What You Leave Behind

DVD, DS9 S7 (What You Leave Behind)

All things end. That is a fact you just have to get used to, even when it comes to the things you hold dear. I would class this series as one of those things, and it ends well. Each character has their moment, the flashbacks make a big difference, and much more than any of the other four crews that have come to their natural conclusion, DS9 has a feeling of permanence. It has stood for decades, its uses and masters have changed, but the skeletal outline of the station remains through battle, through war. And I think that makes the ending easier to bear. It's really the characters who populate the dark hallways that bring life into the place, and some of them are leaving. The family is split up, each to their appropriate duty, whether that be on Earth, the Great Link, Qo'Nos or the Celestial Temple itself.

As an ending I think it's practically perfect, but my views have changed a little on the episode since I first saw it back in 2003. Back then, as I came to the end of my student life, DS9 was already a series of the past, yet I knew I would watch it again. The future of Trek was brighter in those days, with a series still on the air, the latest film just gone, and while things weren't exactly rosy, Star Trek looked like it would continue to endure, and with that likelihood was the appearance of characters from DS9. Many Trek characters have reappeared outside of their series, but it was not to be. Apart from Worf, whose new position as ambassador to Martok was not even commented on in 'Nemesis' (a crime among many in that film).

Now a whole new generation, indeed a whole new universe rules the roost. There's no point holding your breath waiting for a DS9 film, or a miniseries, or even cameos. I'd love to be proved wrong, but audiences like things simplified now, and that is the antithesis of what DS9 tried to do. It tried to be complex, different, multi-layered, heavily continuity inspired (not driven exactly), and tipped its hat to the other Treks. That knowledge makes me appreciate less the events of this episode.

Although there is such a long arc up to the concluding of the war it somehow seemed too quick at last. And maybe the plot with Sisko and Dukat at the end seemed a little open ended. Suddenly there is the possibility of the Pah-wraiths taking over the universe, all because a few words are read out of a book. And equally the danger is brushed aside. Simply because Sisko pushed Dukat into the fire? Now I never thought badly of the story the first time, but it seems a little less impressive when I think of those things. The battle scenes still hold up as some of the best in the series, and the characters have a suitably long send-off. But Cardassia was never really shown to us. All we saw were the small alleyways and dark buildings they could afford to show - the story demanded a film level of detail and extravagance. The scope of it was larger than a TV series could achieve.

Yet they handled so many things, and didn't disappoint, it's only my changing views as I grow older that make it lessen a little. No longer is it poignant with nostalgia as those Thursday nights of the late nineties are so long ago now. I've got all I can from a series I can still call the best that's ever been on TV. In 2003 I began from the beginning. Starting with the videos and then in Season Five, moving on to DVD. Opinions are revised, episodes seem better or worse, but I still award it the highest place in my viewing history.

*****