cruiser) on hand to help out, Sisko sees only one choice—sealing the wormhole, trapping Worf and Garak on the other side if they cannot return before the operation is completed. Worf and Garak are taken to a Dominion detention center. Tain is there, on his deathbed; instead of being thankful to Garak for coming, Tain chastises him for allowing himself to be taken prisoner. Also among the fellow prisoners are the Klingon general Martok, and, to Garak and Worf's surprise, Dr. Julian Bashir—meaning that the Bashir back at DS9 is a Changeling impostor. As his last request, Tain makes Garak promise to escape. Desperate for a kind word from his mentor before the old man passes on, Garak makes a request in return: that Tain acknowledge him as his son. Tain does so, and father and son share a memory before Tain dies peacefully. His mission complete, Garak is ready to find a way out. On Deep Space Nine, the crew shoots a particle beam at the wormhole, intending to close it. However, something goes wrong. The emitter array has been sabotaged, and the wormhole remains open, allowing a fleet of Dominion warships to begin pouring through. Reception Zach Handlen of The A.V. Club said this was a good cliffhanger but that "it's hard to really say how any of this fits together before we get to next week's second half." He found some of the setup and character scenes dragged and were a little frustrating at times, but appreciated how the episode brought things into greater focus. In 2015, Geek.com recommended this episode as "essential watching" for their abbreviated Star Trek: Deep Space Nine binge-watching guide. In 2018, CBR rated "In Purgatory's Shadow" paired with "By Inferno's Light", as the 9th best multi-episode story arc of all of Star Trek. Nerdist included this episode in their binge-watching guide for the Dominion War saga of this series. In 2020, Doux Reviews said "In Purgatory's Shadow" was "one of the best-written episodes of Deep Space Nine" and had a great cliffhanger ending. In 2020, The Digital Fix ranked "In Purgatory's Shadow" and "By Inferno's Light" as the fourth best episode(s) of Deep Space Nine. They call the episodes an "epic two-parter" that took the show's "long-running narrative to another level" and praised the various plot lines and reveals. Continuity In 2019, Nerdist recommended starting with this episode as part of a