I don't know about the R2 cases, but the R1 cases are crap. I really wish that they came in the six-discs-in-one-normal-size-Amaray that Fox and others have been using for the last couple of years (at least in R1).
I've heard the R1 cases were terrible, but the original R2 cases weren't so bad,
they came in fairly robust clamshell cases. The hinge on my season 5 case broke early on, and it's still fairly fragile after gluing it back together, but overall they've held up well compared to my cardboard-cased DVD sets.
Given that I'm no ladies man, I might be talking out of my ass, but I've always thought that relationships start with an infatuation like we see with Bashir but then develop into something deeper.
Well, I am a ladies' man, I get more pussy than I know what to do with (I may be exaggerating ever so slightly), but I think that if you start out infatuated with someone then you're more likely to realise that you love them. I can buy into him realising, out of the blue, that he's in love with his friend after she gets involved with someone else, because I... have a friend that went through a similar experience (it wasn't me, I'm too much up to my neck in vagina to have time for love). But
Seven of Five says otherwise, so I'll bow to his superior knowledge as he's definitively not a ladies' man.
The Forsaken (**½)
It's funny, before watching this episode I had watched an episode of Frasier guest-staring René Auberjonois where he played the mostly serious role of a psychiatrist attempting to help Frasier through a crisis moment, while in this episode of DS9 he plays a largely comic role in attempting to stay away from Lwaxana. Of course, he goes all serious at the end as he's forced to open up to her and reveal his liquid state, which is a nice little moment. I'm not a big fan of Lwaxana, few are, but I don't dislike her either, and this is one of her better appearances on Star Trek. She gets to be annoying in a knowing way, and she gets her serious moment at the end to make us go "awwww".
The main plot, if that's what it is, actually detracts from the episode. I've managed to acquire the original script for the episode before it was sent to the science advisor, and here's what it looks like:
O'BRIEN: There's a <tech> in the <tech> <tech>. We're losing control of <tech>!
JADZIA: Try <tech>ing the <tech> to see if you can <tech> the <tech> <tech> <tech>.
O'BRIEN: It's not working, the <tech> is <tech>ing the <tech>.
JADZIA: There's a <tech> building up in the <tech>. If we don't <tech> it soon, it will <tech> the <tech>.
THE SISKO: I was a tenured professor. What am I doing here?
To use a strained analogy to explain this plot: Some probe shows up, but it's not a real probe, it's actually a puppy that looks like a probe. Or something. The puppy probe shits all over essential station functions, and when O'Brien tries to whack its nose with a technobabble newspaper, the puppy gets scared as pisses all over the rug. O'Brien then comes up with a better plan and throws a computerised ball into the virtual equivalent of the small cupboard under the stairs, and when the puppy runs excitedly to get it, he locks it in there. Now the puppy is trapped for all eternity. Yay!
The final plot involves Bashir acting as tour guide for some un-ambassadorial ambassadors. If these are the guys that the Federation sent to negotiate with the Dominion, it's no wonder the Dominion were so intent on genocide. Sisko is a better ambassador than these folks, and his favourite way of starting a conversation is punching people. This plot is middling, the ambassadors are stupid and the resolution is somewhat pat, but I do share in Sisko's perverse pleasure in forcing Bashir to deal with these people. The guy's obnoxious behaviour has been a pain for everybody else all season, so it's nice to see the shoe on the other foot.
Sykonee's Counter: 9