Let He Who Is Without Sin "wins".
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Yes, the episode misfires (it's apparently about relationships, in a diversion from all the wars going on, while being unsure of which plot elements to actually use - and stumbles on every last one of them in the process.)
Worf's handled really badly given what he does on Risa, it's all a throwaway and that alone would get many to say this one is the worst of the season.
The episode features a typical Trek "misunderstood baddie" (who, interestingly enough, played a gay man in a recurring role in the 1980s sitcom "The Golden Girls", as well as other roles in various shades of pine and oak but not enough to be distracting) who happens to, you guessed it, not be given enough detail or focus. Just another token character in a token situation. But he's wrong, regardless, go figure.
Trek likes metaphor no matter how loosely, but lines like "If Federation citizens cannot handle a little bad weather, how will they handle a Dominion invasion?" is about as rubbish and non-sequitur as anything can possibly get. On multiple levels. I suppose the idea is that anyone can waltz into the weather control room and start a ton of tornadoes (again, Zetar and its library being the one possibly dumber and more superficial,
half-eighth-baked idea in all of Trek lore prior to 2013.)
The core concept of not having security harks back to TOS' "The Lights of Zetar" and the absurdity of having no defenses or security, is not ineffective.
All the heteros having their breakups was a bore in that regard (now if Julian and Dax wanted to hang out with me, so to speak, then maaaaaaaaaaaaybe...) but the underlying issues of dealing with breakups, when to seek other partners, love vs lust... all are there but, again, not really well-handled.
Worf's issue about not controlling his strength was pretty first rate.
Did we need to get the TMI on Dax and Worf doing it in a tree, leading to all those bruises and broken bones? (What, nothing else? Come on!)
Worf told he needs to lighten up with Dax wasn't (getting jiggy with anyone else without the consent of all involved or not involved) was too a good moment. FWIW, the episode is trying hard not to say which type of relationship is best, or cheating (that's IMHO an individual issue for those involved to deal with and while they're having Worf insinuating Dax was, they could have been more focused.)
Why didn't the episode discuss STDs? It's discussing everything else (and to varying shades of superficiality in the process so why not the one of the few remaining aspects to the paradigm of sexuality?)
But the episode proves breakups can lead to reuniting, since Worf and Dax marry later on (in another glorious FTW episode.)
Never before has there been a 4syllable word to describe "sex", never mind "intercourse". I mean, "Death by jamaharon" was clearly inspired for "Futurama"'s own "death by snu-snu" in the way "Trials and Tribbleations" inspired the cartoon's "you are your own grandpa" running gag, emphasis on "gag" after the third or second time...
Even the Ferengi now adoring the place doesn't help.
"According to our figures, the guest population has declined by thirty percent in the last three days." so they're going elsewhere to TMI, the
New Traditionalists cult or whatever they call themselves didn't really prove any real points in their antics.
So I looked it up. Their name, "New Essentialists" sounds like a hidden dig at one of Devo's album titles. There's an interesting in-joke given that band's penchant for hidden and triple meanings.
Worst of all, the episode has a ton of potentially great one-liners... but does nothing with them. Not even make this into a two-part extravaganza.
Heck, it can't even get the soap opera drama scenes right.
But is it the worst? I can't see it that way, or I'm just one of those MBTI anomalies. Despite squandering a ton of possibly good ideas, I still find it a bit better than "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places", which pretty much lacks substance altogether. Maybe "Sin" is making up for it. Or "Ferengi Love Songs", another gem in the necklace of "mishandled ideas" but isn't shoehorning in a surfeit of ideas and thus having more room to focus on them, but still stumbling too far anyway.
