The Second Season

[Saxman1]

Felllow DS9 Fans,

I hesitate to start this as DS9 is somewhat of a sacred cow around here. However, I've unfortunately watched the show on DVD out of order - now on season 2 after finishing up season 1 and enjoying it a ton. Here's my viewing order: 4, 5, 6, 7, 3, 1, 2 in order of "best" per this blog.

I thought 4-7 rocked the house for sure with very few clinkers. The much maligned season 1 was also quite good (The pilot, Duet - just to name a few!) IMHO as was season 3, much better than most people give them credit for.

However, season 2 - I'm about mid-way through and jeez, once you get through the excellent opening trilogy with Jaro, it kind of falls right off the map with a bunch of "meh" eps. This was around the time first-run I gave up on the show, foolishly in retrospect.

Any opinions? Am I missing something? Help me!

I noticed a similar thing with Enterprsise - season 1 not bad, season 2 just terrible with a few exceptions, seasons 3 - 4 excellent for the most part.

Thanks,

Saxman

 

[Good Will Riker]

It's called the sophomore slump.

But, seriously, in retrospect I myself find Season 2 to be a strong season of DS9. Infact, season 2 of DS9 is the only season of DS9 not to be influenced at all in any shape or form by TNG. It is DS9 in its purest form.

 

[cwalrus2]

I think Season 2 is one of the strongest overall seasons of DS9. With the exception of Melora and Second Sight, almost every episode has plenty of entertainment value. "Necessary Evil" is especially the highlight of the season along with "The Jem Hedar" but there are some other great character building episodes that really make the season enjoyable before moving on to the Dominion Threat seasons that follow. If you forget anything that you might have seen after season 2 and pretend your watchig the show for the first time (which takes a lot of patience) you'll see that these are very strong episodes. it's tempting to want to skip ahead to the Dominion and the Klingon stuff, but seen in context of only what has come before this , I would argue that Season 2 is one of the best overall seasons in star trek. Very well balanced, and plenty of character development for all the major characters as well as supporting characters like Garak, Winn, and Bariel. Actually season 2 is what got me hooked on Ds9 since season 1 was very hot or miss. I'd say there are only 1 or 2 clunkers in the season. Plus, season 2 really proved that DS9 could stand on it's own without TNG.

 

[Saxman1]

OK, I'll look with fresh eyes....thanks...

Unlike TNG, which I love, too, DS9 didn't show signs of fatigue at the end, at least not to me. I can find only a handfull of season 7 eps of TNG I care to revist.

 

[tomalak301]

What episode are you on. Yeah there are some episodes that weren't necessarily good, but when an episode was good (Like Maquis, Blood Oath, Cardassians, the Circle Trilogy, Jem'hedar, and Crossover) it was really good.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Well, IMO, the most important and best episodes of season 2 are toward the end of the season, with the exception of the opening Circle Trilogy.

I think this season starts out well, then goes through a bit of a slump...and then gets really good at the end.

 

[Good Will Riker]

Saxman1 said:
OK, I'll look with fresh eyes....thanks...

Unlike TNG, which I love, too, DS9 didn't show signs of fatigue at the end, at least not to me. I can find only a handfull of season 7 eps of TNG I care to revist.

"All Good Things..." being one of them.

There are more episodes I enjoy in the entire Final Chapter of DS9 than I do the entire season 7 of TNG.

 

[DostoyevskyClone]

I think season two is actually the best season of DS9 (with season five a very close second). Justification: "Whispers" and "Paradise" are, I think, brilliantly conceived episodes, while many others such as "Necessary Evil" and "The Wire" are also very well written and really helped to strengthen the tone of the show.

 

[Good Will Riker]

DostoyevskyClone said:
"Paradise"

Precursor to Star Trek: Insurrection. Incidentally, both written by Michael Piller based on his philosophy while working on his scripts on a laptop computer and commuting to work in his gasoline powered automobile.

 

[benny]

The second half the S2 is worlds better than the first. The Maquis 2 parter, Tribunal, Crossover, The Collaborator, The Wire, Whispers, The Jem'Hadar...

In my opinion-and it's just my opinion-you watched the series completely wrong. Any series needs to be watched in its proper airing order. By keeping S2 until the end, you miss the first episode in the Mirror Universe saga, the lead up to the Dominion, backstory on Bariel and Vedek Winn, some great Julian/Miles friendship building...

 

[Saxman1]

benny said:
The second half the S2 is worlds better than the first. The Maquis 2 parter, Tribunal, Crossover, The Collaborator, The Wire, Whispers, The Jem'Hadar...

In my opinion-and it's just my opinion-you watched the series completely wrong. Any series needs to be watched in its proper airing order. By keeping S2 until the end, you miss the first episode in the Mirror Universe saga, the lead up to the Dominion, backstory on Bariel and Vedek Winn, some great Julian/Miles friendship building...

You sound like my wife. Now I'm going through in order this time, since I have it all. Lots of pals told me do 4-7 and skip the first three as a waste of time. Liked 4-7 so much i had to go back.

I'm at the one with Koening's son with the Sreens or whatever with the skin that falls off. Dreadful. So were the two previous - Malora and the one with Richard Kiley and the ghost/split personality woman who goes for The Sisko. I know, everyone loves all those, too.

I thought "Cardassians" was excellent as well as the Quark eps - in one of them, it shows how Odo got his job from Dukat. I'm just spoiled - all this great stuff and then a buncha duds in a row. Oh well. It's me.

 

[Good Will Riker]

Saxman1 said:

Oh well. It's me.

No, it's not just you. Those episodes you disliked were really hokey and feels out of place compared to the greatness that DS9 became with episodes like "Improbable Cause/The Die is Cast," "The Visitor," and "In the Pale Moonlight" to name a few.

 

[benny]

Saxman1 said:
You sound like my wife.

I shall take that as a compliment.

Lots of pals told me do 4-7 and skip the first three as a waste of time. Liked 4-7 so much i had to go back.

See, for me, part of the pleasure in watching any show is knowing where the characters started from, how their relationships began and seeing how they evolved over the course of a series. There are some bad episodes in every season, but if you bypass all of it, you then miss the great installments like Duet, In the Hands of the Prophets, Progress, Dax (all from S1) and Improbable Cause/The Die is Cast, Civil Defense, Defiant, Past Tense 1/2 (from S3).

I'm at the one with Koening's son with the Sreens or whatever with the skin that falls off. Dreadful. So were the two previous - Malora and the one with Richard Kiley and the ghost/split personality woman who goes for The Sisko. I know, everyone loves all those, too.

Right there with you. "Sanctuary" bored me to tears, as does "Rivals". "Second Sight" was just wrong from the get-go. "Melora" was a decent enough premise, but too much like an afterschool special with a wretched action subplot.

I thought "Cardassians" was excellent as well as the Quark eps - in one of them, it shows how Odo got his job from Dukat. I'm just spoiled - all this great stuff and then a buncha duds in a row. Oh well. It's me.

Absolutely. Anytime you get Marc Alaimo and Andy Robinson in the same episode-they don't even need to be in the same scene-its gold. "Necessary Evil" is one of the best episodes of the entire series with an equally good ending.

 

[MaxBingman]

There are some fantastic episodes in season 2. The Bajor trilogy, Shadowplay, Neccesary Evil, Blood Oath, the Wire, Crossover, The Maquis, Tribunal, Whispers, There's just a bit of a slump in the middle. Nobody talks about Rivals, Invasive Procedures, Playing God, Cardassians, Second Sight, or Melora that much. So the season works about half the time. Even the lower half of the sprectrum are mostly watchable.

This is the season that feels most like Gunsmoke in Space to me.

 

[The Habs Fan]

I see DS9 Season 2 as the only season where DS9 fulfilled 100% of its premise. Don't get me wrong, I love all of DS9 and my favourite season of DS9 is 7, but Season 2 has no Defiant, no recycled TNG scripts, and no Dominion War. This is pure DS9.

 

[Photon]

Agree for the most part,but S1 and S3 are the worst. S2 is very good (Jem'Hadar/Nec. Evil)

 

[tomalak301]

DostoyevskyClone said:
I think season two is actually the best season of DS9 (with season five a very close second). Justification: "Whispers" and "Paradise" are, I think, brilliantly conceived episodes, while many others such as "Necessary Evil" and "The Wire" are also very well written and really helped to strengthen the tone of the show.

I wouldn't say Season 2 was the best season (Season 5 and 4 were), but I would rank it third. It's very underrated and it's great that a thread like this is talking great things about it.

 

[Navaros]

I could list 6-8 dud episodes from every single season of DS9. I don't think Season 2 has a higher quotient of duds than any of the other seasons, except Season 1.

I also assert that Rivals is an awesome episode because Quark is amazing in it.

 

[Saxman1]

If I said any season wasn't so hot, legions would say that season was the best! Ha, ha, ha! I saw Rivals this a.m. on DVD and enjoyed it - Quark rocked!

 

[Navaros]

Saxman1 said:
If I said any season wasn't so hot, legions would say that season was the best! Ha, ha, ha! I saw Rivals this a.m. on DVD and enjoyed it - Quark rocked!

That's because DS9 is such a great show across the board that every season is chock-full of great episodes therefore there can never be a definitive or objective answer as to what season is "best". But that's a good thing! :thumbsup:

Really good to have another "Rivals" convert!