It took me a minute to remember it. The one where O'Brien thinks everyone on the station is out to get him. And he's right... *cue ominous music* I love it. Really showcased Colm Meaney's acting skills.
I like Visionary and most other Chief must suffer, but this I don't. I really have thought about it, just seems so frustrating to watch. Felt the same way w/Hard Time
...But you're still not saying -what- you don't like about it. It definitely doesn't hold up extremely well to rewatches beyond the 2nd or 3rd time when you know what's really going on, but I still find it watchable. Last time I watched it I felt it was just too obvious that the crew didn't consider O'Brien to be O'Brien...which makes sense if they're all aliens but less so when they're not...though if you assume the episode is actually being filtered though O'Brien's perceptions and isn't objectively portraying events, that might be an interesting take...
I'm going to play arm chair psychologist for a bit so bear with me. I think that of all the "O'Brien suffers" episodes, Hard Time and Whispers are the two most difficult to enjoy, especially if you're an O'Brien fan. It's not as though we don't see other episodes like this. Tribunal, Visionary, Honor Among Thieves, The Assignment and Empok Nor are other episodes in which O'Brien is put through the ringer. However, in those episodes, O'Brien always triumphs in the end and comes off looking heroic. Hard Time strips him down to a point where he becomes suicidal. The only other character we see go through that type of emotional torture is Garak while he's decrypting Cardassian transmissions. Whispers takes it farther and ends with the O'Brien clone being killed. It does feel wrong that this being is put to death, basically for nothing, since he never even tries to complete his mission.
I didn't expect to enjoy it as much the second time since I knew the surprise going it, but this episode continues to enthrall me. I still point to it as the turning point of the series for me. I thought it demonstrated dramatically for the first time how much more daring and willing to go to newer, darker places DS9 was than previous Star Trek shows. I was seriously considering giving up on the show until this episode came along. It wasn't until season 4 that I started enjoying the show consistently, but this one assured me that even if this series had some really boring patches, it was always capable of astonishing originality and suspense.
I think it was one of the best episodes Colm Meaney did. His acting is great, the ending was unsuspected. Even my girlfriend who quickly picks up things about plot didn't figure out the entire plot untill the end.
I remember starting to think it might be a two-part episode, as by the time the episode has caught up to the "present" there's, what, 5 minutes left and nothing's really been explained yet?
I think "whispers" is a fairly decent episode. I don't dislike it but it's not in my top 10 by any means. I do think the conclusion was a little rushed. That's probably my only complaint.