170. The Changing Face of Evil

Summary

A. Just as Ezri and Worf return to the station, word comes in that the Breen have attacked Earth, leaving San Francisco in ruins. While Weyoun and the Breen general Thot'Gor gloat, Damar becomes increasingly bitter and cautions Thot'Gor not to trust Weyoun...then he begins his preparations to mount a resistance. As he finds more and more officers who will help him, Weyoun notes his increased confidence...and that he's stopped drinking. Just as Sisko and Kasidy are reconciling after a spat, Ross informs him that the Dominion are about to retake Chintoka. The Defiant leaves immediately and joins the fleet to defend this, the Federation's only incursion into Dominion space, but the Breen have a devastating energy weapon that renders ships helpless. The Defiant is destroyed, but the Female Changeling allows the escape pods to be rescued unharmed. Once everyone is back on the station, they realize they need time to counteract this Breen weapon...then a transmission from Dukat comes through. He is urging all Cardassians to regard the Dominion as an occupying force and resist, and reports that Cardassian soldiers have just destroyed the Dominion cloning facility.

B. The Kai and Anjohl sequester themselves on Bajor, trying to find the way to release the Pagh-Wraiths from their imprisonment in the fire caves. The answer may be in the ancient text of the Koss'tomogen, a forbidden book that only the Kai may read. Solbor reluctantly brings the book, his distrust of Anjohl growing by the day, but when it's opened they find the pages blank...the Kai surmises that the words are there, just hidden. Solbor, concerned about the Kai reading so many dark books, tries to take some of them away but is stopped by Anjohl. The next day, Solbor reveals that he's learned that Anjohl is an imposter and that he is, in fact, Gul Dukat. The Kai, though horrified, kills Solbor to prevent him from giving away their secret allegiance to the Pagh-Wraiths...when a drop of blood from the knife falls on the text, the words appear in a burst of fire.

C. In the aftermath of her revelations while a prisoner, Ezri contemplates telling Julian how she feels about him.

Analysis

Not quite as successful as Strange Bedfellows but it's nevertheless a damned good episode. Damar's emergence as a rebellious leader is a great development, and the seeds are even planted for him to turn the Breen to their cause. Perhaps the best moment occurs when, after realizing that the cloning facilities are gone, Weyoun comments that he may be the last Weyoun...which is no doubt why Damar chose that target.

The Kai's descent into evil remains interesting, and Dukat's inevitable unmasking only emphasizes the point that she's so far gone that even after she knows who he really is, she can't disengage from him completely. The cold-blooded murder of the faithful Solbor is her turning point. She is horrified at the act, but at the same time it enables her to go further as it reveals the words in the ancient texts of evil to her. As Anjohl, Dukat is at once ingratiating and manipulative, not relenting for a moment even while Solbor is standing there telling the Kai that he's Dukat.

The Sisko/Kasidy stuff is oh so tiresome. Enough already with the cliched just-married sitcommy moments! It already felt forced enough without doing the classic burned-cooking scenario, fer cryin out loud. On a lighter note the Worf/Ezri stuff is concluded most satisfactorily, with both of them agreeing they're friends, and Worf even encouraging her to talk to Julian openly.

The destruction of the Defiant is a surprisingly moving moment. I knew this was going to happen but I didn't know it'd be so soon. She was a damned good ship. RIP, USS Defiant.

Rating: 8.0

Memorable Quote:

"Resist today. Resist tomorrow. Resist until the last Dominion solider is driven from our soil!" --Damar

"Poor Captain Sisko. I believe he was rather fond of that ship." --Weyoun

"That's what you get when you share your toys." --Kira

Classic Scene:

There are a number of scenes here that qualify as classic. The destruction of the Defiant. The Kai murdering Solbor. The sight of San Francisco lying in ruins. Damar's speech. But I think for sheer impact we have to go with the Defiant exploding, leaving a small constellation of escape pods behind.

Sexually Slanted Line 'O the Episode:

"He gets excited playing with toys!" --Worf. And you would know this how...?

The O/K Status Report

Sigh. El zippo. But this is the last one! They're finally back into existence starting next week!

Special Alerts

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