Oops, I mean season. I have been trying too get into DS9 since it has come out on Netflix. I have read a lot about season 3 being where it really took off. Which are your favorite episodes?
The Search I/II, The House of Quark, Civil Defense, Defiant, Improbable Cause/The Die is Cast, and The Adversary would be on my must watch list. Heart of Stone, Distant Voices, and Explorers were also pretty good. Meridian, and Fascination are the only ones I really can't stand to rewatch.
"Explorers" comes to mind for me; it's one of the few Trek episodes I can watch with my westerns-only father and enjoy, and I never get tired of seeing Bashir and O'Brien sing "Jerusalem". Also, Sisko is sporting the goatee AND hair at that point.
JHarper really summed it up for me, although The Search part 2 is certainly the weaker one in that two parter.
JHarper's list is good, but I would add a few things: The Abandoned explores the nature of the Jem'hadar and is where Odo begins to differentiate his own concern for order with the Founder's fascism. Past Tense I and II were the first time ISB put his mark on the series, turning more toward filling in Star Trek lore rather than just adding more to it. Visionary is another Make O'Brien Suffer episode, but really fun. Facets is an uneven episode, but is worthwhile for Auberjonois' performance (and Brooks', to a lesser extent). Overall, I think Season Three is excellent. It's clear that the series is on the right track, and that many rich ideas are being seeded that will pay off down the road.
Just for clarification, this second list is the worst episodes of Season Three, and perhaps the most notoriously bad in the series. (If you don't believe me, check out Terry Farrell's acting during Equilibrium's denoument. Zzz.... . Or how unsexy real life couple Siddig and Visitor are in Fascination.)
Even though it was in the third season that the show started taking off, the first two seasons have some very good and, I think, almost essential episodes. I assume you've already tried to watch the weird and fascinating series premiere, Emissary. That's an important one, because the very end of DS9 in S7 sometimes connects back to Emissary. The other two first season episodes that I'd watch would be Duet and Hands of the Prophets. For the second season, here are my recommends: Homecoming Circle Seige (That's a three-part "movie" episode right there) Blood Oath The Maquis I & II Crossover The Jem'Hadar For the 3rd season, I'd pick: The Search, I & II Second Skin Defiant Past Tense I & II Heart of Stone Visionary Improbable Cause The Die is Cast
Best of series level: Improbable Cause/The Die Is Cast Great level: The Search Part I/Part II Civil Defense Past Tense Part I/Part II The Adversary Very good level: The Abandoned Defiant Heart of Stone Visionary Distant Voices
I agree with all this, except Heart of Stone. That started 4 seasons of annoying Odo/Kira "romance". I wish they hadn't gone in that direction. I did like the character growth for Nog though.
Overall Favs of Season 3 would be: The Search Parts I and II Defiant Improbable Cause & The Die is Cast Great Character Episodes: Second Skin Explorers Life Support
Despite the "cheat" ending, I liked "The Search", "Improbable Cause"/"The Die is Cast" was superb, and "The Adversary" was good too. Honorable mention for "Distant Voices", which was an interesting and suspenseful episode that had some interesting moments. Season 3 was where the show started becoming a little more solid and interesting for me and the ongoing story arc with the Dominion started getting going. I almost kind of wish, though, that the conclusion to "The Search" actually was real and not entirely false but then again it was probably way too early for such dramatic changes. I'm glad that when everything went down at the end of Season 5, THAT was clearly real.