“Tears of the Prophets”
Written by Ira Steven Behr & Hans Beimler
Directed by Allan Kroeker
Season 6, Episode 26
Production episode 40510-550
Original air date: June 17, 1998
Stardate: unknown
Station log: Another Gratitude Festival has come to an end. Sisko insisted that the festival go on despite the war. And after the festival, Ross presents him with the Christopher Pike Medal of Honor, and then tells him that Starfleet has agreed (finally) to go on the offensive, and has ordered Sisko to come up with a plan to invade Cardassian space.
Worf and Dax leave the holodeck carrying weapons, but are neither sweaty nor bruised. Turns out they were talking about having a baby. Bashir and Quark are stunned and depressed, though they cover it with medical concerns over a Trill and a Klingon procreating (Bashir) and just generally being snotty (Quark).
Sisko has found the weak link in the Dominion’s defenses—the least well-defended system in Cardassian space is the Chin’toka system. That’s where they need to attack—assuming they can convince the Romulans to join the Federation and Klingon forces.
Damar, meanwhile, shows Weyoun the spiffy new orbital weapons platforms that he has deployed to shore up the forces in Chin’toka, since he had to divert forces to the Romulan front. Their conversation is interrupted by the surprise arrival of Dukat. He claims to have an artifact that will allow Dominion ships safe passage through the wormhole again—his interest is in taking revenge against Sisko, but it will also give Weyoun what he wants, too. The artifact allows Dukat to be possessed by a Pah-wraith.
In the wardroom, Sisko, Martok, Worf, and Ross have to convince Romulan Senator Letant to commit Romulan forces to striking the Chin’toka system. Along the way, Letant takes several shots at Martok, and Martok’s more than happy to take the bait.
Jake talks Sisko into letting him go on the Defiant to report on the battle for the Federation News Service. Sisko then gets a vision from the Prophets, telling him that he should not leave Bajor. Sisko talks to Ross about it, and the admiral gives him an ultimatum: he’s got to be either the Emissary or a Starfleet captain. He chooses the latter.
Starfleet Intelligence passes on info about Damar’s weapons platforms and that they have to attack in the next two or three days before they’re operational. The Romulans agree to join the war effort, and they’re leaving first thing in the morning. Meanwhile, Damar has received word of the combined fleet gathering at DS9 and pushes for the platforms to become operational sooner.
Sisko leaves Dax in charge of the station as the task force goes out because she can’t stay behind to get killed if she goes on the Defiant. (Seriously, she always goes with the Defiant. This is very obvious.) The fleet heads to Chin’toka, and the platforms aren’t online yet (Weyoun is seriously disappointed). However, after the battle is joined, the platforms do eventually come online and start firing.
Bashir informs Dax that the enzymes he’s been injecting into her have been working and she and Worf can have a baby. Because we must leave no character-is-about-to-die cliché unturned. She goes to the Bajoran temple to thank the Prophets—Kira had prayed for her and Worf the previous night—and in mid-prayer, the Pah-wraith-possessed Dukat beams in and kills her, then opens the Orb. The Pah-wraith goes into the Orb, and moments later, the Orb goes dark and the wormhole shuts down completely. Dukat then beams out of the temple.
On the Defiant, Sisko stumbles at the moment the wormhole closes, and he loses focus. Kira takes command and orders the Defiant to destroy the platforms’ power source, which O’Brien has located on a moon. They can’t destroy it conventionally, but O’Brien is able to spoof the moon so that it appears to have a Starfleet warp engine. The platforms themselves then fire on the moon and destroy it, leaving them powerless and paving the way for the allies to take the Chin’toka system.
Weyoun is furious at Dukat, as the plan is a disaster from the Dominion perspective. Klingon ground troops are on Cardassian soil, and there’s no chance of reinforcements from the Gamma Quadrant with the wormhole closed. Dukat, though, thinks everything is hunky dory because he’s hurt the Bajorans and Sisko (his only two targets now) by cutting the Prophets off from the Alpha Quadrant.
The Defiant returns to DS9. Even as Worf runs to the infirmary, several Bajorans swamp Sisko, wanting to know why the Orbs have gone dark and why the Prophets have abandoned them.
Bashir has managed to save the Dax symbiont, which has to get back to Trill, but Jadzia is dying and there’s nothing Bashir can do. Worf and Sisko stand over her as she dies. Later, Sisko talks to her coffin. Curzon was Sisko’s mentor, but Jadzia was his friend. And he needs his friend, because the Prophets seem to have abandoned Bajor. He’s failed as the Emissary and he’s failed as a Starfleet captain—he should have listened to the Prophets. He needs to get away from the station and figure out how to make things right again.
The Siskos head to Earth for an indefinite leave. Kira goes into the office to see that Sisko has taken the baseball with him. He’s not sure if he’s coming back.
The season ends with Sisko sitting in the back of his father’s restaurant in New Orleans, cleaning clams.
Can’t we just reverse the polarity? O’Brien can make a moon seem like a Starfleet ship by doing something with the deflector. Because he’s just that awesome.
The Sisko is of Bajor: Sisko is told by the Prophets not to leave Bajor. He leaves Bajor. Bad shit happens.
Don’t ask my opnion next time: Kira takes command of the Defiant when Sisko becomes incapacitated by the Prophets, even though Worf is in charge of the Defiant, and has taken command in the past in these situations (“Starship Down,” for one). Kira does consult Worf on their course of action, though. She’s also left in charge of the station at the end of the episode when Sisko goes on his sabbatical.
The slug in your belly: Dax is inordinately happy with life, is planning to have a baby with Worf, declares Bashir to be a good friend, and even goes to a temple to pray out of gratitude for how good her life is going. Of course she’s killed…
There is no honor in being pummeled: This is the second time Worf has cradled the love of his life’s corpse and done the Klingon death scream—the previous time was with K’Ehleyr in TNG’s “Reunion.”
Preservation of mass and energy is for wimps: Odo mistakes Kira being pissed at him over his arresting Vedek Solis as her wanting to break up with him. Give him a break, he’s new to this whole relationship thing…
Rules of Acquisition: Quark’s biggest worry when it comes to Worf and Dax having a baby is that the child might look like its father. (Dax’s response is, “I hope she does!”)
Plain, simple: Garak goes on the Defiant, jumping at the opportunity to help liberate his home. He’s also the one who notices that the platforms don’t have their own power sources, which is what leads to eventual victory at Chin’toka.
Victory is life: Damar has been forced to divert troops to the Romulan front. This means the Jem’Hadar and Cardassian ships are spread a bit thin, giving the allies an opening in Chin’toka.
For Cardassia! One of the artifacts the Cardassians plundered from Bajor is a doofy little statue that has a Pah-wraith in it.
What happens on the holosuite stays on the holosuite: Quark and Bashir go to Vic’s to drown their sorrows. Fontaine sings “Here’s to the Losers,” and then gives them hilariously generic advice (which boils down to “move the hell on, already!”) that the two of them take as some kind of brilliant insight. It’s Quark’s first time at Vic’s, and he says he might come back.
No sex, please, we’re Starfleet: After Kira says she prayed to the Prophets for Dax and Worf to actually be able to procreate, Dax tells Worf that when he gets back from Chin’toka, they have a lot of work to do. Worf’s reply is that he doesn’t consider that to be work. Wah-HEY!
Keep your ears open: “Pah-wraiths and Prophets? All this talk of gods strikes me as nothing more than superstitious nonsense.”
“You believe that the Founders are gods, don’t you?”
“That’s different.”
“In what way?”
“The Founders are gods.”
Weyoun failing his saving roll versus comparative religions, and Damar calling him on it.
Welcome aboard: James Darren establishes himself as recurring by reappearing as Fontaine, joining fellow recurrers Marc Alaimo (Dukat), Casey Biggs (Damar), Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun), Aron Eisenberg (Nog), J.G. Hertzler (Martok), Barry Jenner (Ross), and Andrew J. Robinson (Garak). Plus we get David Birney being super-snotty as Letant.
Trivial matters: The title derives from the colloquial name for the Orbs, as established way back in “Emissary.”
This is the third straight series to have an opening-credits regular killed only to have them come back in an odd sort of way. First there was Spock from the original series, killed in The Wrath of Khan and resurrected by the Genesis planet in The Search for Spock. Then there was Yar from TNG, killed in “Skin of Evil,” but her counterpart from an alternate reality came into our reality following the events of “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” and sired a lookalike daughter, as revealed in “Redemption II.” And then we have Dax, who dies in this episode, but the Dax symbiont lives on in Ezri Dax starting at the top of next season.
The Klingon death scream was established in TNG’s “Heart of Glory.”
Worf will lose another love in the Cold Equations trilogy by David Mack, when Enterprise security chief Jasminder Choudhury is killed. The framing sequence of Peter David’s novel Triangle: Imzadi II takes place right after Jadzia’s death in this episode.
