Synopsis: Odo begins an investigation after a bomb destroys Garak’s tailor shop. The Cardassian-Romulan fleet enters the Gamma Quadrant; Sisko goes against Starfleet orders to rescue Odo.
Review: Any episode that features Garak or The Dominion is going to be entertaining, and here we get both. Though I have to say, I think perhaps here we get just a bit too much Garak. There’s just a lot of snark over two hours, the interrogations with Odo and the witty repartee with Tain coming off a bit thick.
Review: I love the Eddington arc. Hell, pretty much any Maquis episode. While the debates about the righteousness of the Maquis get a little stale, the script is tight and different enough from the usual moralizing that it works for me. That Sisko further departs from Picard with his aggressiveness in decision-making makes it all the better. I find it unlikely that Sisko wouldn’t at least face a court martial for destroying the ecosystem of a Maquis planet, but you can’t really argue with the tactic.
Synopsis: After returning from the Fire Caves on Bajor, Keiko’s body is controlled by an alien lifeform that forces her husband O’Brien to do its bidding or else face the death of his wife.
Review: Finally, an episode where Keiko has something to do, and a nice reversal from Power Play, where O’Brien was taken over by an alien and tortured Keiko.
Synopsis: On a mission to recover a Federation informant on the Dominion world of Soukara, Dax is injured and Worf must choose between completing the mission or saving his wife. Meanwhile, O’Brien enlists Bashir’s help to defeat Quark in a game of tongo.
Review: Finally, an episode that really explores Dax’s and Worf’s relationship. Their exchange in the runabout at the beginning is just delightful as Worf explores his sense of humor. And we get to see their actual bonding and not just the constant foreplay we’ve been privy to.
Review: Morn! Not only do we get to see him using his finger to lick every last drop of alcohol from his glass like it’s his last one, we get to see Worf just throw him across the room to attract a female. Man, that never gets old.
Synopsis: Bashir and O’Brien lure a Section 31 agent to the station in a desperate search for the cure to the disease that is killing Odo. (Part 7 of 9)
Review: It’s kind of nice during this nine-part serial that we have an episode that just focuses on one plot instead of three or four. And while Star Trek has never been the best at doing mindfuck episodes, this is a solid attempt. The “exploring someone’s brain through abstraction” has never appealed to me that much, but they don’t get too trippy and William Sadler (Sloan) is perfect for the role. It was fairly obvious at first that when they “woke up” in sickbay they hadn’t actually woken up, but then they had me almost believing Odo was dead because they drug it out a while, so nice touch.
Synopsis: Kira and Dukat search for the six-year-old crash site of a Cardassian freighter that was carrying Bajoran prisoners. Also, Sisko deals with Kasidy moving onto the station, a new development in their relationship.
Review: Nearly every Dukat episode is a good episode and this one is no exception. The softening of his character is necessary not just for him but for the entire Cardassian race, as we already have the crazy fucking Klingons and the cold-as-ice Romulans; there’s no need for Dukat to be a constant asshole, especially when it isn’t war-time.
Synopsis: When a Cardassian freighter explodes at Deep Space 9, the Cardassians blame Federation colonists in the new Demilitarized Zone. Sisko tries to rescue Gul Dukat, stop the Maquis terrorists, and prevent a new war with the Cardassians.
Review: A pretty blah episode as far as tension and action, but an extremely important episode as far as the direction DS9 goes. It had always bothered me that Roddenberry viewed future humans as essentially flawless. It made for very predictable and occasionally preachy scripts. This quote by Sisko made my spine tingle:
Synopsis: In the aftermath of an injury that left him disabled on AR-558, Nog returns to Deep Space 9, but finds he cannot go on living his uncertain life and seeks shelter within the fictional world of Vic Fontaine and Las Vegas, 1962.
Review: I always like me some Vic Fontaine, and again he turns out to be a much better therapist than the paid therapist on the show. At least Ezri doesn’t shame Nog like the rest of the crew is doing. It seems unrealistic to me that in the enlightened 24th century, members of the military would expect PTSD to last only a couple of days before every superior officer just be like, “Suck it up soldier!”
Synopsis: Sisko defends a Karemma ship when it is attacked by the Jem’Hadar. Meanwhile, Quark and the Karemma trade minister argue about the value of dishonesty in trading before having to work together to disarm a Jem’Hadar torpedo.
In the former we had a quantum filament making the ship fall apart. Here we have…toxic gas. Yeah, it doesn’t quite have the same tension. But it’s still a pretty fun episode for character development. Kira struggles with being friends with someone she considers a religious figure. Bashir gets to cuddle with Dax and not be creepy about it; they even joke about it and Dax delivers a great quote:
Death By Troggles 
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