Let's be honest. Ending a television show is a nightmare. Most writers drop the ball because they try to please everyone, or worse, they get bored and just stop. But when Deep Space Nine What You Leave Behind aired in 1999, it didn't just end a show; it tore a hole in the heart of the Star Trek franchise that hasn't quite been filled since. It was messy. It was heartbreaking. It was weirdly religious and gritty and hopeful all at once.
Most people remember the space battles. You know the ones—hundreds of ships de-cloaking, the Dominion War reaching its fever pitch, and the sheer scale of the Defiant weaving through Cardassian defenses. But that’s not why this finale sticks with us decades later. It's the smaller stuff. It’s the shot of Vic Fontaine’s lounge where the crew shares one last drink. It’s the realization that Benjamin Sisko, our protagonist, doesn't get a traditional "happily ever after." He gets something much more complicated.
The Brutal Reality of the Dominion War’s End
When you look at Deep Space Nine What You Leave Behind, you aren't looking at a victory lap. You're looking at a funeral for an era. By the time we get to the two-part finale, the Alpha Quadrant is exhausted. The casualties on Cardassia Prime are staggering—800 million dead. That’s a number Star Trek usually stays away from. Usually, the Federation saves the day and everyone goes to a banquet. Here? Sisko, Admiral Ross, and Martok stand amidst the ruins of a literal genocide and drink blood wine.
It’s uncomfortable. It should be.
The writers, led by Ira Steven Behr and Hans Beimler, made a conscious choice to show the cost of peace. The Female Changeling doesn't just surrender because she sees the light; she surrenders because Odo offers her a cure for her people’s plague, provided she stops the slaughter. It’s a transaction. That’s peak DS9. It’s cynical but deeply human. It rejects the easy binary of good versus evil in favor of "what can we live with?"
👉 See also: Ted Nugent State of Shock: Why This 1979 Album Divides Fans Today
Why the Sisko and Dukat Rivalry Had to End in Fire
There’s always been a segment of the fandom that hated the "Pah-wraith" stuff. They wanted the finale to be 100% tactical ship-to-ship combat. They thought the Bajoran religious elements were a distraction. But Deep Space Nine What You Leave Behind wouldn't work without the Fire Caves.
Gul Dukat, played with terrifying charisma by Marc Alaimo, was never going to be defeated by a phaser bank. He was Sisko’s shadow. While the war in space was about territory, the war in the caves was about the soul of Bajor. Was it a bit "fantasy" for a hard sci-fi show? Maybe. But Sisko was the Emissary before he was a Captain. His arc started with the Prophets in "Emissary," so it had to end with them. When Sisko tackles Dukat into the abyss, he isn't just winning a fight. He’s fulfilling a destiny he spent seven years trying to outrun.
He leaves behind a pregnant wife, Kasidy Yates. He leaves behind a son, Jake, who has to watch his father vanish into a non-linear existence. That’s the "What You Leave Behind" part. It’s a sacrifice that actually hurts. Unlike The Next Generation, where the crew stays together on the Enterprise to seek out the next anomaly, the DS9 crew is shattered.
The Montage That Still Makes Grown Adults Cry
We have to talk about the memories. As the characters prepare to move on—O'Brien to Earth, Worf to Kronos, Odo to the Great Link—we get these sepia-toned flashbacks.
✨ Don't miss: Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus Explained (Simply)
Now, there’s a famous bit of trivia here: Terry Farrell’s Jadzia Dax is missing from those flashbacks. It’s a glaring omission caused by behind-the-scenes contract disputes and legal hurdles. It stings. It feels wrong that she isn't there. Yet, even with that gap, the montage works because it emphasizes the passage of time. You see Nog go from a thieving kid to a decorated officer. You see Kira go from a terrorist/resistance leader to the commander of the station.
Deep Space Nine What You Leave Behind understood that the station itself was a character. When the camera pulls back in that final, legendary long shot, leaving Kira and Jake on the promenade, you feel the emptiness. The party is over. The lights are being dimmed. It’s the most lonely ending in the history of the brand.
Breaking Down the Character Arc Closures
Not everyone got what they wanted. That's the brilliance of it.
- Garak: He finally gets to go home to Cardassia, but it’s a graveyard. His "reward" for helping the Federation is the ashes of his civilization. Andrew Robinson played that grief with such subtlety.
- Odo: He chooses his people over Kira. It’s the right choice, but it’s devastating. The moment he steps into the Great Link, wearing his tuxedo from the lounge, is a top-tier visual.
- Quark: He stays. He is the last bastion of the "old" DS9. He even gets the last line of the series dialogue-wise, complaining that the more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s perfectly on brand.
- Bashir and Ezri: Their romance felt a bit rushed in the final episodes, but it gave Julian a sense of peace he’d been hunting for since season one.
The Legacy of the Final Battle
Technically speaking, the CGI in Deep Space Nine What You Leave Behind was groundbreaking for 1999. They reused some assets from First Contact, sure, but the orchestration of the fleet movements was a massive leap forward. You can see the DNA of this battle in every modern Star Trek show. But notice how the music isn't "action movie" music. It’s operatic. It’s heavy.
🔗 Read more: Big Brother 27 Morgan: What Really Happened Behind the Scenes
The episode doesn't treat the destruction of the Dominion fleet as a "woo-hoo" moment. It treats it as the inevitable conclusion of a tragic misunderstanding between two different ways of life: the chaotic freedom of the Solids and the paranoid order of the Founders.
Misconceptions About the Ending
Some fans still argue that Sisko "died." He didn't. He became non-linear. He tells Kasidy he might be back in a year, or "yesterday." It’s a nod to the fact that for the Prophets, time has no meaning. Sisko has moved beyond the need for a physical body, but he hasn't ceased to exist.
Another misconception is that Section 31 "won." While it’s true that the morphogenic virus they created forced the Founders' hand, the finale makes it clear that it was Odo’s willingness to heal them—an act of compassion—that actually ended the war. The virus was the weapon, but Odo was the solution. It’s a nuance that matters when you're discussing the morality of the show.
Actionable Insights for Your Next Rewatch
If you’re planning to revisit Deep Space Nine What You Leave Behind, don't just jump into the final two hours. To truly feel the weight of what happens, you need to watch the "Final Chapter" arc starting with "The Changing Face of Evil."
- Watch the backgrounds: Look at the state of the station in the final episodes. It looks lived-in, slightly worn, and increasingly quiet.
- Focus on Damar: His redemption arc is perhaps the best in the series. Pay attention to his final moments on Cardassia; he dies for a planet that he finally realized was more than just its military power.
- The Music: Listen to Dennis McCarthy’s score during the final promenade scenes. It incorporates themes from the pilot, bringing the whole journey full circle.
- Contrast with Voyager: If you want to see why DS9’s finale is so respected, watch it back-to-back with "Endgame." One is a character-driven tragedy-turned-triumph; the other is a techno-babble heist. The difference in emotional stakes is night and day.
The reality is that we won't see another finale like this. Modern streaming shows are too short—usually 8 to 10 episodes. They don't have the 176 episodes of buildup that allowed Deep Space Nine What You Leave Behind to hit as hard as it did. It earned its tears. It earned its silence.
To get the most out of the experience now, look for the high-definition fan restorations or the upscaled versions available online. While a formal 4K remaster from Paramount remains a pipe dream due to the cost of re-rendering the VFX, the detail in the close-up performances—especially Avery Brooks' intensity in the Fire Caves—remains unmatched. Keep an eye on the documentary What We Left Behind for a deep dive into the writers' room "Season 8" pitch, which provides a fascinating "what if" scenario for where these characters ended up after the station went dark.