 Of the end result , Spotnitz said " I was very pleased with the way it was executed , and I think it was a good mystery . He later wrote that he " liked [ it ] more as time has gone on . " Director Rob Bowman admitted to being tired and not inspired by the time this episode — the second to last of the season — was produced . This lack of interest later resulted in the episode taking extra time to finish . Bowman later recalled that the most difficult aspect of the episode was filming the climactic human sacrifice scene , if only because of the ceremonial mask featured . He explained , " the mask scared the hell out of me only because I thought , ' Boy , if I don 't shoot this right , it 's going to be silly . " 
