Game The Most Disliked Section 31 Episode/Movie

[Sakonna]

I cannot believe that yesterday, I posted at the end of the last game:

I'll post the next one tomorrow. No idea what it'll be yet. Maybe "Klingon Episode"?

Like, duh, obviously there's only one game that I should be posting today. Section 31! We haven't played this list since 2020.

THE OBJECTIVE: A sudden-death elimination game in which we remove our personal favorite episodes/movies from a themed list, until we arrive at the episode that is, if not the worst, at least the most disliked.

It's a framework to say positive things about episodes from across the franchise.

THE RULES: Below is a list of DS9, ENT, DIS, LD, & PIC episodes & movies in which Section 31 is involved.

Eliminate/save your favorite, or the one you deem the ‘best' of what currently remains.
Post something you enjoy about the episode you are saving, and copy-and-paste the list with your choice removed.

You can use any standard you like to judge which option is "best." You can save episodes for being widely recognized “best Trek” classics, or for idiosyncratic qualities that no one appreciates but you.

As you get down the list, you might have to reach more and more for something to enjoy about an episode, and it's OK to eventually save episodes for being "less bad."

But -- no tactical voting! You cannot remove an episode because you don’t think anyone else will, or because you feel it would threaten your preferred episode's chance to “win.”

You can take multiple turns.

Leave at least 2 eliminations by other posters before you eliminate another episode.

New players are always welcome. You do not have to already be a "most disliked game" regular to dive in.

Enjoy!
DS9 Season 6: "Inquisition"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
DS9 Season 7: "Extreme Measures"
ENT Season 4: "Affliction"
ENT Season 4: "Divergence"
ENT Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
Kelvin Feature: "Star Trek Into Darkness"
DIS Season 2: "Point Of Light"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "Light And Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Project Daedalus"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
DIS Season 2: "Through The Valley Of Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2"
PIC Season 3: "The Bounty"
PIC Season 3: "Dominion"
LD Season 3: "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus"
LD Season 5: "Fissure Point" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Sakonna]

I will kick us off with a save for "The Bounty" on Picard. Possibly my favorite episode of an exceptional season. Just the fact that it's the first one to have all TNG cast in it makes it a winner (even if some of them only very briefly). I found this a thrilling and perfect hour of television.

Also, the warehouse of Section 31 sinister objects was creepy AF.

DS9 Season 6: "Inquisition"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
DS9 Season 7: "Extreme Measures"
ENT Season 4: "Affliction"
ENT Season 4: "Divergence"
ENT Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
Kelvin Feature: "Star Trek Into Darkness"
DIS Season 2: "Point Of Light"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "Light And Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Project Daedalus"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
DIS Season 2: "Through The Valley Of Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2"
PIC Season 3: "Dominion"
LD Season 3: "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus"
LD Season 5: "Fissure Point" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Qonundrum]

A couple cross my mind, but

DS9 Season 6: "Inquisition"

Gets saved first.

The starter story surely sets the stage superlatively? Say that six times sober instead since I sloshed... or, rather, I will be in about six hours, sixty-six minutes' time... Zoiks, that alliteration is a tad much, even for me...

But the story raises great points and questions, why wouldn't such a section exist, is well-acted and told, and is a great Bashir piece. That, and did Bashir really turn him down? If an appealing person came up to me and really wanted my involvement in something...

And corn flakes. Everyone loves cornflakes. Only I prefer it not in milk but in Metamucil. A brisk tall glass of delicious, orange-flavored psyllium fiber...


What's left in the shadows:
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
DS9 Season 7: "Extreme Measures"
ENT Season 4: "Affliction"
ENT Season 4: "Divergence"
ENT Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
Kelvin Feature: "Star Trek Into Darkness"
DIS Season 2: "Point Of Light"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "Light And Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Project Daedalus"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
DIS Season 2: "Through The Valley Of Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2"
PIC Season 3: "Dominion"
LD Season 3: "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus"
LD Season 5: "Fissure Point" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Victoria]

"Extreme Measures" displays the kind of moral ambiguity that made DS9 such a good programme. It has the "cunning twist" of the best Section 31 episodes (in this case, when Bashir realises that they haven't woken up) and has both a happy ending (Odo is cured) and a sad one (Sloan dies). I find this an enjoyable episode all round.

DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
ENT Season 4: "Affliction"
ENT Season 4: "Divergence"
ENT Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
Kelvin Feature: "Star Trek Into Darkness"
DIS Season 2: "Point Of Light"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "Light And Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Project Daedalus"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
DIS Season 2: "Through The Valley Of Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2"
PIC Season 3: "Dominion"
LD Season 3: "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus"
LD Season 5: "Fissure Point" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Seven of Five]

Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges is a superbly constructed episode with the awesome Sloan.

I loved Bashir peeling away the mystery, and him confronting Admiral Ross was a good moment.

ENT Season 4: "Affliction"
ENT Season 4: "Divergence
Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
Kelvin Feature: "Star Trek Into Darkness"
DIS Season 2: "Point Of Light"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "Light And Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Project Daedalus"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
DIS Season 2: "Through The Valley Of Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2"
PIC Season 3: "Dominion"
LD Season 3: "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus"
LD Season 5: "Fissure Point" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons

 

[Sakonna]

"Point Of Light" is maybe my most rewatched episode in all of Disco. That one is firing on all cylinders. They do such a good job of rehabbing the mess season 1 Disco made of the Klingons, and it's a great vehicle for getting Georgiou back into the mix.

Also, did Burnham and Tyler ever have chemistry. It's a shame the plot with him became so impossible that there was no way to keep it moving forward. But the way they do that subspace conversation between him, with their two worlds co-existing in the same shot, or seeing him in her environment and hers in his - brilliant, and so evocative.

ENT Season 4: "Affliction"
ENT Season 4: "Divergence
ENT Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
Kelvin Feature: "Star Trek Into Darkness"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "Light And Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Project Daedalus"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
DIS Season 2: "Through The Valley Of Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2"
PIC Season 3: "Dominion"
LD Season 3: "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus"
LD Season 5: "Fissure Point" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Disco's "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2" is a big dumb ending to a big dumb season, but somehow it just clicked with me. It's as if its 'so bad they're good' and its 'so good they're good' scenes are all working in harmony to make it far better than the sum of its parts.

ENT Season 4: "Affliction"
ENT Season 4: "Divergence
Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
Kelvin Feature: "Star Trek Into Darkness"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "Light And Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Project Daedalus"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
DIS Season 2: "Through The Valley Of Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1"
PIC Season 3: "Dominion"
LD Season 3: "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus"
LD Season 5: "Fissure Quest" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Saving Fissure Point.

Spoiler

The Section 31 aspect isn't central to the story, but it plays into the episode plays into question about how different types of narratives are overlayered through things like multiverses and time travel.

ENT Season 4: "Affliction"
ENT Season 4: "Divergence
Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
Kelvin Feature: "Star Trek Into Darkness"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "Light And Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Project Daedalus"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
DIS Season 2: "Through The Valley Of Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1"
PIC Season 3: "Dominion"
LD Season 3: "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus"
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons

 

[Qonundrum]

Someone once said, "It is always darkest before the storm":

PIC Season 3: "Dominion"

Vadic finally gets a reason for her existing and being the 9 zillionth person to want reeeeeeeevenge, Geordi is awesome, Titan gets taken over, Section 31 is behind some nasty stuff (again) -- hmmm, was this section behind "Star Trek Insurrection" as well? It's corny, but it doesn't not work. Tuvok also gets a surprise appearance, which is rather good and helps remind: Just how bad were things that caused S31 to go about biologically manipulating the Changeling species as means to respond...

But it's not the worst episode of the season by any means, but not every episode is going to be the same and - admittedly - it sets up for the following episode's goodies as a result.


