Anway, regarding the finale, not to rain on anyone's parade, since I love the show, I liked some of the plot, but I was a bit disappointed in the focus on the whole music thing and some of the lack of texture. There should have been more dialogue and much more of the trial, which made the previous 2 eps so great to me. This dragged a bit. Also, the use of "All Along the Watchtower" was odd. I still have to rewatch the ep, but my immediate reaction was annoyance, especially since they didn't use the original, and I thought it made things look cheesy. However, maybe the use of a cover is to hide the time period of Earth, though I'm not sure that was the intended effect. Also, it made things sound cheesy, as though it were composed by a no-name band for TV.
The things I loved: the very end, Lee's great speech that was not only dramatically enjoyable and tied much of the season's theme of the politics of collaboration, but was true to life and how we approach justice in our own world. Stuff like this is what puts this so far beyond "Lost," whose dramatic motivations feel contrived somehow. One of the things that makes this show so great is the ability to find new themes. There's so much the writers are able to find to talk about -- and the source of the real world sounds so simple, but it's brilliant and difficult. This season has made a step up to me from last in one aspect: providing Lee and Tyrol with more drama, which was often sacrificed to give Starbuck more time, I think.
In terms of the finale, I just wanted much more of the trial. I felt the focus was off for a finale, especially when "Lay Down Your Burdens" ranked with "Pegasus" as the most dramatically-satisfying as well as politically-insightful story to date. I think a lot of this season's weakness might have something to do with Ron Moore not writing these stories from scratch. He only wrote 2 eps. They began the season and those were the absolute best. Otherwise, he does a rewrite and I'm not sure he puts as much effort into it. That's what I think Exodus lacked in its rushed plot, which are typical of Weddle and Thompson -- the worst writers on DS9. I think once Ron Moore starts personally writing eps again, the magic will come back. Just take a look at how amazing a Season One ep like "Water" or "Kobol's Last Gleaming" were. They have so much in their execution of the plot that it transcends what others might do. Then again, arguably the best eps of the series, "Pegasus" and "Lay Down Your Burdens Part 2" were initially written by Anne Coffell Saunders and the latter cowritted by Mark Verheiden, who wrote this season's 2-parter. Also, most of Season One was written by others but consistently acheieved near perfection. Maybe the magic of those 2 eps and most of Season One came from Ron Moore's rewrite and he just didn't do it to my satisfaction this time. Maybe Verheiden's magic was off. Maybe I'll think differently when I rewatch the ep.