The Visitor Stardate not given: An aged Jake Sisko tells the young aspiring writer Melanie the story of his life. When Jake was 18 years old, his father, Ben Sisko, apparently died in an accident on the Defiant when he was hit by a light bolt from the warp core during an experiment. But time and again the captain rematerialized in the following years. Jake, who had become a successful author in the meantime, his principal work being the novel Anslem, decided to start over and study subspace mechanics. But the attempt to to exactly reproduce the experiment to retrieve his father from subspace failed. Ben was just able to tell his son to finally let go. Old Jake expects Ben to appear one last time, and he takes a poison to die in the very moment when his father is with him. Now that the cord between the two is broken, Ben is hurled back to the moment of the accident. He ducks when the lightning bolt strikes, gaining a second chance to live with his son.

This episode starts off slow, and if I didn't already know that they were going to show the future (which I've always loved) I probably would have skipped it. This slow start is almost forgotten, however, once old Jake stops talking and we go back to the present, when the accident that took Ben Sisko away actually happens.
Jake's situation is a very odd one, and I don't know how I would cope in his shoes. It is hard to simply go on with your life if your father appears every ten years, acting like it's only been a minute. What happens after he dies? He might be caught in this eternal flux for the rest of eternity! What kind of a son would simply let his father go on like that? Given that, I can understand Jake's situation perfectly. All in all, it's a very depressing episode. The scene near the end with old old Jake and normal Ben is touching, and when Ben hugs Jake and Jake's all "Yo what, dad?" my mother started crying and hugging me. I didn't feel like crying, but it was a very good episode.
Although I would have liked to have seen a different Dax. I have nothing against Terry Farrell, but how long can she live? Having Nicole de Boer would have been great, and a good insight into what would come later (although the producers didn't know at the time, so I guess it's not their fault).
Remarkable quotes: "Let go, Jake. If not for yourself, then for me. You still have time to make a better life for yourself. Promise me you'll do that... Promise me!" (Ben Sisko), "For you, and for the boy that I was. He needs you more than you know. Don't you see? We're going to get a second... chance." (Old Jake Sisko)
Remarkable dialogue: "I'm not sure I could ever get over losing somebody like that; right in front of my eyes." - "People do. Time passes, and they realize that the person they lost is really gone... And they heal" - "Is that what happened to you?" - "No... I suppose not." (Melanie and Old Jake Sisko)
Remarkable actor: Rachel Robinson, the woman who played Melanie, is actually Andrew Robinson's (Garak) daughter.
Remarkable fact: Cirroc Lofton and Avery Brooks both cite this as one of their favourite episodes, as do many of the staff.
Rating: 10 (Hon. David Kulessa)