The Least Disliked Episode 2023: DS9 Season 4

[BlueStuff]

Our addictive biyearly game of rapid elimination returns - now with more shows than ever. It's generally a lot of fun, providing a chance to mentally revisit those episodes you may not have thought about in a while. With that in mind, why not play again?

So, here's the game. The basic idea is your standard elimination game. I'll provide a list of the episodes for each season and you need to eliminate your least favourite or the one you deem the 'worst.' Please provide an EXPLANATION for why you are eliminating your choice and be sure to copy and paste the list with your choice removed. Finally, leave at least 2 eliminations by other posters before you eliminate another episode.

No tactical voting! You cannot remove an episode just because you feel it would threaten your preferred episode's chance to win. Pretty simple. Enjoy!

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Hall of Champions
2011 - In the Pale Moonlight
2013 - In the Pale Moonlight
2017 - Improbable Cause
2019 - Tacking Into the Wind
2021 - Duet
2023 -

Season 4

The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
The Sword of Kahless
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Return to Grace
Sons of Mogh
Bar Association
Accession
Rules of Engagement
Hard Time
Shattered Mirror
The Muse
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

[Takeru]

I'm already sharpening my knife to take out The Visitor. But Shattered Mirror annoys me more, so it must go first. The mirror universe episodes get worse every time, complete nonsense. The Terran rebels taking over Terok Nor and the alliance not taking it back is like some terrorists taking over a US naval base and the entire US military shrugging saying "They locked the gates, we can't get in" and turning their aircraft carrier around because they got shot at.



The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
The Sword of Kahless
Our Man Bashir
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Return to Grace
Sons of Mogh
Bar Association
Accession
Rules of Engagement
Hard Time
The Muse
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

[Summer Solstice]

"Our Man Bashir" - holodeck malfunction episodes have been done many times and there are much better episodes this season.

The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
The Sword of Kahless
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Return to Grace
Sons of Mogh
Bar Association
Accession
Rules of Engagement
Hard Time
The Muse
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

[Seven of Five]

The Muse is such a stupid episode and an easy first pick. It has the pathetic wedding hijinks with Odo and Lwaxana, and at the same time has the repetitive scenes with Jake having his creative energy drained by Onaya.

The Way of the Warrior
The Visitor
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
The Sword of Kahless
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Return to Grace
Sons of Mogh
Bar Association
Accession
Rules of Engagement
Hard Time
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

[Takeru]

The Visitor! I will never ever understand why so many people love this episode, I despise it! Casting Tony Todd as older Jake is a slap in the face for Cirroc Lofton, Todd doesn't resemble Lofton at all so he's not even a good fit visually (despite being a very good actor), the story is dumb, Jake wastes hours telling his life story to some random woman for no reason except to let the audience know, Sisko's reaction to seeing his son age to an old man in what from his perspective can't be more than a day at most is completely unrealistic, he should be panicking or at least be worried, he had basically no time to process what had happened to him, he just stares at his old and wrinkly son as if he's watching a puppy sleeping ... who does that? And then everything gets undone via suicide rubber band reset button and nothing matters, no one remembers anything and no one learned anything.


The Way of the Warrior
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
The Sword of Kahless
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Return to Grace
Sons of Mogh
Bar Association
Accession
Rules of Engagement
Hard Time
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

[Farscape One]

This is going to be a difficult season to take out episodes, because it was the closest thing to a perfect season the franchise ever got.

"THE MUSE" was going to be my first pick, because the creativity vampire was the only story in the entire season that didn't work for me.

I will take out "RULES OF ENGAGEMENT" because it is a courtroom drama. It's done very well, and a great directing move to have each witness look directly into the camera as if talking to us. And Sisko's talk with Worf at the end on what command is about is one of the reasons why Sisko is the best leader in the franchise.

(Damn, I am eliminating, but it sounds more like I am explaining why it should stay.)


The Way of the Warrior
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
The Sword of Kahless
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Return to Grace
Sons of Mogh
Bar Association
Accession
Hard Time
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

[Warp 10 (Pepperoni)]

"The Sword of Kahless" is next to go. Love the Klingons and love a Worf episode but this one was underwhelming for me, particularly because it has such a good premise. Nothing much to say other than it bored me and I wanted more from it.

The Way of the Warrior
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Return to Grace
Sons of Mogh
Bar Association
Accession
Hard Time
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

[Seven of Five]

This is already impossible. I'll get rid of Bar Association, as Rom is a tad grating in this episode, despite me liking it.

