453. PenumbraFORMULA: Change of Heart + Looking for Par'mach + tons of bits and pieces
WHY WE LIKE IT: The Breen. Sisko's deserved happiness.
WHY WE DON'T: Sarah. Ezri's comedy static.
REVIEW: Part 1 of 9, Penumbra by necessity sets up the threads to run through to the finale, but its pace is sometimes maddeningly slow and events are revealed by an eye dropper. The main story about Ezri searching for Worf, when we know Worf can't have died offstage lacks tension (except sexual tension) for example, though the two of them sniping at each other, releasing pent up anger, has its moments. Eventually, Ezri's frustration and Worf's jealousy (this time over Captain Boday - but note Bashir's own distaste) come to a boil and they forget themselves and sleep together. We saw in Rejoined how the attraction this kind of thing had on a trained initiate like Jadzia, so it makes sense for Ezri to give in, but it still feels a bit cheap and hardly respectful to Jadzia's memory.
Just when the thread appears to be largely irrelevant to the Dominion War arc, the Breen show up in their really weird ship to capture the couple. Though this part of the ongoing story will indeed focus on bringing closure to their relationship, its true purpose is to keep tabs on an evolving situation behind the lines.
Sisko's thread has him start plans to build his house on Bajor, despite the Prophecy that he would never know rest there. It's a reflective scene that examines his destiny, one he aims to share with Kasidy Yates. One marriage proposal later and he gets visited by a Prophet vision. Not only can he never rest on Bajor, but if he marries Kasidy, he will know nothing but sorrow (another of those prophecies that doesn't quite mesh up to later events). Unfortunately, instead of the usual vision with cast members standing in for Prophets, we have Sarah Sisko, his Prophet mother, speaking the whole. Thing. In. A. Monotone. No Prophet has ever been this robotic, and I'm sorry to say her stilted voicework takes something away from the scene.
Meanwhile, on Cardassia, Damar is getting progressively more fed up with the Dominion. Cardassian casualties are mounting and he's being sidelined more than ever by the new Weyoun (played colder and stricter than previous clones, needling him doesn't produce the same exchange of pleasantries). The Founders are still sick, and have taken to executing Vorta doctors to refresh perspectives on their research. The war itself isn't going badly, but it isn't going well. Keep alert for the only mention of Son'a outside the TNG films as well. This thread doesn't advance things so much as recap them, but there's also the seed of a fourth story as Dukat has himself surgically altered to look like a Bajoran. So the balls are in the air, let's see in what direction they spin.
LESSON: Your mother is unlikely to like the girl you're marrying.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: Face it, from now on, it's a big 9-part finale, and if you want to watch one, you should pretty much watch them all. But I'll be giving ratings to each piece anyway, and Penumbra is mostly a slow set-up without much suspense.
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