DS9 Flashback: Sons and Daughters

In the six-episode opening arc of Deep Space Nine's sixth season, the third episode, "Sons and Daughters," was closest to being a stand-alone story. Perhaps it's not a coincidence that it's also the weakest episode of the arc.

Worf's son Alexander comes to serve aboard the Klingon ship Rotarran under his father and Martok. Alexander's clumsiness and frequent mistakes only aggravate the animosity between him and Worf. Meanwhile, Dukat brings his daughter Ziyal back to the station to live with him. Kira finds herself caught between her hatred for Dukat and her caring for his daughter.

I think the main reason this episode doesn't work well for me is that it's really just a restatement of material that's already been covered. In the case of the Worf-Alexander storyline, it's at least material that hasn't been dealt with before on Deep Space Nine. Still, the two have regressed from where they were at the end of The Next Generation, and only to end this episode more or less where they were before.

When last we saw Alexander, Worf had seemingly made peace with the idea that his son's path need not be the path of a warrior. You have to pencil in a lot of details for yourself to get from there to where this episode opens. I suppose that regardless of what Worf said, the fact he sent Alexander away to live with his parents again must have made the boy believe otherwise. It would help if we had any insight on why Alexander so needs his father's approval; while plenty of people yearn to please their parents, plenty don't, and I'm not sure there's a compelling reason to put Alexander in the former category.

For this story to work, we need to believe that Alexander wants this warrior life so badly that he's willing to suffer scorn from his father, and endure endless teasing (and physical abuse) from his shipmates. This is a boot camp movie without the opening act that shows us why the main character wants to enlist so badly. Martok even asks him why he's there, point blank, and he doesn't have an answer. I'm not sure the writers have one either, other than to make drama for Worf.

But there are a handful of nice moments sprinkled throughout this lackluster story line. It actually presents Martok as a much more rounded character than the average Klingon; yes, he waxes nostalgic about glory in battle, but he's also quite philosophical about the relationship between fathers and sons, gives solid advice throughout to both Worf and Alexander, and ultimately welcomes the bit-of-a-screwup into his house. Most Klingons, I think, would not do that.

Meanwhile, the Kira story line is retreading ground we just covered in the previous episode. There, Kira learns to her horror that she's become too at ease with the Dominion Occupation. Here, she discovers she's become too at ease with Dukat. Both actress Nana Visitor and the writers had been very clear that in Kira's mind, Dukat was Hitler. I have a hard time believing she would forget that for even one moment. But I do suppose for that ever to happen, Ziyal would have to be involved.

Still, the episode heaps on so much reason to hate Dukat. He's forcing Kira to dress up and greet him whenever he returns to the station. He says Ziyal is back in his life now because he forgave her betrayal. And Kira even calls him a despot to his face, before deciding she's let herself go too far in being friendly with him. This might have been a better story if Kira, freshly resolved to work as a sort of embedded spy, discovered that not even for the benefits of that information could she swallow her hatred for Dukat. But no, it seems to be just about Kira getting caught up again in the trappings of comfort, briefly forgetting herself.

But in this story line too, there are moments that work. Damar continues to be fleshed out, a mini-dictator throwing around what little clout he has. Ziyal is shown to be a naive but well-meaning spirit, setting her up well for where this six-episode arc will take her. The moment where she sits between Dukat and Kira, both smiling over her art like proud (divorced) parents -- and the way Kira's smile melts from her face -- is perfect. Dukat taking a sexy gift he'd intended for Kira and immediately re-gifting it to his daughter? It's such a precise distillation of his character. Just as Kira's final scene is a distillation of hers: she knows that Ziyal will always choose her father, and that's understandable, and Kira isn't going to fight it.

Other observations:

• The writers are still pointing out the Worf-Dax wedding on the horizon. Here, Dax gets in a pretty funny dig about how joining a Klingon House brings the hassle of constant blood feuds to settle.

• Klingons grow up fast. In the Next Gen/DS9/Voyager phase of the Star Trek franchise, each season of the show was said to be a year of fictional time. This makes Alexander 8 years old in this episode.

• This episode highlights that there really wasn't a specific plan for how to use Jake Sisko in the Dominion War arc, beyond the notion that leaving him on the station had dramatic potential. He spends this episode (and the rest of the arc) trying to convince Kira that he'd be useful to the Resistance.

• The climax of Alexander's story is ambiguous in an unsatisfying way. He goes to fix a critical system on the ship and gets locked inside. Did he do this accidentally? If so, there's really no character growth for him. Did he do it intentionally, as a noble sacrifice? Then why doesn't the episode make this more clear to celebrate his character growth?

• The Klingon N'Garen is played by Gabrielle Union, in one of her earliest roles, and years before the movies 10 Things I Hate About You and Bring It On.

This episode serves its role in the larger arc by getting Ziyal back onto the station. Beyond that, it's fairly disposable. I give "Sons and Daughters" a C+.