The finale sees the end of the long-running plot arc of the Dominion War and the fulfillment of protagonist Benjamin Sisko's destiny as "Emissary of the Prophets".

As the Federation and their allies prepare to embark on a final offensive in the Dominion War, in a vision, one of the Prophets appears to Sisko as his mother Sarah, telling him his journey's end "lies not before you, but behind you".

Many of the crew go their separate ways: O'Brien will teach at Starfleet Academy, and Worf is appointed the Federation ambassador to the Klingon Empire.

An early draft of the script had Sisko dying during the final battle at Cardassia, but resurrected by the Prophets to fight the Pah-wraiths.

The producers also entertained the idea of a final shot of Benny Russell (from "Far Beyond the Stars" and "Shadows and Symbols") sitting outside a studio holding a script for Deep Space Nine.

In the episode, during the party, many of the background hologram characters are actually production staff and recurring cast members without their makeup and prosthetics.

[4][1] This is also one of two Star Trek series finales in which Jeffrey Combs, Michael Dorn, and Colm Meaney appear.

The music cues used prior to O'Brien's montage are from the Irish song "The Minstrel Boy", which previously featured in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Wounded".

[1][5] Ira Steven Behr guessed that Farrell's feelings might have been hurt regarding the staff's choice of flashback clips, and elaborated: "Her manager was informed that we were thinking of using Terry in a scene in the final episode.

DeCandido compared the episode to other Star Trek series finales, writing, "TNG revisited the trial of humanity by the Q from its first episode,[note 1] Voyager got our heroes home from the Delta Quadrant, and Enterprise ended with Earth helping form the Coalition of Planets that would eventually mutate into the Federation.

"[2] Jamahl Epsicokhan of Jammer's Reviews summarized the episode as a "poignant and satisfying end to the final arc and the series".

As a key element of the story arc, Epsicokhan stated "it's almost as if there simply wasn't time to deal with the death of the man who would've been the leader of a new Cardassia.

DeCandido had been heavily critical of the direction of Dukat's character following "Sacrifice of Angels", writing "There's an argument to be made that the world would've been a better place if ["Sacrifice of Angels"] was Dukat's last appearance",[9] as well as the Pah-wraiths following their introduction in "The Assignment", writing that the evil counterparts of the wormhole aliens were "so lazy", "something out of a bad 70s adventure show", and "one of the most wrongheaded plot devices in DS9's history";[10] with exception to "Covenant", where he had written that "The fact that this is [...] the only Pah-wraith episode that doesn't have alien possession, glowing eyes, and people firing ray-beams out of their fingers is not a coincidence [as to why he liked the episode]", he had repeatedly said how much he despised "the entire concept of the Pah-wraiths".

[11] He saw the final confrontation between Sisko and Dukat as "a stupid side plot involving fire caves, glowy eyes, magic books, and a simply endless amount of shouting", leading to a "totally absurd confrontation" which reduced the "alienness of the Prophets [and] the depth of the rivalry between Sisko and Dukat [to] yelling at each other and then tumbling into a fire", labeling it as "cheap-ass melodrama".

While Epsicokhan found the "epic struggle of good vs. evil, Prophet vs. Pah-wraith, Sisko vs. Dukat [...] entertaining ([with] plenty of neat-looking fire and fury [to] help set the stage of melodrama)", he said that Deep Space Nine had "always been more compelling when dealing with shades of grey, not cut-and-dry absolutes".

Epsicokhan wrote that if Sisko, Winn, and Dukat's final confrontation hadn't been such a disappointment, he would have rated the episode 4 out of 4 stars.

They praise the "great" crew montage and note the many plotlines being wrapped up, as well as the special effects work of Star Trek space battles.

An official series of novels, the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine relaunch, chronicles multiple characters' exploits following the events of this finale.

Released in 2019,[19] the documentary reflects on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's legacy, featuring interviews with the cast and crew of the series and speculating on what would have happened had there been an eighth season.