Synopsis: When holographic mobsters assume control of Vic Fontaine’s lounge, Bashir, O’Brien, and others plot to run Vic’s rival out of business and restore the program to normal.

Memory Alpha Summary: A bunch of jamokes!

Review: The last “fun” episode of DS9 isn’t amazing by any means, but it’s a nice cleanser before we get to the final Dominion arc.  An excuse for the crew to pretend to do noir, but unlike TNG, they handle the racism of that time period which is just a wonderful touch.  

The one major flaw of the episode is that the casino heist they pull off is planned out in specific details and we see how that will play out ahead of time.  And then when we are shown the actual heist…it’s pretty much the exact same thing. Sure, a couple parts of the plan go wrong, but nothing surprising happens so the preface was more fun than the actual action.

I still find it hilarious that Vic Fontaine, a hologram, is a hero to this crew for being a counselor to them.  Much like Guinan stole the spotlight from Troi, Fontaine basically overtakes Ezri Dax’s role as counselor in her only season.