worf.
20. The Changing Face of Evil
Plot 1: Damar declares rebellion! This plotline, step by step, gets closer to greatness.
Plot 2: Sisko tries to get patriarchal on Kasiday's job schedule, and Kasidy's like 'lol no,' and then there's some war stuff and the Defiant blows up. This plotline is fine, I guess.
Plot 3: Kai Winn and Dukat have to murder Kai Winn's favorite judgy Vedek, but not before he tells Kai Winn that Dukat is Dukat, after which Kai Winn is like "GROSSSSSSSSS," as well she should be. This plotline continues to be really interesting when focusing on Kai Winn and her religion issues and bizarre in every other respect.
21. When It Rains...
Plot 1: Kira, Garak, and Odo go to help Damar learn how to terrorist, thus launching the GREATEST ARC in the show's entire finale.
Plot 2: Bashir figures out that Odo's Changeling virus was genetically engineered by the Federation, and ... decides that since the Federation made the virus they must also have made the cure? Nobody ever explains why it is obligatory to make a cure when you make a virus that you really don't want to be cured.
(Plot 2a: Also, Bashir and Ezri flirt, which, FINE. IF WE MUST.)
Plot 3: Dukat tries to steal Kai Winn's sacred texts and gets struck blind by some kind of evil nonsense. We chant "STAB HIM, STAB HIM!" but instead of stabbing him Kai Winn kicks him out on the street, which is almost as good except unfortunately it means he'll come back.
Plot 4: Chancellor Gowron is here to have bad strategy and Martok and Worf spend a lot of time rolling their eyes at each other.
22. Tacking Into the Wind
Plot 1: Team Terrorist launch a mission into occupied Cardassian territory! Kira and Damar and Garak and some other Cardassians get to have some AMAZING conversations about how Cardassia needs to overthrow an occupation JUST LIKE Bajor's occupation BY CARDASSIA! We resent every moment not spent on this arc, because it's AMAZING!
Plot 2: OK, though, the time when Worf became head of the Klingon Empire for like two seconds before going "shit shit shit" and hastily handing the the ceremonial mantle to Martok was also pretty great.
23. Extreme Measures
THIS EPISODE MAKES ME SO ANGRY. We are three episodes from the SERIES FINALE! Super interesting things are happening all around! So why are we wasting FORTY MINUTES on a nonsensical romp with Bashir and O'Brien through some random Hydra agent's nonsensical head. Why are we here. Why is this. (The answer is: because the writers ship Bashir and O'Brien, I know, but I don't, and I DON'T CARE.)
24. The Dogs Of War
Plot 1: KIRA, DAMAR AND GARAK HAVE TO HIDE OUT IN A CELLAR TOGETHER IN ORDER TO RUN THE RESISTANCE. Garak's mom makes them sandwiches?? They bicker charmingly??? It turns out this is everything I never knew I wanted?!?
Plot 2: Quark thinks the Grand Nagus is going to come make him Ferengi Pope, but instead it turns out he comes to make Rom Ferengi Pope? Also apparently Ferenginar has had a complete revolution offscreen that nobody noticed? I ... gotta say, this seems like a weird way to wrap up Quark and Rom's plot; I really kind of they'd been able to figure out how to better integrate them into everything else going on. (It also makes me sad we never had a religious leaders conference episode in which the Grand Nagus had to have a formal meeting with Sisko and Kai Winn, because how amazing would THAT have been?)
Plot 3: Somehow a storyline about Bashir and Ezri hooking up is all about Bashir/O'Brien and Ezri's friendship with Worf, because nobody really cares about Bashir and Ezri hooking up, not even Bashir and Ezri. Worf as Ezri's wingman/confidante, however, is adorable.
Plot 4: Odo confronts Sisko about the fact the Federation attempted ACTUAL GENOCIDE; the outcome of this conversation is very unsatisfying all around.
Plot 5: Kasidy is pregnant!
DEBI: "Well, if they just name the baby Sorrow, this solves all their prophecy problems."
25 & 26. What You Leave Behind
The end of the series! A significant chunk of Cardassia gets blown up by the Dominion. Damar dies; we're all sad, especially since it means we can't keep on getting the Kira-Garak-Damar Revolution Show, which is the BEST show.
