The least disliked episode 2021 - DS9 Final Rounds

Here we have the winners and runners up of each season:

Season One: Duet
Wild Card: In the Hands of the Prophets
Season Two: The Maquis (II)
Wild Card: Necessary Evil
Season Three: Improbable Cause
Wild Card: The Die is Cast
Season Four: The Quickening
Wild Card: Homefront
Season Five: Call to Arms
Wild Card: By Inferno's Light
Season Six: A Time to Stand
Wild Card: Sacrifice of Angels
Season Seven: The Dogs of War
Wild Card: When it Rains...

So now it is time for the final part.

*RULES*

Give what you consider to be the worst/your least favourite episode ONE point, and briefly explain WHY. Be sure to copy and paste the list with your point added. When an episode reaches 4 points, it is eliminated. Then a NEW round begins (in this thread) with the numbers restored to 0. Vote ONCE per round. If 48 hours without a vote passes, the episode currently leading in points will be eliminated, and a new round will begin. And enjoy!

Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 0
The Maquis (II) - 0
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 0
Homefront - 0
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
The Dogs of War - 0
When it Rains... - 0

 

I'll start with a vote to remove The Quickening. Maybe I need to give it a rewatch, but I don't recall it being that notable.

Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 0
The Maquis (II) - 0
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 1
Homefront - 0
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
The Dogs of War - 0
When it Rains... - 0

 

The Maquis 2, easily the episode I have the least interest in on this list.


Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 0
The Maquis (II) - 1
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 1
Homefront - 0
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
The Dogs of War - 0
When it Rains... - 0

 

I honestly don't know anymore, I think those episodes are all about the same quality, and some are quite similar to each other, probably due to DS9 having it's myth arcs which tended to contain the best episodes. I might have to sit the final rounds out.

 

Wow, "Dogs Of War"! To my mind, one of the significant failures of the series. The penultimate ep of the greatest Trek series thus far is this sloppy mess? The Cardassia stuff isn't bad, but the rest I find near unwatchable.

Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 0
The Maquis (II) - 1
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 1
Homefront - 0
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
The Dogs of War - 1
When it Rains... - 0

 

Homefront, because Leyton strikes me as smarmy. Ugh.

Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 0
The Maquis (II) - 1
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 1
Homefront - 1
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
The Dogs of War - 1

 

Sorry to say "THE DOGS OF WAR" gets my vote this round. As much as I love a double dose of Jeffrey Combs, the Ferengi part of the episode weakens it in comparison to the rest on the list.


Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 0
The Maquis (II) - 1
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 1
Homefront - 1
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
The Dogs of War - 2
When it Rains... - 0

 

I don't think any of my favourites made it through season seven, even though the Final Chapter is a great piece of work, on the whole. I like the Ferengi parts of the episode as Rom is the perfect new Nagus for the new Ferenginar. It is, however, one of the weakest episodes on the list.

Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 0
The Maquis (II) - 1
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 1
Homefront - 1
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
The Dogs of War - 3
When it Rains... - 0

 

The Dogs of War goes bye-bye.

Plus I vote "The Quickening" for the next round.

Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 0
The Maquis (II) - 0
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 1
Homefront - 0
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
When it Rains... - 0

 

I'll go with The Maquis (II) next. It's a great two-parter, helping to set up Voyager. I'd completely forgotten about Cal Hudson, played by Bernie Carsey. Unfortunately, he's not very convincing in the role, which is a shame because he's in it a lot.

Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 0
The Maquis (II) - 1
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 1
Homefront - 0
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
When it Rains... - 0

 

The Maquis again.


Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 0
The Maquis (II) - 2
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 1
Homefront - 0
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
When it Rains... - 0

 

Sisko paradise speech is excellent, but Bernie Casey just didn't work as well as he could have, so "THE MAQUIS, PART II" gets my vote this round.


Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 0
The Maquis (II) - 3
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 1
Homefront - 0
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
When it Rains... - 0

 

The Quickening again for me.

Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 0
The Maquis (II) - 3
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 2
Homefront - 0
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
When it Rains... - 0

 

In The Hands of the Prophets

All the other options are just better. Winn does such a great job being obnoxious it rises to the point of unpleasantness.

Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 1
The Maquis (II) - 3
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 2
Homefront - 0
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
When it Rains... - 0

 

Is it me or does Vedek Bareil sound like a robot in every episode, he's in? Even when he plays his MU counterpart he's still barely alive.

 

Wow, this is an incredibly strong list. I love all of these.

I'll go with "Homefront" as the less-than installment. Just a bit too obvious with it's preaching. I also think that cut from Changeling Leyton flying away to real Leyton in his office is one of the clunkiest edits they ever presented.

Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 1
The Maquis (II) - 3
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 2
Homefront - 1
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
When it Rains... - 0

 

I'll stay with Homefront for the same reason as last time. Leyton, whether human or changling, is just overwrought.

Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 1
The Maquis (II) - 3
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 2
Homefront - 2
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
When it Rains... - 0

 

The Quickening gets a point, mostly because I am not a Bashir fan. Dax calling him out on his arrogance is nice, however.

Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 1
The Maquis (II) - 3
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 3
Homefront - 2
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
When it Rains... - 0

 

What bothered me most in "The Quickening" is the guest actress, I didn't think she was up to the role.

 

Duet - 0
In the Hands of the Prophets - 1
Necessary Evil - 0
Improbable Cause - 0
The Die is Cast - 0
The Quickening - 0
Homefront - 0
Call to Arms - 0
By Inferno's Light - 0
A Time to Stand - 0
Sacrifice of Angels - 0
When it Rains... - 0

Removing The Maquis (II) - to me the least notable episode in the bunch... it's a good episode for season 2 but the others in this list range from very good to great.

Which makes my decision for the next round very hard: I really love "In the Hands of the Prophets" because I, for one, really liked Bareil and his relationship with Kira. But the episode hasn't quite picked up the speed, dynamic and drama that the rest in this list have.