The least disliked episode of DS9 - season three

[BlueStuff]

This is a game that we play every two years, and 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 favorite 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 because you feel they would threaten your preferred episode's chance to win. Pretty simple. Enjoy!

Winners
The Original Series - Mirror, Mirror
The Next Generation - All Good Things...
Deep Space Nine -

Season One - Duet
Season Two - Necessary Evil
Season Three -

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Equilibrium
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Meridian
Defiant
Fascination
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Life Support
Heart of Stone
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Distant Voices
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Shakaar
Facets
The Adversary

 

[BlueStuff]

I'll immediately remove Meridian. Who's gonna argue? The B-plot is fun, but the A-plot is amongst the worst in Trek. There's no way Dax would fall in love with that guy so easily and foolishly.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Equilibrium
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Fascination
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Life Support
Heart of Stone
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Distant Voices
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Shakaar
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Goodbye, Equilibrium. No only is Terry Farrell literally giving a snooze fest during her character's big reveal, it is amazingly convoluted how much power the symbiosis commission is portrayed as having.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Fascination
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Life Support
Heart of Stone
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Distant Voices
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Shakaar
Facets
The Adversary

 

[boldygoing]

I'm gonna remove Fascination because really? a Betazoid love virus? Ugh!

The Search Part 1
The Search Part 2
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
The Defiant
Past Tense Part 1
Past Tense Part 2
Life Support
Heart of Stone
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Distant Voices
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Shakaar
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Isolinear]

Threw Prophet Motive into the wormhole. One-joke episode. I didn't think the prophets/Ferengi combination worked and the Bashir B-story is there just for padding.

The Search Part 1
The Search Part 2
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
The Defiant
Past Tense Part 1
Past Tense Part 2
Life Support
Heart of Stone
Destiny
Visionary
Distant Voices
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Shakaar
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Seven of Five]

I'll kill Shakaar off. I found him very boring and never missed him when he was written out.

The Search Part 1
The Search Part 2
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
The Defiant
Past Tense Part 1
Past Tense Part 2
Life Support
Heart of Stone
Destiny
Visionary
Distant Voices
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Facets
The Adversary

 

[boldygoing]

It's goodbye to Life Support. So long Vedek Bariel, its be real, its fun, but it hasn't been real fun. Just think if they kept Franken-Bariel around, "Fire Bad!"

The Search Part 1
The Search Part 2
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
The Defiant
Past Tense Part 1
Past Tense Part 2
Heart of Stone
Destiny
Visionary
Distant Voices
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Facets. Not only another episode in which Terry Farrell acts like a doorknob waiting to be turned, but most of the cast overly overacts. The B-story is recycled from Heart of Stone. Only Auberjonois stands out.

The Search Part 1
The Search Part 2
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
The Defiant
Past Tense Part 1
Past Tense Part 2
Heart of Stone
Destiny
Visionary
Distant Voices
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
The Adversary

ETA: I would prefer Distant Voices be eliminated before Facets, but if memory serves me, there are some posters who think DV is great.

 

[Seven of Five]

I'll go for Distant Voices now. Not a bad episode but not great either.

The Search Part 1
The Search Part 2
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
The Defiant
Past Tense Part 1
Past Tense Part 2
Heart of Stone
Destiny
Visionary
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
The Adversary

 

[Isolinear]

NOOOOOOO. Not Distant Voices!?! That one is a Season 3 favorite of mine!
Explorers: please go away. Two Siskos chatting in a telephone-booth sized room for 40 minutes. And another boring Bashir B-story. Yuck.

The Search Part 1
The Search Part 2
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
The Defiant
Past Tense Part 1
Past Tense Part 2
Heart of Stone
Destiny
Visionary
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Family Business
The Adversary

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Eliminating Destiny. It's a close one with the camped up Through The Looking Glass, but I found the prophecy angle in this episode kind of forced.

The Search Part 1
The Search Part 2
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
The Defiant
Past Tense Part 1
Past Tense Part 2
Heart of Stone
Visionary
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Family Business
The Adversary

 

[Seven of Five]

The Search Part 2 was very disappointing, aside from the stuff about Odo's species.

The Search Part 1
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
The Defiant
Past Tense Part 1
Past Tense Part 2
Heart of Stone
Visionary
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Family Business
The Adversary

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Past Tense pt 1. It's almost all exegesis, taking the form of Bashir's continual approbation. All the good stuff is in part 2.

The Search Part 1
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
The Defiant
Past Tense Part 2
Heart of Stone
Visionary
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Family Business
The Adversary

 

[boldygoing]

So long to Through the Looking Glass. I was never a huge fan of the Mirror Universe episodes, so that might be my bias. That actress who plays Jennifer is REALLY bad though.

The Search Part 1
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
The Defiant
Past Tense Part 2
Heart of Stone
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Family Business
The Adversary

 

[Seven of Five]

Family Business next please. The best episode with Quark's mother (not saying much, I know), but there are a lot of better episodes left.

The Search Part 1
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
The Defiant
Past Tense Part 2
Heart of Stone
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
The Adversary

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Heart of Stone (the cuts are starting to go deep): good acting, but the basic premise has a little too much mustache twirling. Oh, that rock effect is horrible. On the plus side, the b-story is very engaging.

The Search Part 1
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
The Defiant
Past Tense Part 2
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
The Adversary

 

[boldygoing]

The next to go is House of Quark, not a bad episode but just not as good as the remaining episodes.

Best Line: "I am Quark, son of Keldar, and I have come to answer the challenge of D'Ghor, son of... whatever."

The Search Part 1
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
The Defiant
Past Tense Part 2
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
The Adversary

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I'll remove Second Skin, not because there's anything wrong with it, but because the other episodes left are all awesome.

The Search Part 1
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
The Defiant
Past Tense Part 2
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
The Adversary

 

[Bad Thoughts]

The Adversary. Lots of action, but not much else. It might be the weakest of DS9's season finales.

The Search Part 1
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
The Defiant
Past Tense Part 2
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast

 

[boldygoing]

The Defiant. It's fairly solid, I like the episode but it's just not as good as those remaining. Would have liked a follow up with Tom Riker.

The Search Part 1
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Past Tense Part 2
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast