The Most Disliked Episode of DS9 - Final Round...

"Second Sight" once again.

SECOND SIGHT - 3
MERIDIAN - 0
LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN... - 0
PROFIT AND LACE - 0
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK - 0

 

Saving Second Sight. Out of the four, its only problem is being boring.

And my vote in the next round is Meridian. It has a similar boring problem, but it's not obnoxiously irritating and morally simplistic (Let he...), sexist failed comedy (Profit and Lace) or directionless cliche self indulgence (Emperor's New Cloak).

MERIDIAN - 1
LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN... - 0
PROFIT AND LACE - 0
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK - 0

 

Meridian at least has an amusing B-plot, which is way, WAY more than can be said for the other three.

MERIDIAN - 2
LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN... - 0
PROFIT AND LACE - 0
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK - 0

 

My vote goes to "MERIDIAN". A fun B plot, but the most important saving grace is that it was the first time Jeffrey Combs was used in a STAR TREK role.

Had this not happened, we would have had a VERY different Brunt, Weyoun, and Shran. If at all.

MERIDIAN - 3
LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN... - 0
PROFIT AND LACE - 0
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK - 0

 

I'll save Meridian then. It's a terrible example of romance of the week, with Jadzia not seeming to be bothered about the symbiant's future in her new form of live. Their was no chemistry either. But, the B-plot was highly amusing, which is more than what the other episodes offer.

LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN... - 0
PROFIT AND LACE - 0
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK - 0

After constantly slitting the vote between middling episodes, we seems to be moving quicker now that we're down to the final stinkers.

 

The Emperor’s New Cloak, since it’s just a dumb and pointless story, whereas the other two actively damage their focal characters.

LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN... - 0
PROFIT AND LACE - 0
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK - 1

 

My vote this round goes to "LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN..." because of the final 3 left, this is the only one with real character development, which is also the saving grace of this episode. The saving grace of this episode is that it explains so much of Worf's behavior and mentality because of what he did as a kid.


LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN... - 1
PROFIT AND LACE - 0
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK - 1

 

Well, to my eyes these really are the three worst!

I'm surprised to find myself voting this way, but point to "Let He Who Is Without Sin." It is awful. I loathe it in every respect. I have nothing positive to say about it whatsoever. But it doesn't offend me the way that the homophobia in "Emperor's New Cloak" does, or the way that almost everything in "Profit & Lace" does.

LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN... - 2
PROFIT AND LACE - 0
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK - 1

I always thought the way to make "Meridian" work was to make Jadzia's decision to remain on the planet precisely about the symbiont. Dax has had 6 corporeal lifetimes already and was always seeking new experiences, so it makes sense to jump at the opportunity to live as pure consciousness in a different dimension. Then the insta-ROTW doesn't have to carry all the weight... it's extra enticement around the margins, "maybe things will work out with this guy I just met", but it's not THE reason for Dax to decide to live in non-corporeal form for 50 years.

 

The Emporor's New Cloak at least had the mildly amusing cloaking device gag, but there isn't much to choose between the three losers now.

LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN... - 2
PROFIT AND LACE - 0
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK - 2

 

Voting the Emperor's New Cloak. It was cheesy self indulgence, but not completely devoid of enjoyment like the other two.

LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN... - 2
PROFIT AND LACE - 0
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK - 3

 

Gotta save "SIN" as well. Like other types of social commentary very special episodes, this one is all over the map, awkward, handles issues very superficially, and ultimately accomplishes nothing except for everyone wondering what the heck they just sat through, at least it's trying to address some big issues. Even if it's a mishmash. Then again, big concepts handled poorly versus banal, "low hanging fruit" episodes handled well becomes a discussion of its own.

I haven't seen "Emperor's New Cloak" either. Sounds like one I ought to miss but let me whip out the stream, since that's what everyone likes to do on it... no double entendre intended...



LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN... - 3
PROFIT AND LACE - 0
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK - 3

 

It irks me to save "Let He Who Is Without Sin." About the only thing that amused me in it was Leeta's somewhat casual commentary toward the end about how cute Rom is, or something to that effect. It has been a long time since I watched it for a reason. The other two are blatantly offensive.

PROFIT AND LACE - 0
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK - 0

 

Well, we really arrived at the end with the absolute worst! Hard to pick between those two. Both are terrible ideas poorly executed, and, as @PSGarak says, both are blatantly offensive.

I'll give my final point to "Profit And Lace." If I had to watch one, that's what I'd pick. I can laugh at some of the awfulness in this, whereas "Emperor's New Cloak" is a much drearier episode. It's so joyless and airless.

"Emperor's New Cloak" also had the distinction of ruining the MU arc I once loved. Whereas "Profit & Lace" is picking up a plot thread that was always clumsily handled, so one more bad Ferengi episode didn't rankle as much.

PROFIT AND LACE - 1
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK - 0

 

This is honestly a hard decision. But my wife recently sold me on "PROFIT AND LACE" not being as bad as I remember, particularly since I watched it with her. She made me realize that it seemed to at least be going for the comedic vibe, even with trying to send a message. My final point goes to it.

The other just wore out the welcome of the Mirror Universe, and just didn't work.


PROFIT AND LACE - 2
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK - 0

 

Emporer's New Cloak is my final vote, same reason as before.

PROFIT AND LACE - 2
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK - 1

 

I'm throwing mine to "Profit and Lace." It gets my, "You Tried," star.

PROFIT AND LACE - 3
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK - 1

 

Saving PROFIT AND LACE.

THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK wins. Is it really the worst episode of the entire series though?

 

Bad episode, I’m surprised to see it beat out the other two in the bottom three though.

I would have voted for Profit and Lace over Let He...

I dislike the episodes where Worf behaves like a petulant child more than the cartoon Ferengi episodes.

 

I don't think there were that many truly bad episodes of this series. Even the ones who made it to the last round still had something enjoyable about them. DS9 probably is the best Trek in all honesty.

 

The 'winner' of Mist Disliked DS9 Episode is "THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK".

Thank you all for participating. I'll start VOYAGER's game later today.


Side note: I just noticed as I was updating the 2019 'Winner' that the three times this game has been done, it was a different episode each time. And it was the final three this year.