DS9 Flashback: Blaze of Glory

As season five of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine drew near a close, the writers had big plans for season six: the Dominion war. But they felt that this plus their many other ongoing story lines and characters were all a bit too much. Show runner Ira Steven Behr was determined to get closure somewhere. As he claims to have told his writing staff: "We are going to end something and then not hear about it again!" That something was the Maquis, and the episode was "Blaze of Glory."

Sisko receives intelligence that the Maquis are planning a deadly missile strike on Cardassia, an act that could ignite war between their new Dominion allies and the Federation. To avoid catastrophe, Sisko fetches Michael Eddington from prison for one last mission -- to stop the missiles before they reach their target. But Eddington secretly has his own objective. Meanwhile, Nog is feeling disrespected by the Klingons on Deep Space Nine, and searches for a way to be taken seriously.

I've said before of Maquis episodes that even though the entire concept was forced on Deep Space Nine by Star Trek: Voyager, DS9 wound up doing more with the idea. That was true even here at the end: Behr wanted to literally kill off every last Maquis in this episode, but was told not to do that by executive producer Rick Berman, "just in case" Voyager ever wanted to use them somehow. They never did, predictably, but DS9 still got its grand finale here by killing Eddington, pronouncing Sisko's old friend Cal Hudson dead (off-screen), and then never mentioning the Maquis ever again.

Just because this was the end, though, doesn't mean the writers weren't still building story. We get plenty more of the rivalry between Eddington and Sisko, digging into why each man is so offended by the other. Sisko says its disdain for any Starfleet officer who betrays their uniform; Eddington says Sisko can't get over the betrayal of himself, personally. Eddington still trumpets the nobility of his cause, defending people who were left by the Federation in impossible conditions to fend for themselves; Sisko says Eddington will put the blame anywhere but on himself, the troublemaker whose guerilla tactics only make the situation worse.

Sisko and Eddington play mind games with each other throughout this episode. Sisko risks both their lives to force Eddington to act. Eddington pledges to kill Sisko when he has the chance -- putting him in unnecessary danger once and delaying a rescue another time, if never actually making good on that threat. Eddington hides secrets from Sisko almost until the very end, and while Sisko always suspects he's being played somehow, he's never quite able to figure out how.

Eddington goes out at the end of the episode in the titular "Blaze of Glory," but not before we learn a few more things about him. He's Canadian, and used to carry with him a lucky loonie. (It's not at all ominous that he no longer has it.) And, just before his capture earlier in the season, he got married -- all the talk of missiles is just a coded message between Eddington and his wife.

Meanwhile, the episode has one of the show's signature B-plots meant to balance the drama with something light. Actually, according to Behr, this B plot, though about Nog, was really crafted to reassure the audience that Martok was still a presence on the station and the show after getting his own ship in "Soldiers of the Empire." The story is a parade of playful "whomp whomp" moments -- Jake is grossed out by Nog's food, Nog falls back in his bar chair while posturing to look tough, Klingons take over Jake and Nog's "spot" on the Promenade (as if they knew what that was) as the final insult. It just sort of coasts along until Nog learns the lesson your parents always told you about bullies: stand up to them, and they'll back down. Unhelpful and untrue in life, as I think anyone with experience will tell you. But it often works in fiction, and plays well enough here in a story line that's never meant to be serious.

Other observations:

• The establishing space shot of Eddington's prison facility is stolen from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan -- and no attempt is made to restore the footage or match the film grain. It looks quite out of place.

• Inside the prison, harsh lighting and subtle makeup are used to give Eddington some starkly sunken eyes.

• We hear that Morn, freaked out at the possibility of a Dominion attack, strips naked and barges into the Bajoran monastery. It's played for comedy, but it's an odd reaction to say the least, one you'd think might actually have long-term repercussions on Morn's freedom on the station.

• The visual effects of the Badlands keep improving every time we see them. Here, the swirling columns of flame look dangerous indeed. (Meanwhile, the Badlands now have an effect on a cloaking device, as justification for being out there in a runabout rather than the Defiant.)

I'm not so sure that another Maquis episode really felt necessary after the (in my mind) rather conclusive "For the Uniform." Still, this does all wrap things up in a tidy package. I give the episode a B.