See Also: 'Homefront' Episode Guide

Sisko and most of the crew go to Earth, where Sisko is informed of possible Dominion infiltration and asked to assist in drastic measures, including blood tests of civilians and recruitment of secret forces. The Federation president seems to be a bumbling, indecisive pushover, manipulated by evil admirals, and Odo is caught between suspicious elements.

Analysis:

While this episode did not much resemble DS9 in any of the incarnations I like, it reminded me of Classic Trek - in this case Star Trek 6. And I don't just mean because Admiral Cartwright was playing Sisko's father. It had the same icky paranoid Starfleet feeling, the same looming conspiracy, the same genteel and incompetent Federation president with untrustworthy scheming admiral sidekick, the same odd mix of family bonding and the end of the world as we know it.

Like Kirk always did, Sisko came off as the only tolerable figure in all of Starfleet, and I always enjoy gratuitous cameos from TNG players - in this case, Susan Gibney, utterly wasted and therefore making me wonder how in hell they ever considered casting her as Janeway when they did the search for an actress to star on Voyager. But I digress.

I'll get Kira out of the way early, just as the show did. New hairdo, even worse than the old one; they can't even leave the color alone, and she wears more lipstick than Deanna Troi. I would have liked her line about hoping the Prophets had opened the wormhole to reveal themselves if I could tell whether it was supposed to be a joke or not. One can never tell with Kira these days. Worf was much funnier immediately afterwards explaining that the Klingons killed their gods for being too much trouble. If the Prophets are really like what we saw in "Prophet Motive" last season, maybe the Bajorans should follow their example.

Dax had a lovely early scene with Odo which had only one thing wrong with it: that should have been Kira needling the shapeshifter. The situation had all the hallmarks of the relationship they've had for three years and appear to have forgotten about completely. Kira, come back, we miss you.

It's hard to review a prequel without the sequel - the preview looked promising, like maybe it's not the Dominion but a few idiot admirals taking over Earth - you'd think there must still be SOME political idiots in the 24th century who do things like shut down governments and spy on citizens. This episode did a good job at building suspense by not focusing on the conspiracy too much - lovely instead to see three generations of Sisko males (though, once again, there are not mothers anywhere, a Trek patriarchal staple).

Also nice to find out that Nog is being ostracized at Starfeet not for being a Ferengi, but for being a nerd. Odo got all the fun, creepy moments, though I felt that he was oddly objectified throughout the episode - having to perform for the president and then do the trick with the admiral in the park - the token shapeshifter brought in to demonstrate how easily changelings can "pass."

As Siskos go, Joseph was absolutely terrific pleading human rights, Benjamin really moved me when he almost burst into tears realizing that his father was NOT a shapeshifter, and Jake always impresses me - Sisko III's more consistent than a lot of the cast regulars, and is developing good comic timing. I hope they follow up on these threads and without some cliched stuff about security, family, peace on earth, etc.