Mini Review #107: Star Trek DS9 3x21/3x22 "The Die is Cast" and "Explorers" (Patreon)

WOW. Two more great episodes of DS9! One insane-o thrilling episode that blew my mind out of my skull and the other one being a fun father son adventure.

The Die is Cast was a magnificent ending to the two parter that I had been hotly anticipating since last weeks surprise cliffhanger. I don't even know where to begin with this episode it was so jam packed with goodies. Let us start with the ending then as that was the most exciting part. I KNEW that all of these ships would be destroyed by the Jem'Hadar (it wasn't really a hard guess to be honest), but I wasn't expecting the Founders to know about the plan from the beginning. The reveal that the Romulan commander is actually a Founder who has been working with Tain for a long time trying to get the plan into action was so insane and shocking. Watching the fleet get destroyed was beautiful and mind blowing as the Dominion are more terrifying than ever now. The best part of this battle however, was watching the Defiant blast its way past phasers and Jem'Hadar ships. There were some really cool shots of the Defiant flying through phasers and past exploding Warbirds... just awesome stuff. This episode was also a great Odo and Garak episode and made me realize just how similar those two are. Seeing Garak torture Odo was actually scary but it was also cool to see how conflicted Garak was doing that. His desire to be 'home' with the Cardassians against his desire to help his friend was very noticeable and perfectly encapsulated Odo's desire to be with the Founders and with his friends on DS9. The final moments of the episode as well with Garak talking to Odo in his destroyed shop felt very layered but it also felt like a bond had formed between the two of them that wasn't there before. Tain is also dead so there is that. Don't have anything else to really add besides that I am glad he is gone. Finally, Eddington was back and I still mostly didn't like him.

Explorers was a cute and fun episode that I think was strategically places after The Die is Cast to give the audience a chance to breath. After such an overwhelming and intense episode, Explorers was a fun Sisko Jake adventure through the stars on a solar sailer. I really loved watching them bond this episode and there were a few great parent/son moments. When Sisko gave Jake a hug after he asked to be on board it made me tear up a little. Also, and I have to mention this.. SISKO HAS A GOATEE BEARD THING WHAT THE HECK!! I don't know if he is gonna keep it (don't tell me) but I think it would be funny that at the moment DS9 starts to get insanely good (at least from what people say), he gets a new haircut. Reminds me of Riker and TNG. Anyways, Jake got into a writing school which felt like a long time coming and I loved how his primary concern about going was his father being lonely. Such a nice kid. The whole sailing stuff was fun and the ship looked beautiful. There was also a nice Bashir subplot involving the top student from his grade visiting the station. It was fun to see him to stressed about her visit and his drunken song with O'Brien was legendary. That's all I have to say about this one really. Nothing incredibly special but just a nice little breather after the previous monster of an episode.