With the Breen now allied with the Dominion, the Federation is threatened as never before. But help is coming from Damar, who has begun to build his resistance movement on Cardassia. Meanwhile, Kai Winn and Dukat try to crack the mystery of an ancient book of the Pah-wraiths.
This is an interesting episode of Deep Space Nine in that it focuses almost entirely on the "villains." The lines between guest star and main cast are, of course, rather blurred by this point of the series... but it's still fairly unusual that the scenes with our heroes in this episode aren't generally the ones most furthering the narrative.
Then again, Damar is more or less a "hero" now, by typical narrative rules. Even Weyoun sees (but misattributes) the difference. Still, Damar has a lot to learn about how difficult this will be. He imagines a quick victory or two will inflame all the planet against the Dominion and spur them to rise up in opposition. Until Damar learns, though, he has a new underling character in Rusot to take on his former drunken and surly role in the plot.
Kai Winn learns a lot in this episode too: specifically that throwing in with demons requires paying a blood price. Though she's been amassing power for a long time, she's always avoided making anything remotely like a personal sacrifice. Her political machinations have no doubt hurt people before, but murdering someone by your own hand is a different matter -- and a longtime friend at that (or, at least, the closest thing Winn has to a friend). Winn also must choose to persist in her path even after learning that her guide all this time has been Gul Dukat. It's a path to more power, though, so there's no chance Winn is going to turn away from it.
The regular characters aren't wholly absent from the episode, of course. There's a small but fun subplot exploring Sisko and Kasidy Yates' new marriage. Each oversteps their boundaries within the relationship and must make amends with the other. (Ben's transgression in messing with his wife's job seems worse than Kasidy's failed attempt at cooking. Then again... she does waste his good peppers and uses metal tongs on a non-stick pan, so...) Another romance is also at play in this episode two: the thread between Ezri Dax and Julian Bashir continues to be woven in. Worf finally shows some maturity and encourages Ezri to pursue Julian if that's what will make her happy.
Overall, all the elements I've mentioned are given appropriate breathing room within both the episode and the final arc as a whole -- things simmer in a satisfying way without feeling slow paced. But there's one element here that feels rushed to me: the destruction of the Defiant. From the beginning of the battle to the loss of the ship feels like less than 60 seconds of screen time. One moment, they're taking out Breen ships; the next moment, they've sustained damage that doesn't seem like it's beyond the reach of a normal Treknobabble solution... and yet Sisko is making the call to abandon ship.
Part of the reason the actual battle feels rushed is that the time that might have been spent there is instead given to a more subtle goodbye to the ship, a lengthy sequence of preparing the Defiant to leave the station, full of "submarine movie" type chatter. I think this is meant to be the real goodbye. (Though honestly, I have a hard time feeling much of a loss here, in retrospect at least. They wind up replacing the Defiant too quickly and easily before the end of the series.)
Other observations:
- In interviews, actor Marc Alaimo has often talked about what he saw as the nobler aspects of Gul Dukat; any good actor playing a villain is obliged not to think of their character as a villain. But there is a fun moment in this episode that's all malice: Dukat is creeping up on the sleeping Winn and regards her with obvious disdain for just a few moments before affixing his mask of sweetness back in place.
- The Alamo has been a running gag on the show for quite some time now. This episode is the closest we'll ever get to seeing it, in the form of the elaborate "tabletop minis" version O'Brien builds. It's also the closest thematic connection the Alamo has with events in the story -- the last stand at the fort mirroring the last stand of the Defiant. (And the loss of the "Travis" figure a clear bad omen for what's to come.)
The loss of the Defiant doesn't land as hard for me on the rewatch as it did the first time I watched the series. And I think so much of the impact is relying on that one element that the episode doesn't rate as highly for me as others in this final run. I give "The Changing Face of Evil" a B.
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