Dukat and Kai Winn go on an awful field trip to some magical Bajoran caves, and Kai Winn tries to betray Dukat to his death, and then Dukat betrays Kai Winn to her death, and then Sisko appears and they get in a ridiculous magical battle between Dark and Light with screaming and poor special effects which is really kind of unworthy of all of them, and then Sisko disappears to go hang out with the Prophets for a while. This seems like a terrible idea. Sisko, rmember what happened last time you ambiguously disappeared/died? Remember how Jake spent sixty years obsessively looking for you instead of fulfilling your dreams and having grandchildren? COME BACK, SISKO.
Odo cures the Female Changeling of Changeling Flu to get her to agree to end the war, and decides to go back to the Great Link to cure them all also. This means that Kira and Odo break up, and everyone is sad, including us. On the other hand, Kira now gets to be in charge of the station, which is ... kind of great? Nobody remembers about the other lost baby Changelings that Odo's cousin went to find, and, presumably, accidentally infect with Changeling Flu. Sorry, lost baby Changelings.
O'Brien and Bashir break up, because O'Brien is going to earth with his family, who apparently still exist despite not having been seen for a season! WHO KNEW. Worf goes to be a Federation diplomat in the Klingon Empire, which makes us sad about Jadzia all over again because she would have LOVED being a diplomat in the Klingon Empire with Worf as her bodyguard! Ezri and Bashir and Kira and Jake and Quark presumably Nog stay behind, which is why Jake and Nog don't get a final scene together, but I'm really bummed about it anyway.
I don't ... necessarily feel like Deep Space Nine really stuck the landing; my favorite moment of the entire series is probably that shift at the end of Season Five, with its promise of serialized greatness that they never quite figure out how to manage. However, this diminishes neither my love for the show as a whole, nor my feeling of bereft bewilderment that we've actually seen the whole thing and there is no more. How is there no more? Come on, Star Trek Powers That Be, I would ABSOLUTELY watch Season Eight with Captain Kira and her right-hand woman Ezri and her frenemeses Quark and Gadfly Reporter Jake. Also, where are my Captain Nog Adventures?? THE PEOPLE DEMAND CAPTAIN NOG ADVENTURES.
(
innerbrat and I spent several weeks over the holidays trying to figure out what we were going to watch next, and if it was going to be another Star Trek, but I think I need a break before I start trying to love another Star Trek cast so that I don't resent them for not being the DS9 crew. So instead we are switching over to kdrama for a while and watching Hong Gil Dong. After that, we'll see!)
This entry is cross-posted at Livejournal from http://skygiants.dreamwidth.org/429008.html. Please feel free to comment here or there! There are currently
comments on Dreamwidth.
11. Prodigal Daughter
This episode is notable for a couple of reasons:
1. A routine 'O'Brien Suffers' episode ('Honor Among Thieves' from last season) actually has fallout that lasts for more than forty minutes?! What strange universe do we now live in?
2. Theoretically O'Brien is one of the driving plot forces in this episode also but he actually does basically nothing, which ... I have no problems with, actually.
Anyway, I like that we now know more about Ezri's backstory, dislike that everything awful that Ezri's brothers do over the course of the story is blamed on an archetypal Awful Mom, and am nonetheless a little disappointed that Ezri's emo brother turned out to be a murderer and did not get to come hang out on Deep Space Nine and form an artist's colony with Jake.
12. The Emperor's New Cloak
FERENGI MIRROR UNIVERSE EPISODE! OK, yes, it's cheap pandering to have Rom spend the entire episode attempting to figure out the rules of the Mirror Universe in a hilarious meta fashion, and yes, it's even cheaper pandering to have yet ANOTHER Mirror Universe Lesbian without confirming any more of the main cast as LGBTQ, and yes, OF COURSE I enjoyed every single second of it, what do you take me for?
Also, the entire thing is worth it just for the lengthy sequence in which Rom and Quark's actors act their little prostheses off hauling an INVISIBLE! OBJECT!! around the station.
13. Field of Fire
Question: why do the showrunners of Deep Space Nine hate Vulcans? So far, the only Vulcans I can remember showing up are Sisko's random Vulcan nemesis, the terrorist Vulcan woman that Quark hit on way back in Season 2, and this episode's completely random Vulcan serial killer, which ...
EZRI: The murderer is definitely a Vulcan! I can tell this, as a psychologist, from my knowledge of the fact that VULCANS HATE LAUGHTER AND KITTENS.
