Tacking Into The Wind

DVD, DS9 S7 (Tacking Into The Wind)

I suppose the title refers to the difficulties encountered by certain people in this part of the serial. Worf has to take on the leader of his people in a politically and personally dangerous way (we always wondered what would have happened in 'Apocalypse Rising' if the fight hadn't been stopped, and now we know!), while Kira faces similar 'friendly fire' feelings from Rusot. This episode works so well because it presents these situations and resolves them in the space of its running time, not leaving threads dangling, which is a refreshing take to have in the middle of a serialised saga.

The Alpha Quadrant is changed by this war, but we haven't really encountered the reality of that until now. We always assumed the Federation would survive, but how would the political and social landscape stand after such a conflict, a Quadrant-wide conflict at that. Now we see the true dawning of possibilities - Damar goes as far as killing his friend, to protect Kira from the man's hatred, proving that the old Cardassia is dead. Worf defeats Gowron for the Empire, for Klingons everywhere, but most importantly, for Martok. A good, steadfast soldier who has proved in the past he can admit he was wrong. He has overcome the class struggle and now he finds power thrust into his hands by his adoptive son. It is the stuff of which great stories are made.

My only sadness is that we don't get to see the post-war life of all these major races, as it set up such a superb roiling cauldron of ideas. I like the fact they chose to carry a one-episode story, and while it segues directly into it's neighbours, it's a solid base from which to lauch onwards into the closing episodes. Garak proves himself a good friend, Odo and Kira play out a touching deception on each other, and O'Brien and Bashir make plans to capture a Section 31 operative. For some reason the Breen are represented by Thot Pren, instead of Thot Gor. I wonder why that was? It was also good to see another Vorta, a female, since we haven't seen many of them. Luaran was played by Kitty Swink who was Armin Shimerman's wife, which is a nice touch. The sets and situations continue to expand the series, and it is clearly trying to go out on a high.

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