'Sons and Daughters'~ Season six, episode three.
This episode explores the precarious bonds between parents and children as we see Alexander, the now adult son of Worf, return as a recruit on a Klingon ship that his father is serving on. Meanwhile, on a DS9 that is still occupied by the Dominion and the Cardassians, Ziyal tries to foster a friendship between her father Gul Dukat and Kira, who is intent on forming a Resistance to fight back for control of the station.
We haven't seen Alexander since he was a pre-adolescent boy in TNG and I had wondered if the producers had forgotten he even existed until this episode. In 'Sons and Daughters', however, he is no longer the child determined to embrace his human side and is instead desperate to be accepted as a Klingon and is bitter that his father never pushed him more in his childhood to learn the warrior ways, skills he is now lacking and leaving him struggling to be accepted by his Klingon peers. This offers a very interesting insight into the characters of father and son since in TNG, Deanna Troi often made Worf feel inadequate as a father for being so hard on Alexander while encouraging the boy to be human. Yet this episode makes it clear she was wrong to interfere in the father and son relationship whose culture she did not fully understand. It is a turn on the portrayal of Ben Sisko and Nog where Sisko did not approve of the way Nog was being raised yet did not interfere until the boy was old enough to decide for himself, resulting in a young man who became both comfortable in Ferengi and Federation culture.
Equally as compelling is the storyline set on DS9 where we see Ziyal further fleshed out into a likable, if slightly naive character torn between her love for her father and her sororal relationship with Kira. It is becoming continuing apparent that something has to give at some point, especially since Ziyal is also aware that Dukat is not a very moralistic person and her own allegiance has to lie with the Bajorans/Federation.
All in all, this is a well-depicted character-driven episode that nicely deals with familial relationships before the action-packed episodes that are to come later in the season.
This episode explores the precarious bonds between parents and children as we see Alexander, the now adult son of Worf, return as a recruit on a Klingon ship that his father is serving on. Meanwhile, on a DS9 that is still occupied by the Dominion and the Cardassians, Ziyal tries to foster a friendship between her father Gul Dukat and Kira, who is intent on forming a Resistance to fight back for control of the station.
We haven't seen Alexander since he was a pre-adolescent boy in TNG and I had wondered if the producers had forgotten he even existed until this episode. In 'Sons and Daughters', however, he is no longer the child determined to embrace his human side and is instead desperate to be accepted as a Klingon and is bitter that his father never pushed him more in his childhood to learn the warrior ways, skills he is now lacking and leaving him struggling to be accepted by his Klingon peers. This offers a very interesting insight into the characters of father and son since in TNG, Deanna Troi often made Worf feel inadequate as a father for being so hard on Alexander while encouraging the boy to be human. Yet this episode makes it clear she was wrong to interfere in the father and son relationship whose culture she did not fully understand. It is a turn on the portrayal of Ben Sisko and Nog where Sisko did not approve of the way Nog was being raised yet did not interfere until the boy was old enough to decide for himself, resulting in a young man who became both comfortable in Ferengi and Federation culture.
Equally as compelling is the storyline set on DS9 where we see Ziyal further fleshed out into a likable, if slightly naive character torn between her love for her father and her sororal relationship with Kira. It is becoming continuing apparent that something has to give at some point, especially since Ziyal is also aware that Dukat is not a very moralistic person and her own allegiance has to lie with the Bajorans/Federation.
All in all, this is a well-depicted character-driven episode that nicely deals with familial relationships before the action-packed episodes that are to come later in the season.