Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season Two Rewatch

The Homecoming:

The first shot of the teaser and act one both designed to show off the wonderful expansion of the Promenade upper level set. Season one was carefully shot to fool the viewer, making us think there was more to the Promenade than we actually saw. It’s great to get to actually see more of it here.
This season-opening three-parter — a first for Trek! — is spectacular. The series is operating in top form. I love how they have turned the show’s setting — on an unmoving space-station — into a virtue here, not a hindrance, as we really dig deep into the Bajoran political situation and into our characters. There is lots of terrific Bajoran political stuff in all three of these episodes, but they’re also chock full of wonderful character moments, especially this episode.
I love Quark’s “declare peace” moment with Odo, which confuses the heck out of the Constable, exactly as Quark intended.
It’s nice to see Rom, both attentively eavesdropping on Quark & Odo’s conversation in the teaser and later moping during his “one for you and six for me” payday.
It’s fun to see Quark as a lady’s man with the sexy Boslic freighter captain, and then later when he’s endearingly smitten when Kira says sarcastically that he’s “as handsome as ever.”
It’s good to see O’Brien and Kira very capable on their mission rescuing Li Nalas. The fight in the Cardassian Labor Camp is well staged and convincing enough for the show’s low budget and what they could do with it, production-wise, at this point in the series. (It’s not spectacular but it works.) I can buy that one tiny runabout was able to sneak into Cardassian space, though I don’t know how they escaped from the two Cardassian Galor Class warships that O’Brien reported were in orbit as they were leaving after the prison break. Small plot hole there.
Li Nalas is wonderful, instantly dynamic and memorable from the moment we first glimpse him in the labor camp. I love his world-weariness, combined with the charisma and gravitas which is why, to his chagrin, he’s become such a focus of the Bajorans’ approbation. I love his scene in the med-bay with Bashir, with the camera very tight on Li’s face as he lies on his stomach on the med-table, slowly unwrapping his hands like a boxer after a fight. I love his monologue with Sisko, in which he tells Sisko the truth of the origin of his legend, and how he shot a Cardassian Gul in his underpants. That’s a very memorable scene and a great monologue, beautifully delivered by Richard Beymer. I adore Mr. Beymer’s work in this three-parter. He has such gravitas, but also a quietness and gentleness that is very striking and unusual. I wish they hadn’t written the character out at the end of “The Siege”
Sisko is great with Li in that scene, by the way. I love his “you’re a legend. That’s what you are!” line, so memorably delivered. (It’s one of my favorite Sisko lines of the entire series.) This is a great episode for Sisko. I love how playful he is with Jake at the beginning, and how he shifts into concerned dad mode when Jake tells him he’s taking a girl on a date (I love the comic turn that scene takes, with Jake telling his dad that “I can see you’re not ready to have this conversation”), and he’s beautiful with Jake when he discovers that the girl stood Jake up because he wasn’t Bajoran. He’s also great with Kira. I like that he doesn’t immediately say yes to her request to take a runabout to rescue Li; he takes the time to think things over. (I love that he asks Dax for advice.) And it’s good that he does eventually say yes, trusting Kira and also acknowledging that he needs Li. By the way, it’s also wonderful to see Ben so invested in his mission on Bajor. This is a far cry from the checked-out Benjamin we first met back in “Emissary.”
The episode doesn’t focus on it too much, but we get enough to see that things on Bajor have taken a turn for the worse. This is a surprising development. When Kira describes religious riots, we can see that the unrest stirred up in “In the Hands of the Prophets” hasn’t blown over.
It’s cute that Kira confided in Dax and O’Brien about her desire to take a runabout to rescue Li, and that the two quietly supported her. (It’s funny when Sisko susses out quickly that O’Brien has been carefully thinking of a way to sneak the runabout into Cardassian space. I love that, actually — that O’Brien didn’t just come up with a magical suggestion at a moment’s notice, but that he actually worked the problem for a while.)
Bashir doesn’t get too much to do, but he’s capable in his scenes helping both Li and Quark. Nice to see him being good at his job and less of the buffoon he often was in season one.
And then we get to meet Frank Langella as Minister Jaro. An amazing actor who is spectacular in this role. I love how, throughout this episode, we don’t get a hint that Jaro is anything other than the politician he describes himself as.
It’s fun to see Dukat again. I’d forgotten that for a while after “Emissary,” we only saw Dukat a few times, generally used as the face of Cardassia on a viewscreen. Thankfully we’ll get to see more of him, and in person, soon enough.
The threat of the Circle is pretty minor here — some graffiti in the habitat ring, and then things escalate with the assault on Quark. (Sisko doesn’t have much sympathy for poor Quark, surprisingly!) I like how this will dramatically escalate in the next episode.
Sisko’s baseball gets a lot of play in this episode! (We see Ben playing with it a lot in his scene with Dax. I also love how Ben brings baseball into his conversation with Jake, and then later how Dax is grateful that Ben DOESN’T want to talk baseball with her!) I’d forgotten that Ben’s iconic baseball wasn’t really seen in season one! Seeing it here is like welcoming an old friend.

The Circle:

