'Til Death Do Us Part (2)

DVD, DS9 S7 ('Til Death Do Us Part) (2)

Not a lot really happens, other than rather soapy plot elements: Sisko calls off the wedding in obedience to the will of the Prophets, Dukat inveigles himself into Winn's inner sanctum and makes advances on her, while Worf and Ezri discuss dreams and who she really fancies. It's all a bit 'ugh' really, but there are good things among this Deep Soap Nine episode that bring it up a level above all this, and it's not like every strand is unsympathetic: for example, Sisko's uncharacteristic dithering over his decision displays his change of mind organically, and in fact you realise he was always going to marry Kasidy no matter what, unless perhaps the Prophets gave him something tangible to chew over, and rather than do that, his Mum, Sarah, just feels sorry for what he's going to come up against and is sad she can't do anything to change it. It begins with Jake being shocked at his Father's attitude, but I notice there's never a moment when anyone mentions the last time he went against the Prophets' warnings, the closure of the Wormhole and the death of Jadzia, not even Colonel Kira when she shows concern about his change of heart. When he talks to her he's almost convincing himself he should go through with it after all, but it's Quark who adds that last little touch to the balance, delivering the ordered ring that pulls Sisko out of his depression and decides him to do what he wants to do, fate of the Alpha Quadrant or not. This episode was originally going to be called 'Umbra,' the darkest part of the shadows - we're definitely out of the penumbra, but there's no dawn in the offing any time soon.

Things may be dark and dismal, but there are flashes of the good times. Strangely enough, the moment I was drawn into most was Dukat and Damar's farewell. I can't remember if they ever saw each other again, but it feels like this was the end, and it was really quite touching the way they each see things in the other, Damar's old superior and mentor reminding him Cardassia needs him to be a strong leader, while in turn Damar suggests it's not too late for Dukat to take up that mantle once again. They meet briefly at the crossroads, each about to go off on their own paths, both leading to death, but one will be a bold martyr and the other an evil nemesis. We can never fully forget Dukat's insanity from the way he has so embraced the evil entities of the Pah-Wraiths, and his personal mission has become a personal vendetta against Sisko, the white-shining Emissary of the beings he follows' enemies. He only spares a fleeting thought for Cardassia, confident in Damar's abilities to pull himself together. He talks of their fighting the entire Klingon Empire with a single ship, and it takes you back to those golden days of the middle of the series when Dukat was a pirate, only just feeling the positives of locating and bonding with his lost daughter - there's a slight corner of plot that was never disturbed, but it would have been great fun to see Dukat pop up to kill some Breen in revenge for holding his daughter a captive all that time ago, but he's singleminded, bent on the will of the Pah-Wraiths. Still, his assertion that 'those days might be gone, but the man I served with isn't,' was a lovely sign of the friendship that had been between he and Damar.

Elsewhere, things continue to go badly for the Cardassian leader-in-name, Weyoun actually standing over his bed in his Quarters, even his privacy a gift to be rescinded at the Vorta's whim, waking him up because they're going somewhere, and then not even deigning to tell him where! He continues to be treated like a dog, and when he marches onto the Bridge of the Jem'Hadar ship and demands to know where it is they're actually going, you notice he throws a slightly nervous glance at the Jem'Hadar flying the ship as if he's concerned he might be attacked for daring to be so bold. But again, Weyoun twists around and becomes all sweetness and light, knowing just when to pour on the charm and soothe Damar's broken spirit. It struck me that the leader of the free Cardassia should have at least a couple of trusted Cardassian soldiers guarding him, but while that might have been the case earlier in the alliance, you don't see him with Cardassians now, and that tells a story in itself. He seems isolated, surrounded by Jem'Hadar, and if he puts a foot wrong he'll likely be disposed of. But he almost turns a corner in this episode - he feels awful and is about to drink as soon as he gets up, only he sees himself in the mirror and it gives him pause. It's a wonderful moment of self-realisation, but he hasn't yet made a resolve, and instead turns his back on the image before he can down his Kanar.

The other enjoyable scene is the marriage itself. Avoiding all the Bajoran pomp and ceremony, Sisko didn't really want all that anyway, he goes back to the Captain we know and makes a snap decision to hold it in the Wardroom and have Admiral Ross perform the ceremony (was the Admiral visiting that day?). With the Prophets refusing to give their blessing it would have been a hollow celebration on Bajor, and once again the needle on his gauge is pointing back more to the Starfleet side, despite all the warnings and apparently seeing sense earlier in the episode. What I liked about it was the way all these people suddenly appear at the event, and remind me why these first few episodes of the final arc don't feel as enjoyable as the average episode of the season: it's because the focus has been on a small, select group, and I miss spending time with Miles and Julian, seeing Nog about his business, Quark, Odo and Kira about theirs. This is just a little taste of what the series should be, but couldn't because they were spending so much time on setting out the stall and planting the quick-growing seeds. It would all change as time went on and the other characters would get their dues, but especially at this time of diminishing opportunities to see these characters ever again, it's a little depressing that so much screen time is given over to Worf's extremes (he goes from not being able to stand the sight of Ezri, to expecting many years together!), and Ezri's exploration of her feelings.