Ezri's a sweetheart, but I'm not sure I'm signing on with Ezri Dax, Crime Scene Investigations any time soon.
In other news, watching Ezri fight crime with her murderous past life might have been much more fun if the crime wasn't so ... nonsensical ....... also if Debi and I were not too busy being sad about Adorable Lieutenant Ilario, Victim Of the Week. If Bashir and O'Brien had just let him come to the holosuite with them, he might have lived! HE MIGHT HAVE LIVED.
14. Chimera
Odo meets another long-lost Changeling! ... who shows up and proceeds to judge all of Odo's life choices, exactly like any other asshole long-lost relative.
Then Odo's long-lost Changeling cousin murders a Klingon, and the authorities arrest him for it, and Odo is like 'ANTI-CHANGELING PREJUDICE!!' and we're like 'Odo, you're not wrong about anti-changeling prejudice in general but in this case YOU ARE WRONG, HE FLAT-OUT MURDERED A DUDE.'
In general is one of those almost-but-not-quite episodes -- like, there are a lot of really interesting chances with this setup to dig deeper into the various layers of mistrust in between different Federation species, and the episode pokes at them but doesn't quite get there. Mostly because Odo is wrong, his cousin did flat-out murder a dude, and should probably be penalized for that in some way. (Though actually he will be, because they linked, and as we later found out, Odo was infected with Changeling Flu this whole time! Sorry, Odo's cousin. I hope Changeling Flu doesn't hit you too bad.)
Also Quark's advice to Odo during this episode boils down basically to "humanoids vs. solids is inevitable, sorry Odo" which, to me, feels like an awful missed opportunity -- because Quark, of all people, has really interesting things to say about solid-against-solid prejudice, and cultural misunderstandings, and the ways that humans in specific get panicky around what they don't understand, and we've seen him say all of that before! ... just not here, apparently. Quark, you can give better advice than this!
15. Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang
I mean, if Vic Fontaine is the excuse for us to have an Ocean's Eleven episode -- an Ocean's Eleven episode with Kasidy! in which Kasidy and Sisko get to have a really interesting conversation about black history and revisionist history and escapism and how they each experience those things differently! -- then I guess I can tolerate Vic Fontaine.
ALSO SISKO GOT TO SING AND EVERYTHING IN MY HEART SANG WITH HIM.
Where was Jake for this heist though? I miss Jake. :( And Jake missed seeing his dad sing! UNFAIR. (I also miss Jadzia, who would have loved this whole episode more than basically anything in the world.)
16. Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges
Does anyone on Deep Space Nine ever get to go to a conference without something awful happening? Just once, can't they go and present and get their swag bag and come home and faceplant into a pillow like normal people?
...anyway! Bashir goes to a Romulan conference, there are some incredibly shady SHIELD/HYDRA evil political shenanigans, and it all ends with our favorite Romulan taking the fall for treason. :( Senator Cretak, you should have just stayed on Deep Space Nine and been Kira's nemesis! It would have been better for you, and for all of us. Also, we might have been spared DS9's attempts to make us believe that Bashir is the conscience of the show.
(Also also, Ross' role in all of this makes it significantly dfficult to enjoy him presiding over Sisko and Kasidy's wedding!)
17. Penumbra
THE FINAL ARC BEGINS. Serialization, ahoy!
Plot 1: Kasidy and Sisko are going to get married, but Sisko's Prophet mom shows up in a vision and complains that this marriage will bring them nothing but sorrow. This is pretty stupid all around, so it's a good thing that nobody ends up listening to her.
Plot 2: Ezri goes to rescue Worf! They end up stranded in the jungle, as Daxes and Worfs are wont to do, and argue with each other and then bang, as Daxes and Worfs are wont to do, and then get captured.
Plot 3: Dukat gets Damar to get him Bajoran plastic surgery, which is ALREADY gross in context of his history, but GROSSER IS YET TO COME.
18. Til Death Do Us Part
Plot 1: Sisko comes to the realization that not marrying Kasidy because a vision told him not to is stupid, for which we are all very grateful. There is a wedding! Which is nice, though it would be nice if we saw like ... anyone ..... worrying over the fact that Ezri and Worf are presumed dead? Bashir makes a joke about it?
Plot 2: Worf and Ezri start to work through their issues and move on from awkward leftover Jadzia feelings, which is awesome! Less awesome is the attempt at sowing the seeds of Ezri/Bashir, sigh, but I guess if we gotta we gotta. Ezri trying to psychoanalyze her own dreams, however, is adorable.
Plot 3: Bajoran!Dukat seduces Kai Winn by making her believe she's the chosen of the Prophets, which:
a.) GROSS GROSS GROSS
b.) I'm not sure I ever understood how much I loved Kai Winn until we were screaming "STAB HIM, STAB HIM!" at the screen. I love Kai Winn. I .... love Kai Winn Adami.
c.) but, God, banging the Bajoran Pope is clearly Dukat's dream. It's even better than banging Kira's mom! It's banging ALL OF BAJOR'S MOM. I mean, Dukat should never have gotten to achieve this dream, or any other of his awful, awful your-mom-jokes dreams, but we can't say it's not in character. I'm pretty sure immediately after this happened he scheduled messages to Sisko and Kira, to active on their birthdays, and the entire message was just a romantic selfie of Dukat and Kai Winn with Dukat's voice singing "I JUST BANGED THE KAI" playing over it.
19. Strange Bedfellows
Plot 1: Damar frees Ezri and Worf and runs off to start an anti-Dominion revolution. I can't remember if this plot is actually great, or if I just have fond memories of it because of the greatness it's about to set up.
Plot 2: Kai Winn finds out that the visions she's been having come from EVIL instead of GOOD, has a crisis of conscience, consults with Kira, things go horribly awry, and commits to the side of EVIL. God, Kai Winn is so interesting. And this crisis of faith plot is really interesting! And it is really kind of a shame that everything about this is now going to be overshadowed by the grossness of Dukat, who's not even supposed to BE in this Bajoran mythology.
Plot 3: Bashir and O'Brien and Quark finally remember to be sad that Ezri is gone and/or presumed dead. Nobody remembers to be sad about Worf.
20. The Changing Face of Evil
Plot 1: Damar declares rebellion! This plotline, step by step, gets closer to greatness.
Plot 2: Sisko tries to get patriarchal on Kasiday's job schedule, and Kasidy's like 'lol no,' and then there's some war stuff and the Defiant blows up. This plotline is fine, I guess.
Plot 3: Kai Winn and Dukat have to murder Kai Winn's favorite judgy Vedek, but not before he tells Kai Winn that Dukat is Dukat, after which Kai Winn is like "GROSSSSSSSSS," as well she should be. This plotline continues to be really interesting when focusing on Kai Winn and her religion issues and bizarre in every other respect.
21. When It Rains...
Plot 1: Kira, Garak, and Odo go to help Damar learn how to terrorist, thus launching the GREATEST ARC in the show's entire finale.
Plot 2: Bashir figures out that Odo's Changeling virus was genetically engineered by the Federation, and ... decides that since the Federation made the virus they must also have made the cure? Nobody ever explains why it is obligatory to make a cure when you make a virus that you really don't want to be cured.
(Plot 2a: Also, Bashir and Ezri flirt, which, FINE. IF WE MUST.)
Plot 3: Dukat tries to steal Kai Winn's sacred texts and gets struck blind by some kind of evil nonsense. We chant "STAB HIM, STAB HIM!" but instead of stabbing him Kai Winn kicks him out on the street, which is almost as good except unfortunately it means he'll come back.
Plot 4: Chancellor Gowron is here to have bad strategy and Martok and Worf spend a lot of time rolling their eyes at each other.
22. Tacking Into the Wind
Plot 1: Team Terrorist launch a mission into occupied Cardassian territory! Kira and Damar and Garak and some other Cardassians get to have some AMAZING conversations about how Cardassia needs to overthrow an occupation JUST LIKE Bajor's occupation BY CARDASSIA! We resent every moment not spent on this arc, because it's AMAZING!
Plot 2: OK, though, the time when Worf became head of the Klingon Empire for like two seconds before going "shit shit shit" and hastily handing the the ceremonial mantle to Martok was also pretty great.
23. Extreme Measures
THIS EPISODE MAKES ME SO ANGRY. We are three episodes from the SERIES FINALE! Super interesting things are happening all around! So why are we wasting FORTY MINUTES on a nonsensical romp with Bashir and O'Brien through some random Hydra agent's nonsensical head. Why are we here. Why is this. (The answer is: because the writers ship Bashir and O'Brien, I know, but I don't, and I DON'T CARE.)