The Way of the Warrior
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Return to Grace
Sons of Mogh
Accession
Hard Time
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

[Summer Solstice]

The Visitor! I will never ever understand why so many people love this episode, I despise it! Casting Tony Todd as older Jake is a slap in the face for Cirroc Lofton, Todd doesn't resemble Lofton at all so he's not even a good fit visually (despite being a very good actor), the story is dumb, Jake wastes hours telling his life story to some random woman for no reason except to let the audience know, Sisko's reaction to seeing his son age to an old man in what from his perspective can't be more than a day at most is completely unrealistic, he should be panicking or at least be worried, he had basically no time to process what had happened to him, he just stares at his old and wrinkly son as if he's watching a puppy sleeping ... who does that? And then everything gets undone via suicide rubber band reset button and nothing matters, no one remembers anything and no one learned anything.

Sisko's fate in What You Leave Behind is even sadder because we've already seen that Jake can't cope without having his father in his life. I agree it's one of the less strong episodes this season though.

 

[Farscape One]

Still very difficult to choose.

I'll take out "RETURN TO GRACE".

A great episode, but keeping Dukat on the good guys side, while fun and interesting for a time, just didn't ring true because of his inherent narcissism.


The Way of the Warrior
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Sons of Mogh
Accession
Hard Time
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

[Sakonna]

"Hard Time" is one I never rewatch. A lesser "torture O'Brien" episode. There's just darkness in this one.

The Way of the Warrior
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Sons of Mogh
Accession
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

[Takeru]

Rejoined because the episode went out of its way to make it clearl that the women weren't actually attracted to each other, it was the symbionts wanting to continue their previous straight relationship.



The Way of the Warrior
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Sons of Mogh
Accession
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

[Oddish]

I found "Hippocratic Oath" unspeakably depressing, and have had no motivation to rewatch it in almost 30 years.

The Way of the Warrior
Indiscretion
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Sons of Mogh
Accession
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Body Parts
Broken Link

 

[Sakonna]

There's an unsettling grossness to "Body Parts" that I don't appreciate. Having to decide whether or not to die so that your corpse can be carved up and sold is just too macabre a journey for me to enjoy watching one of our characters go on it.

The Way of the Warrior
Indiscretion
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Sons of Mogh
Accession
For the Cause
To the Death
The Quickening
Broken Link

 

[Sakonna]

This is going to be a difficult season to take out episodes, because it was the closest thing to a perfect season the franchise ever got.

You know, this made me suddenly realize that Streaming Trek has now produced several contenders for Most Perfect Trek Season Ever. LD 2, DISCO 4, and PIC 3 are all in contention for me now as best season we ever got.

I found "Hippocratic Oath" unspeakably depressing, and have had no motivation to rewatch it in almost 30 years.

That's interesting, in that I could use this exact same phrasing to explain my feeling towards "Hard Time" when I eliminated that one, but "Hippocratic Oath" is a regular in my rewatch rotation. That Worf B-story really helps balance the A-story for me in that one.

 

[Farscape One]

Still extremely strong list.

Taking out "FOR THE CAUSE". A lot happened here, and still a great episode, but Eddington's tirade at the end knocks the episode down a peg.


The Way of the Warrior
Indiscretion
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Sons of Mogh
Accession
To the Death
The Quickening
Broken Link

 

[Seven of Five]

I'll go with Indiscretion next. Any of the scenes with long-term enemies Kira and Dukat crackle, but the rest of the story doesn't quite hold up to what's left.

The Way of the Warrior
Starship Down
Little Green Men
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Sons of Mogh
Accession
To the Death
The Quickening
Broken Link

 

[Oddish]

"Little Green Men" goes next. It seems like that one would have been better as a two-parter. A 90-minute timeslot, anyway. The ending felt very hurried.

The Way of the Warrior
Starship Down
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Sons of Mogh
Accession
To the Death
The Quickening
Broken Link

 

[Farscape One]

Damn, I love each of these. Hardest season to break down.

I'll take out "ACCESSION" only because I feel the rest are even stronger episodes. (And this one is no slouch... you have Sisko finally accepting his role as Emissary and the great B story of O'Brien and Bashir with Keiko at the end helping to get them together to cheer them up.)


The Way of the Warrior
Starship Down
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Sons of Mogh
To the Death
The Quickening
Broken Link

 

[Sakonna]

"Paradise Lost" fumbles the fantastic "Homefront" setup in several key ways. The Red Squad element is so random.

The Way of the Warrior
Starship Down
Homefront
Crossfire
Sons of Mogh
To the Death
The Quickening
Broken Link