It's weird how every 24th Century series (and every one that lasted seven years), joined an odd couple together that came out of nowhere: on 'TNG' it was Worf and Troi, 'Voyager' was Seven and Chakotay, and now it's going to be Ezri and Julian! It's like they felt the need to do something out of the blue, as if everything else going on wasn't enough, and I don't know where it comes from other than a realisation that this is the last they'll be able to write for these characters and so why not do something outrageous or dramatic? We could have done without a lot of the scenes of Worf and Ezri as it's slow going, trying to get their previous experiences resolved, but there was no need. It was enough that she rescued him in the preceding episode, but maybe they couldn't think of where to take Worf after this other than into battle as a Klingon warrior. It doesn't suit his character to be caged like an animal, especially stuck with a self-reflective counsellor intent on analysing her dreams, and the only good parts of this enforced stay on a Breen ship are hearing a sliver of Klingon history (about the Second Empire), Worf speaking Alexander's name for possibly the last ever time, and the fact that whenever the Breen appear, the violence of their entrance and movements is palpable and adds so much to what is otherwise a slow and, I have to say it, dull part of the story. It's like being locked in a holding cell, because that's exactly what it is (although I did enjoy the glib references to the usual escape cliches, none of which have worked!).

The one thing they discuss that I did enjoy was the speculation on the Breen themselves. Ezri wonders if they're furry as their planet is supposed to be very cold and in her dream they had claws, and Worf says they don't have claws, so Ezri responds how does he know - he even admits no one has seen a Breen and lived. It does bring up the adventures of Kira and Dukat in 'Indiscretion' when they actually dressed up in Breen outfits, though it was never revealed if these were just empty spare uniforms or if they actually stripped the aliens. Neither Dukat nor Kira ever mention it on camera, but maybe they never knew the significance of their actions in light of the mysterious reputation of the creatures! Ezri even has a dream of being chased by one and when it takes its mask off it turns out to be Dr. Bashir, to which Worf concludes it means Julian is a Breen - well, if there was one character who I could thoroughly believe as turning out to be one of them, it would be he: he was a Changeling, after all, not to mention his secret genetic enhancements kept quiet for most of his life, so anything's possible at this point! One alien race that gets a mention are the Terellians (as opposed to the Terrelians of the Delta Quadrant, or the Tarellians of 'TNG' - they must have been having a laugh!), as Sisko's ring features a large Terellian diamond. I think the Terellians were the four-armed race that were seen once in the bar Riker walks into in 'Gambit,' and if they like diamonds, fine. It's better than it being just any old Earth diamond or from some alien race we'd never heard of before. I suppose. The bigger question is how Sisko paid for it, just as in the previous episode when he bought land on Bajor!

The real shocker of the episode concerns Kai Winn. No, it's not that the Prophets have finally spoken to her after all these years of 'faithful' (self-) service, nor that she finishes out the episode by laying a smacker on Gul Dukat himself, as weird as those things were. No, it's that she shows up to visit Sisko, just as she always does, when things look like they couldn't get any worse, and… she's actually kindly and pleasant to her Emissary! Whoah, what is going on?! She wants to perform the official wedding ceremony, and okay, it's probably for political reasons and to be associated with the great Emissary who is key in the fight against the Dominion, but even so, you'd think she'd be advocating for him to marry a Bajoran woman and further strengthen the ties between him and Bajor. Actually, I'm surprised they didn't come up with that as an idea rather than having the Prophets opposed, make it about the Bajoran people. Or both, make Sisko fall into disrepute for his actions, which drives him more towards his Starfleet side than ever. Perhaps he could have been plagued by the Bajorans continually sending him eligible women and he keeps having to turn them away at odd moments in episodes, that would have been both amusing and uncomfortable! But he goes through with a quick Starfleet wedding, a bit like the one Kirk officiated in 'Balance of Terror,' and just like that one, Sisko's assertion that he could never be happy without Kasidy is going to be the point of the Prophets' warning, because he will be without Kasidy Danielle Yates by the end.