Vedek Solis appears in several post-finale DS9 novels as a candidate to replace Winn as kai.
Martok promises that in a year’s time he, Sisko, and Ross will share a bloodwine on Cardassia Prime. The three will stand on that world at the end of the war while on the victorious side in “What You Leave Behind,” but they won’t share the toast Martok predicts.
The Bajoran Gratitude Festival was first mentioned in “The Nagus” and seen in “Fascination.”
Sisko receives a medal named after Christopher Pike, Kirk’s predecessor as captain of the Enterprise, as seen in “The Cage,” “The Menagerie” two-parter, the 2009 Star Trek, and Star Trek Into Darkness.
Sisko left the baseball behind as a symbol of his intent to return in “Call to Arms.” That he took the ball with him this time symbolizes that he may not come back.
Walk with the Prophets: “His baseball—he took it with him.” Back in 1991, Jim Abrahams co-wrote and directed a parody movie called Hot Shots! Primarily a spoof of Top Gun, the movie had a test pilot whose call sign was “Dead Meat.” A supporting character in the film, “Dead Meat” put off signing insurance papers until after his next test flight, walked under a ladder, had a black cat cross his path, and his wife informed him she was pregnant. He, of course, was killed. It was a perfect sendup of the clichés that surround characters who are pegged for death, as stuff is just piled on in an attempt at manufactured pathos.
I always think of Hot Shots! when I watch this episode. And that’s not a good thing.
Everything is just so constructed here. Just having Dax stay behind is odd, to say the least, since Dax always goes on these missions. Yes, it’s ridiculous that the whole senior staff just up and hares off on the Defiant every time there’s a mission, but leaving Dax behind this one and only time just stands out as absurd. No story reason is given for it, except so that Dax can be on the station to be killed by Dukat—oh, and Bashir stays behind without explanation, too, so he can be on the station to extract the symbiont.
Terry Farrell leaving the show is a huge loss anyhow, and I really just do not get the decision. The show was only going to be on the air for another year, why not just hold out? Especially since, of all the actors in the cast, Farrell had the worst negotiating position because she was by definition the most replaceable member of the cast. Just shove the slug into someone else’s belly.
Bad enough that we have the super-contrived death of a main character, but the person responsible is Dukat while possessed by the Pah-wraiths, who continue to be the most misbegotten addition to the DS9 milieu. Seriously, Dukat kills Jadzia with a ray beam he fires while his eyes glow red.
There are actual good things that happen in this episode, like the cool space battle and Odo and Kira stumbling their way around a relationship and every single conversation between Weyoun and Damar (the bit quoted above was epic, but Weyoun’s orgasm over the platforms was a very close second). But ultimately, this is the episode that painfully and obviously contrived Jadzia’s death while continuing the imbecilic Pah-wraith stupidity.
Warp factor rating: 2
Keith R.A. DeCandido has a bunch of new things out, including the short stories “Time Keeps on Slippin’” (in the Stargate SG-1/Atlantis anthology Far Horizons), “Stone Cold Whodunit” (in the superhero anthology With Great Power), “Fish Out of Water” (in Out of Tune, a Jonathan Maberry-edited anthology of stories based on sea ballads), and “Undine the Boardwalk” (in the Bad-Ass Faeries anthology It’s Elemental); the essays “Embracing the Entire Universe: The WildStorm Era” (in New Life and New Civilizations, a history of Star Trek in comics form) and “Gaming the Novel” (in Kobold Guide to Combat); and the Sleepy Hollow novel Children of the Revolution (reviewed on this very site).
Okay, so I know the ratings are supposedly the least important aspect of these reviews, and sure, I know that you hate the Pah-wraith thing, and of course, Dax’s death is forecast in the most obvious ways.
But a 2? Despite the aforementioned weaknesses, I think there’s a lot of very exciting stuff going on in this finale. But maybe that’s just me.
Yeah, this is pretty much where it all goes off the rails. No Jadzia, pah-wraiths. The loss of Terry Farrel was tough, but they could have weathered it better with a different replacement. Or no replacement. The problem with Ezri was that she was just too perky and naive. Jadzia was a little green at the beginning, but she was also clearly benefitting from the experience of the Dax symbiont. Ezri is more like an obnoxious Dr. Who companion.
About the pah-wraiths, the less said the better. The series would have been much better served by sticking with a basic war story and letting Sisko come out on top. B5 was certainly able to deal with the spiritual themes that surrounded its great conflict without getting all woo.
Voyager also has its death and resurrection in Harry Kim. I think it even happens to him a couple of times, though he always comes back in the same episode, not after a delay.
I agree with you, that once again Star Trek writers have conceived the least likely scenario (as KRAD pointed out) to make the plot go where they want it to go. Dax’s death was both shocking and in some ways refreshing as far as season 7 goes. It’s shocking because Terry Farrell was an opening credits character and they have been incredibly resilient in Star Trek. It ended up being refreshing because it gave “new blood” for the Season 7 writers, with a good chunk of the episodes being how does the new Dax relate to the crew?
The battle scene was very cool to watch and Damar was quickly growing on me as a character, but I just can’t get past the contrivances. If you need to kill Dax, why does it have to be this way? The Defiant is in the middle of a massive space battle- why can’t she be the victim of one of Star Fleet’s patented exploding touchscreens- guaranteed to drive a shard of glass into the head or neck of the user. We don’t need the proof that Dukat is a)crazy and b) evil- we’ve had 6 seasons to justify that. Furthermore, if we needed a reason to keep her on the station, have Sisko explain it: because of her enzyme treatments, because some important person was due at the station, because she had big debts in tongo- just come up with some reason why Dax has to be on the station this one very time. It makes no sense that Dax, who has been the Defiants pilot for several seasons gets left behind while Kira, who isn’t in Starfleet does go.
Also, I’m suprised that Sisko gets to go on leave after Dax’s death. I’d have to imagine that Ross would tell him that he was the commander of the most important Starbase on the front lines and there was no way he could go. For that matter I’m suprised that Admiral Ross was so insistant that Sisko go on the mission, since a year previously Star Fleet Command ordered the Defiant to defend Earth against the Borg without Sisko on board. So apparently it’s okay for the defiant to fight the Borg without Sisko but not okay to fight the Cardassians.
It was disappointing to see Farrell leave the show. Unlike Denise Crosby, her character was given a lot to do besides opening hailing frequencies. But I guess being killed by a red-eyed Dukat is slightly less embarrassing than being killed by a cranky glob of Pennzoil. So there’s that.
Things that bother me about this are similar to other episodes.
1) My understanding is that the Bajorans are still not at war with the Dominion. If so, doesn’t Kira cross the line from alleged sabateur to court martial offence by participating in and then captaining the lead ship involved in a war action?
2) Relatedly, doesn’t Kira commanding DS9 suggest that the station has reverted to Bajoran control, and thus become a neutral site – not Federation property?
3) Choose between being the Emissary and Starfleet officer? I think a good officer would notice that the wormhole aliens: a) exist outside linear time, b) have shown foreknowledge of events multiple times, c) have demonstrated the willingness to help the Federation and allies in the past. Why wouldn’t a good officer point out that it would make more sense for him to stay on the station (ignoring the fact that Sisko is developing the entire invasion, and being killed in the first battle does nothing for that responsibility).
4) I get that there is trust on the station, but the constable and deputies are there for a reason. Nobody watches the orb? It just sits there, unguarded and unsecured, easily opened by anybody?
5) Sisko just got told that mixing personal and professional is a bad idea, and now he lets journalist-Jake on the Defiant?
6) Going back to the battle plan meeting, why does Sisko say “Klingon, Romulan, human”? I get that the only Federation reps at the meeting were human, but doesn’t the Federation represent more than just Earth? Shouldn’t he have said “Klingon, Romulan, Fed [or whatever the term is for a Federation citizen, unless human is the catch-all term and Terran is used for Earth]”?
On the upside, I did believe Dukat when he tells Jadzia he never meant for her to get hurt. It’s a moment of honesty and complexity that gets lost in the rest of the episode and remainder of the series.
I don’t have much to say, except that I hate the contrivance of having a huge number of attacking things that can be taken out by targeting a single central controller/power source. It’s a really lazy storytelling cheat, and it’s bad design. If they’d just made the platforms decentralized, given each its own independent power source, then Starfleet would’ve been screwed.
I have this idea in my head that the incompetent use of a defense grid with only a single power source was the result of the Cardassians’ haste to get the grid up and running, leading them to cut corners. But I can’t recall whether that’s something that was explained after the fact in a novel, or just my own personal handwave in my head.
As soon as she started geeking out over going to the temple because Kira said a prayer there I was all, “Oh, man, she is totally going to get killed in the temple”.
I do wonder how much of a shock it was to others though – I knew Jadzia dies in this episode, but was it common knowledge Terry Farrell had left the show back then?
Not to be pendantic (okay, totally to be pendantic) you mention in your recap that Dukat fires and kills Jadzia, but she clearly wasn’t dead yet, as she’s perfectly lucid and conscious when Worf sees her after the symbiont is extracted, and then she dies. (I suppose Dukat kills her in the sense that she was doomed to die from that moment, but your wording implies he kills her at that moment).
The contrast between Emissary and Starfleet is kind of interesting, and Sisko dealing with the guilt of ignoring the message. The pah-wraiths maybe could have been interesting – if there are womhole aliens it stands to reason that they may not all want the same thing, and some may be bad sorts – but I can definitely see where it would have been more interesting to just focus on the war without ‘supernatural’ elements going on too
Okay, so I’ve commented before about how terrible I thought everything leading up to Jadzia’s death, not to mention the death itself, was just awful. Really, just abominably bad.
BUT. I like Ezri. I like her a lot. I like how she is not Jadzia, and I like how she established herself and grows as a character, and integrates into the cast, all in a fairly short period of time. She’s even a key member in one of my favorite scenes in the whole series, when she councils Worf on his sense of honor.
“This is the second time Worf has cradled the love of his life’s corpse and done the Klingon death scream”
Technically yes, it’s his second, as far as his loved ones are concerned. But it’s really Worf’s fourth death scream overall. He did it twice on Heart of Glory.
The attack on the power source for the weapon platforms, reminded me of something from one of the star wars films and the novels
As for the episode, definitely not a 2.
Obviously, it makes mistakes. It might be a 5, but a 2? No way. Not Hans or Ira’s finest hour in terms of putting an organic story together, but it’s still well directed and acted.
Even if Jadzia’s death was contrived as it could be, it was still decently executed, in terms of character work. It sets back Worf and Sisko enough to give them relevant arcs for the final season.
Plus, as GarretC pointed out, it allows us to meet a new character. I loved Ezri. Unlike Seven of Nine, she had less than a year for us to get to know and appreciate. And Nicole DeBoer nailed the part. Jadzia didn’t have much more room to grow (even though Terry Farrell improved every year). Ezri had a blank slate, and plenty of good character work, not to mention interesting new dynamics with the veteran cast.
And it makes me wonder as well: what would have been Jadzia’s arc on that final year? Having kids with Worf? Being promoted to full commander? Talk about boring and predictable.
At least with Ezri, we got to revisit the Bashir romance angle, we got a decent counselor for a change, and it gave Worf a more fitting end, by having him embrace his Klingon side alongside Martok.
(too bad Nemesis overlooked the whole ambassador aspect of the character; but at least that movie had him saying the best line: the Romulans fought with honor – a nice way to bookend his previous grudge with them).
And the battle makes the episode worth it as well. So much that several parts of it were reused for the series finale (along with Sacrifice of Angels battle sequences).
“Because we must leave no character-is-about-to-die cliché unturned.”
“The show was only going to be on the air for another year, why not just hold out?”
AND SHE WAS ONLY ONE <YEAR> AWAY FROM RETIREMENT!
(Sorry, you missed that one cliché…)
@11: I don’t know what might have happened with Jadzia in an imaginary season 6 that includes her not having died, but I believe pretty whole-heartedly that it would have had nothing to do with children. That station has had plenty of children, with a pregnancy arc as recent as the O’Brien’s last kid. Aside from which, Jadzia and Worf being happy and trying to have kids was only there — only — to serve the contrivance that was her death. If she’s not dying, their pure blissful relationship doesn’t exist. That’s one of the things that makes this setup so completely awful: how many parts of the story start to exist to serve nothing but the fact that she’s going to die.
All that said, I’m sure they could have found something interesting for the character, though. As it went, I did end up finding Ezri to be a perfectly welcome addition, so it wasn’t a total loss. I’d even argue that it may have ended up being a gain when all was said and done. But I won’t put it past them to have hypothetically done something interesting with a hypothetical living Jadzia, because they would have been able to spend all this time actually setting something interesting up, rather than hammering the sign-posts for her demise with a comical cartoon mallet.
Heh, I don’t hate it as much as you. I missed the actress but I made my peace with it over the summer between seasons and whilst I didn’t like all the coming of age stories we got from Ezri Dax, I didn’t mind her in general. It just seemed odd from the show for the last season to spend so much time on that, but whatever.
I don’t remember if I noticed that she was going to die by her being left on the station. I watch a lot of these shows, I saw Hot Shots, even in theatre I think, and I read many books, all full of cliches, I don’t really notice any of them.
That’s strange I suppose, but what curses you reviewers and other professionals is that you must remember things and look for issues such as this, while I get to walk around oblivious and enjoy every cliche ridden story as long as I enjoy it, the cliches obviously don’t bother me.
I really liked that Romulan dude, and the new uniforms they’ve been having.
I guess I don’t understand how Sisko being there would’ve changed anything though.
@5: To be fair, the orb was protected behind a forcefield, but the Pah-Wraith could get through it.
@6: That’s a fairly reasonable personal handwave to make though, if so. In the middle of the war when they have limited resources and a new front with the Romulans, they may have indeed rushed production. In addition, the attack force actually couldn’t destroy the power source themselves…they needed to fool the weapon platforms into doing it, which was maybe unforeseen.
Although that brings me to another point: First of all, there is a descrepancy between the script and the visual effects, which seems to happen quite a bit. Damar says they have 1,000 plasma torpedoes, but they are seen only shooting beam weapons. Second of all, it seems as though the attack group is not merely being overwhelmed by sheer numbers, but they seem to be facing an extremely powerful weapon. Indeed, these weapons can penetrate the shielding on the power asteroid when the starships could not. So why not put these weapons on all Dominion ships and just win the war?
As I understand it, these weapons platforms are very efficient, in terms of firepower per unit of resource expenditure. They seem to be sold as a big game-changer. The only reason they lost here was that O’Brien was able to trick the platforms into firing on their power source, which apparently is so well-protected that the weapons of a Defiant-class battleship can’t destroy it. This flaw in their targeting systems should be easily fixable–if nothing else, program them to know where the power source is and never to fire in that direction.
So, the Dominion and Cardassians, being intelligent, must be building these defense platforms around all their worlds, perhaps starting with strategically important ones. And the Federation alliance will presumably be stymied in their advances (once they reach a planet that is defended by a bunch of operational, intelligently-targeting platforms) until they can find some countermeasure (such as a bomb designed to break through the power source’s shielding).
But no, the string “platform” does not appear again in episode transcripts until the final episode of season 7, where it is used in a throwaway sentence, “The Klingons will target … and the Federation will take on the orbital weapon platforms.” (Which we don’t see on-screen.) We see neither anyone complaining about being unable to make progress in the war due to the platforms, nor anyone announcing that they have a robust countermeasure, but nor is it assumed that the Cardassians just couldn’t build any more platforms for some reason, or decided not to simply because Weyoun was disgusted with Damar, or that a countermeasure was found that rendered them useless. (I assume that the “orbital weapon platforms” mentioned at the end are the same kind as the ones in this episode.) (As a matter of fact, since Damar built them, it would make sense if he could disable or destroy them, or at least knew a fatal weakness of theirs; this could have been used late in the seventh season.)
It seems to me that the most likely explanation is that the writers came up with the weapon platforms as a plot element in this episode, and then forgot (or just didn’t bother) to follow up with the concept in subsequent episodes, until the last episode, when someone said, “Hey, that’s a thing,” and someone said, “Hey, let’s mention it,” and they did so. (Forgetting seems likely because this was the last episode of the season.) This irritates me. Oh well.
@5: Bajor’s Non-Aggression Pact with the Dominion is pretty well dead by this point. (Even if the actions of multiple Bajorans in attacking Dominion troops in Sacrifice of Angels didn’t break the treaty, Bajor allowing the Federation to use DS9 as a base to launch attacks on Dominion territory certainly killed it.) As such there really isn’t any reason for the Bajoran government not to want Kira on this mission. (Having one of their officers on the lead ship of the invasion force is a priceless intelligence and diplomatic asset for Bajor.)
@16: Where exactly would the platforms have been seen again after this episode? We don’t really see any episodes centered around the protagonists trying to capture Cardassian worlds after this one. It is mentioned though that the Allies offensive into Cardassian space pretty much stalls after this episode. Mass deployment of the weapon platforms would help explain that.
To answer Lisamarie’s question, back in the day we all knew it was coming. Its been a long time but I think maybe midway through the season it became common knowledge amongst the Trek interwebs. The only thing shocking was the dumb way she died. The summer was spent wondering who would replace her.
This episode has been dissected to death since it aired. I totally agree with Krad. Anything good in it is completely overshadowed by the insulting manner in whihc Dax’s death was handled.
I suppose Ross had to develop Starfleet Admiral Jerkass Syndrome over something, but you would think that Sisko being the one corporeal being the Prophets like talking to would be considered a vital asset by the Federation. Given that the Prophets are also keeping Dominion’s Gamma Quadrant forces from crossing over and overwhelming them, it might be in Starfleet’s interest to keep them happy. Also, with Dax, a middle of existential war is a hell of a time for two frontline officers to decide to have a pregnancy that requires significant medical assistance to be even possible.
Redlander @@@@@ 4:
“less embrassing than being killed by a cranky glob of pennzoil”
Marry me. I want have a zillion of your babies.
In general I really enjoyed late stage DS9, but this episode inaugurated two of my less than favorite changes- occultist Dukat and Ezri Dax. Now, there’s no graceful way to handle the loss of a main-credits breakout character- you’re essentially doomed to do early season knocking around when the rest of the characters are properly lived in, and Nicole de Boer did fine, and I did like the strange kink that it but into the story of Worf. But the whole Ensign Freshface schtick had largely been beaten to death- Chekov, Wesley, early Bashir, Harry Kim- and the results weren’t generally anyone’s best work. Jadzia, though, was something totally different- both unique in Trek and probably more representative of the sort of people that we’d expect to live there. She was cosmopolitan- she’d gamble with Ferengi and have Klingon godchildren and play in human fairy tales. She was maturely hedonistic- she had Kirk’s sex drive with none of the Mad Men overtones. And she was alien- in a way that even the Spocks and Datas, with their human-counterpoint function, weren’t. You really did believe that she was simultaneously a thirty year old woman and a hundred year old man, and that Ben was truly friends with both. Ezri’s constant state of shock at being full of other people’s memories wasn’t half as interesting as Jadzia’s plots that embodied the fact.
And occult Dukat was just a shot in the rough. Dukat before was this scuzzy realpolitik creature, the sort of bureaucrat that’d end up getting Nuremburged if he didn’t keep ending up as part of the reshuffled establishment. After, though- his eyes glowed. Nuff said.
I really really want to like this episode. Season finale, linchpin of the ongoing series plot, etc. To the point where I think I’d have to give it a higher rating than 2 due to its strong points (as @11 points out, the actors did a remarkable job acting the parts they were stuck with).
But alas, there are SO many problems even beyond what’s been stated. (Although @5 covers a lot of things that bug me.)
The worst part is the whole arc of the Prophets warning Sisko not to leave Bajor. It’s so obvious that the Prophets are breaking silence just because the plot demanded it, just to make Jadzia’s death more dramatic. And why is Admiral Ross suddenly changing from a reasonable dude into a prick who won’t even listen to Sisko’s request all the way through? And didn’t we get an episode that was all about Starfleet sort of accepting Sisko’s Emissary role? And WHY wouldn’t Sisko trust this vision?!?!? It’s not nearly as crazy as the absolute trust he placed in the prophets just five episodes ago in The Reckoning!
Oh right, because they needed him to be idiotic in order to make Jadzia’s death more melodramatically tragic.
Also the retcon that Quark and Bashir still haven’t gotten over Jadzia. I can understand if they’re still attracted to her, sure. But still holding out hope that she’ll eventually leave Worf and go for them? Bull. They just put that in there, again, to hype up the drama. (That said, it was kinda cute how they bonded over this even though their hope was to be competing with each other over Jadzia’s attention. And Vic’s performance telling them to move on was good, except for the part where the characters acted like it wasn’t obvious advice.)
It would be nice if this episode at least challenged the “opening credits invincibility syndrome” with Jadzia’s death. (Yar’s death at least managed to do that.) But I’d say this episode basically does the opposite — “Yes, opening-credits characters can die … but only if the whole plot and the universe totally go out of their way to make it happen with lots of drama.” That only reinforces the ridiculousness of the plot armor. I’d find it forgiveable if the MAIN main character (Sisko) died in this episode. Maybe even Kira. But Jadzia just actually wasn’t THAT important to the series. A main character, yes, but not a CENTRAL character, unless your metric is that of eye candy.
I’d much rather have had her die in battle at her console on the Defiant, killed by one of those random console overloads that Federation ships always have. (Nice symmetry with how she was almost killed that way at the start of this season, in Rocks and Shoals.) THAT would have fought opening-credits invincibility syndrome.
#22
Ha! Care to elaborate on that…?
;-)
My biggest problem with this episode was the missed opportunity.
We’ve been watching a war. One of the things about war is that people die. And we’ve been hearing, over and over, about people dying. And occasionally being introduced to people just watch them die. But it’s all abstract, because every week we know that our heroes, the people whose names are in the credits, they’re not going to die.
So with Terry Farrell leaving, they had the perfect opportunity to do that, to put that right. And instead of taking it, they had her die in a stupid way, killed by a demon-possessed madman in an incident which, in effect, had absolutely nothing to do with the actual war itself.
In some ways I think we kind of forget these days, when we’re used to watching shows like Game of Thrones, Walking Dead or The Wire where you are aware that a main character can get killed off without warning at any time, but back then it was a pretty big deal, and they didn’t get to do it very often, so it’s just a shame that they threw this opportunity away so cheaply.
@24 makes the main point I wanted to make, but just to sort of rehash my issue: Why did Sisko ignore the prophets this time?! He went batshit crazy over deciphering the pillar. He had the whole Benny Russell vision thing. These things in addition to multiple DIRECT interactions with them. Why not stand firm in his faith this time? He risked his own life (and possibly others) before. It seemed like he only ignored them because the plot wanted him too.
@24: The whole notion that *Starfleet* would be conflicted about his role as Emissary, rather than Ben himself, is extra silly- because Starfleet would obviousl want him to be Emissary far, far more than they’d want him to run the station.
Granted, Sisko by all accounts is a fair strategist. But Starfleet is a big organization. they’ve got Jellico’s and Riker’s and Zakdorn Strategema players, and Dax has driven the Defiant just fine on her own. Picard’s knowledge of Bajoran-Cardassian geopolitics was the whole setup for DS9. Sisko isn’t the only person who can fight the war.
But- he *is* the only person that’s on a chatty, call-in-airstrikes basis with a race of Elder Gods, who also happens to be (judging from the pull the time-displaced false Emissary has) essentially unlimited influence over the inhabitants of a future Federation member in the most important iece of real estate in the galaxy.
Like, to hell with the station and leading from the front. By the time Sisko has phoned a friend to get 2800 Jem’Hadar ships to go to Oz, he’s pretty much done fighting, if anyone has half a brain. His new full time job is to try and get the Federation in good standing with the local time-travelling superbeings, who are apparently willing to pivot the fate of civilizations on how compelling Junior is when he comes to dinner.
It seems my comment was eaten (it should have been comment 18), so I’ll try again.
@17: Presumably the Dominion would want to put them up around any and all worlds they’ve conquered. I see no reason they’d restrict themselves to Cardassian worlds. So we’d probably see them in any offensive on a strategically important world or even outpost (anything that the Dominion deemed worth defending). Perhaps, for instance, in “Once More Unto the Breach”, where the Klingons discussed plans to raid several Cardassian targets and did raid one of them. Their attack plan involved luring a (non-stationary) defense force away from the planet, and no one said anything like “There are no platforms orbiting the planet, only a few starships.”
And if the Federation alliance was indeed stalled by a proliferation of weapon platforms, I imagine we’d hear at least once about “X offensive was driven back with massive casualties because of weapon platforms”, or “Y engineers have designed some oversized bombs specialized for destroying stationary platforms/power sources, successfully/unsuccessfully tested in Z offensive”, or “Please, Mr. O’Brien, can you think of anything to help us destroy these weapon platforms?”, or something.
I guess there were was a gap of three months between this episode and Season 7, so any countermeasures would have been researched and either succeded or failed by that time (which would be dramatically unsatisfying, ’cause we wouldn’t have seen it happen, but would at least make sense). But neither possibility seems really to make sense: if a strong countermeasure had been found, then the alliance wouldn’t have needed to devote a third of its fleet to destroying the platforms in the final battle, and if it hadn’t, then the platforms are very effective and we should see them everywhere. The best explanation I can come up with is that a fairly strong countermeasure was found, making the platforms not cost-effective, but in the meantime they’d already built a huge number of them around Cardassia Prime, so they might as well use them there.
Anyway, what really irritates me is that the war is important, and we and the main cast care about it, and yet there are some very critical pieces of information pertaining to the war that we are not shown and that none of the cast seem to care about. At best we can come up with a meager explanation after the fact of what might have happened offscreen, many episodes later. (This comes from a similar place as my comment about the Federation not re-mining the wormhole after they retake DS9, in “Sacrifice of Angels”.)
@28: That “unlimited influence” Sisko would have as the Emissary is exactly why Starfleet is wary about the role. Starfleet’s first rule is the Prime Directive — don’t impose your will on other civilizations, respect their right to evolve without your interference. A Starfleet officer being a spiritual leader on a non-member world is a potential nightmare scenario from a Prime Directive standpoint. We’ve seen Starfleet officers and Federation civilians go rogue and try to take over alien worlds — Tracey in “The Omega Glory,” Merik in “Bread and Circuses,” Gill in “Patterns of Force.” We’ve seen similar stories in Trek novels and comics. Who knows how many other cases there have been in Starfleet history of rogue officers trying to dominate alien worlds or set themselves up as gods? How many times has Starfleet been embarrassed by such scandals? They have good reason to be worried when an alien culture tries to set up a Starfleet officer as a religious leader, especially if he starts to get comfortable with that role.
I like Ezri just fine. I hated the fact that Jadzia died in a really contrived fashion and that she died. I don’t remember knowing at the time that Farrell wanted leave and being really p.o.ed at the writers. Now I just want to shout at the screen and yell would it have killed you to wait a year! Don’t get me started on the Pah wraithes I hate those things. In all the episode did it’s job I wanted to see wth happend next!
@tk1123
“Phone a friend” made me LOL. I’m just mad I didn’t think of it first.
Out of curiosity to the more knowledgeable- what was going on in the writers room at this point. It seems like season 6 was clunker after clunker with some good episodes worked in “beyond the stars” for example. Was this just the inevitable slump after several solid seasons in a row, or was something else occurring?
I wish they had kept that Romulan character, Letant, around longer. Unlike the Romulans in Season 7, he had real bite and great interaction with Martok. The Romulans in Season 7 weren’t snotty enough.
OK, just being a language nitpicker (don’t you just hate people like that?); but, unless I missed a really big plot point, Yar didn’t sire anyone. That’s another word for “fathered” (unless you’re talking about vampires or such, which would be another plot development I missed).
Other than that, yeah, a lot of this episode has plot contrivance showing all over the place. I did like Dukat’s moment of humanity when he realizes he’s killed someone he didn’t mean to. But, it seems like they could have had that in a real battle.
As for them needing Sisko at the battle, he freezes up, and Kira manages just fine without him.
@30- You’re right that Starfleet would probably feel awkward about any sort of Prime Directive implications -though how that fits with a people that already have their name in the membership hat is unclear. However, I still contend that Ross trying to play huffy our-way-or-the-highway games is about four seasons too late. The Prophets are scientifically verifiable alien beings, and Sisko’s relationship with them has literally saved the Federation from utter devastation. *The Federation owes the lives of its people to the Prophets,* post “Sacrifice of Angels.” The grumpy concerns about going native just don’t scan.
@35: The Federation is not as selfish and manipulative as you seem to think. Yes, they want Bajor to join, but they don’t want to trick or manipulate them into joining — they want them to join of their own free and informed will as equal partners. Saying “You have to join us because our representative has your gods’ blessing” would be an unfair and exploitative move, and a very unhealthy start to the partnership. At least, that’s what they’re afraid of. We know Sisko wouldn’t approach it that way, but as I said, Starfleet has reason to be wary of its captains playing prophet or savior on alien worlds. That concern doesn’t go away just because Bajor is considering membership; if anything, the concern is even more imperative, because basing that partnership on dishonesty or manipulation would be a terrible start to it.
It’s frustrating that Terry Farrell didn’t get a better sendoff. She had a very rocky start where the writers seemed to have no clue how to handle the character and she seemed to confirm all the suspicions about eye candy casting. All the wandering around with the hands crossed behind …
But while there are quite a few examples on Star Trek of actors dramatically improving, Dax was partly reinvented to suit Farrell’s strengths which make her later sitcom career not that surprising. Instead of focusing on the contrast of wisdom and young appearance, the writers decided that a very old being needn’t be serious, but might appreciate life in all its shades.
While I’ve critizised that Jadzia slightly comes across as an action barbie and male nerd’s ideal woman, Farrell injected the series with positive energy and wit. Dax is basically the embodiment of what the Federation stands for merging all kinds of different experiences into a harmonic whole. Without her the series loses indeed an emotional core. Congratulations to Terry Farrell who managed to play a positive, modern character in such a convincing way. I just wished they had written more stories for her. And obviously that she would have remained another year.
@36- Sure, I get that. I conceded that Starfleet would rather not have Sisko issuing orders to the Bajoran church. Granted. But his relationship with the Prophets- the wormhole aliens, independent of their religious flavor- is different. He’s functionally an ambassador to a species of more importance to the shape of the war thus far than the Klingons or the Romulans- those 2800 ships again- and they will not talk to a Federation soul besides him. Ross is effectively saying ‘I know your negotiating prowess with space ghosts just saved the population of Earth from Weyoun’s death camps, but it is time to put ghost silliness behind us and push the pew pew buttons on the Defiant, because we Starfleet types don’t traffic with ghosts. Except for the Organians. And Q. And the Dowd. And Metrons.”
All of which is really my way of saying that Ross was a pile of harrumph and bad lines that always stuck out.
I definitely agree with whomever stated that it’s a shame that if Dax was going to die, that they couldn’t work it into the war story (especially as they have been trying to hit home how many people are being lost in the war) instead of the contrived way it happens to her. Of course, then we wouldn’t get the Sto-vo-kor plot in the next few episodes, and goodness knows what a loss that would be…
Also, the Quark/Bashir conversation – I forgot to mention that but it really irritated me. First of all, it makes Jadzia even more of a Mary Sue than she already was at times (I did really like the character even if I found her annoying at times, but sometimes I think she was a bit of a Sue). Of course EVERYBODY is in love with her. But it also just seemed ridiculously disrespectful to both Jadzia and Worf. I can expect that from Quark I guess, but I’d hope Bashir would have matured. Are we really supposed to infer from this conversation that, before that, they were hoping Worf and Jadza would break up and they’d have a shot? It’s offensive on so many ways, as it implies a)couples that don’t have kids are not as commtited to each other, b)the only reason she’s not with them is because she’s with some other guy, as opposed to her maybe just not being that into them. UGH. Plus, I find wishing for the demise of a friend’s marriage pretty scummy.
@36: Considering that the only reason that Bajor is not a Federation member is that Sisko explicitely told them not to join, it seems to me that the time for such considerations was long past.
@40: The time for being considerate about a partner’s right to independent, unmanipulated decision-making is never past. A power imbalance is never a healthy thing to have in a relationship. What if Bajor joined the UFP and got a seat on the Federation Council, and yet Sisko were able to manipulate the Bajoran Councillor into voting his way rather than making their own decisions based on Bajor’s needs? That would be an unfair influence on the democratic process. Sure, in this day and age, people think nothing of manipulating or outright buying the votes of elected officials, but we can see how that corrupts the system, and the Federation is supposed to be more enlightened than we are.
Starfleet is perfectly correct to be concerned that Sisko’s Emissary role gives too much power to a single individual. If he weren’t as ethical as he is, if he were the type to let that power go to his head, there’s no telling how he might abuse it. There is never a time when the concern about the abuse of power ceases to be relevant.
I have to agree with a few of the other posters here. The thing that annoys me most about this episode isn’t the ridiculously contrived death of Jadzia or the Pagh Wraith nonsense, but the sheer blinding stupidity of Starfleet. Here’s what happens in DS9 to this point:
1. Sisko gains a unique connection to powerful aliens (the Prophets) who exist outside of linear time. In other words, see the future. See: Emissary.
2. The Prophets give Sisko useful, verifiable knowledge about the future. See: Rapture and its aftermath episodes.
3. The Prophets destroy the entire Dominion fleet in the deus ex machina to top all other deus ex machinas. See: Sacrifice of Angels.
4. The Prophets use their knowledge of the future to warn Sisko to stay behind on a mission. Not to cancel the mission, but just to have 1 single person stay behind.
5. Starfleet decides to ignore the Prophets’ knowledge of the future (1-2) and the fact that they really owe these powerful aliens a favor (#3) because they apparently feel that the presence of 1 extra officer will make the difference in a large offensive.
@39 – Yes, all of that is exactly what was wrong with how they had Bashir react to the idea that Worf and Jadzia would have kids. And they missed a great opportunity to show how his friendship with Jadzia has grown into a true friendship, where he’s unselfishly and undeniably happy for her and Worf. The tragedy of losing that kind of a friend would be much more significant than losing a girl that you had a crush on but ended up choosing someone else, but that’s what we got.
As for Jadzia, I was sad to see her go. Her irreverant and cheerful attitude made her one of my favorite characters. And it didn’t hurt that she was drop dead gorgeous. I really liked Jadzia.
But … I loved Ezri. I loved how they used her character to explore the contrast of the Dax symbiont’s relationship with the crew to Ezri’s relationship. I loved how they took her role as a counselor seriously. I disagree with the comments above that she was just one more “fresh faced ensign” like Wesley Crusher or Harry Kim, because they rememebered that Dax had centuries of experience and let that show. Oh, and it didn’t hurt at all that I think Nicole DeBoer is even prettier than Terry Farrell. :)
@11, I’d debate whether or not we actually get to see a competent counselor in Ezri. As I recall, for example, when she helps Garak get to the bottom of his increased claustrophobia, she really just happens to be standing nearby when he figures it out himself.
But I suppose we should save that debate for when we actually get up to episodes starring her. In all honesty, Ezri’s stories really weren’t bad, but I feel like they highlighted the unfortunate fact that Jadzia didn’t really get any highlights of her own in her final season. We’ll miss you, Jadzia.
-Andy
@41: The problem is that the Bajorans already gave Sisko that kind of power, and that he did (ab-)use to keep them from joining the Federation (cf. Rapture). The Federation didn’t take him to task then, so why would they suddenly worry about that now?
Additionally, how can it be an unfair influence on a democratic process if the people making the decision pretty much assigned the position of authority? Star Fleet didn’t declare Sisko the Emissary, the Bajorans (following the Prophets) did.
ChristopherLBennett, let me mention that Starfleet Command had by this point approved of Sisko’s underhanded plan in “In the Pale Moonlight”, and Admiral Ross in particular will approve of and oversee an even more underhanded plan in “Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges”, both in the name of the war effort.
They might have concerns about an individual having too much power, but I don’t think those concerns are ethical in origin. Or if they were, I don’t think they’d let them override any war-related concerns. If they deliberately tried to reduce Sisko’s power as the Emissary, methinks it would be either because they thought there was a risk Sisko’s attachment to the Prophets would lead him to do something counterproductive to the war (like take the Defiant with him on a mission for the Prophets when Starfleet wants it), or because they’re suffering plot-induced stupidity. Really I think it’s about making sure Sisko obeys them over the Prophets, and I would agree with others that it’s not worth it.
@44: In fact Terry Farrell didn’t get any episodes for herself in seasons 5 and 6, just some as Worf’s companion. Season 4 has Rejoined, season 3 Facets, Meridian and Equilibrum, season 2 Blood Oath and Playing God, season 1 Dax.
It’s not that surprising that she decided to leave the series.
Remember when the ray guns on Star Trek disintegrated their target? Good thing for Dax (but not Jadzia) that Dukat had his set on the slow, lingering death setting.
@44: Helping people figure things out for themselves is how therapy is supposed to work. The solutions have to come from within; the therapist’s job is just to guide the patient to discover them.
That said, I didn’t think the therapy in that episode was portrayed very well, though I don’t remember specifics.
Because that event illustrated to them how much influence he actually had, something they may not have fully appreciated before. So naturally they were more concerned about the risks of it afterward.
And just because the Bajorans gave him that authority, that doesn’t give him a license to do whatever the hell he wants with it. You’re arguing from this very simplistic notion that a moral responsibility ceases entirely once a certain goal is reached. That’s nonsense. The only way to wield power morally is by constantly keeping an eye on yourself, never relaxing your vigilance about the risks of abusing that power. If you get lazy and assume you don’t have to worry about the risk of abuse, that’s when you start abusing it. The responsibility is always there for as long as you hold power.
Being seen as a religious icon is a hell of a lot of responsibility for any one person. Sisko couldn’t be trusted with that responsibility if he weren’t constantly aware of the danger of abusing it. Power is not license. Starfleet’s philosophy of dealing with other civilizations is fundamentally predicated on that premise.
@46: I don’t understand why you think the “underhanded plans” in those episodes have any relevance to this discussion. Neither of them involved Sisko attempting to exploit his status as a religious figure to the Bajoran people. The only time he really did that was in “Rapture.”
It’s the religious angle that gets Starfleet worried. Look at it from the Admiralty’s perspective. They haven’t dealt closely with the Bajorans and the Prophets the way the DS9 characters and viewers have, and they’re products of a basically secular society. To them, the Prophets are just wormhole aliens, and the job of a Starfleet officer does not involve becoming a figure of religious reverence. As I said, they’ve probably had bad experiences in the past with Starfleet captains installing themselves as tin gods or prophets on alien worlds. When they see something apparently similar happening with Sisko, they’d need to be convinced that he hadn’t flipped out and developed a Ron Tracey complex, that he wasn’t just exploiting the locals’ beliefs for personal gain. From their perspective — which is not the same as the perspective of a DS9 viewer — that would be a reasonable concern to have.
@47: I was talking about it from the “ethical concerns” angle. Apparently Starfleet and Admiral Ross have no problem with (a) lying to an entire race to get them to ally with you [understandable] or (b) [SPOILERS for “Inter Arma”] taking an ethical, sympathetic Romulan senator, faking a plot to assassinate a Romulan official who is actually your mole, and getting the senator to respond to it in a way that gets her charged with treason and probably executed, all so as to slightly decrease the chances that the Romulans will turn against you.
The former establishes them as people who are willing to compromise their morals in a desperate situation. The latter establishes Admiral Ross, and anyone who was in on that mission, as amoral manipulators who care primarily about the war. I guess you’ve said elsewhere that you hated the introduction of Section 31 (and I might agree on that), in which case you might not accept the characterization that comes from “Inter Arma”; my argument is predicated on that episode being canon.
Are you saying Ross and Starfleet were worried that Sisko might get full of himself, drop his Starfleet duties to become a full-time messiah on Bajor, and possibly start interfering with Starfleet if they pissed him off? That would be in character for them, and might make sense. Or are you saying that they worry Sisko might be cynically exploiting his position at the expense of the Bajorans? I think that would not be in character for them; they wouldn’t care what he did to the Bajorans as long as it didn’t interfere with the war effort or otherwise endanger the Federation. (The Bajorans were likely to join the Federation, so these Starfleet manipulators would care to some extent about gaining some citizens, but right now I think that is far down their list of priorities; and if Sisko could get the Prophets to do another favor useful to Starfleet, I think they’d be happy to let him abuse the Bajorans in the meantime.)
Sorry, I said @47 when I meant @49.
@50: I’m saying that from Starfleet’s perspective back at HQ, hearing “Hey, I hear that the Bajorans consider Captain Sisko a religious figure and he’s actually playing along with it rather than discouraging the idea” probably reminds them of several dozen incidents in Starfleet history where rogue officers or scientists have exploited local superstitions and installed themselves as gods. There have been enough Trek episodes and comics and books built on that trope, as well as numerous other SF stories built around it, that it shouldn’t be surprising that Starfleet has faced such problems in the past and therefore turns a wary eye toward anything that seems to resemble those cases.
@CLB: The problem with your argument is that it doesn’t fit the timeline – as has already been mentioned several times, Sisko has already used his status as a religious figure to the detriment of the Federation (in Rapture), and not suffered any repercussions. To start worrying about that now just doesn’t fit.
I’m not saying that your ethical stance is wrong, I’m just arguing that Starfleet doesn’t seem to share.
Although I do take some issue as far as democracy is concerned specifically – the whole thing is after all based on the idea that people are free to make their decisions, regardless of what other people (including religious authorities) say or do – otherwise, you could never trust any Catholic, since they’re supposed to listen to the Pope (if you believe in ultramontanism).
I think nrvnqsr’s argument in post 50 fits the bill much better; Starfleet was probably more concerned about Sisko going of the rails again due to a non-verifiable hunch, making this a matter of potential insubordination.
@52: All right. I’ll agree that they have faced situations like that in the past and that it’s reasonable to suppose that they were worried due to past experiences. But I would add the proviso that the part of it that worried them was the “captain going rogue” part, losing control of Sisko and having him possibly become an enemy, not the “twisting Bajoran society” aspect.
(Sisko didn’t do a good job arguing his case in the episode; he didn’t mention that maintaining his position as Emissary was potentially quite valuable to Starfleet, and that that is what they should order him to do as a Starfleet captain. “It’s not about what I want, it’s about what the Prophets want” certainly sounds to a skeptical outsider like the religion may be getting to him. I wouldn’t completely blame Ross here.)
@53: It’s not about repercussions or punishment, it’s about wariness. Starfleet is uneasy with the situation. Sisko hasn’t abused his position in any actionable way, but his situation is similar enough to those early cases that it makes Starfleet Command nervous on general principles.
@54: I don’t agree that there’s a separation between the “captain going rogue” part and the “twisting Bajoran society” part. The very existence of the Prime Directive makes it self-evident that Starfleet takes the risk of abusive or exploitative interference in other cultures quite seriously. Of all the ways that a Starfleet captain could go rogue, playing god in an alien society is the worst. I don’t understand why it’s so surprising that a secular society with a central principle like the Prime Directive would be squicked out by the very idea of a Starfleet captain becoming enshrined in an alien religion. Of course in this specific case they have nothing to worry about, but it’s the resemblance of the situation to that more general concern that puts them on edge.
