“In The Hands of the Prophets” is an expansive, multi-layered episode that provides a powerful and fitting conclusion to the first season of Deep Space Nine. The episode focuses on the character interactions, the political situations, and the thematic elements which were not only introduced in the pilot episode, but also explored in various episodes throughout the season. The payoff is substantial and, more importantly, the episode manages to not only find meaning within its own story, but also manages to fundamentally influence the series as a whole. It isn’t flawless, but without question, this season finale is a success.

The launching point for the episode is the fundamental clash between religion and science over what should be taught within the classroom. While Keiko is busy explaining the scientific nature of the wormhole, a Bajoran high priestess, named Vedek Winn, enters the classroom and openly engages Keiko in a debate over spirituality. Put simply, the Bajorans see the wormhole as the Temple for their Prophets, while Keiko sees it as a scientific phenomenon, populated by a race of aliens. The two views become a flashpoint for the cultural differences between the Federation and Bajor.

These disagreements find all manner of expression from the continued clashes of temperament between Sisko and Kira, the insightful conversation between Sisko and his son, Jake, to the almost touching relationship between O’Brien and his Bajoran assistant, Neela. But events quickly escalate as neither Keiko nor Vedek Winn are willing to back down from their convictions. The end result is an act of terrorism in which a bomb destroys Keiko’s classroom – thankfully with no one inside of it.

Taking the issues deeper still, all of this provides an exploration of Sisko’s primary mission to find common ground between the Federation and Bajor. As tensions mount, Bajoran officers show their displeasure by calling in sick to their duties on DS9 and Sisko is forced to look for allies within the Bajoran religious leadership – calling on his role as Emissary, as defined in the pilot episode.

What threatens the whole enterprise, though are a couple of issues. First, the escalation happens very quickly, and the ideological struggle between Keiko and Vedek Winn seems to come almost out of nowhere. Also, while the episode’s subplot about a murder onboard DS9 nicely dovetails into the main plot, it exposes Vedek Winn’s motives as purely political, rather than ideological (her intent was to draw out a rival Vedek to have him assassinated on DS9). This has the effect of undercutting at least of the episode’s real value in presenting the conflict between faith and reason.

“In The Hands of the Prophets” represents a real evolution for the Star Trek brand. Moments of The Next Generation hinted at this kind of multi-layered storytelling. But by and large, this is the culmination of the first real attempt to have the explorations of Trek focus primarily on the social, political, religious, and moral issues of humanity – rather than using travels to different places as the focal point for such explorations.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine