The least disliked episode of DS9 - Season Three

[BlueStuff]

This is a game that we play every few years or so, 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, and wait at least 6 hours after your last vote, before voting again.

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

Hall of Champions
2011 - In the Pale Moonlight
2013 - In the Pale Moonlight
2017 -

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

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Fascination is out. Low hanging fruit. Simply a ridiculous concept.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Equilibrium
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Meridian
Defiant
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

 

[Takeru]

I'm killing Meridian, a silly concept of a planet and a completely unbelievable reaction from Jadzia, she's willing to throw away her entire life, career, friends etc. for this man, then it doesn't work, ahe can't gomwith him, is devastated and by the next episode this super important man is never, ever mentioned again. It's better to forget this episode.


The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Equilibrium
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
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'm pulling the plug on Life Support. Vedek Bareil bores me to tears.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Equilibrium
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
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

 

[Sakonna]

Man, this is a great season! Almost every episode is a winner. (I even enjoy all-but-universally-reviled Fascination)

There's already only one ep remaining that I properly dislike -- Equilibrium. Those masked-man visions are well done and effectively creepy, but that's the only thing that works here. A lot of the underlying ideas are interesting, with Trill culture and Joran, but they didn't figure out a satisfyingly dramatic way to unfold the story -- the script is structured so awkwardly and really smothers any potential drama or suspense.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
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

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Eliminating Prophet Motive. Because it's...dumb. Really really dumb. One of those episodes with Zek that drag Ferengi back to TNG season 1 cartoonland. It also just reduces all the complexity and nuance of DS9's take on Ferengi culture and capitalism to "Ferengi are nice people on opposite day!"

Also one of those episodes where they establish that every single person on DS9's head of state revolves their entire life around them for no reason. Which is also really dumb.

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

 

[MakeshiftPython]

Visionary. Feels like a leftover script by Brannon Braga. Did not feel like a suitable episode of DS9, though I enjoyed a few moments like this.

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

 

[BigDaveX]

I'll eliminate Destiny. Not really a bad episode IMO, just kinda bland.

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

 

[Takeru]

Through the looking glass, I don't care about DS9's version of the mirror universe and Sisko's relationship with Jennifer is boring.


The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Heart of Stone
Distant Voices
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Shakaar
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Farscape One]

I am going to assassinate "SHAKAAR". It's not that it's a bad episode, to me anyways, but of the ones remaining, I feel it is the weakest among them.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Heart of Stone
Distant Voices
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Bad Thoughts]

(This got hard fast.)

I'm eliminating Distant Voices (either this or Second Skin). I feel robbed a little by an episode when Garak is acting like someone else, and I find some of the head characters to be too over the top (sorry, Nana). I also dislike some of the camera choices. It does feel like Bashir's character is becoming better defined, arrogant without being impulsive. I love the opening conversation.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Heart of Stone
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Facets
The Adversary

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Eliminating Family Business. Because almost every single thing DS9 did with Ferengi characters who did not live on Deep Space 9 from the third season on was really, really stupid.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Heart of Stone
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Sakonna]

Tough call! I am torn between "Heart Of Stone" (INCREDIBLE B story, TERRIBLE A story) and "Facets" (good, solid A and B stories -- neither one reaches the heights of Nog-reveals-his-desire-to-join-Starfleet, but also neither one is anywhere near as lousy as Odo And Fake Kira Vs. Cheap Plastic Entombment)

I think I'll kick... Heart Of Stone. Facets I would be happy to watch right through. Heart Of Stone, I never need to see that cave stuff again, I'm FFing to only the Nog material (and maybe the last Kira/Odo scene)

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Farscape One]

(This got hard fast.)

Michael Scott: "That's what she said."

 

[Takeru]

Past Tense (l), it didn't need to exist, It does nothing for me. This extends to part 2 as well but I can't kill them both at once.


The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (II)
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Qonundrum]

The "sock it to me" award now goes to...


...drumroll...

Defiant

Not one of my favorite episodes.

Riker's self-made doppelganger/stunt double/sweeps week gimmick returns for yet another "We ran out of straws to clutch" episode when, since the notion behind how clones could be created so easily (hence his creation was forgotten and meant to remain forgotten), so now he's back. But another possible re-use goldmine of "The Measure of a Man" ended up not being made. One Riker = priceless. A thousand? Not so much. But what to do with him? Forget about him with a cozy rosy ending unless something contrived could eke out 40 more minutes of needless tie-in, DS9 already made itself its own and not needing to cling to TNG characters at this point.

That, and what else happened to make Thomas want to join the Maquis when he and the real Riker had largely identical experiences to begin with? Was Picard that much of an influence to tame Riker? Possibly; William kept turning down command after command just to remain second-in-command for Picard and Thomas never had the tutelage... naah, forget that, that makes too much sense, enough continuity quietly proves that anyway, and I've already invested a lot of time in this novella of an explanation so I'm not going change my mind anyway.

And not only the ending was a quick sweep to mess up the underside of a cheap rug with, he kisses Kira and gives her space herpes as a result. Why not, the fact that "Thomas" has even returned is far more implausible and silly and I've not mentioned the fake sideburns yet* to reveal the best TV trope of them all... (...dun-duhn-dunnnnmn...) "the goatee of eeeeeeeevil, moohahaha!"

Spoiler: * Seriously,

Seriously, fake sideburns. It doesn't begin to get as campy camptacular as that.

What's left:

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Past Tense (II)
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Facets
The Adversary

 

[BigDaveX]

Explorers can get lost. Some really good stuff between Sisko and Jake in fairness, but Bashir's subplot is pretty terrible, almost like it were the B-story to a Season 1 episode that got pulled out of the archives and stuffed into this one to bring it up to length.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Past Tense (II)
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Goodbye, Facets. How smart was it to create an episode that shows how every other cast member could be a better Dax than Terry Farrell? The resolution--we love each other by being together--is silly. Loved Odo is this. Some interesting Nog stuff, but not as much as in previous episodes.


The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Past Tense (II)
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
The Adversary

 

[Seven of Five]

The Search Part 2 can go. Whilst the parts with Odo and his people are fascinating, the rest of the fake reality just isn't anything exciting.

The Search (I)
The House of Quark
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Past Tense (II)
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
The Adversary

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Will eliminate Second Skin just because we're at the point where only good episodes are left and it is the most average of remaining episodes.

The Search (I)
The House of Quark
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Past Tense (II)
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
The Adversary