I was happy to see Sisko’s iconic baseball in the pilot, and I love that it’s centrally framed in the Sisko-Jaro scene that opens the episode. (I love that Jaro actually picks it up and plays with it for a brief moment.). Sisko is sharp in that scene. At first it seems like he shifts gears and accepts Jaro’s claim that Kira has been promoted, but then he starts talking about people who bluster and are full of hot air, and it’s clear he sees right through Jaro.
I love love love the hectic, farcical scene in Kira’s quarters that opens act one. The show doesn’t often do comedy successfully, but this scene is a hoot. I love how well it shows off the characters and how they have already become a weird sort-of family by this point. I love how everything shifts gears once Bareil arrives. It’s fun to see Bareil (and Winn — more on her in a moment) again, both returning from “In the Hands of the Prophets.” I love the first hint here, in this scene, that there’s something between Kira and Bareil. But getting back to the frantic comedy before, it’s the best highlight of the show’s ensemble we’ve seen yet. I love how every character responds to Kira’s eminent departure in their own specific and unique way. It’s a delight. It’s particularly sweet how hurt Odo is that Kira is leaving (which he sees as giving up), and I love how they both think that the other did OK after they smoothed out the other’s rough edges. My heart sings at the end when Kira’s voice skips for a beat when she tells Bareil that these are her friends.
I love Kira’s farewell scene in Ops. Li Nalas is terrific in the scene, wondering just how a Navark fits into the command structure. (Sisko’s response is classic: “the way I understand it, you report directly to the prophets. xxxxxx”) I love that Li is uncomfortable with how he’s accidentally been responsible for Kira’s being railroaded, and I love Sisko’s promise “to both of us” to fight to get Kira back. Look how far these two have come. Sisko will eventually fulfill that promise. (I also like how Kira ruefully admits to Li that, just like him, she didn’t want the liaison job at first. “But it worked out better than I thought” she says, in a huge understatement!)
I like Kira’s “I’m crooked” scene
I love Kira’s Orb Vision, the first true Orb Vision on the show! The Orb Visions in Emissary were used as flashbacks to help fill the audience in on the characters’ backstory. But this is the first of what they’ll be from now on, much more stream-of-conscious and ambiguous. I love the way the scene establishes Kira’s complete awe of an Orb, and the idea that the Bajorans can communicate with the Prophets, in a way, through the Orb. I love the vision’s unexpected turn into nude sexy-time between Kira and Bareil!
Winn is so perfectly smarmy and detestable in her 1st scene in the episode, condescending down to Kira and Bareil in the monastery garden! So great!
I also adore Sisko’s scene in the Bajoran military command with General Krim. I love the look of the room and the wall-sized graphic of the city.
Love Krim, bye the way, another fascinating new Bajoran character played by a wonderful actor. I love Krim’s delivery of the line “we are all patriots, Commander.” And I love how surprised Krim is that Sisko didn’t try to use his information on the Kressari arming the Circle as leverage to trade for the favor he asked for (the return of Major Kira). I love how instantly impressed Krim is about that.
I love Frank Langella’s perfect quiet, understated delivery of “I am the circle, Major.” That’s what a great actor does. A lesser talent would have hammed it up. But Jaro is dangerous because of how quiet and confident he is.
I love Li’s determination to join the rescue mission. “Don’t you understand, I can do this!” … “and I take orders well.” I love Quark’s “we can discuss my compensation… AT A LATER TIME!” and I love love love the beautiful POV shot of Sisko and co. looking back at Quark as they go down in the turboplift away from Ops and out of sight. Fantastic! This episode is VERY well-directed. So was “The Homecoming.”
I love that great scene at the end between Jaro and Winn, standing on the balcony. It’s beautifully shot and lit, and absolutely delicious to see revealed that these two villains are allied together. I love these villains that DS9 has created! This show is so great, better than any other Trek show, at creating complex and wonderful villains!
I love the Starfleet admiral, who presses Sisko on the Circle’s revolution being “a matter internal to Bajor.” This is classic Starfleet, that the admiral won’t let them get involved in this internal struggle, even though the Cardassians don’t follow the same rules. He wants to uphold that principle and “worry about the ramifications down the road.” It’s naive and foolish, but noble. I love how clearly DS9 paints both sides of the Federation’s idealism.
I love that Sisko is more stubborn, and not willing to give up. “Then I guess some of us won’t be quite done by the time they get here.” What a great cliffhanger! Wow, it’s Trek’s first-ever three-parter! Magnificent.

The Siege:

One of the things that surprised me in my rewatch of season one was how there was a lot more of a focus on Jake-and-Nog than I’d remembered! (A lot of this comes in the back half of the season, which has a number of weaker episodes that I usually skip when rewatching the show, which is why I’d forgotten how much attention Jake and Nog got in many of those episodes.) Nog is mostly absent from this opening there-parter, but his one scene with Jake at the start of this episode is a good one, as we see the close bond between these two unexpected friends.
O’Brien’s “we can’t just let the Cardies have the wormhole!” line is another hugely memorable line in a there-parter filled with memorable lines. O’Brien’s casual use of the derogatory term “Cardies” is shocking, as it’s intended. The wounds we first discovered back in TNG’s “The Wounded” are still raw, which makes sense for O’Brien, Trek’s best “everyman” character.
It’s fun to hear about a new Dax host — Tobin, Dax’s second host.
I love Quark’s line to Sisko about how overbooking is “an accepted Ferengi transit practice”! It is among current-era humans, too!
I like that the episode doesn’t gloss over the hardship, for both Jake and Ben, at their being separated by the crisis. It’s interesting that Jake wants to stay. (He’ll have the same reaction in season five… and that will turn out differently for the older Jake…!)
I love that Rom got some love throughout this three-parter. I love that Rom sold Quark’s seat to a Dabo Girl!
I loved General Krim in “Homecoming” and I’m glad he’s back for part three. Like Li Nalas, I wish Krim had returned after this episode. Stephen Macht’s performance is incredibly memorable. It’s nice to see smart, competent officers outside of the show’s main cast of characters. On the other hand, I’m OK with not seeing any more of Krim’s smarmy second-in-command, however. (That’s Colonel Day, well-played by Steven Weber.) It’s a little weird that Krim allows his number two to make so many mistakes… and it’s also weird that Sisko doesn’t use the comm to talk directly to Krim (as opposed to going through the little worm Day, who keeps the info to himself), after the two did begin to establish a rapport in the previous episode.
I love seeing Krim play with Sisko’s baseball! I love how strongly this three-parter established Sisko’s baseball — a permanent fixture on his desk throughout the series. This makes me very happy.
Though not as happy as the Chief’s joyful love of combat rations!
I like the Kira-Dax pairing, and it’s fun to see them on an adventure. The show is bumping up against the limits of what their visual effects could achieve, though. The fighter chase works OK but I wish we’d been able to see some more special effects shots of the action. When the show shifts to CGI effects in season four, the world of the show’s visual effects will be dramatically expanded, and a sequence like this would have been a lot stronger.
Li Nalas continues to be great. I love the airlock scene in which he effortlessly calms the mom of fearful Bajorans. I’m really bummed they killed him off at the end. I’d have loved had he been a recurring character. At this point in the series, they still felt the need to basically return things to the status quo at the end. The show will be stronger when they realize, come season four, that they can make longer-lasting changes to the status quo of the Alpha Quadrant… They’d also realize soon after this that they can build a wider circle of recurring cast members. We’re starting to see that with Rom and Nog, but we’re not all the way there yet. (Frank Langella’s Jaro wasn’t killed off the way Li Nalas was, and yet he won’t reappear either, which is also a shame.)
It’s interesting that Sisko’s role as the emissary didn’t play into the events of this three-parter. From what the show would later develop about Sisko’s place as emissary to the prophets in the Bajorans’ religious life, I’d have expected that his opinion would have carried more weight with the Bajorans during this crisis of government.
While much of the storylines in this three-parter are tied up in a neat bow by the end, it’s interesting that the hint of attraction between Kira and Bareil, and her weird-ass Orb Encounter, are left hanging. I like that, especially since we won’t have to wait too terribly long for further developments between those two…

Invasive Procedures:

The setup to this episode is dumb. Some weird phenomena has necessitated the evacuation of the station (just one episode after they did the same thing) and it’s weirdly treated as just another ho hum day at the office. A band of criminals sneak onto the station, despite the fact that Odo could have easily used his shapeshifting powers to stop them in a million different ways after he and O’Brien discover them in an airlock. (It’s a very poorly staged scene.) We learn that they were able to get on board because Quark helped them bypass the security systems, a huge betrayal of the other characters and an act that nearly leads to Jadzia’s death. Despite Kira’s angrily declaring to Quark that he’s through on the station after this, there are never any repercussions for Quark’s baldly criminal actions.
And yet, despite all that, there’s a lot to love in this episode. It’s elevated by a fantastic performance by guest star John Glover (who would so memorably portray Lionel Luthor on Smallville) as Verad, the sad little Trill who attempts to steal the Dax symbiont. Mr. Gloiver is wonderful as the meek, nervous Verad… and then he transforms into a completely different character once he is joined with Dax. It’s a magnificent performance, and he really sells the heartbreak at the end when Verad (inevitably) loses the Dax symbiont back to Jadzia.
The episode gives us some interesting backstory into Trills and symbiosis and joining. Jadzia is a fairly passive character in the episode, but she’s moving in several scenes, particularly portraying her lost emptiness without the Dax symbiont.
Bashir is in goofy, overly-ebullient season one mode at the beginning, but he’s better in several tender scenes with Jadzia.
Quark’s actions early in the episode seem to cross a major red line; and yet, the episode is filled with great Quark moments, from his bantering with Odo about Rom in the opening, to his surprisingly brave attack on the Klingon that leads to his clever outwitting of the Klingon guarding Bashir and Odo, to his Ferengi skills coming in handy when he’s easily able to break into the locked box containing Odo.
Megan Gallagher is also strong and somewhat sympathetic as Verad’s girlfriend Mareel. Ms. Gallagher will reappear, also memorably, as Faith Garland in “Little Green Men.” It’s fun to see Tim Russ (Tuvok on Voyager) in a small role as one of the Klingon thugs.
How the former prostitute (excuse me, “accommodation house” employee) Mareel could beat Kira in a fight is beyond me. That was dumb.

“Cardassians”

There’s a lot to enjoy in this terrific episode, though the resolution leaves a great deal to be desired.
I love all of the pipe laid regarding Cardassia and the occupation of Bajor. It’s great to learn the station’s original Cardassian name, “Terok Nor.” I especially love seeing both Garak (who has been missing in action ever since his wonderful appearance back in the series’ second episode) and Dukat back in such a major way. They’re both so terrific in this episode. (I love how we gradually learn of how there’s little love lost between the two men.)
The central dilemma as to whether the Cardassian boy Rugel belongs with his adopted Bajoran parents or his biological Cardassian father is a fascinating and complex issue. This is a great hook for the episode. It’s a wonderful story all the way until the end, in which Sisko gives us an overly simplistic answer in a quick log entry. Whaat? That is a terribly undramatic way to resolve this tough dilemma, and it totally undercuts any potential negative consequences of Sisko’s decision to give Rugel back to his Cardassian father. (For example, we don’t get to see a moment of Rugel’s adoptive Bajoran father’s reaction to this decision; surely he would be devastated.)
I love the furthering of the Bashir-Garak pairing. I love how Garak, who has already figured out a lot of what’s going on, is able to pull Bashir along on his quest for the full story. I love the scene of Bashir and Garak’s vision to the Bajoran orphanage. It begins humorously, as Garak cheerfully ignores the Bajoran woman’s disdain and demonstrates his (very surprising for a “plain and simple” tailor) mastery of computer systems… then turns heartbreaking when we see all the other abandoned Cardassian children. (A plot point the episode unfortunately never returns to.)
Dukat, meanwhile, is further established as a smart, plan-ahead, cold-hearted son of a bitch… while also being a consummate politician. Marc Alaimo just kills in every single scene.
I love the way Sisko handles Bashir. “Don’t apologize, it’s been the highlight of my day! DON’T do it again.” The iron glove and the velvet fist. I love Sisko’s management style!
It’s interesting the way the show allows the fan-favorite, everyman character of O’Brien to express some ugly anti-Cardassian racism. I love that Keiko will have none of it, calling him on it immediately. I love the later scene in which both Rugel and O’Brien push their plates of Cardassian food away in disgust.
While the Cardassians have mostly been the villains of the show so far, I like that the episode treated Rugel’s biological father, Pa’Dar, as a sympathetic character and not a monster.
(Is Rugel spelled Rugal?)

“Melora”

“Rules of Acquisition”

This is a very solid episode with a lot to enjoy, although some aspects of the woman-in-disguise story haven’t aged well.
It’s a delight to dive deeper into Ferengi society here. I love how successfully DS9 has reclaimed the Ferengi, who were laughable one-note villains on TNG.
I love that Dax loves playing Tongo with the Ferengi. I love that she is able to see what is valuable and of interest in these aliens, while Kira dismisses them completely.
This episode is a great spotlight for Quark, giving him a lot of layers — while also being unafraid to allow him to make decisions that we the audience probably object to. It’s sad the way he can’t allow himself to love Pel; that he sees no other option but to chase her out of his life. It’s cruel and sad. (Though Quark’s final scene with Pel does allow him too redeem himself somewhat.)
TNG established right from the very first Ferengi episode (“The Last Outpost”) that the Ferengi didn’t allow their females to wear clothes. That’s a disgusting notion that was mostly played for a joke on TNG. DS9 had a choice as to whether or not to ignore that; they made the tougher, braver choice to acknowledge that pre-established continuity, but attempt to craft a story out of it. I love that choice, and I love that this episode isn’t the end of Quark’s journey towards respecting and valuing Ferengi values.
In hindsight, I am absolutely tickled that our first mention of “the Dominion” comes in a Ferengi episode. Genius!
It’s a delight to see Grand Nagus Zek (and, of course, his trusty manservant Maihar’du) again!
I love that Rom gets a lot of attention here (even though Rom is still somewhat in his boorish season 1 mode, rather than the gentler, more intelligent soul he’ll gradually be developed into in later seasons).
That Kira allows Zek to pinch her ass, without her turning around and decking him, is a moment that was intended to be funny/playful, but it’s uncomfortable to watch now.
I love the bizarre, brightly-colored, bulked-up aliens (the Dosi) with whom Quark attempts to negotiate for Tulaberry Wine (another wonderfully weird DS9 turn of phrase). It’s fun to see Brian Thompson, who would so memorably play the alien shapeshifter on The X-Files.

“Necessary Evil”

One of the greatest episodes of the show’s entire run. I love this episodes much.
It is absolutely fascinating to take this deep dive into the show’s backstory. It’s incredible to see life on the station under the Cardassian occupation. I love the way the redressed the main DS9 sets into something much darker and more run-down, with the ghetto-like main gate running through the Promenade. Dukat is given a spotlight in a big way, and as usual Marc Alaimo kills every single moment. We knew that Odo was on the station before the Federation arrived; it’s fascinating to finally see the story of how he wound up as chief of security under the Cardassians. (It’s interesting to see this stage of Odo’s life, on his own after leaving the Bajoran scientists who’d first found him, something we’ll learn a lot more about later in the season in “The Alternate.”)
I love seeing how Odo and Kira first met. This episode is a beautiful spotlight on their relationship. It’s great to jump from their collegial working relationship as peers in the present, to the way Odo holds Kira’s life in his hands in the past. And that ending… wow. That final scene between Odo and Kira is a whopper, one of the best moments in the show’s entire run. Every beat is perfectly played by Nana Visitor and Rene Auberjonois. I love how shocked and hurt Odo is that Kira kept this secret from him for so long, and his astonishment that she’s a better liar than he ever thought. When Odo grudgingly offers that maybe their friendship doesn’t have to end over this, we can see Kira’s relief — and then she goes just a step too far, asking Odo if he’ll ever be able to trust her the same way again… and he can’t answer, as the episode ends on that wonderful two-shot of the two of them standing silently, as Odo lowers his head. Magnificent.
The mystery is very well-constructed. Everything fits into place very well at the end, but the episode doesn’t telegraph where it’s going. The audience doesn’t get ahead of the show, which is so critical to a mystery story like this working.
We get more great Rom stuff, as we see for the first time how smart and clever Nog can be… a fact that horrifies Quark, when he learns that none of his locks or safes can keep his brother out. Great moments. There are some great moments with Rom later, after Quark gets shot, in which we see his excitement with the potential of his getting too run the bar war with his love for his brother. (We’ve grown from the Rom of season one, but we’re not yet at the selfless, heroic Rom from later seasons.)
I love the way the show in general, and this episode in specific, doesn’t ever let Kira completely off the hook for her terrorist/freedom fighter past. She killed Vatrik, we learn at the end! That wasn’t her intention, OK… but she did it! It’s bold of any show, particularly a Trek show, to allow one of it’s main characters to be a murderer!
I love Marc Alaimo’s delivery — and hand-gestures! — when he talks about the “Cardassian Neck Trick” he saw Odo do at a party!
We hear Kira call Odo “constable” for the first time, in the past — which is interesting, as I’d always assumed that was a human nickname given to him by Sisko in the pilot.
I love the edit that parallels sad Bajoran kids waiting outside the Cardassian gate on the Promenade in the flashbacks, with happy kids running around in the present day.
I’m not sure how Odo got the permanent job of the station’s chief of security, since we learn by the end of the episode that he failed to solve Vatrick’s murder in the past… but I can live with that minor plot whole, because the entire episode is so perfect.
The nourish, dark-and-stormy-night opening is a very unusual way to open a Star Trek episode, but it works. I love seeing Quark as a roguish lady’s man in those scenes with Vatrick’s widow.
I love Kira’s insistance that “everyone has to choose sides, Constable!” conflicts with Odo’s strong belief that “I don’t do sides”. Great moments for both characters.
I love how differently Rene Auberjonois plays the withdrawn, hesitant Odo of the past from the confident investigator of the present. (I love Odo’s “oh, one more thing” Columbo moment when speaking to Vatrick’s widow!). I also love Odo’s lengthy rant from the opening about how he is being forced by Sisko to keep a log, followed by his delightfully brief actual entry: “everything’s under control”.
What a great episode!!! One of my very favorites.

“Second Sight”

Coming off of the spectacular “Necessary Evil,” we enter the dull slow section in the middle of DS9’s second season. There are some solid episodes in the mix here, but little that stands out as really great. And some of the episodes are very mediocre, like “Second Sight.” There’s nothing terrible in this episode, but not much of interest either. The show tries to make a meal out of the story of widower Ben Sisko opening himself up to love again for the first time, and Avery Brooks does his level best. But this story of a mysterious woman who keeps vanishing just doesn’t hold my interest.
I like the Ben-Jake scenes. There are far fewer of these moments in season 2 than season 1, so it’s nice to get these father-son beats here.
I sort of like the jovial blowhard Professor Seyetik (the terraformer). It’s nice that he’s not a mustache-twirling villain. But I wish we’d gotten deeper into his character, and deeper into the story of his love for his wife Nidell (a love that drives him to suicide at the episode’s end). Fenna herself is beautiful and she’s good enough in her scenes with Sisko, but we don’t really get to know her (or Nidell) as a character.
Sisko is sort of a jerk to Quark when Quark approaches him on the Promenade with a drink after recognizing his lovelorn look. It’s funny, upon rewatching these early episodes I have far less tolerance for the show’s main characters being mean to Quark than I used to. Those moments were intended to be comedic, but because I grew to love Quark overt the course of the show and love that the show developed him into a fully-realized character, I don’t like seeing him treated so poorly by our characters in these early episodes!
There are some beautiful effects shots of the starship Prometheus, docked at DS9. But I wish the show had better developed Professor Seyetik’s relationship with the Prometheus crew. It’s weird to me that Odo says that not a single member of the Prometheus crew other than the professor has gotten off the ship to come over to DS9. (That’s a plot point for the mystery; but it doesn’t make any sense to me that the crew wouldn’t take shore leave on the station.) And it’s weird that we never see Sisko interact with the captain of the starship — he only speaks to the Professor — until the scene on the ship’s bridge at the very end. What is Seyetik’s place in the command structure of the Prometheus? For that matter what is he doing at DS9 at all? Why is he working with Dax — as opposed to any of the science officers on the Prometheus? Why isn’t the Prometheus’ Chieg Medical Officer summoned when Nidell falls into a coma? (That I’m worrying about these details is an indication that the main story of the episode doesn’t hold my interest.)
It’s fun to hear Seyetik mention Protomatter — used by David Marcus in the Genesis Device — and it’s interesting that when Seyetik is able to reignite the star as planned, the effect is reminiscent of the Genesis Effect. Another fun reference is Sisko and Seyetik’s exchange about a Klingon poem called “The Fall of Kang.” (Although the real Kang will appear later this season in “Blood Oath,” alive and well, so that feels like a bit of a discontinuity.)

“Sanctuary”

Another episode which isn’t at all bad, but it’s just a bit duller than it should be.
What I like about this episode is the exploration of just how much of a “shambles” Bajor still is, with the planet still in turmoil following the Cardassian occupation. We hear the Bajoran musician Varani lament that the major centers for the arts on Bajor are all still destroyed. (He himself is reduced to playing in Quark’s.) We hear about a famine ravaging the planet. It’s also interesting to see how much Kira has taken it upon herself to try to fix her broken world (so much so that, in the episode’s opening, we see that she has somewhat neglected her duties for Sisko on the station). She argues with members of the Provisional Government and badgered Quark into giving Varani a job.
I like that the episode acknowledges the existence of the Universal Translator and that sometimes this might not work perfectly when a new alien race is encountered. That being said, the way the Universal Translator works in the episode still seems ludicrously like magic. When the translator begins working for Haneek, we hear English appear throughout her gibberish speech — how is the translator making those English words come right out of her mouth? And how could the translator possibly correctly translate a number like “three million” the first time it was heard? (How could “three million” be differentiated from “three thousand” or “three hundred”?)
There’s not too much of Jake-Nog in season two, so I like seeing them still hanging out on the promenade together and getting into trouble, even if the story of their bickering with the Skrrean boys is not that interesting. (It is fun to hear that Jake has begun some sort of friendship/relationship with the Dabo girl Mardah, who will be mentioned several more times over the next season or so…)
It’s fun to hear Haneek mention the Dominion (the second time that empire has been mentioned on the show, after “Rules of Acquisition”). I love how these mentions were gently seeded throughout the second season.
It’s a delight to see William Schallert, who played Nilz Barris in the Original Series episode “The Trouble with Tribbles”, back in Trek, playing the musician Varani. He’s terrific in the role.
The episode’s ending is powerful, as the Bajorans refuse to accept the Skrrean refugees and Haneek responds bitterly to the perceived betrayal. Her final line that “Bajor is not Kentana” stings. It’s sad, though not surprising given what their society has been through, that the Bajorans (even Kira!) can’t conceive that the Skrreans could actually help Bajor; they assume that they will wind up being a burden on them. As we see so many stories in today’s world of people being fearful of immigrants and “others,” assuming that they will destroy their society when they enter it, this episode’s ending gains new potency. (I just wish that Haneek didn’t seem quite so ungrateful at the end for all that the Bajorans and the Federation HAD done for her people: feeding and clothing them for weeks, and repairing their ships.)

“Rivals”

The idea of an El Aurian (one of Guinan’s people) using their power of “listening” for evil is a great idea. And a lighthearted romp about Quark running into business trouble when beset by a new rival on the Promenade also could have had merit. Sadly, this listless, unmemorable episode just does not work. There’s nothing terrible in the episode, just nothing all that interesting.
It’s sort of fun to see O’Brien again tortured by Bashir — in this case, after the Chief builds a futuristic racquetball court on the station, he discovers that Bashir is a master player who can wipe the floor with him. It’s fun to see these two really rub one another the wrong way… but not nearly enough fun to be able to support the episode. (Though O’Brien’s annoyance watching the arrogant, oblivious Bashir go through his bizarre routine of stretches is a very funny scene.)
I do enjoy this rule of acquisition, spoken by Quark: “Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack”.
Keiko is often unfortunately reduced to the boring role of shrill wife, but she’s terrific here — this is one of her best episodes — bantering with O’Brien. She’s the voice of reason to him, but she’s also supportive of his strong desire to beat Bashir in the game that Quark sets up. I love this Keiko.
Chris Sarandon, who so memorably played Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride, plays Mazur, Quark’s rival. It’s fun to see this distinctive face and voice in the Star Trek universe, but Mazur is nowhere near interesting enough.

Playing God

Jadzia Dax was a bit boring in season one, as the writers and Terry Farrell leaned heavily into the serene nature of this long-lived alien. Here in season two, they’ve decided to make Dax more fun-loving and weird. I loved seeing Dax hanging with the Ferengi in “Rules of Acquisition,” but they let Dax get a lot wilder here, bantering with Ferengi (and stroking Quark’s ear, after which Quark barks “don’t touch my ear!” and then, quieter “unless you mean in,” in a funny moment perfectly delivered by Armin Shimmerman), eating Klingon food (and apparently having taught the fat restauranteur a Klingon song he’d never heard of before, something that will make a lot more sense when Curzon’s eight-decade-long connection to the Klingons is revealed two episodes from now in “Blood Oath”), having some sort of hedonistic early-morning exercise routine with a beefcake alien, after which she doesn’t hesitate to answer her door clad only in a scanty robe. I like this version of Dax a lot, but it all comes somewhat out of left field here.
We learn a lot more about how competitive it is to become a joined Trill, and about Jadzia’s experiences as an initiate. I like the further fleshing out of Trill culture and society, and I’m intrigued by the self-loathing aspect of Jadzia’s hatred of how cruel Curzon was to her.
But sadly, the actual vehicle of the Trill story is a bore. I’m just not interested in the dull initiate with whom Jadzia is paired. And the poor man’s TNG leftover story of the proto-universe whose expansion threatens to destroy the station is also blech. There’s very little of interest in the story, and the solution doesn’t make any sense. What happened to this expanding proto-universe once they towed it into the Gamma Quadrant? Wouldn’t it have kept expanding there??
The idea of Cardassian voles causing trouble on the station is a good one — I like that the show is still playing with the idea that DS9 is not the pristine place the Enterprise always was — but the story goes nowhere. I couldn’t believe we didn’t actually get any resolution at the end to the issue of how O’Brien and Kira were going to get the Voles off the station. And the fake rubber-looking Voles were a creature-effects fail.
I did enjoy O’Brien’s fruitless conversation with an arrogant Cardassian, who had no sympathy for the Cjhief’s plight. Even better that said Cardassian was Gul Even, making his first of several appearances. (He’ll pop up later on DS9 in “The Maquis, Part 1” and “Tribunal,” and also TNG’s “Journey’s End” and “Preemptive Strike,” and then again in “Caretaker,” the pilot episode of Star Trek: Voyager.)
It was pretty boorish of O’Brien not to realize that the sonic device he was considering using to lure Voles would affect Quark… and even worse that he didn’t seem to care much, once it did. Quark came off well in his later scene, trying to console the Trill initiate Arjin (though Quark’s story about missing life’s big opportunity wasn’t really much help to the young Trill!). His line about the rule of acquisition regarding not having sex with your boss’ sister was funny!
I’d forgotten how much Jake and Nog stuff there was in season one; I was pleasantly reminded about this in my rewatch. Here in season two, we’ve seen very little of the duo. Jake gets one scene here, a funny scene admitting to his dad that he’s in love with a Dabo girl, Mardah. It’s a very slight scene but it’s nice to at least see Jake for a moment.

“Profit and Loss”

I had zero patience for this episode when it originally aired. Upon rewatching I do find a lot to enjoy, even though I still think it doesn’t really work.
There’s a lot of great pipe laid here, fleshing out the world of the Cardassians. The military government of Cardassia is referred to as the Central Command for the first time here, while at the same time we meet our first members of the Cardassian dissident movement: Natima Lang and her students. We also get some great stuff with Garak, who I’m happy to see back again. (Garak gets several terrific episodes here in the 2nd season, culminating in the terrific “The Wire” a few episodes from now.) I love seeing that Garak and Bashir are continuing to share meals together. At first it’s weird to see Garak acting as the mouthpiece for the Central Command, but we understand at the end that he’s trying to get back into their good graces. (I think this is the episode that confirmed that Garak was in exile on DS9.) I love the mutual loathing between Garak and the Gul, Toran. (Though I’m not sure why Garak, who at this point still considers himself a true Cardassian patriot, would allow Natima and her students to escape in the end, just because Gul Toran pissed him off.)
It’s fun seeing Quark as Rick in this Casablanca homage. This isn’t a role Quark seems well suited for, but I like this development of his character. Natima is an interesting character, and I enjoy their scenes together. (Well, except for the almost unwatchable scene after she shoots him — suddenly, tough independent Natima turns into a fawning submissive, which is very weird.)
It feels like there’s a much larger story taking place around the events of this episode, and I wish I’d seen it. While I love the dramatic moment when Garak appears in Ops while the Cardassian ship looms on the view screen, it’s weird that we never see that ship’s captain communicate with Sisko. For that matter, I’d have expected to have had a scene of Dukat on the comm with Sisko as soon as the Central Command learned that the dissidents were on the station. Furthermore, I’m shocked that Sisko seems willing to go along with the Bajoran Provisional Government and just hand Natima and her students over to the Cardassians to be executed. And I’m disappointed we don’t see any of the fallout from Quark and Garak’s helping Natima and her students escape at the end. What did Sisko think of that? How did his Starfleet superiors respond? Wasn’t anyone concerned that Odo blithely disobeyed the orders of his superiors? And how did the Cardassian government respond to these events… or how about the warship hanging out at DS9 whose captain was murdered by Garak??

“Blood Oath”

One of the reasons I love DS9 is the way it embraces the entire tapestry of Star Trek in a way no other Trek show ever had or will (until now, at least). This episode is a beautiful love letter to the Original Series. The idea of bringing back the three best Klingons from the Original Series, Kang, Kor and Koloth, is brilliant. I love the way this episode creates a delicious backstory, establishing that these three Klingons are friends and have a long history together. And I love the way Dax is tied into that history, as we learn that Curzon Dax was the Federation Ambassador to Quonos, and that he was a key player in cementing the alliance between the Federation and the Klingon Empire (following the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country).
I love the choice to give Kang, Kor and Koloth the TNG-era Klingon makeup/prosthetics. Watching this episode, I can just assume that this is always the way they actually works. That totally works for me.
All three actors, reprising their Original Series roles, are spectacular. And I love how clearly differentiated the three Klingons are from one another. These are three very different characters; each one complex and interesting and wonderful. Michael Ansara’s voice… that deep voice… it’s so great to get to hear again as a Klingon. I love his nobility, his depth, the seriousness with which he takes their pursuit of the Albino. William Campbell’s Koloth is the most different from his Original Series persona, which was more comedic, but I can imagine that Koloth has changed over the almost-century since the events of the Original Series. I love this almost Samurai-like depiction of Koloth. I love the depth of his friendship with Kor in particular. And that brings be to John Colicos as Kor, who is absolutely magnificent and easily my favorite of the three Klingons. Kor is the most fun, getting all the best lines (“There’s tension on your face, Koloth! You ought to drink more!”), while also having the most interesting story-arc. I adore the mid-episode scene between Kor and Dax, at Quark’s bar. The scene starts off funny, with Kor sitting with a Dabo girl on each arm, and therefore unable to reach the drink in front of him. But it turns heartbreaking, as Kor winds up feeling shamed by Dax, as he acknowledges that his current fat, mostly-drunken state is a far cry from the fierce warrior he once was. It’s a beautifully written scene, and Mr. Colicos is absolutely spectacular.
The episode is also a terrific showcase for Dax, giving her a rich backstory, and allowing her to really shine as she proves that she can hold her own among these three Klingon warriors.
If there’s any place where the episode falls down a bit, it’s that we don’t get to see enough of the Albino to make him the terrifying villain he should be… and the big action climax isn’t quite large-scale enough to suit me. Also, I wish they didn’t stop for dumb comedy bits (like Dax’s asking a guard for directions) but played more into the intensity and danger of the assault on the Albino’s compound.
I love the Kira-Dax scene, in which we see that Kira actually HAS killed people, and that this haunts her.
I love the silent final scene, when Dax returns to duty somewhat uncertain as to whether or not Sisko will accept her back as if nothing had happened.
This is such a great episode!

“The Maquis” Parts I and II

This isn’t the show’s most exciting two-parter, but it’s a very solid effort and the start of an interesting story that would cross between multiple Trek shows.
This two-parter is a wonderful point of connection between three Trek shows: TNG, DS9, and Voyager. Maquis stories were woven into the final run of TNG episodes, most specifically “Journey’s End” and “Preemptive Strike” (the episodes that brought back Wesley Crusher and Ro Laren, respectively). And, of course, the Maquis were central to the pilot episode of Voyager.
The set-up is interesting, with the recent Federation-Cardassian peace treaty having redrawn the border and resulted with certain Federation colonies suddenly finding themselves in Cardassian territory, and vice versa. I love this exploration of the galactic politics of the Federation and its neighbors. TNG seldom got to deep into this stuff, but it’s DS9’s bread and butter, and I love that.
The two-parter would be stronger if a better actor had played Sisko’s friend Cal Hudson. His stilted line delivery undermines the character. (My friend Jeremy and I have, for years, made each other laugh by enacting Cal’s bizarrely delivered line at the end of part 1: “Ah, Benjamin, it seems one disaster after another… keeps bringing us.. back… together… again.”) It’s also a poorly chosen moment for the cliffhanger, and the fact that Cal is a villain isn’t remotely a surprise — it’s been telegraphed all throughout part 1. (I don’t mind that we see Cal’s betrayal coming. What I object is the way the episode tries and fails to build that up as a shock cliffhanger moment on which to end part 1.)
Dukat returns, and he is an absolute hoot throughout. I particularly love how we linger, in part one, on Dukat’s joyous post-kidnapping dinner (just watching Dukat eat is a lot of fun) and the moment in which he learns from Sisko that the Central Command has hung him out to dry is amazing. I also love Dukat’s assessment of Sisko: “Of all the humans I’ve met, you strike me as the most joyless and the least vulnerable.” Then in part two we get the spectacular moment of Dukat’s hilarious takedown of the Xepolite arms-trader (following Sisko’s failed attempts to use Starfleet talk to intimidate him).
Gul Evek pops up again; I love the awesome inter-series continuity of seeing him in multiple DS9 episodes this season, as well as his appearances on TNG (in “Journey’s End” and “Preemptive Strike”) and the Voyager pilot “Caretaker.” Speaking of inter-series continuity, it’s fun to see TNG’s Admiral Nechayev show up at the start of Part 2 to chew out Sisko.
Although Sisko and Kira’s relationship is much tighter in season 2 than it was in season 1, I like that they can still argue and have different viewpoints. When Kira tells Sisko she thinks he’s being naive (about how Federation citizens will react to being under the Cardassian thumb), I love the moment when Sisko angrily punches the open-door button in his office, wordlessly telling Kira to get the F out.
Hudson’s reaction to learning Dax is a woman is a little nineties-era mysogenistic, but his stunned acknowledgement that Dax knows more about him than any other woman, including his wife, is funny.
It’s also fun to see Quark get to be a ladies man, flirting it up with the Vulcan Sakonna (and actually getting her to like him! Well done!). I like Sakonna; I wish we saw her again. (I love Quark’s statement that “Vulcans are a species that appreciate good ears.”) The scene in part 2 in which Quark uses business/economics language to demonstrate to Sakonna that she is being illogical by choosing violence over negotiation is spectacular. Already at this point DS9 could declare victory in their complete resuscitation of the Ferengi from the one-dimensional jokes they were on TNG. I love how Quark in this scene is able to have values and a worldview that are completely alien from the traditional Federation (Read: American) values… and yet Quark’s values are shown to have real merit! The Ferengi Quark demonstrates an understanding that the logical, intellectual Vulcan Sakonna fails to see. What a wonderful scene.
We get our first mention of “the badlands” here, though the uninteresting visual effect seen on screen pales before what will be established for the Badlands in Voyager’s “Caretaker” (and then later DS9 episodes).
I love seeing John Shuck (who so memorably played the Klingon Ambassador in Star Trek IV and Star Trek VI) here in one terrific scene as Cardassian Legate Parn.
In part two, Sisko gives one of my favorite speeches: “it’s easy to be a saint in Paradise.” This is one of the moments that clearly delineates DS9 from TNG. It was easy to be a saint on the Enterprise, where everything always worked perfectly and life was relatively easy. But in the messier world of DS9, it’s harder to be so saintly. (Many people have criticized DS9 for violating Gene Roddenberry’s optimistic vision of the future. But to me, DS9 features the most heroic Starfleet characters of any series, because we see them pushed upon harder than any other series, and yet the do still (mostly) maintain their morals and their values.)
I wish the action (the fighting in the DMZ in part 1 that Dukat and Sisko are unable to stop, as well as Sisko and his runabouts’ attempts to stop a Maquis attack in part two) was better realized. The increasingly epic scale of the show’s storytelling was, at this point, outpacing what the visual effects were capable of delivering. When that changes towards the end of season 3 and the start of season 4, it really elevates the show.

