Deep Space Nine 2x26 "The Jem'Hadar"

rating: ****

the story: Sisko takes his son, Quark, and Nog on a trip to the Gamma Quadrant, and they end up regretting it considerably, thanks to the formal introduction of the Dominion.

what it's all about: It's amazing how quickly the series ended up finding out what it was finally going to be like moving forward, after a lot of false starts and formative material that never quite seemed to lived up to potential.  It's highly appropriate that this happens in a Quark episode, MVP of the second season, that also involves Sisko, who as of "The Jem'Hadar" had definitively found his place not only in series lore but for the franchise as well.

Simply put, and this is incredibly easy to say in hindsight, but the Dominion arc ended up defining Deep Space Nine.  Over the course of the next five seasons, tensions rose to all-out war that enveloped the final two seasons of the series.  All that begins with the introductions of not only the eponymous shock troops of the Dominion, but the continually enigmatic (a trademark characteristic of the series) Vorta as well.

Naturally, the Jem'Hadar make the more dramatic debut, ostensibly as the Deep Space Nine answer to the most sensational new threat of its Next Generation predecessor, the Borg.  A Jem'Hadar ship, pointedly, takes out a Starfleet vessel the same class as the Enterprise-D with almost ridiculous (if suicidal) ease.  You'd have to wait until the terrorism of Enterprise's "The Expanse" to see something like that again.

But what exactly the level of threat the Dominion poses would have to wait until later.  Instead, the episode revels in the contrast between Sisko and Quark, who couldn't possibly be greater polar opposites (another series trademark, which Quark also shares with Odo).  Both have an unerring sense of duty, but the ways they exhibit themselves, again, couldn't be more different, so naturally it falls to another generation to help them find common ground.  It's the rare reminder, post-first season, that Jake and Nog still matter in this series, in ways that would push both of them in surprising new directions, which like the other events of this episode begin to come to a head in the following season.

All this might seem insignificant compared to what it leads to, but "Jem'Hadar" is a great reminder that big things start small.  The Gamma Quadrant had existed in series lore since the start, but it wasn't until this episode where it truly begins to matter, after all.

Which, again, is a polar opposite in and of itself, too.  The season began with an ambitious attempt to turn around the Bajoran side of the series premise into something that could truly be reckoned with.  And yet, the season ends with something new that lands with a definite, immediate impact, all in the course of a single episode, which actually teases far more than it reveals.  For fans who think Deep Space Nine worked best in its serialized storytelling, it's a refreshing reminder that one story really can make all the difference.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The Dominion instantly becomes one of the defining villains in all of Star Trek.
• series - It also instantly becomes a cornerstone of Deep Space Nine.
• character - All while keeping a tight focus on Sisko and Quark as everyday people.
• essential - Any of that means this is a classic, folks.

notable guest-stars:
Aron Eisenberg (Nog)

Deep Space Nine 2x25 "Tribunal"

rating: ***

the story: O'Brien is put on trial in a Cardassian courtroom.

what it's all about: There's a rich tradition of trial drama in Star Trek lore, from the two-part "Menagerie" from the original series to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and many other examples from every series (not the least of which being Enterprise's "Judgment," which closely echoes Undiscovered Country).  "Tribunal" is one of the best examples, if for no other reason than the starkness of its presentation, the utter helplessness of O'Brien's predicament and the ruthlessness of its presentation of Cardassian culture, which after more than a few episodes in the second season might have begun to seem a little too soft for a species with such a nasty history.

"Tribunal" boils down to Cardassian duplicity, it's true, but it also forces every character who appears, including Odo, who steps in to defend O'Brien, and Keiko, O'Brien's wife, who is justifiably horrified by the whole experience, to step up their game.  It features perhaps the second most successful example of a spy finally exposed at the end of an episode, after Arne Darvin in the classic "Trouble with Tribbles," featuring the rare mustache in Star Trek (hey, it's a pretty notable mustache!).

But in the grand tradition of lets-torture-O'Brien episodes, this one's probably the most literal, and so there's that going for it, too.  At one point he literally has a tooth extracted as part of the processing procedures leading up to his trial.  Overall, a very different kind of episode, both for the series and franchise, a real sense of urgency, which is usually hard to pull off, but then also kind of necessary when Cardassian trials usually declare their verdicts first, and of course O'Brien is announced as guilty!

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Part of a grand Star Trek tradition.
• series: Readjusts Cardassians into a less friendly light, which at this point was necessary.
• character - Maybe doesn't say much about O'Brien himself, but when he suffers we all kind of suffer along with him.
• essential - Still, it doesn't say much of anything new, even if it's all very impactful.

notable guest-stars:
Rosalind Chao (Keiko)
Richard Poe (Evek)

Deep Space Nine 2x24 "The Collaborator"

rating: ***

the story: Kira finds herself caught in the middle of Bajoran politics.

what it's all about: "The Collaborator" is basically the Bajoran edition of the Cardassian-centric "Duet" from the first season, Deep Space Nine's first acknowledged classic.  "Collaborator" is a huge step forward from the awkwardness of the Bajoran trilogy that opened the season, a sign of the increased maturity the series experienced during the course of the second season.  It definitively closes out the original Bajoran narrative that had been embodied by Kai Opaka in the series premiere, "Emissary," who was eventually supplanted by Vedek Bareil and the eventual Kai Winn, who are engaged in bitter politics throughout "Collaborator."  Actually, the episode may best be summed up as a commentary on the nastiness of election cycles.

It's a very Deep Space Nine story.  Next Generation had a Klingon saga including similar battles, and on a smaller scale, the battles over Worf's personal honor.  But "Collaborator" ratchets up the stakes by pitting two familiar recurring characters against each other, one who had been portrayed as a good guy all long (Bariel) and the other a bad guy (Winn).  Since it's Bajorans, who tend to be about as lively as your average Vulcan, don't expect to be jazzed by the results.  It's cerebral material, and as with the best of Deep Space Nine, explores moral gray areas, so that you're no longer sure whether good guys are so easy to identify.  It's an episode the series desperately needed, not just another Bajoran problem but one that deepened the species and its status as victims of Cardassian oppression for decades.  Suddenly matters aren't quite so simple.

After this one, Winn's role in the series had been solidified, and she finally becomes one of its great characters, villain or otherwise.  That's reason enough to care, right?

criteria analysis:

• franchise - You don't need to care about the rest of the franchise to like this one.
• series - A big one for the perennial Bajoran problem.
• character - It's Winn who wins.
• essential - By revealing just how delightfully nasty she can really be.

notable guest-stars:
Louise Fletcher (Winn)
Philip Anglim (Bareil)
Camille Saviola (Opaka)

Deep Space Nine 2x23 "Crossover"

rating: ****

the story: A follow-up to the classic episode "Mirror, Mirror."

what it's all about: This is the level of confidence, and audacity, the second season of Deep Space Nine had introduced to the series.  Well before the prequel nature of Enterprise made it easier to provide follow-ups to previous episodes of the franchise, let alone sequels to episodes of the original series, "Crossover" began a whole tradition in Deep Space Nine, a whole series of episodes set in the so-called Mirror Universe.

What started with "Blood Oath" a few episodes earlier, in which three actors who portrayed Klingons in the original series returned," culminates with "Crossover."  The curious thing about the series, which is a problem that persists today, is that fans question its faithfulness to the Star Trek tradition, because it departs to dramatically in tone.  And yet episodes like this easily evoke not only its fondness for that tradition, but its faithfulness.  In "Mirror, Mirror," Kirk is forced to confront a reality in which the moral decisions he has long taken for granted from those around him are not a given.  Yet, it's him who sets a new standard.  In essence, he's in the same predicament as he's always in.  Yet in "Crossover," it's the Mirror Sisko who makes the difference, despite the presence of Bashir and Kira from the standard reality.  He'd been as corrupt as anyone before they showed up, but he suddenly discovers his moral compass pointed in the right direction because of their influence.  Where we only suspect Mirror Spock has indeed taken Kirk's parting message to heart, "Crossover" is an active demonstration of all that classic Star Trek hope for the future, even if it seems anything but.

It's not so much that "Crossover" provides a follow-up to "Mirror, Mirror," but that it proves things aren't so easy to fix as Kirk could sometimes suggest.  More than a century later, his actions in the Mirror Universe have drastically changed things, but not as he imagined they would.  Humans have become an embattled species.  Sure, the whole thing allows the series to present familiar characters in unfamiliar roles (Kira becomes doubly iconic thanks to this initial appearance of her Intendant counterpart, the most sensational and successful variant, although Odo's one-off take is pretty darn shocking, too), but it's a whole exercise in demonstrating what Deep Space Nine would be like moving forward, what the season had hoped to accomplish all along but hadn't quite managed to nail until the last few episodes.  Basically "Crossover" is a massive tease for the rest of the series, its confidence now unshakeable. 

You can watch "Crossover" on its own, ignore all its follow-ups, and still feel its impact.  If you somehow thought Enterprise's two-part "In a Mirror, Darkly" was the only "Mirror, Mirror" spin-off worth remembering, think again.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Again, it's a sequel to "Mirror, Mirror."
• series - And yet it's completely relevant to Deep Space Nine itself.
• character - The debut of Intendant Kira.
• essential - A classic sequel to a classic.

notable guest-stars:
Andrew Robinson (Garak)
Dennis Madalone

Deep Space Nine 2x22 "The Wire"

rating: ****

the story: Bashir learns about as much about Garak as anyone will ever truly know.

what it's all about: This episode right here, "The Wire," is Deep Space Nine in a nutshell: it's the first time the series does what only it could in this franchise, which is devote a whole episode exclusively to a recurring character.  It's one thing, like Next Generation's "Ensign Ro," to heavily feature a new character to help set them up, but until the penultimate episode of that series, "Preemptive Strike," Ro never received that kind of treatment again.  Now, by the time "The Wire" first aired, Garak had already made a few appearances, all of them teasing the big mystery of just who and what he really is, a mere "plain and simple" tailor as he suggests, or perhaps a former Cardassian spy, which is what intrigues Bashir so much about him.

The fact that Garak is able to occupy a spot as neither a good nor bad guy in the series for the duration of the series (comes in handy for "In the Pale Moonlight"), is what the series is ultimately all about, the ability to interpret Star Trek past the simplicities it had once and would generally be again (the third season of Enterprise was a big challenge of that, too).  "The Wire," in fact, is what happens when the series realizes what it is, something the second season had been struggling with from the start, trying to do something new but not quite realizing what that something should be.  Well, that something new looks a lot like "The Wire."

Bashir benefits a great deal from his relationship with Garak, of course.  At first a cocksure recent graduate of Starfleet's medical program, he had a lot to learn, and by this point he'd already learned a lot through his emerging friendship with O'Brien, who he at least had serving in Starfleet as a shared experience.  But Garak is that big enigma, the lone Cardassian occupant of the station, a reminder of the past who tries to keep to himself as much as possible, keeping himself busy, having friendly conversations with Bashir, sure, but...What's the truth about him???  This is the episode where we come closest to finding out, in the whole of the series.  It's not just a matter of whether or not he was a spy (he was) but why he stopped being one, and whether it's worth having sympathy for him.

The episode concludes, rightly, that it is worth it.  "Duet" from the first season showed what a "good" Cardassian looked like, one so riddled with guilt about the Bajoran Occupation he was willing to impersonate, like a warped version of "The Conscience of the King" from the original series, a bad guy just so someone would be punished for the atrocities his people had carried out.  But "The Wire" is more subtle.  By the time Garak's secret, not what he used to do but why he's been in so much pain, the sympathy he evokes is earned, is as real as anything this franchise has ever accomplished.

If the series can produce something like this for a recurring character, when it's finally figured itself out, "The Wire" is really saying, just imagine what's in store later in the series.  This one's what it's all about, folks.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - As good as storytelling gets in Star Trek.
• series - The sheer confidence of the storytelling endlessly enriches Deep Space Nine as a whole.
• character - This is why everyone loves Garak, and Deep Space Nine recurring characters in general. 
• essential - Proves this series does characters better than any other Star Trek.

notable guest-stars:
Andrew Robinson (Garak)
Paul Dooley (Tain)

Deep Space Nine 2x21 "The Maquis, Part 2"

rating: **

the story: Sisko and company must figure out how to resolve the crisis once they realize his friend wasn't lying about the Cardassians.

what it's all about: "Maquis, Part 2" kind of proves that this was Deep Space Nine still not entirely sure how to tell multipart episodes, which was what the ambitious three-parter at the start of the season had already suggested.  While it's absolutely true that later in the series this was no problem at all (as soon as the two-part third season opener, in fact, plus the couple other two-parters from that season).

The problem here is that it's a story that was unnecessarily stretched out, the idea being to make it more of a dramatic event than it really warranted.  In fact, in hindsight it probably would've been far better just to concentrate on Dukat's participation and downplay the role of Sisko's friend, the defecting Starfleet officer who could never hope to contend with Ro Laren over in Next Generation's "Preemptive Strike."

You can tell there was some effort at emphasizing the importance of the story when frequent Star Trek guest actor John Schuck is cast, and Admiral Nechayev makes an appearance.  But neither is enough to salvage an episode that instantly loses all its relevance to the series when everything about it is done infinitely better later on.

But the one redemptive element is actually pretty cool of the season: It's kind of the apology to the earlier "Sanctuary," which completely botched an analogy of the State of Israel.  If you think about it, the Maquis are an analogy of Israel, too, and it's really "The Maquis, Part 2" that makes that clear, especially with the Cardassians being caught playing dirty against them.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Concluding the story that helps launch Voyager makes it at least noteworthy.
• series - It improves at least one thing, from earlier in the season, which is a good thing.
• character - Not especially relevant to any of the characters, though.
• essential - If the episode had known what I read into it above, I think it would've been better, but I'm not sure it did.

notable guest-stars:
Marc Alaimo (Dukat)
Natalija Nogulich (Nechayev)
John Schuck

Deep Space Nine 2x20 "The Maquis, Part 1"

rating: **

the story: A Maquis raid pits Sisko in the middle of a potential new conflict with the Cardassians.

what it's all about: The two-part "Maquis" has a lot of things working against it: For one, it's undeniably not as impactful as Next Generation's "Preemptive Strike," which like "Maquis" was produced with the express purpose of helping set up Voyager (which as part of its premise incorporated Maquis fighters into a Starfleet crew).  It's also not as good as "Defiant," which a season later also has Sisko forming an uneasy alliance with Gul Dukat to hunt the Maquis.  And finally, Cal Hudson is ultimately no Eddington, a character introduced next season who eventually defects to the Maquis and makes a formidable adversary for Sisko, and a personal one in far more organic ways than what is cobbled together for "Maquis."

So that's what works against the story as a whole.  For this opening chapter, much of that is still relevant; Cal Hudson is no Ro Laren.  Usually I don't mind if a character is introduced for a single appearance who otherwise is important to a main character; despite what some fans may claim, Voyager pulls off such a thing nicely in "Ashes to Ashes," with one of Harry Kim's friends we'd never seen before.  But the sudden introduction of Sisko's supposed good friend, whom we'd never even heard referenced before, is all the more glaring in a series that was to prove a gold mine in repeat appearances for guest characters.  It may be irrelevant to say we never see Cal again after this adventure.

To say it all falls a little flat, whether comparatively or not, is about all there can be said about "Maquis, Part 1."  It's like the creators who cobbled together the unsatisfying end of the season-opening three-parter also showed up for this one, having learned none of the lessons from the episodes in between.  But at least it brings back Dukat, who is nonetheless forced to contend with the presence of the Cardassian character he was to completely supplant, Gul Evek, by the following season. 

criteria analysis:

• franchise - As far as concept building goes, this is a minor contribution to an important Star Trek cornerstone.
• series - It's also a minor precursor to a lot of far better stories in Deep Space Nine itself.
• character - Shows they still hadn't figured out Sisko.
• essential - Yeah, to sum it up, not essential.

notable guest-stars:
Marc Alaimo (Dukat)
Richard Poe (Evek)

Deep Space Nine 2x19 "Blood Oath"

rating: ****

the story: Dax reunites with three legendary Klingons for one last glorious adventure.

what it's all about: Anyone who ever questioned Deep Space Nine's place in the greater franchise needs to have a look at "Blood Oath."  Forget the whole Dominion War.  Forget the heavy serialization.  Forget the seeming departures from Star Trek's ideals.  Forget all of that.  "Blood Oath" may be the single greatest access point any fan could hope for, the most unlikely, and at the very least the best episode of the second season.

"Playing God" was just the warm-up...Dax's evolution from "just a pretty face" to one of the best characters in the series was completed with "Blood Oath," in which three actors who had portrayed Klingons in the original series reprise their roles: William Campbell as Koloth ("The Trouble with Tribbles"), Michael Ansara as Kang ("Day of the Dove"), and John Colicos as Kor ("Errand of Mercy").  Ansara would actually appear once more as Kang in Voyager's "Flashback," while Colicos' Kor would return in Deep Space Nine's own "Sword of Kahless" and "Once More Unto the Breach," but "Blood Oath" is the one chance to see all three at once, a dream team of Klingons if there ever was one (Worf and Martok would both join Kor in his final appearance, in case you wanted another dream team).

When fans think of episodes featuring characters from other series, they typically bring up Next Generation's "Sarek," "Unification," and "Relics" as the best examples, a trilogy that is pretty tough to compete with, but where "Blood Oath" triumphs over them is telling a completely unexpected story, one where the Klingons, each of them originally presented as villains by the way, as the heroes, the transformation Worf helped initiate finally completed, well before Deep Space Nine had actually begun heavily featuring the classic aliens (with the addition of Worf in the fourth season).

"Blood Oath" is unlike any other episode in the franchise, a full Klingon romp, following Klingon ideals.  And in the center of it?  Dax.  The least likely character possible, right?  Remember that Dax is actually a Trill, a joined species, and that Jadzia was the latest host, and that the previous one, Curzon, had been a Federation ambassador to the Klingons (how Sisko met Dax).  If we never really got to meet Curzon, "Blood Oath" more than adequately presents how Jadzia was able to follow in his footsteps, embrace his legacy, and yes, make it possible for that later romance with Worf to happen.

It's a completely magical experience.  After the early series attempts at bringing in familiar Next Generation characters, many fans probably never even dreamed such a thing was possible.  This is exactly how Deep Space Nine fully came into its own.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - An update of original series Klingons?  Heck ya!
• series - A killer way to represent the difference between Deep Space Nine and the rest of the franchise.
• character - All those Klingons, and Dax.
• essential - It's positively irresistible. 

notable guest-stars:
William Campbell (Koloth)
Michael Ansara (Kang)
John Colicos (Kor)

Deep Space Nine 2x18 "Profit and Loss"

rating: ***

the story: Quark reunites with someone he used to know, who just happened to be a Cardassian interested in social reform.

what it's all about: Somewhere along the way, Deep Space Nine's own producers began to dismiss "Profit and Loss" as a failed attempt to recreate the classic film Casablanca.  They should beat themselves up so much.

"Loss" is actually a considerable gain, an episode that recasts a lot of Next Generation tried to do with the Romulans, and actually a nice follow-up to Deep Space Nine's first acknowledged classic, "Duet."  In essence, it's a valuable deeper look at the Cardassians, a characteristic nuanced perspective on aliens usually easy to dismiss as villains, and as such it's fairly important to the whole series.  Like "Cardassians" earlier in the season, it even has the good sense to bring Garak in on the action.  "Loss" functions to some degree as a teaser to "The Wire" four episodes later, which remains the definitive statement on the enigmatic tailor, and as such is pretty fascinating.

But this is also Quark's story, one of the handful of episodes where he's unabashedly cast in heroic light.  Regardless of how well it works, "Loss" is still a worthwhile addition to a whole season where Quark was the MVP, the most consistent contributor to the emerging tapestry of the series. 

I actually think if there's a problem with "Loss" it's that the concept just seems too jarring, and it doesn't help that next season's "House of Quark" is so much more organic, and that "Second Skin" handles the trickiness of Cardassian politics so much better.  But "Loss" has its own charms, and they're incredibly unique.  The still later "Business as Usual" features a far more conflicted Quark.  It's nice to be reminded that he's not always the odious little toad he tends to be depicted as.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Begins to help demonstrate how the Cardassians in this series reflect the work done on other aliens in Star Trek.
• series  - As such is a valuable episode to remember later.
• character - It's good for both Quark and Garak.
• essential - But the series would do better with all these elements later.

notable guest-stars:
Andrew Robinson (Garak)

Deep Space Nine 2x17 "Playing God"

rating: ***

the story: Dax plays host (heh) to a potential symbiont initiate who ends up baffled by her approach to life.

what it's all about: "Playing God" is one of those peculiar episodes that is absolute fantastic for a given character (in this case, Jadzia Dax) but kind of only ends up serving to set up a better episode ("Facets") later.  We learn a great deal about Dax, her backstory with previous host Curzon (but again, "Facets" does a better job of that, too), but more importantly, it's the episode in which the character really crystalizes.  If there's a downside, it feels, ultimately, like half an episode, one that shoehorns formulaic elements into the story in the theory it'll make things more interesting, proving once again the series had yet to find its stride, trust its own instincts.

But the elements that work, work really well.  Not only do we get to explore the life of Dax, but like "Rivals" before it allows us to revel in the possibilities of the Promenade, a kind of mall within the station that not only includes Quark's bar but an environment that dwarfs any other such recreational facility in Star Trek lore (read: move over, Next Generation's famous Ten-Forward).  This is actually the episode that's most pertinent five seasons later when the next Dax host, Ezri, is trying to find her place and everyone is still dwelling on their memories of Jadzia.  Simply put, she really was a tough act to follow.

What's great about "Playing God" is that it completes Dax's transformation from just another pretty face to a three-dimensional character who along with Kira helped redefine the role of women in Star Trek well before Janeway headlined Voyager.  Dax and Kira's team-up during "The Siege" at the start of the season started the process, but what was needed was something exactly like "Playing God" to finish it.  Other Dax spotlights like "Dax" and "Invasive Procedures" had a knack for exploring the nuances of Trill culture, but tended to leave Dax herself out of the equation.  Well, not anymore.  It took Troi six seasons in Next Generation to reach a similar point.  It's very telling that Deep Space Nine as a whole was on the verge of finally figuring itself out.  I don't think it's a stretch to call "Playing God" the tipping point.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Since Star Trek tropes are the least effective elements of the episode, it's safe to say you don't need to like the rest of the franchise to like this one.
• series - Helps crystalize what works about Deep Space Nine.
• character - Best Dax showcase to date, by far.
• essential - Will help you love the series, so yeah, it's essential in that regard.

notable guest-stars:
Richard Poe (Gul Evek)

Deep Space Nine 2x16 "Shadowplay"

rating: ***

the story: Dax and Odo investigate a colony in the Gamma Quadrant whose inhabitants are disappearing.

what it's all about: Concerning the pettiness of fans watching Enterprise a decade later as they viewed the similar episode "Oasis" (which happened to feature Rene Auberjonois, who portrayed Odo in Deep Space Nine), it's worth noting the extremely myopic view they'd developed at that point, saying it was a rip-off of "Shadowplay."  But if you want to be that reductive, "Shadowplay" is basically a rip-off of Next Generation's "The Survivors."

Consider this an object lesson in storytelling.  Stories that are similar to each other cannot otherwise be exactly the same.  It's always worth at least trying to consider each version on its own merits, because the truth is, there really aren't any new stories, only new versions.  If you've found what you think are new stories, you've merely failed to understand them.  Look deeper.

The deepest and most relevant level of "Shadowplay" actually harkens back to the original series, "The Galileo Seven," in which Spock elicits new levels of sympathy from his peers and perhaps fans alike (he didn't truly gain equal status with Kirk until the second season).  To this point in Deep Space Nine, Odo's gruff exterior and heaviness of his stories (such as "Necessary Evil" a few episodes earlier) probably made it hard to appreciate him, and yet his relationship with a charming little girl in "Shadowplay" helps break the ice considerably.  That's the heart of the story right there.

What's great about this is that it reveals Odo to be ultimately more approachable, given the right circumstances, than another Star Trek character with similar problems, Picard, who despite several chances never had an experience like this.  In a lot of ways, this led to Odo's relationship with Kira (it's ironic that the subplot of "Shadowplay" actually features her onetime lover, Vedek Bareil).  The heart of the series blossomed into having arguably the biggest heart of the whole franchise, and this is the first time fans really get to see it.

That's what happens when you look beyond the surface details of a story.  It's also worth noting how essential the charismatic child actor Noley Thornton is to the success of the episode.  She'd previously appeared in Next Generation's "Imaginary Friend," but her role is more substantive and endearing in "Shadowplay."  She helps make Odo approachable just by showing how easy it can be.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - A lot of episodes are technically similar to this one.
• series - But this one proves itself pretty series-specific.
• character - It's a key breakthrough in the depiction of Odo.
• essential - I won't, however, call it a classic, so this building block episode should be understood in its proper context as a good but not great experience.

notable guest-stars:
Noley Thornton
Philip Anglim (Bareil)

Deep Space Nine 2x15 "Paradise"

rating: ***

the story: Sisko and O'Brien are marooned on a planet they soon learn is inhabited by colonists who have rejected technology.

what it's all about: This is one of those incredible episodes you wonder even exists, as it cuts so clearly through some of the nonsense we allow ourselves to believe, mostly about the need for conformity and the impossibility of tolerating any rebellion against it.  It isn't so much a screed against fascism, because the society "Paradise" explores is so limited in scope it's really more of a general commentary on the pitfalls of any particular mode of thinking.  And while it's from a franchise dedicated to the wonders of advanced societies, it doesn't condemn those who reject technology so much as forcing everyone to think the same way about it, the kind of reactionary thinking that has become more prevalent since the episode first aired, unfortunately.

The more advanced cultures get, those who feel left behind tend to feel incredibly uneasy about it.  We can see that very easily today.  In the '60s, the original series confronted the seeds of this backlash in the several episodes it dedicated to the counterculture of that decade, and yet those were such obvious parallels to such an obvious movement, it might be easy to dismiss them as too obvious.  No such possibility with "Paradise," which remains downright scary, so much so that it manages to give Sisko his first strong appearance of the series when he takes his typically principled stand against the tyranny with which he is confronted, being forced to abide by rules that don't apply to him except by accident.  It becomes downright harrowing when he is forced, essentially, into the life of a slave, with similar punishments, the first time the series alludes to the color of his skin, really, well before the much more famous and deliberate episode "Far Beyond the Stars."

How far do I want to say this episode succeeds?  Do I want to call it a classic?  In the end, no.  It works better as a Sisko spotlight than as a true indication of Deep Space Nine's potential.  Once again, there's no real relevance to the series itself, as with so much of the first few seasons.  You really have to read into the material to see how much it accomplishes.  While this is fine for someone like me who thinks a lot about what everything means, for the average viewer it'll be harder to appreciate, and I try to base my recommendations on what's readily accessible, how and why, the basic success elements of any story.  But then again, you might go ahead and consider it a classic for those very reasons, because the more complex a story, the bigger the emotional impact, I'd say that trumps its relative impenetrability (which is something a lot of people have a problem with, which is why for the purposes of this review, I'll assume it's not so easy to see the slavery parallel, and thus take that out of consideration for the moment).

What's interesting is that "Paradise" stands in stark contrast to a similar culture in Star Trek: Insurrection, one that has also rejected technology but is far less hostile about it.  In the end, it's not really about technology at all, but power, and the lengths some people will go to acquire it.  I always thought of "Paradise" as one of the most chilling episodes in the whole franchise, the mounting horror of Sisko's plight something that's just impossible to ignore, once you've seen it.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - One of the most successful episodes of Star Trek to explore the perils of power.
• series - Not an episode that's otherwise relevant to the series itself, unless you consider it an analogy for later explorations of Gul Dukat and the Founders (but that would be a stretch).
• character - The first time Sisko really shines on his own.
• essential - Either of the two previous selected criteria work well enough to make this essential viewing for them.

Deep Space Nine 2x14 "Whispers"

rating: ****

the story: O'Brien starts to suspect a massive conspiracy has been woven against him.

what it's all about: This has long been one of my favorite episodes of the whole franchise, on the basis of its cleverness alone.  That and the fact that it's one of O'Brien's best episodes (which tend to be among the best of the franchise, too).

The whole thing is a mystery, and yes, you find out what's really going on at the end, and yes, it absolutely delivers, in a way that surpasses any other Star Trek mystery you could think of, because suddenly everything makes perfect sense without even needing to be explained at any great length.  In the meantime, however, "Whispers" also functions as one of those quintessential O'Brien-is-having-a-hard-time episodes.  You'd think, because he technically just had one of those (with Bashir) in the previous episode ("Armageddon Game"), the impact might be dulled.  But this was a character who thrived on having miserable experiences (there's another near the end of the season!).

At heart, O'Brien was one of the most relatable characters in the franchise, which is why this sort of thing was so easy to pull off.  It's not so hard to imagine things going wrong in your life, is it?  O'Brien was known for being humble (eventually retconned to be one of the few crewmen, which is to say he enlisted Starfleet, to be regularly featured, which is why in Deep Space Nine he's referred to as "Chief" rather than by rank).

So anyway, for the majority of this episode he's faced with, yes, a massive conspiracy that just seems to get deeper and deeper, so that he can't even trust his own wife Keiko.  The clever thing about this is that it may be the first time in the season Sisko is portrayed in a way that truly flatters him.  There were moments when even Picard was less than fair, at least apparently, to his crew, when otherwise he was presented as the consummate professional.  But here's Sisko being the most professional of anyone aboard the station, not only as he should be, but in a way that is totally in-character for him, certainly as he was originally depicted, someone who came to the station just to do a job, who has yet to find a real reason to care, but who nonetheless performs his duties impeccably and with remarkable compassion.  The same goes with O'Brien in this case, even though O'Brien eventually sees through it.  (In a lot of ways, Sisko's first few seasons saw him behave in exactly the way management in the real world was to start performing thanks extensive corporate training, although never as well as he did, but then Sisko had the benefit of being a fictional character.)

I'd rank "Whispers" with the likes of Next Generation's "Conundrum," an unexpectedly stellar experience that seems to have nothing much to say, just excellent storytelling behind it, the kind of sci-fi Star Trek often aspires to but doesn't really nail as often as you'd think.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Can easily be held up as exemplary of Star Trek storytelling.
• series - By exploring O'Brien's plight you get a window into the whole series.
• character - But this is certainly an O'Brien showcase.
• essential - A typically great one.

notable guest-stars:
Rosalind Chao (Keiko)
Hana Hatae (Molly)
Susan Nimoy

Deep Space Nine 2x13 "Armageddon Game"

rating: ***

the story: O'Brien and Bashir bond as they attempt to survive a civilization's purge of its deadly past.

what it's all about: It's sometimes tough to summarize in a single line what an episode's about, which you can tell was a particular challenge for "Armageddon Game," which is probably as close to an original series episode as Deep Space Nine ever got, a commentary not only on the ludicrousness of war but how people who want to end it tend to act about as ruthlessly as those who participate in it. 

But more than that (although that's a valid reason to value the episode, too), it's the episode where O'Brien and Bashir finally become friends, a friendship that ends up helping define the rest of the series.  This is classic franchise material, too (Enterprise's "Shuttlepod One" and 2009's Star Trek are two examples of this same story archetype).  Watching as they struggle past their differences even as they struggle just to survive is surprisingly fun.

But more than that is some excellent Keiko O'Brien material, too, one of the few times she was not, for all intents and purposes, depicted as a shrew or a helpless bystander (whether in Deep Space Nine or Next Generation before it).  In fact, "Armageddon Game" can obviously be viewed a lot of ways, but as arguably the best Keiko episode, perhaps best of all.

In that regard, it features one truly classic scene, at the end of the episode, no less.  The whole subplot involves a ruse on the part of the aliens O'Brien and Bashir helped and were betrayed by, their attempts to kill them and also tell the Federation they were dead already (it's so complicated, just keeping track of that is a fun part of the episode, too!), that Keiko is informed her husband is dead, but refuses to believe it, even coming up with perfectly logical justification for believing the aliens are, if not outright lying, hiding something, and she becomes convinced because of one thing she's absolutely sure about: O'Brien never has coffee in the afternoon, which the recording she's shown features him doing. 

Except in the final scene, she learns that he does.  It's one of the classic scenes of the whole franchise.  If it weren't for the fact that "Armageddon Game" doesn't particularly represent Deep Space Nine as a whole, it would be very easy to call it a classic. 

But fans of the series have ample reason to remember it fondly all the same.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Ironic observations about war, a favorite topic of the franchise, to be found within.
• series - A series, however, that ended up with its two final seasons in a war ended up viewing the topic with additional, and ultimately unrelated, nuance.
• character - This is a big episode for O'Brien and Bashir.
• essential - But an even bigger one for Keiko!

notable guest-stars:
Rosalind Chao (Keiko)

Deep Space Nine 2x12 "The Alternate"

rating: **

the story: Odo is reunited with the Bajoran scientist who first assimilated him into the world of "solids," and who is now claiming he's found Odo's secret origin.

what it's all about: "The Alternate" has an odd predicament; on the one hand, it's not as good as the second Dr. Mora episode, "The Begotten," and it ends up having too many similarities to the first season episode "Vortex," which also teased Gamma Quadrant origins.  Later, of course, we learn that Odo's people are the Founders, who created the Dominion, and as such he really does come from the Gamma Quadrant, but with two episodes teasing it but being otherwise unnecessary to the rest of the series, it's the second episode that gets the short shrift in terms of originality.

Thank goodness it at least introduces Dr. Mora, with whom Odo has plenty of unresolved issues, not the least being barely-concealed resentment and rage, where Dr. Mora still thinks of him as the pile of goo he spent months analyzing without ever once realizing it was sentient...

As an exploration of backstory, "Alternate" still exists in a relative vacuum (other than "Begotten").  While flashbacks, thanks to Lost, became a common element of TV storytelling later, usually this was something told, not showed.  Sure, the random element of the past would resurface, but never quite as relevant as Dr. Mora, who literally helped shape the individual Odo was to become. 

It's just a shame that the first story the producers came up for him was a virtual duplicate of "Vortex" in terms of misdirection and lack of payoff, which clearly was because the rest of Odo's origins hadn't yet been figured out.  There are people (fans of Lost, actually), who think this kind of serialized storytelling is irresponsible, but that's only when, such as with "Alternate," things hadn't just not been figured out, but it's extremely obvious after the fact.  Again, once showing a possible Gamma Quadrant origin is fine, and if anyone had bothered, later, to explicitly state the story links, it would have continued to be fine, but that just didn't happen, and then "Alternate" did it again, and eventually filled out the story with needless monster-of-the-week material, the same kind of episodic foot-dragging that filled too much of the first few seasons. 

Still, as foundation material, like the rest of the second season, "Alternate" does feature some relevant stuff, so I can't complain too much.  Frequent franchise guest actor James Sloyan arguably has his best role as Dr. Mora, besides.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The episodic appeal of the episode actually detracts from its impact, so I'm not giving points for its standard Star Trek nature.
• series - If this had been linked (heh) to later Odo developments, it would be more relevant.
• character - Still, excellent Odo material with the introduction of Dr. Mora.
• essential - Again, "Excellent Odo material."

notable guest-stars:
James Sloyan (Dr. Mora)

Deep Space Nine 2x11 "Rivals"

rating: ***

the story: Quark's status as the premier gambling proprietor of the station is challenged.

what it's all about: "Rivals" is such an interesting episode.  It's actually kind of the episode that represents what could only have been possible, in the best sense, in the early seasons when everything about the series hadn't been figured out.  It's actually one of the few that just runs with one of the most famous elements of the original Deep Space Nine premise; the existence of Quark's bar and its importance to the Promenade, and the station in general.

What happens when...Oh, it's right there in the name of the episode: "Rivals."  When it was still possible to merely introduce a random element and let it play out, without really wondering about, say, its significance to the Dominion or Bajor, which is to say, have a one-and-done adventure in the classic Star Trek sense, "Rivals" is probably about as good as any such story could get, especially because it does also play so well into the series itself.

Quark was clearly the MVP of the second season, the go-to character when other elements of the series weren't so easy to figure out.  Not only was he easy to interpret, but he was also open to interpretation, in other efforts like "Rules of Acquisition" and "Profit and Loss."  He also gave a valuable assist to "Necessary Evil," which "Rivals" is kind of an answer to, a lead story where he's getting up to the kind of trouble you expect of him.  Only this time, the script has been flipped, and someone is using Quark's own playbook against him!

The other great thing about "Rivals" is that it helps develop another continuing element of the series, which is the friendship between O'Brien and Bashir.  In fact, the name of the episode equally applies to the B- as to the A-story.  That should always be the case.  I understand the impulse to add a layer that some producer thought was missing from the initial one, but more often than not, the new layer sticks out like a sore thumb and threatens to ruin an otherwise pleasant experience ("Data's Day" over at Next Generation and "The Catwalk" over at Enterprise are two such examples, for much the same reasons, trying to shoehorn unnecessary drama into a situation that was already sufficiently complex).

Anyway, "Rivals" ends up being the last statement on the engineer and doctor's frictions that typified their relationship until "Armageddon Game" only a couple of episodes later; and actually, their later friendly competitiveness comes from "Rivals," too.

So it's an extremely satisfying episode for fans of the series, one of those potential entry points for skeptical viewers still trying to figure out the appeal of Deep Space Nine.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - I don't think you need to like anything else in the franchise to like this episode.
• series - But it's a good one for series fans.
• character - Good for fans of Quark, Bashir, and O'Brien.
• essential - Good?  Great!

notable guest-stars:
Chris Sarandon
K Callan
Rosalind Chao (Keiko)
Max Grodenchik (Rom)

Deep Space Nine 2x10 "Sanctuary"

rating: *

the story: Refugee aliens from the Gamma Quadrant claim Bajor is their home of destiny.

what it's all about: Well, "Sanctuary" is about as awkward an episode as you'll find in the whole of the franchise.  In short, this is because it's a one-and-done episode that seeks to read as an analogy to the State of Israel, but this is really hard to pull off because it puts the whole concept of Bajor into complicated knots the story is not nearly prepared to answer.

Simply put, the analogy is too simple, and it undermines everything the series had previously tried and would continue try doing with Bajor, itself a victim world in ways that are not wholly compatible with the realities of the Middle East, certainly not so I can summarize them here and that "Sanctuary" itself adequately explores.  I'll give the episode one star for making the attempt, but otherwise it's probably best to be considered a huge mess.

Not the least, again, because it has no relevance to the rest of the series, without even a single major Bajoran appearing in it aside from series regular Kira, which for a story like this is just plain unacceptable and would never have happened later.  Simply put, this is an episode that better deserves to exist in the first season, if it really needs to exist at all, when something like these omissions were more common, because the series simply hadn't developed enough of its mythology to accommodate such storytelling.  And yet by this point, there had been several prominent Bajorans developed, as seen just a few episodes earlier.

The very strangest thing is that "Sanctuary" does portend the later Dominion arc, officially begun in the season finale, and so it actually stands as an episode of minor significance, which just makes the oversights, which scream in hindsight, so much harder to overlook.  When you ask the viewer to think of the Bajorans as the enemy, not because of some fringe movement as in the three-part season premiere, but as people incapable of assimilating desperate refugees who in many ways mirror them, it stretches incredulity too much.

If not for that attempt at analogy, this would be a very easy candidate for worst episode of the series.  Actually, that analogy, and how badly it's botched, might actually make things worse.  But I will at least make it possible for other opinions on the core concept to remain as a valid reason to watch it.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - As analogy for the State of Israel, it's worth a look.
• series - But not for fans of the series.
• character - Or for fans of the characters.
• essential - Or anyone who likes their storytelling good.

notable guest-stars:
Leland Orser

Deep Space Nine 2x9 "Second Sight"

rating: *

the story: Sisko falls in love with a woman who keeps disappearing.

what it's all about: After a hot start, the season starts collapsing under everything the series still hadn't figured out, starting somewhat predictably with Sisko.  This would have been a perfect episode for a lot of other Star Trek characters, but for Sisko it was just an excuse to remind fans that the series had really only sketched out 1) he lost his wife in the Battle of Wolf 359 and 2) the Bajorans immediately declared him a sacred figure.  Now, the second one continued to be a fruitful source of material throughout the series, but until the introduction of Kassidy Yates in the third season, Sisko's relationship status was a dead end rarely and poorly explored.

But given that, "Second Sight" is still a fairly nifty episode.  This is entirely due to its premise and the execution thereof, a person who is actually an astral projection of someone else, who has no idea this even happens to her.  In some ways it's the same story as "Sarek" or "Fascination," in which far more famous characters in the franchise (the latter is one of many Deep Space Nine appearances of Lwaxana Troi) suffer medical conditions that are affecting those around them.  As a one-and-done, when this was still happening in Deep Space Nine, episodes that really could have been told in any Star Trek series, it is what it is, it's fun, and lets just leave it at that.

Don't worry, though, it's a short slide in quality; the season picks up pretty spectacularly later.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Fans normally leery of this series because it's so different from the rest of Star Trek will get a kick out of the episode.
• series - Fans of the series, however, will probably find it somewhat pointless.
• character - Not really much of a Sisko episode.
• essential - Do you really need to ask?

Deep Space Nine 2x8 "Necessary Evil"

rating: ****

the story: Odo works an investigation that reminds him of one he conducted years before, under Cardassian control of the station.

what it's all about: The series had pulled out some great work in the past, but "Necessary Evil" may mark the moment the series itself started to look great, with a story so deep, so essential to the nuances inherent in its premise, it's hard not to call such an episode a classic.

The scenes with Quark and his brother Rom happen to be some of the best material they'd had to this point, too, but the meat of "Evil" is the tense relationship between Odo and Kira, not so much in the present but the past, which actually intensifies their relationship in the present, paving the way for a series-long arc that gave so much poignancy to many episodes to come. 

As anyone who's ever watched an episode of Deep Space Nine knows, the eponymous station wasn't designed or created by Starfleet, but rather the Cardassians, who throughout the series and elsewhere in the franchise are easy to interpret as villains.  And yet, this was a series built to explore moral grey areas.  It's such an interesting detail for Odo's background that he worked as constable under the Cardassians before he did for the Bajorans and Starfleet, because it means his moral compass is not at all as clear-cut as you'd expect from a Star Trek character.  In fact, "Evil" serves as the first real statement on Odo's character the series had attempted ("A Man Alone," one of the very first episodes, worked quite well, but as more a study of bigotry than about Odo), and proves beyond doubt that this series was capable of great characterization, which was to become its hallmark.  You can know how easy it is to like anyone else in the franchise, particularly the original series, with all their quirky charm, but in Deep Space Nine characters become fully three-dimensional for the first time.

"Evil" also puts a strong focus on Kira, who had previously been featured in the standout "Progress" and "Duet" from the first season, textbook examples of moral ambiguities in their own right, and yet, since they focus on guest characters, their impact is ultimately muted to a certain extent.  "Evil" is so sensational because the focus, ultimately, is on Odo and Kira, who technically should be on opposite sides, both in the past and present, just going off of where they started out.  But as the title implies, the universe just isn't that simple.

For anyone who refuses to accept the relevance of such complicated storytelling in a franchise that is usually about as subtle as a rock, "Evil" probably can be summed up as a simple investigation (that's actually the title of an episode later in the series that doesn't quite pull off a similar impact) that doesn't really go anywhere.  Anyone looking for something deeper (who is the prime candidate for anyone reading my thoughts on Star Trek) need look no further than "Evil" to see just how deep Deep Space Nine really is.

"Duet" is usually called the best episode of the early seasons, but it's really "Necessary Evil."  It's not as flashy, but its impact and resonance is so much greater.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - This is what it looks like when Star Trek goes truly deep.
• series - This is what it looks like when Deep Space Nine finally discovers its true potential.
• character - The first and arguably best look at the Odo/Kira relationship.
• essential - Given all that sparkly talk above, this is an easy four-for-four.

notable guest-stars:
Max Grodenchik (Rom)
Marc Alaimo (Dukat)

Deep Space Nine 2x7 "Rules of Acquisition"

rating: ***

the story: Quark's new business associate is hiding a considerable secret beneath his lobes...

what it's all about: The funniest thing about the reputation "Profit and Lace" gets is that no one seems to realize it's basically the opposite of an earlier episode.  Well, this one, "Rules of Acquisition."  The difference may be tone.  "Profit" may be considered a farce, in some respects, but it addresses the same concerns and social messages as "Rules," the role (or lack thereof) of women in Ferengi culture.  This was in fact a running theme of the series, the shortcomings of Ferengi culture in general, which was somewhat slightly always used as a running commentary on...the shortcomings of our own present culture.  (Hence, a woman is only just now a serious contender for the presidency of the United States, the acknowledged superpower of the world for some seventy years.)

"Profit" had Quark in drag, an image few fans found possible to take seriously.  "Rules" has a guest character, a woman, pretending to be the opposite sex.  The whole story about her attempts to be taken seriously in the market, and while Quark believes she's a he, he certainly does, and so does the Grand Nagus, Deep Space Nine's version of Q, a character whose near-yearly visits always guaranteed great fun.  The Nagus is actually the first person in the series who seems to take a serious interest in the Gamma Quadrant, which as of the end of this season was to become a defining element of the series.  It's his efforts at establishing business relationships that may have alerted the Dominion to the Alpha Quadrant's existence and/or significance (it could be argued).  This is one of the first times the Dominion is even mentioned, although certainly not seen (at least in any acknowledged way).

Still, it's gender equality that's the best reason to watch the episode, the start of a series arc that, yes, includes the later "Profit," and somewhat incredibly, given his sleazy reputation, Quark is the agent of reason.  When Starfleet does it, you might consider such stories to be preachy, but when someone totally unexpected (and this would hardly be the last time, and not even last time this season!) like Quark exhibits such tendencies, it forces you to pay attention in ways that are new in the franchise.  Again, that's what the Deep Space Nine premise was all about, and "Rules" is another instance where the young series was finally figuring out how to pull such things off.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - A valuable nod to the topic of gender equality.
• series - It's the first, but not the last, time the series touches on the topic.
• character - Quark, the unexpectedly nuanced Ferengi toad.
• essential - Strangely, because it's a guest character who's never seen again, the impact is somewhat dulled. (Take that, "Profit and Lace" haters!)

notable guest-stars:
Wallace Shawn (Grand Nagus Zek)
Tiny Ron (Maihar'du)
Max Grodenchik (Rom)
Brian Thompson