24. The Dogs Of War
Plot 1: KIRA, DAMAR AND GARAK HAVE TO HIDE OUT IN A CELLAR TOGETHER IN ORDER TO RUN THE RESISTANCE. Garak's mom makes them sandwiches?? They bicker charmingly??? It turns out this is everything I never knew I wanted?!?
Plot 2: Quark thinks the Grand Nagus is going to come make him Ferengi Pope, but instead it turns out he comes to make Rom Ferengi Pope? Also apparently Ferenginar has had a complete revolution offscreen that nobody noticed? I ... gotta say, this seems like a weird way to wrap up Quark and Rom's plot; I really kind of they'd been able to figure out how to better integrate them into everything else going on. (It also makes me sad we never had a religious leaders conference episode in which the Grand Nagus had to have a formal meeting with Sisko and Kai Winn, because how amazing would THAT have been?)
Plot 3: Somehow a storyline about Bashir and Ezri hooking up is all about Bashir/O'Brien and Ezri's friendship with Worf, because nobody really cares about Bashir and Ezri hooking up, not even Bashir and Ezri. Worf as Ezri's wingman/confidante, however, is adorable.
Plot 4: Odo confronts Sisko about the fact the Federation attempted ACTUAL GENOCIDE; the outcome of this conversation is very unsatisfying all around.
Plot 5: Kasidy is pregnant!
DEBI: "Well, if they just name the baby Sorrow, this solves all their prophecy problems."
25 & 26. What You Leave Behind
The end of the series! A significant chunk of Cardassia gets blown up by the Dominion. Damar dies; we're all sad, especially since it means we can't keep on getting the Kira-Garak-Damar Revolution Show, which is the BEST show.
Dukat and Kai Winn go on an awful field trip to some magical Bajoran caves, and Kai Winn tries to betray Dukat to his death, and then Dukat betrays Kai Winn to her death, and then Sisko appears and they get in a ridiculous magical battle between Dark and Light with screaming and poor special effects which is really kind of unworthy of all of them, and then Sisko disappears to go hang out with the Prophets for a while. This seems like a terrible idea. Sisko, rmember what happened last time you ambiguously disappeared/died? Remember how Jake spent sixty years obsessively looking for you instead of fulfilling your dreams and having grandchildren? COME BACK, SISKO.
Odo cures the Female Changeling of Changeling Flu to get her to agree to end the war, and decides to go back to the Great Link to cure them all also. This means that Kira and Odo break up, and everyone is sad, including us. On the other hand, Kira now gets to be in charge of the station, which is ... kind of great? Nobody remembers about the other lost baby Changelings that Odo's cousin went to find, and, presumably, accidentally infect with Changeling Flu. Sorry, lost baby Changelings.
O'Brien and Bashir break up, because O'Brien is going to earth with his family, who apparently still exist despite not having been seen for a season! WHO KNEW. Worf goes to be a Federation diplomat in the Klingon Empire, which makes us sad about Jadzia all over again because she would have LOVED being a diplomat in the Klingon Empire with Worf as her bodyguard! Ezri and Bashir and Kira and Jake and Quark presumably Nog stay behind, which is why Jake and Nog don't get a final scene together, but I'm really bummed about it anyway.
I don't ... necessarily feel like Deep Space Nine really stuck the landing; my favorite moment of the entire series is probably that shift at the end of Season Five, with its promise of serialized greatness that they never quite figure out how to manage. However, this diminishes neither my love for the show as a whole, nor my feeling of bereft bewilderment that we've actually seen the whole thing and there is no more. How is there no more? Come on, Star Trek Powers That Be, I would ABSOLUTELY watch Season Eight with Captain Kira and her right-hand woman Ezri and her frenemeses Quark and Gadfly Reporter Jake. Also, where are my Captain Nog Adventures?? THE PEOPLE DEMAND CAPTAIN NOG ADVENTURES.
(
innerbrat and I spent several weeks over the holidays trying to figure out what we were going to watch next, and if it was going to be another Star Trek, but I think I need a break before I start trying to love another Star Trek cast so that I don't resent them for not being the DS9 crew. So instead we are switching over to kdrama for a while and watching Hong Gil Dong. After that, we'll see!)
This entry is cross-posted at Livejournal from http://skygiants.dreamwidth.org/429008.html. Please feel free to comment here or there! There are currently
comments on Dreamwidth.