‘TIES OF BLOOD AND WATER’ (DS9)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
This episode resolves a character arc that happened with Major Kira in Season 3 as she reunites with her Cardassian father, Tekeny Ghemor. Yes! This is a sequel to the Season 3 episode ‘Second Skin’. 🙂
It was nice to see Lawrence Pressman back as Ghemor and reuniting with Kira here. Although Ghemor’s position on Cardassia has been jeopardised due to the new Cardassian-Dominion alliance!
Kira is very pleased to see Ghemor again and hope he’ll be able to be the new face of the resistance against the Dominion-controlled puppet government of Cardassia. But things aren’t that very simple.
Ghemor happens to be dying from a very rare terminal condition. He wants Kira to take part in a Cardassian tradition where he can reveal his secrets to her in order to use them against his enemies.
Kira is the person Ghemor trusts in because he regards her as family. She’s unsure about this at first, but Sisko encourages her to participate. Ghemor’s information could assist the Federation and Bajor.
Soon, Kira agrees to interview Ghemor at his death bed where he reveals his secrets. This episode also highlights Kira’s memories of her father who suffered during the Cardassian occupation of Bajor.
It’s intriguing to see how Kira interacts with Ghemor and treats her like a father in the same way she treated her real father. There is a difference to this of course. I’ll get into it more later in the review.
Meanwhile, Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat requests for Ghemor to be extradited to Cardassia. Dukat has now become the head of Cardassia’s Dominion government, something which he is pretty proud of.
Sisko brusquely rejects him though. Who can blame him? It’s clear that Sisko greatly despises Dukat from hereon after betraying the Federation by joining the Dominion. Dukat does not care of course.
Refusing to take no for an answer, Dukat visits the station along with Jeffrey Combs as Weyoun. Wait! Weyoun?! I thought Weyoun got killed in the Season 4 episode ‘To The Death’. We saw him! 😐
Oh! Apparently this isn’t the same Weyoun as in ‘To The Death’. The Weyoun we see here happens to be a clone as Vorta are genetically bred as clones. It’s something interesting about the Vorta here.
Dukat and Weyoun intend to take Ghemor back to Cardassia by any means. Dukat tries to offer Ghemor a chance to reunite with his real daughter Illiana. Ghemor refuses to accept Dukar’s offer. 😐
Dukat also gives Kira some incriminating information about Ghemor’s actions in a massacre at a Bajoran monastery. It ruins the father-daughter relationship that Kira and Ghemor had together. 🙁
Eventually, Dukat tries to deliver a bottle of poisoned liquor to Ghemor’s quarters until Sisko intercepts it. It was amusing once Weyoun drank the liquor himself and happens to be immune to it.
I think Kira was pretty hard on Ghemor since he was 19 at the time of the massacre and she’s letting her past fury get the better of her. Odo and Bashir even tell Kira that she is judging Ghemor harshly.
Kira spends little time caring for Ghemor as possible until Bashir tells her that her condition is getting worse. Kira seems not to care at first, but thankfully she does goes to Ghemor to be there at his side.
In the scenes where Kira recalls her own father’s death, apparently she chose to participate in a counterattack against the Cardassians rather than stay with him. She’d missed his death by minutes.
Kira shares with Bashir how being there for Ghemor at his bedside until he died helped her get over the pain of losing her own father and getting it right this time. That was a very well-emotional scene.
Once Dukat hears the news Ghemor is dead, he says to Sisko that he intends to tell the Cardassian public that Ghemor praised the Dominion with his last words and that he wants his body returned. 😐
Sisko rejects the request and it turns out that Kira has buried Ghemor on Bajor. It’s rather fitting that. The Cardassian who became Kira’s father in the series ends up being buried on Bajor instead. 🙂
‘Ties of Blood and Water’ is a very emotionally-charged episode featuring Major Kira’s character. It showcases her getting over a past hatred of Cardassians as well as getting over some past mistake. 🙂
Once again, Avery Brooks direct this episode. It’s amazing how certain ‘Star Trek’ actors get chosen to direct certain episodes and it’s fitting that Avery Brooks should direct this particular ‘DS9’ episode.
‘Ties of Blood and Water’ (DS9) rating – 8/10
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