Star Trek: Deep Space Nine comes to an end in its seventh and final season. Sisko embarks on a quest to reopen the wormhole and meets Dax’s new host Ezri, who comes to him for help, and the Dominion War takes several turns, leading to a climatic final battle. With the show coming to an end, several recurrent characters, such as Kor, the Grand Nagus, and Sloan, and the Mirror Universe, are given farewell episodes to wrap-up their stories; all leading to an ambitious 10-episode arc that culminates in one of the best television finales ever (a near perfect conclusion to the series). Still, not all of the episodes and storylines work, and there are some tonal problems balancing the A and B stories. Also, the replacing of Terry Farrell with Nicole de Boer as Dax creates some challenges. Yet while it has a few weaknesses, Season 7 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine proves to one of the strongest of the series, sending the show out on a high note.
Review by Alexander von LimbergBlockedParent2023-10-21T18:28:12Z— updated 2023-12-07T07:42:25Z
Not as good as season 6 (or 5). The first quarter of the season isn't very spectacular. Nothing like season 6's start. Mid-season, there are many mediocre episodes. Many of them seem to be leftover scripts from previous years. Honestly, that was expected. They need to fill 25 episodes per year and after seven years fatigue must kick in at one point. Much time is wasted to introduce new Dax. It's not her fault. Ezri is a new character in her own right and de Boer is a talented actress. But it's impossible to introduce a new character that late into the show that should use every episode to conclude the show's story arc. That said, the two episodes telling Nog's PTSD story are a highlight of the franchise. The solid The Siege of AR-558 sets the stage for It's only a Paper Moon which is probably the best holo-episode of the franchise.
The late game starting with Penumbra is exciting and quite satisfying. They know what they want to tell (since the season premiere, perhaps since the start of the show) and this pays off. It's a concise story line that once again shows how DS9 refused to focus on the weekly airing scheme and avoided meandering or incoherent story lines like in the final seasons of other shows in the franchise. Every major character gets a well deserved goodbye. Like no other show in the franchise, they celebrate the goodbye to our beloved characters over the course of multiple episodes. Yes, TNG had its wonderful poker scene (forget the subsequent movies) and Neelix (who was anything but likable) got a surprisingly emotional goodbye, but nothing beats DS9. In the end, I'm quite pleased with the "ends" they came up for the major characters. Even minor characters are not forgotten (although their stories tend to be more kitschy). It's not all an emotional goodbye though: the Dominion wars come to an end. And it's really spectacular action TV.
Now, watch the excellent documentary [What we left behind](/movies/what-we-left-behind-looking-back-at-star-trek-deep-space-nine-2018)