Review that episode!

[BlueStuff]

Simply a fun game that worked well on other forums. Here's how this works. I will name an episode. Next poster should leave a brief (as you like) review of that episode with their general thoughts. Then, they can name another episode for the next poster to review. Simple, no?

To start, could someone tell me what they think of Babel?

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I quite like "Babel". It's one of those episodes where there isn't one character who is the focus, with all of them having their moment to shine--which was a good thing in the early days of a new series. It also gave some insights into the Occupation and Resistance, just what they were willing and able to do in order to get rid of the Cardassians, and helps highlight that DS9 is no ordinary outpost.

I especially enjoy how Quark comes to the rescue in Ops and Odo has to rely on him in order to operate the transporter, their "relationship" is definitely a lynchpin of the series.

I hope this was the kind of thing you were looking for.

I'll jump forward to Season 2 with: Invasive Procedures.

 

[Paradise City]

There's a big space storm afoot and only our heroes are left on an otherwise deserted station to keep things ticking over. But the drama is only beginning as the station's resident rascal Quark has it fixed so that a bunch of Klingon mercenaries hired by a trill can take over the station. But these aren't any old robbers, they've come for the Dax symbiont and they aren't going to stop until they installed it into the guy who hired them, frustrated trill Verad - who badly wants a slug of his own, even if Jadzia has to die.

Strong acting all the way through I think. Glover is fantastic, as he moves from being the hesitant and timid Verad, to the charismatic and confident albeit still nefarious Verad-Dax and his interactions with Brooks is first class stuff. Quark has some funny moments too with Bashir but a dog ear with this episode is that Quark doesn't really get his comeuppance for being the catalyst for this takeover. Tim Russ is present as the impatient Klingon mercenary who makes Quark squirm.

Return to Grace

 

[locutus101]

Dukat, DS9's favorite villain, is now carrying freight as punishment for his not killing his illegitimate daughter. So he gets to bring Kira to a conference of sorts, it doesn't really matter since she never gets there. Everything is destroyed, except the giant disruptors that are only disabled. The Klingons did it. Kira tells Dukat to use one of these disruptors to get even with the stupid Klingons. Long story short: They get them but Dukat is not happy with the reaction of his superiors, he decides to become a one man guerilla, while we all know that what he really wants is to get Kira to sleep with him, he asks her to join him in this quixotic fight. Kira is tired of tilting at windmills and even more so she's sick of Dukat so she says no. End of story. Wait! she also takes Dukat's Daughter to DS9, because she doesn't believe that the ship of a raving lunatic is a proper environment for raising a child. Now it's the end. Very entertaining, thanks in large part to Alaimo who's aces as always.

The Visitor

 

[Seven of Five]

Wow. Just wow. One of my favourite franchise episodes ever, no matter how many times I watch it. Tony Todd is excellent as old Jake, and I just can't help but cry at the end. Jake really just couldn't let go of Sisko.

A Time to Stand

 

[Paradise City]

A good Dominion War episode. Odo, Kira and Co struggle to position themselves on the right side of the blurred line between discreet resistance and accidental collaboration as Odo leverages his position as a Dominion god for influence, whilst Dukat realises that the station might be Terek Nor again but Weyoun's brake on his power means this is not exactly the good old days.

Meanwhile our Starfleet heroes along with Garak have a hair-raising time trying to destroy a Jem-Hadar crack factory whilst being disguised as a Jem Hadar patrol.

I'm enjoying the portrayal of Dominion occupation where bajors sovereignty is kinda respected and Weyoun plays things smart and relatively nice rather than whacking people over the head with a truncheon all the time. Kira isn't fooled for a second of course and wears this disgusted face compounded by Dukat's overbearing swaggering. But she's in a bind and isn't that sure what to do, only knowing that do something she must. I'm a big fan of moral ambiguity and really testing these characters and that's what we get here.

. Favor the Bold

 

[Bad Thoughts]

After having his station taken by Dukat and his ship taken by Dax, Sisko stews behind his desk, until he hatches a plan to take it all back. And while Odo and the Female Changeling get down, human style, Kira tries to get Rom pardon from execution, but kicks the crap out of Damar instead. And after consulting some Bajoran holy books (a late-life Bar Mitzvah, perhaps?) Sisko gets a message via Morn that the minefield is coming down, and the fleet must go out to stop it.

This is an unusual episode in that it sets up Sacrifice of Angels, but it has some great scenes, particularly related to life on the station.

Cardassians

 

[locutus101]

We learn a few things about Garak, Dukat, how the Cardassians function, political intrigues and the treatment of children. Interesting episode.

Progress

 

[Paradise City]

A mildly entertaining episode in which our heroes are one by one reduced to babbling incoherently. Turns out it was an old bajoran virus that O'Brien accidently triggered.

Necessary Evil

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Gumshoe Odo cracking the case and dredging up old memories. It kinda proves that he is Trek's best investigator (sorry Tuvok).

Love seeing Terok Nor in all it's glory, one little snippet of just how brutal things were. Plus Kira was a serious badass in the Resistance.

Duet

 

[BlueStuff]

A mildly entertaining episode in which our heroes are one by one reduced to babbling incoherently. Turns out it was an old bajoran virus that O'Brien accidently triggered.

Necessary Evil

That sounds like Babel, not Progress.

