DS9: “Image in the Sand” and “Shadows and Symbols”

Date: August 23, 2020

Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2

Musical Accompaniment: A playlist inspired by a Facebook game followed by some Jedi Meditation music, because I can.

Interstellar News: I watched the credits, as I do, and there were two new things I noticed: new font and a new name for the new Dax host.

So what had happened in “Image in the Sand” was…: It’s been three months since “Tears of the Prophets“. Kira’s been promoted to Colonel, Jake and Sisko are still on Earth, and despite the wormhole being closed the Dominion seems to be winning the war. Worf is still reeling from losing Jadzia, tears apart Vic’s in the holosuite, and finally O’Brien finds out it’s because Worf’s concerned she hasn’t made it to Sto-Vo-Kor and he must win a great battle in her name. They tag Martok to invite Worf to join him on a mission, which is also later joined by Bashir and O’Brien. Admiral Ross comes to tell Kira Senator Cretak of the Romulans will have a small presence on DS9 and, despite her initial prejudice Kira likes Cretak. Cretak asks to set up a hospital on an uninhabited moon which is fine until the Bajorans find weapons and demand them to be removed. Weyoun and Damar They snipe at each other, Damar gets drunk and imaginative, and they actually agree that Dukat seems to have helped them in a strange way. Later they geeble about Romulans being predictably treacherous.

Sisko’s been playing the piano a lot and suddenly has a vision from the Prophet’s. Jake recognizes the woman from a photo and Joseph eventually reveals it was his first wife, Sarah, and Sisko’s biological mother who left soon after he was born and died years later. Joseph gives Sisko a necklace that has ancient Bajoran on it, The Orb of the Emissary, and then Sisko gets stabbed by a Bajoran cultist. Sisko, Jake, and Joseph decide to travel to Tyree when a woman appears at the restaurant. Her name is Dax, Ezri Dax.

Favorite Quote:

Kira: When did you turn into an optimist?

Odo: Must have been that day in front of Quark’s, when we kissed for the first time.

Kira: That was some kiss, wasn’t it?

Odo: Changed my life.

Kira and Odo being adorable and cute.

“Sing the song.”: There were four plot lines to follow in this episode, all at varying lengths. The shortest was that of Damar and Weyoun, but both exchanges were wonderful. Damar doesn’t have the gusto of Dukat but he’s proved to not disappoint Weyoun too much after the disaster of the weapons platforms in the season finale. This is just enough of a bit to remind us that the Dominion is still in play and that, so far, they are back to winning.

Ross is still proving himself to not be an asshat of an admiral but he does tell Kira it’s a done deal and she just has to take it. Odo and Kira still work well as a team and it’s good to see that not much of their dynamic has changed, Odo’s just a little softer. Cretak surprises Kira and Kira can’t help but be nice to Cretak until the other shoe drops in the form of 7,000 torpedoes. Kira tries to find a compromise but Cretak won’t budge and this is about to be the best game of chicken ever. I’m not sure I like Kira’s new hairstyle but she seems more kick-ass than usual, maybe it’s the new rank.

The next bit revolves around Worf, who is clearly not doing well with losing Jadzia. He trashes Vic’s so Bashir puts O’Brien up to getting Worf to open up. After lots of bloodwine and talking of Barclay and the old Enterprise days, O’Brien finally gets Worf to reveal what’s really bothering him and it’s fantastic that O’Brien is hungover and equally impressive that he went toe-to-toe with a Klingon over three bottles. I love that Bashir wants to go to also honor Jadzia while O’Brien feels he has to go to keep Bashir alive, and Quark just wants to know if there’s anyone he can bribe. They’re trying to be really good friends and colleagues to Worf and it’s quite touching. It’s also their way of dealing with Jadzia’s death because it gives them all something to focus on.

Lastly we have the Sisko men with Joseph trying to let things run their course, Jake being super concerned, and Benjamin Sisko is completely as we left him three months prior. His baseball plays a part in starting him on his journey, so it’s good he took it with him. I also like how all three have a part to play as Sisko has the vision, Jake recognizes the picture, and Joseph has to reveal a family secret. Sisko is so focused on what he has to do to make things right he almost doesn’t realize how frantic he’s being, but eventually he thinks he knows what he has to do… until he gets stabbed that is. After he’s stabbed he knows what he has to do and it’s not surprising that Jake and Joseph want to tag along. I will say one thing, though, I would never want to be a Sisko woman… they don’t seem to last long. Ending with the new host of Dax joining the Sisko men was not as big of a surprise because I watched the credits, but watching Sisko’s face light up was totally worth it. Overall I think this episode sets up the next one nicely, but there’s just A LOT going on for a season premiere. 5 suuuuuuper long songs by Arlo Guthrie for this episode.

So what had happened in “Shadows and Symbols” was…: Quark decides to come along the mission to honor Jadzia and Worf is being rude to his friends until Martok explains that Jadzia was their friend too. Weyoun wants to increase production of a shipyard, but the Klingon crew intends to destroy it. Worf and crew get their glorious battle and the plan works. Kira sets up a blockade as a protest for the Romulans arming the hospital. Cretak tells her Warbirds are en route carrying “medical supplies” and Ross realizes he’s in the middle of watching two formidable, stubborn women play chicken. Ross eventually backs up Kira and Cretak eventually acquiesces.

Ezri explains that her ship was carrying the Dax symbiont when it took a turn for the worst and she was the only Trill aboard, so she’s a hot mess who never went through the extensive training before being joined. She’s also an assistant counselor. They get to Tyree and walk and walk and walk as Sisko hears a voice, then he starts digging and finds the Orb. Before he opens it he flashes back to Benny Russell and the doctor who was being paged is none other than Damar, telling Benny to put his pencil down and stop writing the story so he can finally go home. Benny instead attacks the doctor and finishes the story, meaning that Sisko opens the orb. He meets with a Prophet who looks like his mother and that entity explains she took over Sarah in order to ensure Sisko was born, which explains why Sarah left once the wormhole alien stopped possessing her… CREEPY. Sisko and Jake head back to DS9 and Ezri comes along too.

Favorite Quote:

Odo: Well, I was hoping our relationship was going to be a long and happy one, but I suppose I’m willing to settle for short and exciting.

Kira: What’s that supposed to mean?

Odo: I take it you’re going to be commanding the blockade?

Kira: That’s right.

Odo: Then I’m going to be there with you.

Odo totally has this humanoid relationship thing down pat in what, four months? You go bro!

“Great. It’ll be just like old times. Except different.”: The Klingon contingency is successful in their mission but it’s very weird because Quark does nothing but snipe and Bashir isn’t particularly useful during the battle, it’s really all O’Brien and the Klingons… and O’Brien was really there for Bashir and not Jadzia. Kira versus the Romulans is fantastic because Kira’s kick-assery is turned up all the way to 11 and, once the wormhole opens back, she feels she has the Prophets on her side and she can’t lose. I love when Ross tells her they shouldn’t play poker together, a nice nod to the TNG days. Odo backs up Kira and doesn’t continually try to talk her out of her course of action. He expresses his concerns once and then remembers it’s her show, she’s in charge, and tries to support her in any way possible. You know the Romulans aren’t going to fire on an ally but neither Cretak nor Ross know what the hell Kira’s going to do because Bajor isn’t a member of the Federation and Kira used to be a terrorist. The viewer can see what’s going to happen but the suspense is still there just a bit.

I liked hearing what happened to Ezri and it makes sense why she would show up at Sisko’s door looking for answers, she’s quite literally out of her mind with lifetimes of memories floating around her head. She wasn’t prepared for it but decided to take on the responsibility of being joined rather than have the symbiont die. I think this screams volumes of her character. I also like that she’s a counselor, mostly because I am hoping they are able to use her more effectively than they used Troi. I’m sure my hopes will be dashed, but I liked that they didn’t just replace the female Science Officer with another female Science Officer. I also like that she’s short because it adds an extra perspective, like when older Molly was trying to recognize her parents. The walking and the digging I could have done without but I absolutely did not see Benny Russell coming! I love that they were able to use Damar, who wasn’t in the last episode, in a way that made sense after Benny’s breakdown. Understanding it was the pah-wraiths who were trying to get Sisko to stop aiding the Prophets finally answered the question of which existence was real, but it was suuuuuuper creepy that the wormhole aliens used a woman for quite a few years to ensure that Sisko was born to save them many years later… it’s just lots of yuck. It was nice to get closure to the closed wormhole saga and to see Sisko return and the Bajorans so excited, but Ezri is going to have a lot of explaining to do. I’m interested to see if, and how, she fits into this cast that has been together for so long. While I was happy with having a resolve to everything from last season and the premiere episode, I’m left feeling a little unfulfilled and that means this episode earns itself 6 shots of kanar, all for Damar.

TA Out!