The least disliked episode of DS9 - Season Four

This is a game that was played here a couple of years ago, and it proved to be a lot of fun, spanning across each Trek series, as well as a great way to mentally revisit those episodes you may not have thought about in a while. With that in mind, why not play again?

So, here's the game. The basic idea is your standard elimination game. I'll provide a list of the episodes for each season and you need to eliminate your least favorite or the one you deem the 'worst.' Please provide an EXPLANATION for why you are eliminating your choice and be sure to copy and paste the list with your choice removed. Finally, leave at least 2 eliminations by other posters before you eliminate another episode.

No tactical voting! You cannot remove an episode because you feel they would threaten your preferred episode's chance to win. Pretty simple. Enjoy!

Winners
The Original Series - Balance of Terror
The Next Generation - The Measure of a Man
Deep Space Nine -

Season One - Emissary
Season Two - The Wire
Season Three - The Die is Cast
Season Four -


The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
The Sword of Kahless
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Return to Grace
Sons of Mogh
Bar Association
Accession
Rules of Engagement
Hard Time
Shattered Mirror
The Muse
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

Shattered Mirror - MU episode, and apparently the MU people can just come and go as they please.


The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
The Sword of Kahless
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Return to Grace
Sons of Mogh
Bar Association
Accession
Rules of Engagement
Hard Time
The Muse
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

I'm gonna take out Sons of Mogh because it's another episode where it's like 'is Worf Klingon or Stafleet?'. Nothing bad about it, just nothing that good.

The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
The Sword of Kahless
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Return to Grace
Bar Association
Accession
Rules of Engagement
Hard Time
The Muse
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

TheRoyalFamily, you eliminated the season 3 MU episode despite admitting that you hadn't ever seen it. And now you are eliminating the season 4 one as well. I really don't mean to be a jerk, but....

Anyway, I'll get rid of "The Muse" which is possibly one of the 5 worst episodes in Star Trek history, IMO.

The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
The Sword of Kahless
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Return to Grace
Bar Association
Accession
Rules of Engagement
Hard Time
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

This time I actually have seen it . And wasn't too fond of it. I would have picked what you did, but I hadn't seen it either, and I knew it would be gone quick I figured I'll stick with eliminating episodes I have seen until we get down to the good ones (I have read multiple reviews of DS9 episodes - I don't care about spoilers - so the vast majority of the ones I haven't seen yet (not many anymore) are because they don't sound good to me).

That said, I'm taking out Bar Association. It was my first choice, but I couldn't think of a good reason besides it just felt off, so I went with what I did before

The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
The Sword of Kahless
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Return to Grace
Accession
Rules of Engagement
Hard Time
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

Fair enough.

 

In a strong season, The Muse is the only one I'd want to immediately remove. Just plain weird, and the alien-of-the-week just sort of up and leaves. It's like the writers didn't really know where they were going with the whole story, so just quickly ended it in a "we'll never speak of this again" kind of way. Also, it features a Lwaxana-Odo story. So, yeah.

 

I'll take out "The Sword of Kahless". I've always been kind of iffy on the whole Quest for the Magic Sword storyline anyway, and in the end it just collapses into wandering around nondescript caves bickering at each other. At best I find those scenes uncomfortable, at worst it makes for a flat episode.

The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Return to Grace
Accession
Rules of Engagement
Hard Time
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

I'll vote for "Accession." I understand the need to revisit the Sisko/Emissary storyline every so often, but there was no fallout from this episode whatsoever. If the idea of the Bajoran caste system had been revisited during "Rapture" as Bajor was trying to join the Federation, things might have made more sense. As it was, this seemed like an episode intended to fill an hour of television rather than advancing the storyline.

--Sran

The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Return to Grace
Rules of Engagement
Hard Time
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

^ I think it has a little more depth than that. I always saw that episode as the Klingon version of Treasure of the Sierra Madre. But I honesty can't argue the elimination. Some damn good episodes. I have said before I think DS9 season 4 might be the best season on television I've ever seen.

 

Crossfire - Kira gets a new lame boyfriend, Odo gets to be friendzoned once more. Lame.

The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Return to Grace
Rules of Engagement
Hard Time
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link[/QUOTE]

 

I will eliminate Hippocratic Oath.

Not for the A plot, but the B plot. Worf's childishness was completely out of character.

The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Return to Grace
Rules of Engagement
Hard Time
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

Yeah... this game is so much harder on DS9. I'll have to eliminate Body Parts. Fun episode, but just that. THe only great moment was Garak's reaction when Quark asked him to assassinate him.

The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Return to Grace
Rules of Engagement
Hard Time
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Broken Link

 

Gonna have to go with "The Quickening". Kind of a boring one. We do get more hints at how oppressive/tyrannical the Dominion is but it's not enough. I usually skip this one on rewatches.

The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Return to Grace
Rules of Engagement
Hard Time
For the Cause
To the Death
Broken Link

 

Surprised no one's done it, so I'll boot "Hard Time." I actually don't mind the episode concept but wish they'd chosen another character besides O'Brien to be the one to suffer.

I actually think Jadzia would have been an interesting alternative. With her background, there's no telling how she'd have responded to the incarceration. Would more of Joran's personality have surfaced due to the stress? How would the symbiont itself have adapted? Plus, once Ezri received the symbiont, it would have been cool to see her behavior during her imprisonment by the Breen. I wonder if the experience would have given her flashbacks.

--Sran

The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Return to Grace
Rules of Engagement
For the Cause
To the Death
Broken Link

 

They did go to the "O'Brien must suffer" well a little too often. But I can understand why. For a lot of people he is the character they can most identify with. Of the whole cast I think only maybe Jake is as sympathetic.

 

I don't know. I always empathized more with Odo or Bashir (in later seasons) than any other character, but that's just me.

--Sran

 

To the Death

For all the complaints about Voyager pushing the Reset button, this episode annoyed me for one reason: DS9 LOST AN UPPER PYLON. Not only was it just one brief scene, it wasn't even mentioned again and it was just like new in the next episode.

The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Return to Grace
Rules of Engagement
For the Cause
Broken Link

 

I shall remove Little Green Men. Kind of hokey and there are far better episodes left there.

The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Return to Grace
Rules of Engagement
For the Cause
Broken Link

 

Rejoined - Most Dax episodes suck, and this was no exception. It screamed "HEY LOOK, IT HAS TWO WOMEN KISSING", as if it were Plato's Stepchildren of the 90s. DS9 established it's a big no-no rekindling relationships of past hosts, which just happens to involve two women this time. But when it's Ezri later on with Worf or Bashir (in other words, men), it's no big deal.

The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Indiscretion
Starship Down
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Return to Grace
Rules of Engagement
For the Cause
Broken Link