“The Wire”

After only 1 appearance in season one, season two has (thankfully) clearly established Garak as a member of the regular ensemble of supporting characters. Here in “The Wire,” we get his best spotlight yet. Most of the supporting cast appear only briefly: this episode belongs to Bashir and Garak.
When this episode first aired, I was a bit let down because, in the end, I felt we didn’t find out much actual truth about Garak — as most of his speeches containing revelations about his dark past were contradicted by later events/revelations in the episode. But, in hindsight, there is so much here to chew on. I love Garak’s escalating series of lies, about shooting down a transport full of people, about sparing a bunch of Bajoran orphans, about betraying his comrade Elim. None of those stories are true (at least not exactly — even by the end of the show we were left with lots of questions about what exactly Garak did/didn’t do in his younger days), but between the lies we can clearly discern that not only was Garak involved with the Obsidian Order, but that clearly he once held a position of some esteem, as the ending establishes that he’s well-known by the Order’s former head, Enabran Tain.
Andrew Robinson is magnificent, delivering one wonderful, emotional speech after another, and taking us through this whirlwind journey for Garak. My favorite moment is the one true speech that Garak delivers, in which he reveals to Bashir how torturous he’s found his two years living on the station, and how he turned to the endorphins released by his implant as a way to escape. It’s a marvelous, heartbreaking moment.
Julian Bashir, so annoying in season one, holds his own magnificently. It’s nice to see Bashir hold his own with Garak (who repeatedly badgers Bashir to leave him alone and let him die), Odo (who wants to interrogate Garak for the secrets regarding the Obsidian Order that he likely holds), and then Tain. When Tain refers to Bashir as a “brash young Lieutenant” we can see a bit of Bashir’s arrogance and pride peek through. But still, this is a far different (And more likable) Bashir than we saw in season one.
There are so many firsts in this episode. I believe this is the first time that the Cardassian home planet is referred to as Cardassia Prime. It’s the first time we hear of the Obsidian Order. It’s the first time we learn Garak’s first name (Elim) and Bashir’s middle name (Subatoi). And it’s our first meeting with Enabran Tain.
Paul Dooley is phenomenal as Tain. He is so amazing in his one scene at the end of the episode! I love how, after an hour of Garak’s lies, pretty much everything Tain tells Bashir about Garak appears to be true. Tain does miss Garak, while at the same time wanting him to live a long, miserable life in exile. I am so glad they brought Tain back later!
I love Bashir’s scene with Dax and her weird plant. “I’m a doctor, not a botanist!”
Garak’s exchange with Bashir at the end of the episode is one of my very favorite moments from the whole run of the series. “My dear doctor, they’re all true.” “Even the lies?” “Especially the lies.” (I also love Tain’s jovial, on-the-nose description of Garak: “Never tell the truth when a lie will do.”)
I liked hearing Odo reference the Roman intelligence service, the Tal Shiar, which was introduced in Next Gen, when he and Bashir are discussing the Obsidian Order.
I love Garak and Bashir’s discussions of Cardassian literature. The idea of the Cardassian literary style of “the repetitive epic” makes me laugh. (I love the two novel titles Garak mentions: “The Never-Ending Struggle” and “Meditations on a Crimson Shadow.” Both feel so perfectly Cardassian!)

“Crossover”

Coming soon after “Blood Oath” is another wonderful salute to the Original Series, as we get a sequel to the classic Trek episode “Mirror, Mirror”! Visiting the Mirror Universe would soon become a regular thing, but let’s remember that no one had ever done this before this episode. It was a terrific surprise at the time.
I love hearing Mirror Kira say Jame Kirk’s name. And I love that our Kira (unlike all Star Trek fans) has absolutely no idea who Kirk is!! That’s a wonderful little moment that, of course, makes perfect sense for Kira’s character.
I love the idea that Kirk actually succeeded in convincing Mirror Spock to try to change the ways of the evil Terran empire… and that that only made the Terrans easy pickings to be conquered by the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance.
Nana Visitor is fantastic playing dual roles. The Intendant quickly becomes an iconic and memorable DS9 villain (who we’ll enjoy seeing again in the future). And the visual effects when the two Kiras are on screen together hold up quite well!
Evil dressed-in-black nazi Odo is a hoot, and of course the shot in which he gets blown up real good is very memorable.
It’s fun to see Quark as an altruist, and I love that just when the episode gets you to think that maybe he’ll be the key to helping Kira and Bashir get back to their universe, he’s arrested and executed.
Bashir is in annoying, season one mode in the opening scene on the runabout with Kira. It’s a bit weird and off-putting. I wonder if they intentionally upped Bashir’s arrogance and annoying tendencies there in order to make the audience feel like Bashir deserved to suffer a bit in the episode?
I love Colm Meany’s performance as the beaten-down, mousy “Smiley.” I love his quiet speech to the Intendant at the end about freedom.
I love seeing Garak (again, I am so happy that season two used Garak so frequently!) as the Intendant’s murderous number two.
I love watching this episode. It’s a bit simplistic, but it’s just so much fun.

“The Collaborator”

It’s nice to get back to the story of Bajoran politics and religion (that was so much a focus of the wonderful four episodes stretching from the season 1 finale to the season 2 opening 3-parter). I love that squeaky-clean Bareil has a little dirt in his past and, of course, I love that the evil Winn somehow manages to get herself named Kai.
Winn was fantastic in “In the Hands of the Prophets” and the 3-parter that opened the season, but it’s this episode that truly establishes her as a recurring villain on the show. Winn was great in those episodes but she lost both time. It’s such a great choice to see her win in this episode. It solidifies her threat as a villain with teeth.
The mystery of the secret in Bareil’s past is well done. The show does a good job of not telegraphing what was going on.
I love the backstory hinted at in the episode: Prylar Bek’s suicide, the Cardassian collaborator Secretary Kubus, etc. (I wish we had one more scene with Kubus at the end, to learn what ultimately happened to him.)
Knowing where the Odo-Kira story will go, it’s fascinating how the scene in which Kira tell him that she loves Bareil plays differently. Now we can see the brief moment of hurt on Odo’s face, and his curmudgeonly comment about humanoid relationships feels like his covering his true feelings.
This is a very solid episode, albeit an unspectacular one. Still, it’s a key piece of the puzzle and a well-put-together episode.

