Give me a top 10 list of Deep Space Nine episodes to start watching

[Tosk]

From season three onwards, it's easier to list my skips rather than watches. Between the good episodes and the ones that are just okay but important for later, there's not many I consider 'disposable' for want of a better word. If I had to skip eps in seasons 3 to 7, this would be the ones...

Season 3
Meridian
Distant Voices
Through the Looking Glass
Shakaar

Season 4
Shattered Mirror
The Muse

Season 5 is a weird one because I have no hard-and-fast skips, but I do have four "I guess they're not terrible, but I don't care much" choices.
Let He Who Is Without Sin
A Simple Investigation
Business as Usual
Ferengi Love Songs

Season 6
Resurrection
Who Mourns For Morn?
Profit and Lace

Season 7
The Emperor's New Cloak


Every episode on this list has something positive to offer though.

 

[Qonundrum]

My top ten, just without Letterman style jokes:

1. Duet - plot twists galore, you will be hooked
2. Paradise - proves Sisko will do what Jean-Luc would not. Heck, not since a Kirk episode do we get something like this and "Paradise" sells it all really well
3. The Way of the Warrior - season 4 premiere is almost a soft reboot but retains direct continuity to the preceding seasons, kicking into high gear for a fantastic ride
4. Little Green Men - a lovely bit of comic relief from season 4 mixed in with some great dramatic tension that both episode and season have in much quantity
5. Our Man Bashir - DS9 meets James Bond, with GREAT results.
6. Sons of Mogh - this is a great Sisko episode.
7. Far Beyond the Stars - this is THE Sisko episode and the set up for a finale that ultimately did not take place, for better and/or worse but that would become a thread in of itself.
8. The Maquis - sets up a new faction for the Federation to deal with
9. Move Along Home - it's not your typical early DS9, but is a game changer for one character and tries to shake things up and do something different
10. The Valiant - a season 6 story that has a few things to say, quite a few. Gotta roll with it on a couple small things, but Ronald D Moore is one of the best gems that 90s Trek had to offer.

Honorable mention (a few, of many):

• The Jem Ha'dar - introduces another big bad into the show, and in compelling new ways
• For the Uniform -- this is the penultimate story in a mini arc involving a certain character culminating after a couple of years and DS9 has had too many characters, but that aside I won't namedrop. I hadn't seen the previous episodes involving said character, but not since Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan have we had such an engaging opponent AND the perfect tone and style that really kicks this into high gear. It's great. Plus, Sisko gets to do more Siskoey stuff that even introduces a sort of controversy, but not since TOS has Trek really dared to tell BIG ideas and to do it with panache instead of a soapbox made out of balsa wood in the way a number of TNG episodes went, but before I digress...
• The Sound of Her Voice - another season 6 standout, it's one of those that is more visceral than complex plotting but - dang - the powerful payoff is there.
• Ditto for "The Visitor", which is excellent indeed, though "Voice" doesn't have the (few) plot nitpicks that "Visitor" has. The plot nitpicks are not detracting either
• In The Pale Moonlight - a pivotal episode, and in season 6, it hinges on a fair amount of plotting from the last few seasons so having some background for those, is what makes this one great

IMHO, if you weren't hooked on DS9 between seasons 1-3 as a regular viewer/fan, you likely will be after a few episodes of season 4. Signed, someone who was casual and lukewarm to 1-3 but really got hooked into 4 and appreciated reruns of 1-3 more as a result as there's a lot of good stuff there too.