 

[locutus101]

A cardassian war criminal that comes on board DS9 is recognized and apprehended. Kira and him have an oral fight for a time and then she discovers that he wasn't the man in question but his accountant that underwent facial surgery in order to look like him. He was trying to prove a point about his people and war. Kira convinces him to go on living and they become friends. As he's about to leave the station, a low IQed bajoran stabs him to death in the back. Emotional episode and very well done.

Vortex

 

[Paradise City]

I definitely saw a 2nd mention of Babel. Must'be catchin' that aphasia virus..

I like this episode. This is an early episode, where Kira still has to get that guerilla urge out of her system, when she visits a moon that's tagged for evacuation she meets this charismatic yet curmudgeonly old gent who's all for diggin' in and stayin' put whatever the odds. This appeals to the guerilla in Kira who risks her career by staying put. But with some sobering oratory from Sisko who's on the look out for her right hand woman, she sadly comes to the view that the guy has gotta go afterall. So in the only language this stubborn fellow understands, she sets fire to the house. And she and now the crestfallen old gent beam to the runabout.

Nog and Jake surprises and impresses Quark with a nice little business caper.

I think this is a classy episode.

Our Man Bashir

 

[Paradise City]

That's a review of Progress, btw. I'll do Vortex later on. Or someone else can do it.

 

[locutus101]

Ds9's tribute to James Bond: A freak accident, brought on by a terrorist attack, makes Sisko, Kira, O'Brien, Worf and Dax part of a spy program run by Bashir. Things are critical since Bashir realizes that if they die in the program, they die in the real world too. Of course the holodeck safeties are off ( someone should really look into that!) and Bashir and Garak who invited himself could be killed. Plus O'Brien, Worf and Sisko are the Villains who are precisely trying to do that! Garak is there to represent cynicism, selfishness and cowardness while Bashir is dedication, courage and optimism incarnate. I'll let you guess who saves the day. If nothing else, it's fun.

And now, to put that matter to rest: Progress ...

I mean, Vortex

 

[Paradise City]

An OK episode if a somewhat forgettable one. This is a very embryonic attempt to tease out the changeling thing and Odo's backstory. Quark is trying to sell an item to some very nasty looking alien twins whilst some flakey type tries to steal the item. He's busted when Rom's drinks tray arrests him. I mean Odo arrests him. But not before the flakey type killed one twin of the nasty looking alien twins and that means BIG trouble for the flakey type.

In Odo's slammer, the flakey type tries to tempt Odo with some little changeling do-lally he's got on his person and weaves a little song and dance about its origins. So it's time to go to his home planet where he's wanted for crimes (didn't he just kill a punter on the station?!!) and it turns out he isn't a bad egg afterall, he's just looking out for his daughter who is in a pod on some moon they go to because the evil twin is chasing them. But there's a rockslide that floors Odo who has apparently forgotten he's a changeling but the flakey guy gives him a hand and back they go to the runabout. Meanwhile the surviving twin hunts them down but gets killed when Odo ignites the gas the alien twin's ship was in -- as you do. So given that he's a not bad egg, he hands the flakey family over to some Vulcan ship that just happens to be flying by and resolves to pretend that they died.

Solid fare but the whole get-the-flakey-guy-to-the-moon thing and 'the chase' is quite contrived given that at minimum he should be breaking rocks on bajor as he had just killed someone on a bajoran station. . And Odo getting a whack on the back with him out for the count to set the flakey guy up for rehabilitation before the audience is also very contrived.

Soldiers of the Empire

 

[locutus101]

Martok who's apparently lost more than an eye in the Dominion camp, suffers from a fear of fight, yet he accepts to take command of a ship to go on a rescue mission, worf and Dax come with him. Worf because he's his friend and Dax because it annoys Worf. There's nothing that a Klingon crew hates more than a captain that's afraid of the enemy. So the moral on board is sinking fast and it looks like they could mutiny. Worf who as always is the last one to realize what's obvious to everyone else, decides that the only way to give Martok his courage back is to let him win a fight... against himself! (Worf not Martok of course or that would just be a sign of insanity) . Worf challenges Martok calling him names and all that, Martok stabs Worf and magically gets his balls back. He finally gives the order that every one was waiting for. Worf survives his wound and Martok who's even slower on the uptake than worf only realizes then what Worf was doing. He makes Worf a member of his house, given that worf is pretty much houseless due to previous events. If you like Klingon stories you're gonna love this if you don't, this is not for you.

Sons And Daughters

 

[Hugo Rune]

The unfortunate "middle child" in the Season 6 opening salvo. Trapped and sandwiched between 5 arc-heavy, fantastic episodes, this poor little one regularly gets lost, especially with everyones least favourite half-Klingon sucking much air out of proceedings. Quite forgettable apart from sowing the seeds of Dukat's turn to insanity later in the season.

The Passenger

 

[locutus101]

An opportunity for Siddig to show the range of his acting abilities, or lack thereof, he plays the other guy so stiff, it's as if he was emulating a robot. Anyway, an alien (or a robot) possesses Bashir and unknown to him does a lot of bad things until they finally get him. A mediocre episode and a clché plot. (the alien possession thing has been done to death in sci. fi. and they're not adding anything new to the concept.)

Battle Lines

 

[BlueStuff]

A waste of Kai Opaka in an unenjoyable episode. Also, right before I watched this episode for the first time, I dropped my pizza taking it out of the oven and was pissed for the rest of the evening. Screw you, Battle Lines!


Next up, Civil Defense.