“Tribunal”

When Tribunal really digs deeply into the Orwellian, topsy-turvy world of Cardassian jurisprudence, in which the verdict is decided before a trial even begins, the episode gets interesting. I like this exploration of a very different culture, in which a trial serves a very different purpose than it does in the United States-like United Federation of Planets. On Cardassia, it’s all about showing the infallibility of the state, and helping the population to find comfort in the rule of the State. (The episode was inspired by a line Gul Dukat says in “The Maquis” part 2.)
Unfortunately, there’s plenty about the episode that doesn’t quite work. O’Brien’s nightmarish scenario isn’t quite nightmarish enough — the episode never reaches the intensity it needs to really sell the hopelessness of O’Brien’s situation. As in “Profit and Loss,” I feel there’s a much larger and more interesting story happening around the events of this episode, that we don’t really see. We get a broadly sketched picture of a long-simmering Cardassian plot (involving murdering and replacing a Starfleet officer with a Cardassian operative), but it’s all just told to us in a few clunky scenes. I wanted to dig more deeply into this story. What we get in the episode feels too simplistic. How did the operative ever think he would be able to get away with this? And how in the world did Sisko get into the courtroom — located on Cardassia Prime!! — at the end to bail out O’Brien?? And how would the Cardassian judge have known about the military plot? It doesn’t really make much sense.
There are also a few too many clunky scenes involving Keiko and Miles. I loved that Keiko came along with O’Brien to DS9 and enjoyed the stories she was given in season one, especially in “In the Hands of the prophets.” Unfortunately, while there are many things that DS9 would get a LOT better at as the series continued, I feel like they lost sight of how best to use Keiko. There are a few nice moments in which we see Keiko’s strength, standing by Miles during the trial. But in the opening, I don’t like the cliche Keiko grumping about Miles not paying enough attention to her because he’s focused on his technical manuals… nor do I like her screaming helplessly after O’Brien gets captured by the Cardassians. And the episode’s wakka-wakka closing scene, in which Miles and Keiko both protest that they can’t resume their planned vacation because they don’t have their bags, is painfully unfunny.
I love the shots of exteriors on Cardassia, and how the populace constantly watches the broadcasts of the State on huge oval viewscreens. There’s something very iconic and creepy about those images. Speaking of Cardassians, it’s fun to see Gul Evek (from “Playing God” and “The Maquis”) back again. I wonder why they didn’t keep using him after this season?
It’s interesting that Kira doesn’t have much trouble believing O’Brien actually stole the warheads like he was accused of doing. It’s surprising at first that, after two years, she doesn’t have more trust in him than that. On the other hand, I like that DS9 has preserved the characters’ rough edges. They’re not all best friends, even deep into the show. (It’s sweet to see that Julian, though, never doubts O’Brien.). There’s even a scene that specifically addresses that very issue, when O’Brien acknowledges to Odo that Odo doesn’t know him very well. By the way, this is a great episode for Odo, who is calm and measured and very strong in his dogged pursuit of O’Brien’s defense.
As always, Colm Meaney shines as O’Brien. His best moment comes when Odo starts questioning O’Brien about whether he committed the crime he’s accused of, and O’Brien gives an impassioned speech about how he took an oath to serve the Federation. Great moment.
I like hearing Sisko mention the Enterprise in his list of Starfleet ships ordered to the Cardassian border after O’Brien’s kidnapping.

“The Jem’Hadar”

I love this season-ender. It’s a stand-alone episode, but it’s also a great cliffhanger to propel us into season three.
I love how the first twenty-minutes or so play as a light comedy, before Sisko and Quark have their first real encounter with the Dominion and things turn very, very heavy.
The Sisko-Quark stuff is magnificent. Quark is hugely annoying, but he also is correct about a lot of what he says. Sisko (and other Starfleet characters) ARE usually very biased towards Ferengi, despite all their platitudes about IDIC and acceptance/tolerance. And the Ferengi ARE very much like the 24th century Star Trek humans used to be. Those scenes between Armin Shimmerman and Avery Brooks are terrific. And I love that it’s Quark who, in the end, is the one to realize that the whole episode was a set-up. Sisko and the others were totally fooled — only Quark gets wise to the Dominion’s scheme. That’s great.
Jake and Nog are very well used in this episode. They’re fun and funny without being ridiculous or annoying. I love their many failed attempts to use the Runabout to rescue Ben and Quark, and/or to pilot the ship out of orbit.
The action at the end is tremendous, DS9’s first piece of really cool starship combat. It’s very short compared to what we’ll get later — there are really only a handful of actual effects shots — but those shots are beautiful and the whole sequence works fantastically well. The violently shaky camera moves on the ships really sells the intensity of the combat, and the scenes are well-written and tightly edited. That the Jem’Hadar take out an entire Galaxy class starship in a suicide run remains one of the series’ most shocking moments. It fantastically sells the threat that the Dominion represents.
We meet the Jem’Hadar for the first time in this episode. Cress Williams is terrific as Talak’talan — his deep voice and slow, silkily smooth delivery is perfect to establish these very dangerous new aliens. I love how technologically superior the Dominion are established as being in this episode — their ships’ phasers can punch through a starship’s shields; Talak’talan can walk through a Starfleet force field, and Eris is able to transport across a tremendous distance in the end.
Speaking of Eris, she’s great as our first Vorta (though she’s not so named in the episode — when she tells her story to Sisko, she claims to be from an entirely different planet). She’s great as the damsel in distress and then also as the badass enemy once her true nature is revealed at the end.
We also get our first mention of the Founders in this episode. I love how we get both the suggestion that they’re the mysterious heads of the Dominion, as well as the misdirect that perhaps they’re just a myth. There’s so much great worldbuilding in this episode, and I love the sense of mystery about the Founders. (Little did I know, at the time, that the show would give us the truth about the Founders so quickly!)
At first it’s crazy that the Odyssey gets destroyed but the piddly little runabouts escape intact; but then the episode cleverly reveals that that was the Dominion’s plan all along. Still, this episode made clear that our DS9 heroes needed something better than those tiny runabouts; thankfully, this will be immediately remedied by the season three premiere.
The episode ends on a hugely ominous note. Talak’talan claims that the Dominion will not tolerate any future passage through “the anomaly” (I love that Gamma Quadrant nomenclature for the wormhole); Eris states “you have no idea what’s begun here,” and Sisko predicts that “if the Dominion comes through the wormhole, the first battle will be fought here”. Unfortunately, season three wouldn’t quite follow through on those dangerous threats (and we’ll see Starfleet ships play around in the Gamma Quadrant many more times without direct consequences), but that’s the flaw of future episodes, not this one. I really love this episode. It’s a huge milestone for the show, as it finally gives a proper introduction to The Dominion, the threat that will hang over the entire rest of the show.

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