@55: The separation is that, from Starfleet’s perspective, not wanting their captain to go rogue (to stop taking orders and maybe pose a threat to the Federation) stems from self-interest, whereas not wanting to twist Bajoran society comes from compassion and ethical principles. In “Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges”, Admiral Ross, Section 31, and anyone else complicit in the mission demonstrate that ethical principles and compassion have little or no hold on their actions.
You mention the Prime Directive in particular. I would reply that the Prime Directive–a cautionary principle that you shouldn’t interfere in other civilizations, because it may harm them in ways you may not anticipate–is an ethical principle, derived from a strong desire not to harm others, and therefore, regardless of how important it’s supposed to be to Starfleet and the Federation, Admiral Ross et al. probably don’t give a hoot about it, except to the extent that getting caught violating it might jeopardize their careers. This is supported by how Bashir actually mentions the Prime Directive in that episode, in protest against what Sloan is planning, and it falls on deaf ears. (He doesn’t mention it by name, but he says “interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign power is explicitly forbidden by the Federation charter”, which sounds pretty close.) Admiral Ross isn’t Sloan, but he knew all about Sloan’s mission and was a critical accessory to it.
@56: I just think you’re splitting hairs, and I don’t understand why. The question on the table was why Starfleet would be uneasy about Sisko’s role as a religious figure in Bajoran society. I think I’ve explained why, in the context of the Federation’s history and belief system, it is natural that they would be predisposed to look on such a thing with concern. Whatever exceptions they may have made in extreme scenarios, their default position would naturally be to look on such things with concern.
And yes, maybe Ross has made some ethical exceptions out of necessity, but that doesn’t mean he’s completely abandoned any sense of ethics at all, just that he only makes exceptions when he feels there’s no other way. It makes no sense to assume that he just wouldn’t give a damn about any ethical issues at all. Besides, people aren’t always consistent and uniform in their behavior. Some issues set them off more than others. The Federation is a secular society. Its people tend to see religion as superstition. In general, religion has always been something that sparks intense emotional responses in people, either in favor of it or against it. Is it really so impossible to believe that Ross or Starfleet Command would be more alarmed by an ethical compromise involving religion than they would be by one involving diplomacy or military tactics?
@53: I don’t know that why it shouldn’t fit that they suddenly start caring about the Emissary thing now. They’ve let it slide in the past but this is just one too many times and they can’t let it go that way any longer. In fact, Admiral Ross says something to that effect in this very episode.
Also, Democracy doesn’t mean people can do whatever they want and not have other people not tell them what to do. Democracy means the populace participates in the government. In the present day American interpretation of Democracy, it means that people vote on the officials elected into office and therefore have some say in “representation.” Additionally, people may vote directly on certain policies. There are also very few restrictions on who can hold elected office–in theory, the proverbial “anyone” could do it–and furthermore, “anyone” can be a member of the support staff to those people in office who actually go about enacting policies and laws. But once a law is made, people are expected to obey that law, regardless of whether they agree. We have a law not to murder people. If someone commits a murder, it is expected that they will be punished for it, if the case does not get all caught up in more politics. So no, Democracy does not mean people do what they want.
As for Catholics not being trusted, there is for some reason this idea that if a Catholic was elected into office, the Pope would somehow then be controlling the day-to-day political decisions of America. I don’t know why this would be the case. To the extent that this elected official’s Catholic faith shapes their moral stance and therefore influences political decisions, one could say that those decisions then fall in line with what the Popes have said. However, insofar as that goes, I don’t see why that source of moral/philosophical formation should be worse than any other source, or combination of sources. For example, why should we be more concerned about a Catholic holding office than somone whose ideas are shaped by the influence of, say, NARAL, or even from watching Star Trek?
Well, I suppose it depends on how you view those sources and if you view them as good/bad influences (which of course comes from your own views which are shaped by various sources too, secular, religious or otherwise).
I wouldn’t have too many objections to a Trekkie preseident though :) Unless it was Section 31 ;)
I’ve never had a problem with the Pah-Wraiths. The Prophets are wormhole aliens, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say there would be other wormhole aliens they’re in conflict with. After all, the Federation is made up of humanoids at war with other humanoids in the Dominion.
Emissary spent a lot of time with Sisko explaining corporeal life and affairs to the Prophets, but the writers already threw some of their naivete out with Prophet Motive and Accession – not to mention the coming revelation about Sisko’s conception. In Emissary the Prophets are also somewhat hostile to or at the very least suspicious of Sisko and the Cardassians, and some of that could easily be explained if they’d already dealt with casting out the Pah-Wraiths. Given the wormhole is near Bajor and Dukat has a progressively growing obsession over getting back at Bajor and Sisko, the idea he would seek out the Pah-Wraiths is not a stretch.
That being said I agree this episode is contrived, though I love the moments with Weyoun. I agree the way Jadzia dies is stupid and cliche. I think the way Sisko loses focus when the wormhole closes makes no sense. I just don’t think the whole Dukat/Pah-Wraiths thing is as dumb as everyone else does.
@49 – I love DS9, but its portrayal of psychology overall is pretty bad. A few episodes ago we had Time’s Orphan spin sending a person to a mental hospital, no matter how much they really need to be there, as the Worst Thing Ever. Next season Nog gets glibly told that his phantom limb pain (yes, phlebotinum regrows the leg, but that’s basically what it is) is “all in his head.” Ezri’s work as a counselor isn’t generally handled very well, though it’s not as overtly bad as the other examples. And Field of Fire is solved by profiling, which simply doesn’t work. And even if it did, it’s basically portrayed as free association here.
The best grasp on psychology in the series was the pretty accurate portrayal of Wernicke’s aphasia in Babel.
IIRC, Terry Farrell left the show because she had a chance to be a cast member of a network show, Ted Danson’s Becker, where she played the bartender of his favourite hangout. Her death was fairly weak and it sucked for Worf to lose her, but it did open up some interesting stories with Ezri in Season 7 and she was a good, albeit different, replacement for Jadzia.
I don’t have a lot to say about this episode. I didn’t hate Dax’s death as much as everyone else here. I mean, sure, I have never seen anything broadcast as strongly as I did that. But I let it slide. It was a main title screen character, so you knew they were going to make a big deal out of it. misguided? sure. surprising? not for a second.
The battle scene was pretty good when it was in Star Wars, and fairly competently handled here.
I dunno. This episode was full of meh.
I agree that this episode is meh, but not for some of the reasons you cite. For example, there IS an explanation for leaving Dax behind, and it’s not because she needed to stay to be killed. After “Change of Heart”, Sisko told Worf that he and Jadzia wouldn’t be allowed to go on missions together again. Worf was going on the mission: ergo, Dax couldn’t. I really hated the whole let’s transform Dukat into a Pah Wraith plot sequence. He was evil enough as it is. He didn’t need possession to add to it. The whole episode was a real downer.
@64: I’d have to rewatch, but I’m pretty sure it was that they couldn’t go on a mission ALONE again.
I agree with LisaMarie (@39) that one of the things that really stuck out here to me is Bashir and Quark having to drown their sorrows at the thought that Dax and Worf want to have a baby? Now, Quark I can understand, his sense of ethics has always been warped. But Bashir? He’s supposed to be a really close friend of Dax’s, no? So he’s secretly been pining away for her and hoping her marriage (in which she is so obviously happy) fails? Earlier in the episode, when Dax told them their plans, Bashir noticeably slumped over and looked all puppy-dog sad. I wondered why but then a bit later he expresses his concern about the dangers/problems of a Trill having a baby with a Klingon. But watching that scene with Fontaine, it’s pretty clear he’s carrying a torch for a friend, who happens to be another friend’s wife. And he’s openly rooting for them to fail. What a jerk.
I have to requote this from #14 above. Co-sign! “what curses you reviewers and other professionals is that you must remember things and look for issues such as this, while I get to walk around oblivious and enjoy every cliche ridden story as long as I enjoy it, the cliches obviously don’t bother me.” This applies to a lot of episodes for me, like Profit and Lace, even. eeek! :)
Also wanted to thank #23 for a truly eloquent description of Dax and what makes the Jadzia character so interesting.
Greetings to the ghosts of commenters past. An observation.
Two or three times in the thread, folks have remarked on Dukat’s “apology” to Jadzia, as if it absolves or redeems him. I’d like to suggest a distinction.
When Dukat says he never meant for Jadzia to die, what he means is that he didn’t come to the station specifically for the purpose of assassinating her. What he doesn’t mean is that he thought he had his Wraithbeam on stun. He came into the temple to mess with the orb, not to kill anybody, but when somebody became a complication to his plan, he willingly chose killing that person as his solution. Dukat does not claim that Jadzia’s death was accidental, only incidental.
This distinction is important because it’s fundamental to how we recognize Dukat as evil, a particularly important challenge since we are in Star Trek World, where it is usually important to not hold moral judgments against people who have a different approach to life, ethics, etc.
