Man, that Brooks voiceover, followed by the thank you title card and DS9 music? Completely finished me off.
Really happy we got to see Jake, and was probably even happier we saw him a second time and that it wasn’t just a one scene cameo. Obviously, his second appearance was more SAM’s own version of him, so we can’t take what he said as 100% accurate, buuuutttt…
…I do with they’d been braver and just outright told us that Sisko returned.
I get it — they didn’t want to interfere too much with how DS9’s writers left things, but I don’t think outright stating Sisko returned would’ve pissed off anyone that worked on that show. As it is now, we’ve probably blown our one opportunity to definitively give Sisko a happy ending.
That said, reading between the lines, Sisko clearly still had that. Imaginary Jake stated he felt Sisko was there for everything, and so I choose to interpret that Jake DID meet his father again, even if not in a physical way he could ever prove with say a photograph. I just wish I didn’t have to still make theories, when this was the one chance to put something in stone.
One thing they fixed beautifully from DS9 though, was Jake’s ending. Never sat well with me how the show ended for Jake, but SFA has now shown us that he was at peace with his father’s role, and fate, regardless of whether he did or didn’t see Sisko again unbeknownst to others. DS9 really ended things on a dark note for Jake, so I’m glad we now know that he lived a happy life full of love, and never felt abandoned by Ben regardless of whether Ben did or did not return to him properly.
I’m going to assume that Ben did - I just wish they’d let us know for sure, as this is likely the I’ll only opportunity there will have been to do so.