“Sacrifice of Angels” is the thrilling, nail-biting conclusion to what has been an expansive, epic and ambitious arc. In typical Deep Space Nine fashion, it keeps the focus squarely on the characters, even while presenting some truly breathtaking visuals on screen. And, likewise, while many events draw to a close, many more are open-ended and uncertain. It’s not a perfect installment — there are just too many predictable moments — but it is a visceral one, evoking plenty of emotions.

Opening with the Federation fleet engaging the Dominion fleet, it’s clear right from the start that this will be a intense episode. Before the fight begins, and to set the episode’s mood, O’Brien recites a few lines from “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” And then the battle begins. Ships hurtle at one another. Phaser and photon fire scatter across the screen. The choreography and execution of the battle here is truly cinematic. Sisko’s plan is to punch a hole through the Dominion line and continue on to DS9 in order to stop Dukat from detonating the minefield. Dukat wants to feint a weakness in his defenses to force Sisko into a trap. Sisko goes for broke and, just when things seem most dire, we get out first predictable moment: The Klingons arrive in the nick of time to allow the Defiant to break through the lines.

Of course, *only* Defiant breaks through the lines and Dukat doesn’t order any ships to pursue (convenient, eh?) which of course is a necessary contrivance. The story really needs the Defiant to be all on its own by the time it gets to DS9.

Meanwhile, on the station, the resistance cell is desperate to bring down the station defenses to prevent the destruction of the minefield and weaken in, in the case the Federation does break through. Unfortunately, Damar is paranoid enough about the situation that he summarily arrests Kira, Leeta, and Jake and throws them in the brig. It’s up to Quark to find a way to turn the tide. In the episode’s most amusing (and least plausible) scene, Quark and Ziyal lead a jailbreak for their friends.

Dukat verily struts about, supremely confident in the impending victory. He even finds the time to debate with Weyoun about the finer points of occupation. Ominously, Weyoun mentions his ideas about subduing the Federation: wiping out the population of Earth. It seems a remote possibility at this point (because, as Sisko says, Earth is of no strategic value in the current conflict). But should the tide turn against the Dominion, might it lash out at Earth?

Meanwhile, Odo continues to wrestle with his inner conflicts — the Great Link or Kira? Unfortunately, his choices don’t carry the resonance that they ought to because the preceding episodes never really gave sufficient reasons for this conflict to begin with. As a result, it feels a bit forced (and is thoroughly predictable) that Odo has a change of heart and, at the last minute, swoops in to save Kira from a firefight with Jem’Hadar and Cardassian guards.

But change his heart Odo does — much to the resignation of the female Founder who continually tried to “seduce” him “clarity” from the Great Link. Their scenes, like Odo’s conflict, felt forced. And I think I finally understand why the Founder always seems so … off: What motivation do the Founders have to conduct war in the Alpha Quadrant? Is it merely their disdain for solids? They certainly have a great deal of interest in solids despite their oft-repeated statements that they are above solids. It’s a motivation that just hasn’t been made clear enough.

In any event, with Kira and Rom free to sabotage the station, they try to disable the weapons systems before the minefield is detonated. But their efforts are ill-timed. Rom disables the weapons moments after they’ve been used. With the minefield gone, the Jem’Hadar ships are free to pass through the wormhole. Sisko has no choice but to take the Defiant into the wormhole for a showdown — a last, desperate, suicide mission.

But the Prophets have other ideas.

Honestly, I’m not convinced that Sisko didn’t have the Prophets in mind when he went into the wormhole. But either way, they pull Sisko off of the bridge of the Defiant and confront him about his hostile actions. Ultimately he begs and pleads with them to act, noting that they once told him that they were “of Bajor.” They do so, but not without a price, telling Sisko that his Pagh will not find rest on Bajor (in direct contradiction to Sisko’s stated dream to make Bajor his home). The scene itself is interesting for how Sisko prods the Prophets to act as “gods.” And when all is said and done, the Dominion fleet simply disappears from existence.

The day is won.

But the story does not end there. The Dominion quickly makes its exist from DS9, as do the Cardassians. But the coda to this story centers on Dukat. With ultimate victory seemingly so close, only to be snatched away, his character quickly descends into a raving madness (all while he’s gripping Sisko’s baseball, no less). The performance itself is quite convincing. But Dukat’s losses haven’t finished. Before he leaves the station, he hunts for Ziyal, finds her, and is crushed to learn that she was pivotal in undermining his victory. Still, he wants to forgive her, to convince her to join him on Cardassia — until Damar, who had overheard the conversation, shoots Ziyal for being a traitor. With the death of his daughter, Dukat’s fall into madness is complete and he simply huddles over her body, waiting for the Federation to arrive.

Dukat’s performance here really puts an exclamation point on the episode. Just as the audience ought to be cheering for the downfall of the villain, Dukat’s pained expressions and exclamations over the death of his daughter automatically turn him into a tragic figure. It’s the episode’s best character-driven dramatic moment.

“Sacrifice of the Angels” is a thrilling, fitting ending to the Dominion arc that saw DS9 occupied by the Cardassians. It isn’t a perfect installment. But its epic, cinematic quality is a strong point, as is its focus on Dukat.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine