Thursday, October 10, 2024

Section 31: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2024)

Episode o' the Day
"Sons and Daughters" (season six, episode three; 13 October 1997): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: The fatal flaw of Worf as a character is that he is a deadbeat dad, a product of the dying Gene Roddenberry's debased anti-family ideology during the creation of The Next Generation. Worf is the antithesis of Benjamin Sisko, a great father. "Sons and Daughters" is one of the only episode of Deep Space Nine to confront this flaw. Worf & his son, Alexander Rozhenko, achieve a degree of reconciliation, & Alexander is accepted into the House of Martok.

That's the son. The eponymous daughter is Tora Ziyal, the half-Bajoran daughter of Gul Dukat. Ziyal & her mother had been send to a neutral world in the last days of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, but had fallen into the clutches of Breen pirates. Dukat & Kira, who was searching for a friend who had been on the same doomed liner, joined forces to free Ziyal, & Kira convinced Dukat not to murder her, which he was going to do to protect his social standing ("Indiscretion," season four, episode four). Ziyal stayed with her father after the loss of his social standing ("Return to Grace," season four, episode fourteen), but Kira convinced Dukat not to take his daughter with him as he embarked on his personal war against the Klingons, & Ziyal moved to Starbase Deep Space 9, under Kira's protection. Dukat disowned Ziyal when she refused to join him when he sold out Cardassian to the Dominion ("In Purgatory's Shgadow" & "By Inferno's Light," season five, episodes fourteen & fifteen), but in "Sons and Daughters" they reconcile. Ziyal is dear to both Kira & Dukat, but Kira cannot submit to spend social time with Dukat, the aspiring conqueror of the Federation & dictator of the Alpha Quadrant. Kira does not ask Ziyal to choose between them, because, as she says, "There is no choice. He's your father."

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