The Federation and their allies stage a full-scale assault on the Dominion and Dukat and Winn attempt to release the Pah-Wraiths for their prison as the crew of Deep Space Nine decide where their futures lie.
Okay, let's get this out of the way at the start. My expectations after the previous eight episodes were (possibly unreasonably) high. I found this last episode disappointing. There, that's that out of the way and now I can explain further. I loved Deep Space Nine. I felt it's done better stories overall, and more interesting ones, than a lot of The Next Generation. But somehow the pacing on this story is all wrong, and it negates any chances the episode has to become a classic. Yes, it wraps up the Dominion War. Yes, it ends the threat from Bajor. Yes, it gives each character some kind of send-off.
The problem is that most of the actual plotting seems to have gone into the last eight episodes, leaving this one nothing to work with. The Dominion War, rather than ending with the massive battle expected, fizzles out. The lead Founder's desire to take as many Federation troops with her as possible when the Dominion is losing is much more in character than her eventual calm surrender.
Meanwhile, Dukat and Winn are still scheming in the background. With the war over, everyone heads back to the station, until Sisko suddenly realizes no one has taken care of Dukat, and in a sequence that can't take more than about ten minutes, he beats him. Kind of. It just seems odd that if Dukat is so powerful, a simple fall seems to finish him off with total ease. Sisko's final end is oddly anticlimactic as well, and the only thing that really save this story from being a completely missed opportunity is the characterizations.
Pretty much all the characters get what they deserve, or go where you would expect, with a couple of surprises along the way. Towards the end there are some lovely flashbacks to some of the older episodes as various people remember their lives on DS9 as they leave (although admittedly Worf seems to have banished all memories of his wife from his mind). The Julian/Miles and Odo/Kira scenes are rather touching, as are some moments with Jake, who's been badly short-changed this season. Even the supporting cast get a certain element of closure.
It's certainly not an ignominious end for the show, as it does have plenty of heart, and there is much to enjoy. It's just not really what was wanted, and the fans are likely to feel rightly aggrieved that the show goes out with more of a whimper than a bang, and, dare I say it, TNG's All Good Things... did it better.
***
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