What's left:
ENT Season 4: "Affliction"
ENT Season 4: "Divergence
Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
Kelvin Feature: "Star Trek Into Darkness"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "Light And Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Project Daedalus"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
DIS Season 2: "Through The Valley Of Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1"
LD Season 3: "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus"
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons

 

[Victoria]

Of the remaining choices, there's only one that I've seen more than once and that is Star Trek Into Darkness. Whilst I don't think the film's particularly good overall, the Section 31 involvement is clear and coherent. It probably says something about both me and S31 that I feel down to "least worst" choices already.

ENT Season 4: "Affliction"
ENT Season 4: "Divergence
Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
Kelvin Feature: "Star Trek Into Darkness"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "Light And Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Project Daedalus"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
DIS Season 2: "Through The Valley Of Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1"
LD Season 3: "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus"
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons

 

[JLA]

DIS Season 2: "Light And Shadows" I'm saving. It's one of my favorite DSC episodes of all time. I like Michael and Phillipa fighting in the Section 31 medical facility in order to get Spock safely out of there.

ENT Season 4: "Affliction"
ENT Season 4: "Divergence
Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
Kelvin Feature: "Star Trek Into Darkness"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "Project Daedalus"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
DIS Season 2: "Through The Valley Of Shadows"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1"
LD Season 3: "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus"
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons

 

[FredH]

(Darn, I was hoping this would be the thread where we compete to create the worst episode of a hypothetical S31 TV series following on from the movie.)

 

[Sakonna]

"Through The Valley Of Shadows" is another highly rewatchable Disco. The stuff on the station with Control/Gant is so creepy and well staged, and Pike learning his future on Boreth is incredibly impactful.

ENT Season 4: "Affliction"
ENT Season 4: "Divergence
ENT Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "Project Daedalus"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1"
LD Season 3: "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus"
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Cyfa]

I've been humming and hahing about whether to take part in this game as I really despise the idea and execution of S31 outside of the DS9 episodes. I'm also not a fan of Disco, so that only leaves ENT to choose from. Except...
LDS: "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus"!!! Boimler has quite a journey here, rather like Mariner's revelations about herself in the first "Crisis Point" episode. And Tendi has a revelation of her own thanks to Rutherford goofing around. Plus, Knicknac!

ENT Season 4: "Affliction"
ENT Season 4: "Divergence
ENT Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "Project Daedalus"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1"
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Victoria]

Like Cyfa I am not keen as to the way Section 31 was treated outside DS9 although I felt Enterprise did better than Discovery. The four remaining Enterprise episodes are all strong episodes in themselves and it is hard to choose between them.

I am going to save "Affliction" for the back story and development it gives to Malcolm Reed.

ENT Season 4: "Divergence
ENT Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "Project Daedalus"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1"
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[JLA]

I'm saving DIS Season 2: "Project Daedalus".


ENT Season 4: "Divergence
ENT Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1"
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

I already saved the other half of this two-parter, so I suppose it would be strange not to save DIS Season 2: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1" as well. The fact that it's my favourite of the remaining episodes might also be swaying my decision a little bit.

ENT Season 4: "Divergence
ENT Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Farscape One]

I'm a little late to the game, and pretty much all the episodes that I would have saved is already saved.

Except for a couple here... I'll save "DIVERGENCE" first.

Tense two-parter, this was a good conclusion. Reed got some good scenes and character use.


ENT Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Saving Terra Prime. How has this not yet been saved: a great conspiracy story, sorrowful death of the offspring of Trip and T'Pol?

ENT Season 4: "Demons"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Farscape One]

Saving Terra Prime. How has this not yet been saved: a great conspiracy story, sorrowful death of the offspring of Trip and T'Pol?

ENT Season 4: "Demons"
DIS Season 2: "Saints Of Imperfection"
DIS Season 2: "The Red Angel"
DIS Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
P+ Feature: "Star Trek: Section 31" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

And Archer's speech at the end was fantastic.