Nice conclusion to the opening 2 episodes :)
I seem to recall thinking 1st time round that something wasn't right with the negotiations and on further viewings it's of course obvious that they're not really happening :lol:
Odo's mixed feelings towards the Founders are expanded, when he finds out his people are The Dominion.
What a disappointment after the rather excellent Part I.
The trouble is that I felt it went just a bit too far in the fake DS9 scenes so that it was too obvious something was wrong. However, at least the Odo/Kira scenes were rather good, if inconsequential in the end :)
I can't remember many Star Trek two-parters where I didn't feel let down by the second half (Chain of Command springs to mind as an exception, and All Good Things if you count it as a 2-parter, and The Menagerie, of course). This is no exception, unfortunately.
Ultimately this episode is pretty boring, and I think it's largely because the woman playing the Changeling is so deadpan that she seems like she isn't the least bit interested. There's no feeling in her delivery, and when I felt that I should have been overjoyed for Odo and swept away by his joy at returning home I just found myself looking at the clock to see how much longer the episode had to run. Even after we find out that they are The Dominion there isn't a hint of menace about her performance, of which I think there should at least have been an undercurrent even if it wasn't full on.
Strangely, I remembered all of that side of the story but couldn't recall the "events" on the station at all, so that part was intriguing because I was wondering what the hell was going on. Withdraw from the Sector? Let The Dominion have DS9? WTF?? :o :lol: I enjoyed that part, even though the truth allowed it all to be wrapped up a bit too neatly.