DS9: In The Hands of the Prophets

         Finally DS9 is getting back to its "main" story. I remembered that first season was mostly stand alone episodes, but I had forgotten that it is really only stand alone episodes. When future Kai Winn showed up in the first scene I was shocked we hadn't met her before the final episode in the first season. She is eventually one of the most important characters in the series and this episode that introduces her as a two faced murderer isn't far from where she ends up. 
         The episode opens in Keiko's school where she is teaching the children about the wormhole she she is interrupted by Vedek Winn, a Bajoran religious leader who objects to her characterization of the wormhole creatures as aliens rather than prophets. Keiko goes to Sisko but other than supporting her he can't really do much about it. Meanwhile Miles is getting along well with his new assistant Aquino who is Bajoran. He notices one of his tools is missing and since it is used to interface with secure systems on the station he starts working to find it. Sisko visits the Vedek at the local shrine and she refuses to back down and expresses her disdain that the prophets should choose an outsider to be the one they contacted. 
         Sisko decides to try a different tactic on the school and contacts Vedek Bareil, a moderate and the leading candidate to be the next Kai. Bareil is very supportive of the school, but can't intervene on the matter until he is actually Kai. Miles keeps working on the investigation and finds a slag pile that used to be his missing tool, but it also contains the remains of another engineer who had gone missing. Miles and Dax manage to figure out that it looks like whoever killed the engineer was trying to steal a runabout, but it isn't clear why. 
         Things get worse on the station when a bomb goes off at the school. It was empty at the time but everybody is shaken up. We also see Ensign Aquino meeting with Winn about how the plan isn't working and she is going to be caught it she goes through with it, but Winn doesn't care about people and just tells her if it happens that way it is the will of the prophets. Bareil calls Sisko to tell him he is going to visit the station after the bombing to try and work things out with Winn. As he arrives Dax and Miles figure out that the promenade weapon detectors have been disabled. Sisko manages to stop Aquino from killing Bareil at the very last second and since they can't confirm Winn was behind it she gets off.

         Review: Winn is probably the most evil character in all of DS9 and that includes the founders and the Cardassians. I guess she is supposed to believe she is doing what she has to because of the prophets, but eventually she decides even they don't know as well as she does. A worthy introduction to the future of the series.

6 out of 10