Finally, we have a major space battle on the show, and it was great, after dozens of filler episodes that didn't tell much. This is the main reason for my positive rating - I would have wished for more episodes like this in the series, but I guess that budgetary constraints made it difficult to achieve.
That being said, this could have been even better if not for the plot holes. Other reviewers (e.g. ericdreynolds) identified some of these, but what bothered me the most were:
Other than that, for the N-th time in Star Trek (not just DS9), the "Birds of Prey" save the day - it even rhymes, if you know what I mean. That's not a problem in itself, but this cliche is overused every time the going gets tough in a Star Trek space battle. It apparently became something of a "magic trick" to solve hopeless combat situations in the series.
That being said, this could have been even better if not for the plot holes. Other reviewers (e.g. ericdreynolds) identified some of these, but what bothered me the most were:
- the Odo switch to "the good guys" made as little sense as his switch to the "bad guys" in the first place. As a side note, "good/bad guys" is just an expression, because apart from not being genocidal like the Dominion, I don't think the Federation are the good guys by any means, after all, it was them who invaded the Gamma Quadrant, started to colonize it, and provoked the war by refusing to retreat to the Alpha Quadrant when asked nicely by the Dominion earlier in the show - something that seems to be forgotten entirely afterwards, in favor of the Dominion expansionist policy explanation for the conflict. Going back to the Odo storyline, someone called the writers lazy for making his behavior not believable, out of character and basically stupid in these later episodes, but I would use stronger words for such inept writing. It made no sense that after just two links with the female Changeling he would foolishly be so easily manipulated to side with the occupation force in 'Behind the Lines' (not even people in love fall that easily and change their behavior AND principles), and it equally made no sense that when the tides were turning on DS9, Odo would "miraculously" recover from the effects of the link by suddenly realizing that billions of people (Kira included) are eventually going to die in the hands of the Dominion in this war...after supposedly being blind to the matter beforehand - go figure.
- a ridiculous plot hole that wasn't mentioned in the other reviews was Sisko's resolve in the matter of the Dominion reinforcements from the Gamma Quadrant. This might be because it's not that easy to spot, but if you pay attention, you'll notice it. I don't know how to say this without spoiling minor bits in the episode, but I'll try to be vague enough to not make the resolve obvious. First, one of Sisko's officers asks him if he has a plan B if stopping the destruction of the minefield the conventional way fails. It appears that he has, only to discover later that this plan involves ... facing thousands of ships on his own (and this is confirmed by his attitude and reactions when dealing with the "Prophets" - this is where paying attention is important when watching). This "plan B" is not only stupid, but not worthy of a Starfleet cadet, let alone a "captain" and the admiral's right hand - even if we're talking about the Defiant. On the other hand, had his plan been to involve the prophets in the first place, that would have been reasonable. The problem (and the plot hole) lies in the fact that his conversations in the episode make it clear that this was NOT his plan...but instead he just wanted to be a kamikaze against thousands of Jem'Hadar ships, without ANY potential gain (and certain loss) for his side whatsoever.
Other than that, for the N-th time in Star Trek (not just DS9), the "Birds of Prey" save the day - it even rhymes, if you know what I mean. That's not a problem in itself, but this cliche is overused every time the going gets tough in a Star Trek space battle. It apparently became something of a "magic trick" to solve hopeless combat situations in the series.