Dukat believes that his indifference to Jadzia’s killing is an absolution, when in fact it’s a condemnation. On a small scale, seeing other persons in such a purely instrumental way is essentially psychopathy. (The fact that Dukat believes in his own guiltlessness and thus “apologizes” with such evident feeling is typical of psychopaths, and the fact that it fooled a number of viewers into thinking he was experiencing remorse is typical of how so many psychopaths get along quite well in life.)
On a large scale, such a dehumanizing indifference to life is a worldview that produces “final solutions” to social problems.
I suspect the writers (and Alaimo) meant this distinction to be important. After one more season, Sisko will confront Dukat with the line
It is phrased as a taunt because the immediate circumstance requires Sisko to show defiance, but the pattern Sisko is observing in that critical moment is that Dukat is appallingly willing to align himself with any party that serves his ultimate goals. In other words, Dukat believes that the ends justify any means.
Picard harped on it more than any of our friends on the station, but an important moral rule for 24th-century humans is that the ends don’t justify the means. Dukat’s ends aren’t great in and of themselves, but combining those aggressive ends with such utter indifference to any overarching moral principles is what separates Dukat’s regime from, say the Klingons even when they are most threatening. This kind of amoral ruthlessness is also a close parallel to what we see in the other arch-evil of the 24th century, the Borg.
P.S. On the subject of ends and means, please don’t try to remind me of “Pale Moonlight”. That story is the exception that proves the rule. Everything in it is meant to test the limits of the premise that Federation citizenry can be so morally high-minded as to always believe that ends don’t justify means. In-world we see that a clever plan to save the Federation had to be kept a shameful secret so we come away believing that, as a general rule, people in the Fed really do hold strong to the conviction that ends don’t justify means. Out-of-world we recognize that we could only find this testing of one of Star Trek’s philosophical premises to be compelling if it represented a genuine challenge — that is, if the philosophy in question really was a premise underlying how Star Trek World works.
One addition to the comments, my biggest disappointment with the ending of the show was that Worf didn’t kill Ducat. Ducat killed his wife and I would’ve liked to see him avenge her to satisfy his honor.
And if it couldn’t be Worf, it should’ve been Kira. I always saw her as more of a direct adversary to him than Sisko. This was yet another way that the Pah Wraith silliness screwed things up for the wrap up of what is, by far, the best Trek series-because we had to have the emissaries fight each other. Now, I realize an earlier episode attempted to set up a direct Sisko-Ducat relationship, but it failed. Both Worf and Kira had a much more direct conflict and/or reason to avenge themselves on Ducat and I think one of those two would’ve made the ending much more satisfying.
Just watched this episode last night, and I was surprised at how little seeing Jadzia’s death again affected me. It didn’t even affect my kid much, seeing it for the first time. I think it’s because it’s so heavily telegraphed from the begining, with all the “we’re going ot have a baby” talk and Dax staying on the station when she always goes with the Defiant.
New Dax should have been male, full stop.
Now that would have been a reunion relationship of complexity for Worf that I would have greatly relished watching. However, Star Trek only ever strayed a toe into homosexual relationships if they were somehow hetero in the past and titillating for woman-love-woman (wlw) appeal*. I hate so deeply how bisexual and lesbian wlw relationships are just pornographic material for straight writers/viewes.
****DISCO SPOILER****
*They changed that approach in Discovery, and then immediately followed that relationship with the trope of kill-the-gay to kill the relationship arc.
@70/RDMiM: “New Dax should have been male, full stop.”
That could’ve worked… if DS9 had had more than 2 female regulars in its cast. As it was, reducing a cast that was only 2/9 female to 1/9 female would’ve been a terrible idea. Bad enough that DS9 had an all-male writing staff.
@71 You’re absolutely right. I think it’s time to write that gender-sans-binary Trek cast that would actually exist in the 24th century across so many species. Post haste!
This is the episode that after it the series went downhill. No Jadzia for the last season (and now we know the reason is because Farrell asked for some time off like Smimerman and Meany had and she didn’t left for another show). Anything would be better than killing her and replacing her with another Dax. That was a deservice to both Jadzia and Ezri who was nothing more than a replacement for Jadzia even in her relationship with Bashir! At least Jadzia was a scientist before she was joint, she had a reason for being on Ds9 and the Defiant, she took command of the defiant because she earned it not because a previous host was in command, her friendships with Kira, Julian, Quark were her own, only with Sisko it was because of Dax, her relationship with Worf was something we saw evolving throughout the series (she may had an interest in Klingons because of Dax but her previous relationships weren’t Klingons and Worf is not the typical Klingon). Dax colored her personality, she gave her knowledge and confidence and made her more outgoing but it didn’t change her career. On the contrary Jadzia enriched Dax with her own achievements and knowledge (she had four degrees before she was joined, she discover the bajoran wormhole as a scientist, she was there as that). Ezri inherited all the relationships she formed in Ds9 and even her place on the station.
Worf’s character is reduced in s7 to an angry klingon again. They made such a great progress with him, they show him growing from being just about honor to being a loving and supporting husband and we were robbed from that because the writers decided to kill of his wife! (What an innovating storyline!)
The Pah wraith/ prophets stuff were horrible from now on (they were horrible before this episode but at least they were minimum, in s7 they were over the top and the worst part of the series)!
Dukat’s character was also a waste of opportunity. He was a grounded evil and became a Buffy villain.
Sisko’s origin was trash. The writers really dropped the ball again and I have no idea what they were thinking. They turned the prophets from mysterious entities and the point of debade of whether they were God’s or not to rapist, Supernatural (the TV series) type of all powerful God’s and their motives are still unclear. Why do they care for the humanoids’s issues?
I think the first part of the season is still great after the brilliants s4 and s5 but in the second part the writers simply lost it.
Moore’s Battlestar Galactica followed a similar road. Two and a half great seasons and then the God stuff took over. I’m someone who loves religious debate in sci-fi series, Philip K. Dick is mh favorite writer, but when God stops being a subject of debade and becomes the answer for everything then that is a sign the writers have no idea who to finish what they started.
Harry Kim had only died once . . . in “Deadlock”. So did Naomi Wildman. Both were replaced by dopplegangers.
Starfleet gave Sisko permission to leave his command that easily?
I have never understood Bashir and Co. pining for Dax at this point. On the other hand, this episode introduced me to the song, ‘Here’s to the Losers’ which I like a lot.
Lockdown Rewatch.. well it is better than a 2.. but there are some, for want of a better word, ‘Illogical’ decisions here, not only is leaving Dax and Bashir behind inconsistent with the rest of the series but they then take Garak along for very spurious reasons.. The damm Pah Wraiths now destroy the character of the great Dukat, leading to the worst part of the whole closing arc in the final season.. as for the death of Jadzia.. whilst I think killing a main character should be an option as it keeps everyone watching on their toes… witness Game of Thrones and Walking Dead… but at least make it mean something, Terry Farrell deserved better. I do however have no problem with Ezri next season as Nicky Deboer is a fine actress.
Of the good stuff The battle is cool, The Romulans winding Martok up is enjoyable as is the by play between Damar and Weyoun… but on the whole a disappointing season finale. 4 or 5 for me.
@76,
According to Ronald Moore, the big factor in Jadzia’s unsatisfying sendoff was, perhaps unsurprisingly, Rick Berman:
Moore: I fought pretty hard to not have Dax die the way that she died. I wanted to lose the character in a way that was like a gut punch. I wanted Dukat to execute her. I can’t remember what he’s doing, but he beams into that place to get the Ark of the Covenant…Not the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of the Orb… and she surprises him or something, and gets the drop on him. But the idea in the original was she somehow stumbled across it, or was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Dukat got her, and he just f***ing executes her. And it was brutal, and it was supposed to be shocking, and it was supposed to really hit you. And Rick adamantly refused. He just adamantly would not let us do it. “She’s got to fire a shot, and has to die shooting at him! She has to die in a heroic way! Da da da… And I was just like, “Come on.” And I don’t think it works the way it is now.
IGN: Dukat kind of waves his hand, she exhales, and she drops to the ground…
Moore: Yeah, exactly…It’s very flat.
There have been worse episodes of DS9, but this, for me, is the dumbest. This is like a bad comic book story, with the return of now cartoonishly evil Dukat, only now he’s got superpowers, which he acquired from an old statue he broke open. And this is the dumb story they choose to tell when they have the opportunity to kill off a main character? Just shockingly stupid.
The rest of the episode is fine, I guess. I don’t really care about big space battles, and it was a little silly how this one went down, but it was fine.
Still, this episode is, for me, where DS9 jumped the shark. Which isn’t to say I don’t like anything about the final season, but this moment just stands out in my mind as when the series just really, really, and almost irredeemably disappointed me.
@77 So basically, Moore just wanted to reproduce Tasha Yar’s death. As is, it works perfectly well as a “gut punch,” but it doesn’t work at all as good storytelling.
Did people in 2014 not know why Terry Farrell wanted to leave? She had pretty good reasons.