The final season of Deep Space Nine opens with the suitably eventful “Image in the Sand.” It’s an episode which is a sprawling exploration of the fallout from the Season Six finale. As such, much of the episode feels slightly adrift, moving from one storyline to another without much to tie it all together. Still, these are all necessary developments, pushing the series closer to its final resolution. And there’s plenty of surprises to be had.

There are three primary stories: Sisko, Worf and Kira. And each of them get roughly the same amount of screentime. But like the Season Six finale, this is, ultimately, a story about Sisko — about his personal journey to find direction. To that end, he’s spent the past three months essentially cleaning clams and playing the piano at his father’s restaurant. It’s not until he receives a cryptic vision from the Prophets — a woman’s face buried in the sand on an alien planet, does he actually become motivated to actually *do* something.

As it turns out, he sees the face of his mother — his real mother — who had spent just a couple of short years with his father before mysteriously leaving. Sisko does receive something important from his mother in the form of a keepsake which, inexplicably, has ancient Bajoran text on it. It tells of an Orb of the Emissary, so Sisko decides to head off in search of it. But before he can do so, he’s attacked by a Bajoran who belongs to a cult which worships the pah-wraiths. So his son and father decide to join him on his trip.

In terms of execution, the story is interesting simply because Sisko has become such an interesting character over the course of the series. But his wallowing still seems insincere, particularly with the Dominion war continuing to rage. The revelation about his mother seems a bit melodramatic. Time will tell how genuinely it fits into the overall arc of the series.

Back on DS9, Kira, who has been promoted to Colonel, must confront a new complication as the administrator of the station: The Romulans are about to establish a presence on the station. At first, Kira and Cretak manage to find a slightly guarded measure of trust between them — with Kira even helping advocate in favor of a Romulan hospital on an uninhabited moon of Bajor. But matters become very tense when it’s discovered that the Romulans have fortified the hospital with torpedoes. This is, perhaps, the most naturally presented story in the episode, detailing the very real mistrust between the allies.

The final story involves Worf and his misery over not only the loss of Jadzia, but also over what he believes is her inability to get into Stovokor. It’s odd that Jadzia would be denied that right since she did, in fact, die in battle (she had pulled her phaser on Dukat before she was killed). And while the episode gives reasons for Worf’s behavior, the portrayal is just too … awkward. I mean, should we *really* be watching Worf listen to Vic Fontaine croon one of Jadzia’s favorite Sinatra songs … before Worf trashes to the holographic night club?

It does lead to some nice “friendship” moments as O’Brien and Bashir try and find out how to help Worf (which is nicely reminiscent of Wesley Crusher’s attempts in “The Icarus Factor”). And while I believe that Martok would welcome Worf on a dangerous mission … and while I believe Bashir would want to join Worf on that mission, I find it difficult to believe that Starfleet would simply let those two characters head off on such a mission. And then there’s O’Brien who also joins. Out of friendship, it makes sense. But what about thought of his family?

It is nice to see that Jadzia’s memory is so well-preserved in the episode. From Worf’s grieving to Sisko’s exasperated words wishing she was still there to help him through his problems. It’s a nice surprise, then, to see the introduction of Ezri Dax in the episode’s final moments.

“Image In The Sand” has some good individual plot and character moments. But there’s little to no balance across the entire episode.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine