The beginning of the end for DS9, with the first episode in the 10-part finale. Worf goes missing, and Ezri tries to find him.
There’s a sharp turn in structure here, with very little set up in this episode resolved. We get back to the Bajoran Prophets plot, and get some more cryptic threats about Sisko having to stay on his ‘path’. That makes his sudden literal purchase of a farm a bit worrying – standard rules of foreshadowing suggest this will not end well for him.
I liked the other half of the episode quite a bit. Ezri and Worf have never really dealt with the Dax issues, and they start to unravel the problems here. So far it’s just landed them back in the same ‘fighting, then kissing’ framework beloved of movies, and never present in real life. But it honestly works better than when it was Jadzia Dax, rather than Ezri Dax.
570 down, 167 to go.