Almost there now...
7-19 Strange BedfellowsStrange Bedfellows was better. That's because we can now see some very interesting things happen within the Dominion "alliance". I've come to really like Damar, and who'd have guessed that. Casey Biggs does an outstanding job in the role. You can really feel that he's disgusted by being subservient to the Dominion and their new Breen allies. He is a patriot and at last has come to act on it when he helped Worf and Ezri escape. This will be very intriguing to watch.
Equally good is Jeffrey Combs' Weyoun. He can play an almost comic and charming part one minute only to turn frightfully menacing in the next. Outstanding performance. I really loved when his overconfidence allowed for Worf to snap his neck - not to mention Damar's hysterical laugh when that happened. Or when Damar said he'd look forward to meeting Weyoun-9, should this new clone displease the Founders.
I appreciate that the whole Worf and Ezri thing has been resolved and that they both realized that they tried to relive a past. I would've liked it better if they'd had this discussion before they jumped each others bones.
But I still have grave reservations to the whole business with Winn and Dukat and the pah-wraiths. It still doesn't seem real. It's almost as if they're two entirely new characters instead of the ones we've seen develop throughout the show. While it was nice to see how Winn struggled with this, and even asking for advice from Kira of all people, her conversion didn't ring true. It's like having the Pope all of a sudden turn into a worshipper of Satan, no matter how corrupt and power-hungry said Pope might be. I just can't buy it. It's too contrived and it happens too quickly.
And those things Winn said at the end was way over the top, like they were trying really hard to turn her into this purely evil character. It would've been much better - and more in character - had they treated Winn as Londo Mollari was on
Babylon 5, like someone who through misguided ambition found herself on the wrong side, but that it was too late to do anything about it. Winn has now unfortunately been given the same treatment that Dukat got in
Waltz.
Also, these developments on Bajor seem rather small when compared to the other major things happening in the quadrant. Will this pah-wraith storyline even have anything to do with the Dominion war, or are they just isolated events that happen to take place at the same time? What would the pah-wraiths think of the Founders, should they happen to take over Bajor and/or the wormhole?
For now
Strange Bedfellows gets a grade of 7- from me.
*****
7-20 The Changing Face of EvilAnd
The Changing Face of Evil is even better, despite the unbelievable events taking place with Kai Winn. It's really a shame that this storyline brings the final chapters in the DS9 saga down. Otherwise it was an excellent episode.
Damar has now finally crossed over. This is a conversion that is entirely plausible and believable. He is now in open rebellion against the Dominion and the Federation alliance has a new member, and this at a critical juncture after the Breen managed to take back Chin'toka and destroy the Defiant in the process. It was poetic justice that Damar's Cardassians destroyed the Vorta cloning facility, to which Weyoun-8 lamented that he might be the last Weyoun.
One might think it strange that the Dominion didn't realize that they were alienating their Cardassian allies, but given what they are it's not so surprising that they have limited insights into how real humanoids think and react. I even found it fitting that Weyoun thought Damar's newfound confidence (
"There's something different about you today, Damar. I can't quite put my finger on it. It's almost as if you're half dressed... You don't have a bottle in your hand.") was due to Dominion successes, and not from having decided to finally stand up to them.
The Breen striking directly at Earth - and Starfleet Headquarters - was shocking indeed. But the view from San Francisco did look a bit fake, especially the ruins of the Golden Gate Bridge. A suspension bridge wouldn't look like that after the suspensions had been wrecked. But that's a minor quibble. The battle that destroyed the Defiant was really cool, and like Sisko I really felt for the demise of that tough little ship. That Breen energy-depleting weapon will be a major hindrance to "our" side. Finally we see how menacing the Breen are. But they do look a bit weird with those masks.
But, like I've said many times now, Kai Winn and her conversion bringd the story down. As if the revelation about the pah-wraith in the previous episode wasn't enough, she now knows that her trusted guide and lover is none other than Dukat, and that doesn't bother her for more than a few moments! Please, give me a break! This is just too much. It's now apparent that the writers intend to have some cataclysmic event happen on Bajor - probably when Winn and Dukat releases the pah-wraiths from the Fire-Caves - at the same time the final showdown with the Dominion happens. And for that plot purpose, the characters of Winn and Dukat must be made to abide. That's really too bad.
I'll give
The Changing Face of Evil a grade of
8- on my 10-graded scale. Had the Winn storyline been different this would've been a full 10.
*****
7-21 When It Rains...Of these past final episodes,
When It Rains... feels most like a set-up episode. There actually isn't much of conclusion or even story here. It's just a row of different storylines that will continue in subsequent instalments. That's also been the case before, but there has usually been some sense of closure at the end. Here the episode just ends. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it makes it extra hard to judge.
The biggest revelation is the one that comes last, that Odo was deliberately infected by the disease that's now threatening to kill the Founders - in all likelihood by Section 31. And that was three whole years ago. So it wasn't the Vorta, or Damar or even Odo himself. It was the Section. This is very interesting, and I refer to my earlier discussion (in my review of
Treachery, Faith, and the Great River) about genocide and if it actually can be justified against an enemy such as the Dominion.
Of course the twist is here that friendly Odo is being used. But I can't help and also see things from the perspective of that Starfleet Medical guy. Odo had been collaborating with the enemy and frankly I'm surprised that there weren't any serious repercussions from that. It was all swept under the rug. Realistically Odo should've been removed once the Dominion was driven out from DS9. That doesn't make it right, of course. Odo was even infected long before the outbreak of the war. That's also how Odo could infect the entire Great Link, even though most of them are in the Gamma Quadrant. He was there in the season four episode
Broken Link.
The episode also had the irony of sending Kira to teach Damar's Cardassian rebels about how to be good resistance fighters. Obviously the Cardassians have trouble accepting both her and her tactics. The tension, while natural, was predictable. What I missed was any reaction from Garak towards Damar, considering that it was Damar that killed Ziyal. And Kira looked good in a Starfleet uniform.
Then there's Gowron taking direct command of the Klingon forces from general Martok, who he fears have become much too popular. I don't know, but I'm rather tired of the Klingons and while this makes perfect sense for Gowron and his cronies, I'm not looking forward to seeing this unfold. I'd bet good latinum that Martok in the end will be forced to oust Gowron, or be killed in the process.
Thankfully there wasn't much of the stupid Winn and Dukat plot this time. I suppose I should appreciate that curiosity got the better of Dukat and made him blind when he opened up the Secret Book of Evil, and that he was tossed out in the street by Winn, but I don't really care one way or the other anymore.
When It Rains... receives a grade of
7 from me.