The least disliked episode of DS9 - Final Round

[Sakonna]

I'll do "Improbable Cause" again this round. I mean, it's so good, I'm just feeling the other two a little more at this moment.

Improbable Cause - 1
In Purgatory's Shadow - 0
Tacking into the Wind - 0

Also, just started a Least Disliked elimination game of all the Ferengi episodes from across the franchise in the General Trek Discussion forum, if anyone's interested...
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/the-least-disliked-ferengi-episode.299656/

 

[BigDaveX]

Getting to the tightest of margins now, but I'll vote for Improbable Cause; the other two just have bigger "wham" punches to me.

Improbable Cause - 2
In Purgatory's Shadow - 0
Tacking into the Wind - 0

 

[Farscape One]

Improbable Cause - 2
In Purgatory's Shadow - 1
Tacking into the Wind - 0

Voting by dartboard again. "IN PURGATORY'S SHADOW".

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Voting Improbable Cause. One of the rare cases where part 2 is better. The setup was a tad clumsy and required just a little bit of 'Characters dumber than usual'.

Improbable Cause - 3
In Purgatory's Shadow - 1
Tacking into the Wind - 0

 

[Takeru]

Tacking ..., same reason as before.

Improbable Cause - 3
In Purgatory's Shadow - 1
Tacking into the Wind - 1

 

[BlueStuff]

Tacking again for me.

Improbable Cause - 3
In Purgatory's Shadow - 1
Tacking into the Wind - 2

 

[Seven of Five]

Can't believe I'm getttiig rid of one of my favourites. Improbable Cause is awesome. though I think The Die is Cast is a tad better, as these two final ones are.

In Purgatory's Shadow - 0
Tacking into the Wind - 0

 

[Sakonna]

I'll give my last point to "In Purgatory's Shadow." I love these episodes equally, but I'm deciding to favor "Tacking Into The Wind" because I think it has a higher degree of difficulty. "In Purgatory's Shadow" gets to explosively and dramatically redirect the series narrative in a loooooong anticipated plot development (while leaving the hard work for part 2, as so many Trek 2-parters do).

That's an easier premise to make satisfying than hour 6 of a 10 hour arc that has to keep multiple plates spinning, among them wrapping up 11 years of Klingon story, and somehow each piece manages to be a totally satisfying single-episode story on it's own. That is really, really hard to do. It's also DS9's last perfect episode -- the three following it are all flawed to some degree.

In Purgatory's Shadow - 1
Tacking into the Wind - 0

 

[BlueStuff]

Tacking again.

In Purgatory's Shadow - 1
Tacking into the Wind - 1

 

[Seven of Five]

It's funny, I've been pro-In Purgatory's Shadow all the way through the contest but now we're at the last hurdle, I'm voting for Tacking in the Wind to stay. Both epic episodes for different reasons, but the final part of the Klinhon arc was so well done. The scene with Ezri and Worf talking about Qo'Nos is perfect really. The rest of the episode isn't too shabby either.

In Purgatory's Shadow - 2
Tacking into the Wind - 1

 

[Farscape One]

IN PURGATORY'S SHADOW - 3
TACKING INTO THE WIND - 1

These final episodes have been impossible to eliminate, which is why I have actually used a dartboard to vote. (Fitting, considering it's one of the pasttimes of O'Brien and Bashir.)

Fate was REALLY making it hard for these two, because not only did I use the dartboard method, they BOTH hit the same exact distance from the bullseye.

So, a second round happened, and my final vote goes to... "IN PURGATORY'S SHADOW".

 

[BigDaveX]

Very close, but it ultimately comes down to one thing. In Purgatory's Shadow, as good of a story as it was, was essentially just restoring the original direction of the show after all the diversions that S4 and the first half of S5 threw up. Tacking Into The Wind took the bold move of killing off a character who had been a mainstay of the franchise (or at least one of the more important recurring characters) for nearly a decade - and instead of doing what they did with Dukat and turning him into someone absolutely, irredeemably evil who obviously needed to be done away with, they had Gowron as someone who was destroyed by his own ambitions and insecurities, and was just too far gone to be reasoned with. That's the kind of complexity that, too often, the other Star Trek shows in this era were lacking.

TACKING INTO THE WIND is the winner.

 

[Sakonna]

Woo hoo! I love this winner. I've been rooting for it for a bit, but I'm surprised it made it to the end.

That Ezri/Worf scene is just too damn perfect. It's so good it practically justifies Ezri's inclusion in the series all by itself.

I also get a chuckle of how historically influential Worf would be considered, redirecting Klingon society more than once by killing multiple Klingon leaders. Watch your back Martok!

 

[BlueStuff]

Well, no time like the present. The 2019 VOYAGER edition of the game has already begun.