I wonder why none of Captain Yates' crew attended the ceremony? You'd expect to see at least a representative of the Xhosa as she must be fairly close to her crew since she's been captaining the vessel for a few years at least, and yet not one shows up! There's a mention of Kilby in the scene where she's hurriedly getting ready to exit port, and this is one of the few times we ever hear of someone from her crew - for a ship that was minor, yet a recurring presence thanks to Kasidy's status with Sisko, we don't hear enough about it or its crew, and that's a shame. It shows that even the mighty 'DS9' couldn't pull on every story thread they ever invented. I don't believe we even heard the ship's name in dialogue this episode and I'd have preferred a bit more of the world-building lost from the series due to its need to wrap up across multiple episodes. On the other hand we hadn't heard much about the Xhosa in the last year or so because the war made it difficult for small ships to trade as normal, but things must have settled down a bit now since Kasidy's on a cargo run. Therein lies the rub: I reckon the ship was on a tight schedule which Kasidy had taken on in response to her rejection by Sisko, and so she was desperate to get off the station. Having entered into a contract she couldn't pull out of it at the last moment, so the ship went off without her under her experienced crew while she had special dispensation to take a holiday for her wedding. There, problem solved!

I wonder why Winn stayed on DS9 throughout the episode. Was it to save money so they didn't have to build a Bajoran dwelling in which Dukat, in the guise of Anjohl Tennan, could manipulate her? I wish we could have had a beautiful orange glow of the Bajoran sun as we so often had on the planet, but I do grant that Dukat's devious machinations were suited to the dingy confines of the DS9 Quarters (you'd think the Prophets would have warned Sisko that his nemesis was aboard, but then they aren't omniscient). It could also be that while she's on the station she's more isolated from Bajor and it would have been harder to check up on Anjohl's story. Otherwise she'd quickly find out everything he said was fabricated and designed to draw her in. I would have thought her suspicious Ranjen, Solbor, who clearly looked down on this interloper of her Eminence's inner sanctum, would have investigated him, seeing what Winn does not, but I have the feeling that's exactly what he does in the subsequent episodes and pays for it with his life. It's interesting to see someone as callously manipulative as Winn so easily played at her own game, but there are mitigating circumstances: you sense from her pleasantness with Sisko and her general demeanour that she's pretty settled, even comfortable. We haven't had any major disaster stories about Bajor this season, or for a while, and once the pact was signed with the Dominion, there wasn't much to do with the planet. She's also giddy with thinking the Prophets have spoken to her, not being discerning enough to realise it was the Pah-Wraiths, though we wouldn't have known except that what they say is in opposition to the usual ways of the Prophets, and the capper is sending their evil Emissary as a guide.

Dukat's honeyed words, humble attitude of supplication and clever use of history and the land to fulfil her expectations also adds up to a compelling reason to trust him, while she also seems to be attracted to him for more reasons than merely basking in the glow of the Prophets. Their shared suspicion about the Emissary and discussion of how he's an outsider who never shared the pain of the Occupation, as well as his joy and wonder at spending time in her august presence, always complimenting her, appeals greatly to her own inflated sense of self-importance. She hears what she wants to, and while we've seen occasional glimpses of her truly wanting good for Bajor and not just the glory it reflects on her position, her journey within her religion has largely been self-seeking. If she has been pious it was for gain, and while she sometimes showed doubt in herself or wished for the kind of simple, selfless faith exhibited by Kira, her pride always conquered any regrets or suggestion of failure on her part. Which is why she's the ideal servant for the Pah-Wraiths, because although she does recoil in the coming episodes, she also realises her 'walk with the Prophets' never really got her what she wanted, and it was all her own ambition and drive that took her to the top. One thing's for sure, we've never seen her in her off hours before, out of those rich robes and fancy hat. It's strange, but it also signifies that we're seeing a new Winn Adami (for that is revealed to be her given name), one that is about to discover her true self and seal her end.

The last significant part of the episode is when Weyoun meets with the Breen contingent who present Worf and Ezri as gifts, the alliance between them and the Dominion confirmed. Weyoun smugly muses it changes everything, doesn't it, but does it? The Breen were never positioned as a powerful force in the Quadrant, not like the Romulans who have sadly taken a back seat for most of the season. In common with them, the Breen were secretive and mysterious, dangerous, yes, but a power-shifting addition to Dominion forces? It's like saying the Remans are joining them and that changes everything! I could have done with better integration of the Breen into the series, the bit parts they played weren't enough to justify such a sudden change in the dynamic. Yet, at the same time it does make a kind of sense that the writers would want to throw in a surprise that would alter the balance and they are an undeveloped race ripe for inclusion. They also look and sound really cool (can't remember if we'd heard the machine-like voices before, or not), but they never were developed, they were merely heavies added to artificially throw a wrench in the works, and again, I feel the completely serialised approach did cause the stories to suffer a little as if serialisation demands more outlandish or less organic developments in order to get where they want to go, something heavily noticeable in 'DSC,' and even in 'Enterprise' S3. It may be that the best approach to Trek's mode of telling stories and fleshing out a fascinating universe was best suited to small segments which were only partially connected and allowed for exploration of details on a more micro level.

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