Rated it a 9.
Things I liked:
Cirroc Lofton. Considering Avery Brooks seems to have no interest in revisiting the character/show, that's probably the best way to bring the character back especially since Lofton and Brooks seemed to have been super close.
I'm also fine with them not having any real answers. Brooks didn't want to have a story that ended with a Black father abandoning his son and insisted on the ambiguity for Sisko's fate, and unlike the books, it looks like Jake never did see his father again but it still honors that intent of the original DS9 ending.
The general vibe of the episode. I think it's the first episode that felt assured of its tone, so even if I may not like how the show keeps trying to ground itself in millennial nostalgia, I appreciate that they went for a Clueless-style opening and just went with it even if it makes no sense.
It's the first episode where I can unconditionally say that I liked its structure as well. I still think it was too long and I probably would have cut the entire bar scene since it didn't really serve any of the characters and felt more like very extraneous for the purpose it served, but unlike the other episodes it didn't put me off the episode either. SAM trying to understand herself through her "objective" makes sense, going through the Data-like "what is it to be human" stuff makes sense, even the Ake/Kelric stuff made sense in the context of trying to understand someone's past through a different lens.
This episode was co-written by Kristen Beyer, who wrote that Trellane episode of SNW from season 3... which in hindsight, while I didn't like it, was definitely not the worst episode of that season either. I'm sure Newsome's contributions probably helped as well, but however they worked together, I think it's legitimately the best episode of the series so far.
Nitpicks:
Jake saying that the prophets were wrong when they told his father not to marry Cassidy. I feel like that's a misreading of the show, because the tragedy was the fact that he was going to have to leave Cassidy.
I still hate the vernacular. Colbert talking about seeing some "morning wood" was just cringe, but I know that's just the show.
The Dax reveal was cute, but also felt like Newsome giving herself the cool role. lol
Unfortunately there really isn't anything particularly unique about Dax that I think you'd immediately recognize the character through acting alone, so they basically had to have the character tell the audience who they are. Like it wouldn't have made sense for the character to call SAM "old man" I guess.
I was hoping they'd explain why they decided to make SAM a 17 year old or send her to the Academy instead of directly into Starfleet. Or join the civilian part of the Federation as an adult diplomat to meet more people. Or send her as a child and have her go to school with other kids. Or have her experience different aspects of life from all ages, races, genders, etc. Like she is in the Academy because the show is Starfleet Academy, so I get it... but it still doesn't make sense to me. It would be like if the President of the US sent their kid to a university in China or Iran in order to see if they can be trusted. Like even drop a line about how college kids are still stupid like actual children but are mature enough to understand some facts about life like adults, so they're their perfect age group to study.
I still don't understand how this school works or its curriculums. They're apparently in the middle of midterms, but I have no idea how classes work. Sometimes it's a college where you pick electives and a major, sometimes it's a high school where the entire school is seemingly in the same class.
Dislikes:
Just the War College stuff. It's really stupid and like I said above, if they cut that entire bar scene and anything involving them from this episode, it would have been fine. I assume at some point they learn to work together and blah blah blah, but it all feels very tedious because it's so cliche. I guess if they wanted to do a musical episode in this series, they could just do West Side Story and have Jay-Den and the War College guy have their Romeo and Juliet-esque romance while the others snap their fingers at each other.
---
Considering Steve Shives said he disliked the episode I was prepared for it to be very cloying with its "member berries" like Picard season 3. But it was a really nice and respectful tribute to DS9 as well as just a good episode regardless of whether you care about DS9 or not.
