Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
"Ties of Blood and Water"
Air date: 4/14/1997
Teleplay by Robert Hewwit Wolfe
Story by Edmund Newton & Robbin L. Slocum
Directed by Avery Brooks
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
"Still calling yourself Gul? I'm surprised you haven't promoted yourself back to Legate by now."
"I prefer the title 'Gul'; so much more hands-on than Legate. And less pretentious than the other alternatives: President, Emperor, First Minister Emissary."
"How about Dominion puppet?"— Sisko and Dukat
Nutshell: A nicely realized dose of sentiment with a tale of regret and an effective approach. Quite strong.
"Ties of Blood and Water" is another very good example of why DS9 has worked so well this season. We've got plenty of new plot lines and character situations, but nothing is left forgotten. Old wounds from the resistance days are still very remembered, and again they display their impact on a certain Bajoran major.
The story brings Tekeny Ghemor (Lawrence Pressman) back to the station as a follow-up of sorts to third season's impressive "Second Skin." In that episode, Kira and Ghemor were victims in an Obsidian Order plot to expose Ghemor as the leader of the dissident movement on Cardassia. The Obsidians surgically altered Kira to look like Ghemor's long-lost daughter. Their plot failed, and after the ordeal Kira and Ghemor recognized the common bond between them. Ghemor had forever lost his daughter, but he saw a memory—and thus a friend—in Kira.
Two-and-a-half years and several sweeping political changes later, Ghemor has left Cardassia. He has no intentions of living under the Dominion rule that Dukat pushed Cardassia into. He's also dying of a terminal illness. He intends to live out his days on DS9 in Kira's company, and he has a request: He wants to reveal his knowledge and secrets to Kira according to a Cardassian tradition. By agreeing to take on the responsibility, Kira would be giving Ghemor the only family support he has left. And it would also be a major intelligence opportunity for the Federation. Ghemor holds the secrets to Dukat's biggest weaknesses and the holes in his new alliance with the Dominion, which could prove very helpful to the Federation understanding the nature of Cardassian internal affairs.
"Ties of Blood and Water" primarily examines the nature of the relationship between Kira and Ghemor, but one notable peripheral aspect is how much this small character installment has to do with the "big picture." It's intriguing and completely believable to note that Dukat's alliance with the Dominion is not something that everyone on Cardassia supports. The implications of this are interesting, especially given the fact that the information Ghemor can supply to the Federation could be the genesis for future political intrigue.
The fact that Dukat contacts Sisko personally also proves to be a telling sign. Dukat wants Ghemor back; it's obvious Dukat fears what Ghemor has to say could undermine his new position. ("We want him back. He has a lot to answer for," Dukat merely explains.) In an effective scene that shows Sisko and Dukat back to their always-interesting verbal face-offs, Sisko denies Dukat what he wants, calling Dukat a "Dominion puppet" and flat-out telling him that the Federation no longer recognizes the Cardassian government.
That brings Dukat to the station personally, along with Vorta liaison Weyoun (Jeffrey Combs, reprising the role of the character killed in last season's "To the Death," resurrected here as a clone). Dukat changes his tune, asking Ghemor if he will come back to Cardassia willingly. Ghemor, naturally, is not receptive; nor is Kira. Plan C: Dukat sends a bottle of Cardassian ale to Ghemor's quarters, which security intercepts and discovers is poisoned. In a scene of wonderful dramatic tension that plays a number of notes perfectly, Sisko brings the poisoned ale back to Dukat and asks him to drink up. The resulting dialog creates a very entertaining scene featuring interestingly low-key performances where Avery Brooks and Marc Alaimo utilize facial expressions to speak tons more than what's said aloud. Weyoun, meanwhile, provides some wonderfully biting comic relief by mocking the entire situation. The moment when he knowingly drinks the poison (which he's immune to) is wonderfully handled in both shock value and the reactions of Sisko and Dukat. I'm not sure why I liked this scene so much, but it really worked. I think it was the nature of the three distinct personalities and how they punctuate the elements of the overall political intrigue. Or maybe it worked simply because it was so nicely acted.
But enough already. Turning back to what this episode is really about—that is the relationship between Kira and Ghemor and the implications ultimately revealed behind it—"Ties of Blood and Water" was pretty poignant in its meaning and its conveyance. About the only notable complaint I have involving this personal bond is how it came so far out of the blue. We've neither seen nor heard anything about Ghemor since "Second Skin," and it seems the same is true for both Kira and Ghemor concerning one other. Sure, they kept tabs on one another based on intelligence reports, but they haven't spoken in over two years. The last time we saw them together they seemed to be friends, but they didn't seem nearly as close as they do now.
Initially, the Kira/Ghemor scenes feel a tad too earnest, but as the episode progresses things begin to make sense—a lot of sense, really. The fact is, just as Ghemor saw Kira as his daughter in "Second Skin," here Kira begins to see her father in him. The fact Ghemor is dying in front of her really begins to hammer home long-surviving regrets that Kira has regarding her real father's death from years ago in the resistance. The episode's true beauty is how it goes about demonstrating the parallel between Kira's feelings for her father and her feelings for Ghemor.
Dialog scenes between Kira and Ghemor work fine in their own right; both Nana Visitor and Lawrence Pressman turn in sincere performances as Ghemor's condition slowly but steadily worsens. But the scripters' creation of a series of flashback scenes are what really makes the episode work on multiple levels rather than becoming the single-planed melodrama it could've been. Take, for example, the scene where Kira begins the first recording of Ghemor's secrets. Ghemor begins talking, but we can see Kira is troubled as the scene cuts to a flashback setting on Bajor where her father has been injured in a Cardassian attack. The episode doesn't reveal the entire tale of the past at once, but it does make the parallel clear. As a result, we can foreshadow where the episode is going, which makes the payoff at the end more rewarding.
As stand-alone scenes, the flashbacks are enlightening. I've long wanted to see something from Kira's actual resistance days on Bajor manifested on the screen, and here I get my wish. For consistency's and credibility's sakes, the flashbacks also feature the familiar Furel (William Lucking, whose character was killed off in "The Darkness and the Light")—who, at this point in time, had both arms.
The point of crisis in the story comes at the hands of Dukat's covert villainy. He supplies Kira with Ghemor's military records, leading Kira to force herself to poke into Ghemor's past—something she had never done before. She's infuriated to learn Ghemor served on Bajor during the Occupation—and that he was even involved in a massacre on a Bajoran monastery. However inconsequential his part in the deaths may have been (and the story suggests that it may very well have been extremely inconsequential), Kira finds the walls of anger before her again. She's angry at Ghemor for not telling her the truth. And she's even more angry at Dukat for his deliberate meddling is her affairs. I completely believed Kira's promise, and was equally disgusted by Dukat's smugness:
Kira: "I promise you, Dukat—I will make you pay for all of this one day."
Dukat: "Maybe ... but not today."
Bashir tries to talk Kira into forgiving Ghemor, but she resists Bashir's requests and contemplates leaving Ghemor abandoned in his final deathbed hours. The most fascinating aspect of the show is how it's not Kira's anger and hatred from the past that guides her decision and makes her incapable of facing Ghemor. It's what happened with her father all those years ago. After her father was mortally injured, Kira and her allies went charging after the Cardassian attackers for revenge. By the time she returned, her father was dead. Since then, she has carried the heavy burden of missing her father's final hour, and more—missing it intentionally because she simply couldn't deal with it.
The question is whether history will repeat itself. Naturally, it won't. That's the point. Kira's eleventh hour decision to sit with the dying Ghemor allows her to undo a mistake she made long ago. It's the proverbial second chance that not many people get, and she makes the best of it.
The way the teleplay highlights her decision by utilizing the flashbacks is what makes this such a nicely realized drama. My only hesitation is that some of the dialog in the coda between Kira and Bashir—while nicely acted—is not really completely necessary. The episode did such a good job of demonstrating its point dramatically that it probably didn't need to spend so much time explaining it verbally. But, then again, maybe dark regrets do indeed need to be borne out with the words of sorrow.
Previous episode: Business as Usual
Next episode: Ferengi Love Songs
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54 comments on this post
Sat, Nov 3, 2007, 10:16pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Jun 26, 2008, 3:02pm (UTC -6)
While I agree with Jammer that her final speech seemed forced and unnecessary, I think she rescued it with the passion of her acting. Her facial expressions while delivering the lines about Ghemor taking his last breaths were heartbreaking to watch.
Oh God, the poisoned drink scene! It was brilliant and so hilarious. I was still laughing minutes after it.
Mon, Jul 27, 2009, 2:53pm (UTC -6)
And then the way she snapped and lashed out at him--at that point, I wanted to physically SMACK her because what she did to him was so completely disgusting and wrong.
But the end, when she came around...I think that narration scene was necessary because we needed to see just how much she had let herself *feel*, while still allowing Ghemor the dignity to pass without us (the viewers) gawking. Kira had to redeem herself, as well as relate what happened; otherwise, I would not have accepted it.
In the end, it was incredibly poignant, powerful, and one of my favorite DS9 episodes, hands down.
Tue, Mar 30, 2010, 9:16pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Nov 17, 2010, 4:01pm (UTC -6)
(As an aside, though it would have distracted entirely from the episode, I'd have found it very amusing to watch Dukat actually attempt to attack DS9 with one lone battlecruiser)
Wed, Dec 22, 2010, 7:26pm (UTC -6)
I don't even know where to start with Jeffrey Combs in this one... if Nana Visitor hadn't brought her A game, he would have stolen the show.
Sat, Dec 25, 2010, 11:42pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Dec 28, 2010, 9:57pm (UTC -6)
I was also a little disturbed by Kira's smile after Ghemor's rejecting of Dukat's offer--he had just gone through a bit of an emotional crisis wherein he was given promise about Ilyana, but it seems like all she cares about is that he refused. It's not a comment about her character but it is another example of the strange acting/directing choices in this show--it's not the first time someone laughed or smiled at an inappropriate moment. I'm not quite sure what to make of it...
What I don't like about Dukat, despite his deliciousness as a villan, is that it seems like all the character work over the years was a charade--he's been this opportunist all along, but the show went out of its way to make him sympathetic. Was it all for the "big reveal" that he'd allied Cardassia with the Dominion? That seems like a big waste (of course that's nothing compared to the depths to which they will plunge him ludicrously by the next season...soul catchers, I mean Pa' Wraiths...someone call Tom Cruise).
Tue, Jan 4, 2011, 6:02pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Feb 4, 2011, 12:28pm (UTC -6)
This episode has a great moment when Weyoun drinks the poison Combs just sells that scene so well
Tue, Apr 3, 2012, 10:54am (UTC -6)
I don't know why, but I loved it when she chucked that teacup at him before delivering her threat. Nana Visitor was outstanding in that scene.
Sun, Jun 24, 2012, 12:22am (UTC -6)
Tue, Oct 2, 2012, 9:38am (UTC -6)
Sun, Mar 24, 2013, 8:29pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Aug 23, 2013, 9:58am (UTC -6)
Even Brooks pulled off a quite good performance here! (yes, I'm one of those people who think Brooks' acting is, in general, an embarassement to the show)
Combs as the curious, intrigued and light-hearted Weyoun is simply wonderful! What a great charisma that man has on screen!
And Visitor as Kira ... wow, that lady can act circles around most other good actors! The scene where she gets right up in Dukat's face, threatening him in a barely restrained tone of voice - she gets that seething fury across so well that I was half expecting her to rip out Dukat's throat!
And, of course, both Alaimo as Dukat and Pressman as Ghemor also deliver stellar performances.
I'm watching the show for the first time (all seven seasons of it) on DVD. This show has so many wonderful actors, in leading as well as supporting roles - with great characters for them to play! And the production is of a really high standard.
I'm completely hooked!
Sun, Aug 25, 2013, 7:00pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Oct 26, 2013, 10:16am (UTC -6)
5/10
Sat, Dec 21, 2013, 10:09pm (UTC -6)
Good script and acting from the support actors though and goes to show that when Avery Brooks dials it down he can be convincing, good use of all the guest stars actually. 2.5 Stars from me.
Fri, Feb 28, 2014, 1:43am (UTC -6)
4 stars.
Thu, Aug 14, 2014, 11:57am (UTC -6)
Sooooooooo glad Weyoun because a reocurring character, "that was quite toxic, wasn't it?" was classic and telling of the character moving forward.
Again, Kira just seems so damn 'real' to me in episodes like this.
Great episode, 3.5 for me.
Mon, Aug 25, 2014, 7:59pm (UTC -6)
Ok.
Thu, Sep 18, 2014, 8:18am (UTC -6)
There are minor flaws in this episode, such as having one line too many about Kira being all Ghemor has left. We get it. And, maybe not a fault of the episode, but I really feel its earnestness would have benefited from a middle chapter somewhere between "Second Skin" and now. "Ties" suggests Kira and Ghemor probably have had contact, but something more than that would have been welcome.
That said, it's a really solid episode with good character work for both Kira and Dukat. The Ghemor plot dovetails nicely into the show's current events, showing how rich and thoughtfully plotted DS9 is on the whole. Dukat's attempts to silence/convince Ghemor to return were satisfyingly treacherous (especially pulling out the daughter bait, at which Ghemor doesn't bite). The scene in Kira's quarters was so well done, played very viscerally by Visitor and Alaimo. It's obvious Kira hates Dukat, but there's something about the scene that just festers (it's the teacup she throws) that gives it the added kick.
Some last touches I really enjoyed:
-Weyoun having too much fun. He's just with Dukat because it's his job. He's probably seen the man's posturing in a hundred other would-be dictators the Dominion have puppeted over the years.
-The Cardassian propaganda machine. Dukat mentioning Ghemor's "conversion" is such a foul PR spin that it's to be expected at this point. Ghemor won't be buried on Cardassian soil, but his name will still sadly be used in the way he hoped to fight against.
Honestly, this one is an easy three but gets an extra half star for dangling and treating so many plot and character threads at once - so, 3 1/2 stars! A hidden gem in the pantheon of great DS9 hours.
Tue, May 5, 2015, 11:38pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Jul 19, 2015, 9:08pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 5:42pm (UTC -6)
Consider what would have happened if that had been one of the poisons Vorta weren't immune to, though...
Wed, Dec 9, 2015, 1:33pm (UTC -6)
"Still calling yourself Gul? I'm surprised you haven't promoted yourself back to Legate by now."
When was Dukat a Legate? As far as I can remember, Dukat has always been a Gul, from being the prefect of Bajor, to commanding the 3rd (?) Order, to advising the Detapa Council, to commanding the Groumall, to taking Cardassia into the Dominion and being the leader of Cardassia. I assumed for quite a while that Gul was his first name...
Wed, Jan 13, 2016, 10:46pm (UTC -6)
Now, in some ways, it is something of a "plot twist" that the information that Dukat gives Kira about Ghemour's death was not the "real reason" she was avoiding Ghemour, but merely a pretext. And yet.... The episode is so busy that it's easy to miss it, but what happens at this point is that Kira is getting secrets from Ghemour, because of her close relationship with him. Dukat then poisons that relationship, and Kira is angry at Ghemour, at which point she stops talking to him. Then Bashir says that there's no more time to talk secrets. So either:
1) Kira and Ghemour had already finished covering all Ghemour's secrets by the time Dukat got to Kira to poison her against Ghemour, so that Dukat only thought he did harm but didn't really; or
2) Kira and Ghemour were not done, which means that Kira let Dukat get under her skin to the point of actively hurting the Alpha Quadrant -- letting Ghemour's secrets go unexpressed -- without even bothering to find a replacement for her "hearing secrets" job. And she does so without anyone calling her on it, or, if they call her on it, it's cryptically (ala Odo) or for reasons unrelated to the big security threat that she is supposed to be working on as the station's first officer (ala Bashir). I think this is the more likely one.
Meanwhile, in that scene with Dukat, Kira is genuinely *very angry* -- nearly feral with him. And that works best if Kira were *really genuinely stung* by the revelations about Ghemour. Now, I get the impression that we are meant to believe that *consciously*, Kira was quite upset with Ghemour about his past, but deep down she was using that anger as a shield to protect herself from the pain of seeing a father figure die. And yet, that pain of discovery, and the anger at recognizing that Dukat took something that was pure and polluted it, loses something when it turns out Kira can shake off the revelation about Ghemour like a synthehol hangover. That's sort of the problem: it somehow does not track to me that Kira is sufficiently upset about Ghemour's past to be able to use it as a pretext to let him die alone and to stop doing her fate-of-the-Alpha Quadrant *job*, but not so upset that she can't dismiss it as entirely unimportant when she gets to the real meat of her dilemma, *even knowing* that she is not fully conscious of what is really scaring her until toward the end.
Ghemour's importance to Kira was that he was a Good Cardassian, one who was even in power (as opposed to Marritza), but the episode pushes the parallel with Kira's father so much that as the episode goes on, everything else drops away -- Ghemour's secrets which are potentially devastating enough for Dukat and Weyoun to show up in person to poison him, the revelation that Ghemour was not the perfect man and that he has blood on his hands like other Cardassians -- until it's just Kira getting a chance to deal with her father's death right this time. Now, there are good things here, and I like how the *violence* of the Occupation serves as a smokescreen for Kira both times (either actively fighting, as in the past, or being "angry" and stewing over old fights in the present). But this kind of leaves Kira-Ghemour as being mostly just a way for her to work out her father issues, unless you really buy that Kira and Ghemour have that close a relationship in the present. To be honest, I would rather have Kira actually work through and realize that she can forgive Cardassians who did bad things during the Occupation rather than have Odo basically tell her that she doesn't really care. And if I thought that this episode was really about Kira-Ghemour, I would want that processing to really happen, for Kira to deal with Ghemour as the Good Cardassian figure that she's idealized, rather than a reincarnation of her father.
To some extent, Kira dealing with Ghemour's death as Ghemour and Ghemour's death as her father, mark II could work in tandem, and for a while it looks like the episode is going to balance it all, but at some point it lets most of the story drop away, culminating in Ghemour being buried beside Kira's father. And while I know that Ghemour considered Kira "like a daughter" and he had nowhere else to go, the final shot makes me uneasy rather than filling me with joy; it's as if Ghemour really is *only meaningful* in that he is a figure through whom Kira can work out her father issues, and even the particular ways in which Kira related to Ghemour as a person -- some of which included the Good Cardassian figure, the shared interest in hurting the Cardassian-Dominion alliance -- were basically irrelevant. Kira and Ghemour may have had a lot of affection for each other, but they have very rarely interacted together except when talking politics, from the impression I get, and so the final act's totally eschewing all the political material also throws out most of what we've seen Kira and Ghemour interacting and talking about. It may simply be that I have a hard time quite accepting the premise that Kira and Ghemour are as close as the episode implies; to me, it makes much more sense that Ghemour projects Iliana onto Kira, and Kira projects her father onto Ghemour, and that they respect and like each other, and that their shared experiences through which they have actually bonded *as them* all have to do with intrigue and being shared victims of cloak-and-dagger politics, a shared bond by virtue of being rebels (dissident/Resistance). That she was fighting the Cardassians while she was a teenager and he was a true believer really does matter on that score, not so much that she should leave him to die, but so much that I think that if I am to believe the Kira-Ghemour bond I really would like to see some actual follow-up in how Kira incorporates that knowledge into her view of him. The final over-explaining monologue where Kira and Bashir talk for minutes about how Ghemour's death was like her father's doesn't really help to maintain the value the Kira-Ghemour bond had as its own thing.
I hope I am explaining this well, because it does bother me but I do see a lot of good here -- the basic idea that Kira really has these traumas which impact the present is solid. The episode just feel short for me in pulling the emotional threads together, and as a result I was kicked out of the story, despite having a strong first half and some good elements throughout. I want to also add that Dukat is really, really delicious here though, and Weyoun is a riot. 2.5 stars from me.
Wed, Jan 13, 2016, 11:01pm (UTC -6)
A lot of the problems I have with this episode are minor versions of the much bigger problems I have with next year's "Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night," so, stay tuned! (On the plus side for *that* episode, I find Meru more fully realized in "Wrongs..." than I do Ghemour here.)
Thu, Jan 14, 2016, 5:58pm (UTC -6)
The Federation is not at war with the Dominion (or their Cardassian subsidiary). This is currently a cold war, with no shots being fired. Dukat is making demands and veiled threats to see what he can get away with, because he knows the Federation doesn't want a real war. But the Dominion doesn't want a war either (at least not yet), so there aren't any immediate consequences when Sisko fails to yield to the demands.
If you want a historical analogy using a recognizable figure from history, this would be like Khrushchev going to America during the Cold War. And, yes, that happened.
The politics of this episode are well-done.
Sun, Jan 17, 2016, 12:09pm (UTC -6)
If you think the politics are well done, you know very little of real world politics.
Sun, Jan 17, 2016, 1:56pm (UTC -6)
Nations host diplomats from countries that make threats all the time. China, for instance, regularly makes threats to the US and several Asian countries concerning Taiwan, the Dalai Lama, Ocean boundaries, and other items. Their president still comes to America. Before World War II in Europe, both sides had full embassies in the nations of their soon-to-be enemies up until the month before all-out war started, and some diplomatic staff were still present when the war started. Russia still has an embassy in the Ukraine despite annexing a portion of the country and supporting armed forces seeking to seize control of a bigger portion. Smaller nations around the world make threats to their neighbors concerning borders, shared resources, treatment of its citizens, etc. Even when tensions get quite high, there can be high-level diplomatic exchanges, and war does not always break out.
The fact that the Federation & Dominion have not exchanged ambassadors makes it even more certain the Federation would not miss an opportunity to have a face-to-face meeting with people representing the Dominion. That nothing productive happened from the meeting is not unsurprising, but that doesn't mean it was wrong to try.
Sun, Jan 24, 2016, 9:18am (UTC -6)
Indeed, the highlights in the programme revolve not around the central story but the little confrontations that spin off of it - Kira and Dukat, where it's good to see the ass-kicking Kira back again - and Sisko/Dukat/Weyoun, which is a rare pleasure. 2.5 stars.
Tue, May 17, 2016, 5:19am (UTC -6)
Meanwhile the episode also offers a return to Cardassian politics following its absence since Dukat's deal with the devil. This was easily the best part of the episode. Dukat in his new role was both fun and intimidating. We also get the reintroduction of Weyoun, which is quite possibly one of the best decisions ever made on "Deep Space Nine". Weyoun is a remarkably enjoyable character and Jeffrey Combs always delivers the goods acting-wise - he can even make Brunt a somewhat intimidating villain when the situation allows him to - so I'm perfectly fine with retconning an entire alien species just to bring him back. The "quite toxic" scene is definitely a stand-out - dramatic, full of tension and intrigue, wonderfully acted by all involved, and genuinely funny when it needs to be.
WTF HAIR - 33 (+1)
8/10
Sat, Nov 12, 2016, 12:45pm (UTC -6)
The plot itself was good, although it didn't do a lot for me.
I thought it had been established that Kira was orphaned before she joined the resistance at age 14?
Shouldn't Sisko and all the federation brass have been pressuring Kira to make a little more of this intelligence opportunity? Walking off the job should have cost her a few demerits.
Just because Kira decided to walk out on him, shouldn't there at least have been a nurse or a volunteer or someone there with him when he was dying? There's a lot of space between dying while holding your adopted daughter's hand and dying completely alone in a room.
I've never understood the concept of clones taking over at the same age as the predecessor died. Aren't clones born as babies the same as anyone else? Or are there 10,000 Weyouns running around at the same time and it's just coincidence that one of the twins is assigned to Cardassia? Do the clones somehow inherit the memories of the predecessor? If they don't, shouldn't they have different names since they are actually different people with the same genes?
Fri, Dec 2, 2016, 10:59pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Sep 2, 2017, 10:55pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Mar 13, 2018, 2:15am (UTC -6)
There's just no way a ship of any kind (uncloaked obviously) should be that close to the station before anyone makes a decision, especially if its weapons are armed. Surely the person in charge in Ops can order a defensive posture the moment a ship approaches with weapons armed.
Thu, Jul 26, 2018, 7:49pm (UTC -6)
I thought it was odd that Sisko would even allow Dukat and Weyoun on DS9. But I guess war technically hasn't broken out. But even more strange was allowing these 2 to see the dying Ghemor -- Dukat even tries to poison him in an underhanded way. Dukat is an outstanding character -- the tricks he tries to silence Ghemor, undermine Kira's faith in Ghemor -- well concocted stuff.
What was up with Weyoun here? Playing dabo, drinking poison, being a goofball in general -- didn't seem appropriate given the weight of this episode. But the poison scene between Dukat and Sisko was terrific -- just to see their reactions and especially when Weyoun drank the poison.
Intriguing use of the flashbacks -- at first it wasn't clear what the connection was but the ending makes it crystal clear. Can understand Kira's regret about her father's death and the chance to get it right. I take a slight issue with her doing a 180 thinking Ghemor lied to her and turning away from him even as others seemed to say he didn't have that big a role to play in the massacre at the monastery. Who knows. But she comes around for her own purposes. Nice ending with her burying Ghemor on Bajor and not giving the body to Dukat.
Good enough for 3 stars for "Ties of Blood and Water" -- strong character story for Kira and a well-constructed episode that touches on a number of DS9 themes and past stories. Had some classic encounters between Dukat and Kira/Sisko but it dragged at times for the Ghemor/Kira parts. Weyoun comes across as a clown -- hard to take him seriously. Good to get back to what's at the heart of DS9 after 3 mediocre outings since "By Inferno's Light".
Fri, Aug 24, 2018, 12:32pm (UTC -6)
3 stars.
Sun, Aug 26, 2018, 7:08pm (UTC -6)
I always figured that Weyoun goes in for frequent "brain scans" to have his current memories recorded, and then if he dies, they simple "grow" another Weyoun and then "upload" all the memories of the previous Weyoun into his brain. The growth of the clone is probably accelerated to get him the right age, or maybe Vorta are just genetically engineered to mature very fast. After all, we know the Jem'Hadar are genetically engineed to grow from birth to adulthood in 3 days, maybe Vorta are designed similarly.
Tue, Jan 22, 2019, 1:58pm (UTC -6)
A good character growth ep. Some nice background on Kira that fits nicely with what we've seen of her.
The writers don't seem to trust us much, as we again get very explicit exposition - Weyoun (beautifully done) lets us know there's innuendo in that scene between Sisko and Dukat . . . Odo tells us Kira is trying to run from death once again, using the old war record as an excuse . . . Kira tells us she was feeling guilty about missing her father's death and so she couldn't miss Ghemor's . . .
Good God. And were the characters also being compared to any characters in Les Miserable we should know about?
Sometimes poisoning works, sometimes it doesn't. We see various types in this ep. How clever is Dukat, poisoning Kira's relationship with Ghemor, with that old war record? He knows our girl. Or does he? It almost works, but ultimately, like Weyoun, she swallows, and she can tell it's toxic, but it doesn't kill her. Her constitution is stronger than that.
What could have been a truly excellent ep is made less with dumbing down, but a good outing overall.
Fri, Aug 23, 2019, 1:48am (UTC -6)
...I couldn’t really get THAT into it because I just don’t buy that Ghemor and Kira are as close as father and daughter; it’s pretty ridiculous tbh.
The whole sharing of Cardassian secrets thing was a stretch too; apparently these secrets can only be shared verbally, face-to-face while experiencing severe mortal pain. Ghemor is such a drama queen.
Tue, Oct 1, 2019, 12:48am (UTC -6)
This was a terrible episode IMO. It was predictable cliché-ridden dialogue. Also, a bit unbelievable that Kira and Ghemor could feel that close to one another, like father and daughter, after all they don't really know each other that well.
Predictability - I knew Ghemor was going to say he was dying before he said it. I think it was just his demeanor and they way he was talking to Kira but I said, out loud, "I'm dying" just before Ghemor said it. Also, when Ghemor offered Kira the Cardassian secrets and because this is DS9, I knew Kira would at first decline. This is melodrama, poorly built conflict, or conflict arising for no good reason. Of course Kira would want to hear Cardassian State secrets! But no, it's a soap opera so she's got to say 'no' until someone (Sisko) talks her into it. Why wouldn't she want to hear these secrets? She still has lots of resentment towards Cardassians and the Cardassians are more of a threat now than ever. Silly.
I will say that I didn't see it coming that Kira would become angry at Ghemor during the episode, but I knew she'd go back and sit by his bed, predictable.
After Ghemor died Kira was talking to Bashir and uttered 3 cliché's with 60 seconds. One was "he didn't even know I was there." Of course Bashir had to say, "yes he did, blah blah blah". I forgot the other two statements but they were back to back to back. This kind of writing doesn't have weight, it's hackneyed, been done to death. Oh well.
An aspect of the episode that I thought wasn't good or bad was Kira deciding to allow Dukat's obvious attempt at separating her from Ghemor to work temporarily. I mean, it's obvious what Dukat is doing; he gives Kira a juicy piece of info about Ghemor during the war, hoping she'll get angry and reject Ghemor, leaving him defenseless. At this stage of the game Kira must have known that Ghemor participated in violence during the war and by now she either must have decided to forgive Ghemor or not. This is a situation where I'm trying to climb into Kira's mind, which is impossible, but I still thought it odd that Kira would allow Dukat to play her.
On a positive note Nana Visitor, the actor playing Ghemor, and Alaimo's acting were great!
1 star for production value and some good acting.
Tue, Oct 1, 2019, 1:21am (UTC -6)
*chuckles* You are actually hate watching, aren't you?
"At this stage of the game Kira must have known that Ghemor participated in violence during the war and by now she either must have decided to forgive Ghemor or not."
In general you seem to overlook a lot. They clearly indicate at the beginning that they stayed in contact and are close. I could go more into it but I'm a little pressed for time. What you didn't get apparently is that she let Dukat manipulate her because she didn't want to sit there and witness the death of somebody she at least had deep emotional connection with. She didn't want to see him die because of the traumatic experience with her parents.
But I agree with you that it was really good acting. :)
The episode moved me quite a bit. I could relate to it on a personal level, though. Melodrama or not.
Tue, Oct 1, 2019, 5:22am (UTC -6)
Curious. It's the younger generation that seems now most strident to me.
Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 4:41am (UTC -6)
Weyoun is kind of fantastic, isn't he? You really get the impression that he's constantly holding himself back from fits of manic giggling.
Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 4:46am (UTC -6)
Sun, Feb 16, 2020, 7:03am (UTC -6)
And this time, the coin came up tails.
There's some good things in this episode. Kira's scene with Dukat is well done, and while I'm not that keen on Weyoun as a character, he does some excellent sniping in his conversations with Sisko and Ducat. And Kira's monologue at the end about Ghemor's last few minutes is both heartfelt and (having sat with people in similar situations) sadly all too realistic.
And the foster-father setup between Kira and Ghemor makes some sense, even if after their original meeting (two in-universe years earlier) there's no indication that they'd had any further direct interactions or communications, but instead just monitored media and security reports.
But did we really need to tie all of this into another Kira flashback? One that's about as subtle as a horde of drunken Klingon warriors in a china shop? And did we really need Dukat to throw in his little bombshell and thereby push Kira back into her original "revolutionary" persona?
Overall, this is one episode which has many great parts, but for me, the sum isn't quite what it should be.
Tue, Jun 30, 2020, 1:27am (UTC -6)
It's true that they wouldn't stand a chance. But actually, Dukat, Weyoun, and the audience don't know that. Until "Call to Arms", we all still think Federation shields are useless against Dominion weapons. DS9 has no ablative armour. Even with armour, the Defiant could barely hold off against a few (small) Jem'Hadar attack ships ("The Search"). While the station is armed to the teeth, if its shields were ineffective, its civilians (or even Ops) would be in real danger from a Jem'Hadar ship of that firepower. It's a real threat. Foolhardy perhaps. But threatening.
Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 12:32am (UTC -6)
Fri, Nov 6, 2020, 5:08pm (UTC -6)
This episode has three little plot-lines. In one, Sisko, Dukat and Weyoun wander about the station, talking politics and insulting one another with great skill. The dialogue here is simply wonderful, particularly Dukat's insults ("I prefer the title Gul. So much more hands-on than Legate. And less pretentious than the other alternatives: President, Emperor, First Minister, Emissary.")
The episode's second plot-line watches as Kira bonds with Tekeny Ghemor, learns that he killed Bajorans, grows to despise him, and then grows to forgive him. Though a bit slow in places, it's a very good arc, culminating with yet another moment in which Kira is asked to "soften" and "re-evaluate" her hatred of Cardassians.
The episode's least successful arc involves a series of flashbacks. Here we watch as a young Kira fights in the Resistance, kills Cardassians and loses friends and family. Several heavy-handed scenes then echo the death of Kira's father, which Kira missed due to her hatred of Carassians, with the death of Tekeny Ghemor, which Kira is present for because of her newfound love of Ghemor. DS9 often gets too cute with its narrative parallels, too in love with neat screenplay structures, and that's arguably the case here as well.
Still, this worthy episode with several strong emotional scenes. It also works well as a kind of thematic sequel to "The Darkness and the Light". Incidentally, Dukat gets a Dominion battle cruiser in this episode; he's goes from a old space freighter to a Bird of Prey to a giant battle cruiser over the course of just two seasons. Not bad.
Tue, Feb 1, 2022, 12:53pm (UTC -6)
Ghemor's own real daughter was a deep undercover agent on Bajor, and he was fully aware of this. That alone made him complicit to some degree.
Great Weyoun, Sisko and Dukat stuff. I had the same reaction that The Sisko and Dukat had to Weyoun drinking the poisoned liquor!
I mildly wonder if Dukat would have sold out to the Dominion if he had heard the chilling "Cardassia is dead, dead, dead" speech the Founder have Garak.
Probably, because he's so arrogant and would believe he could control them.
Sun, Mar 20, 2022, 11:29pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Jun 22, 2023, 3:25pm (UTC -6)
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