FOUR STAR EPISODES: 3
AVERAGE EPISODE RATING: 2.7
-The Way of the Warrior ****
-written by ira steven behr, robert hewitt wolfe
-directed by james l. conway
This double-length season premiere starts with jadzia and kira engaging in bathing suit holopursuits. Klingons invade Cardassia, convinced that the Dominion has engineered a coup. Starfleet assigns worf to the station. He is considering resigning his commission. He and jadzia spar (with bat'leths, not words). The Defiant rescues the leaders of the cardassian government. Klingons pursue. The station is boarded, its weaponry brought to bear for the first time. One of the most breathtaking space battles in TREK history (pre-CGI, no less). Dukat and garak fight side by side. Worf accepts a promotion and permanent post.
-The Visitor ****
-written by michael taylor
-directed by david livingston
Literate, tender, and touching. An aged jake (tony todd - PLATOON, LEAN ON ME) tries to undo an accident that claimed sisko's life sixty years before. He's a writer who wrote one masterpiece, then disappeared. He tells his sad tale to an aspiring writer (rachel robinson - LOSER LOVE, CAN'T BE HEAVEN, and daughter of andrew) who has found him in his seclusion. It's also sweet (and a little redemptive) to see a timeline wherein jadzia lives to an old age.
-Hippocratic Oath ***
Phew...for a second, i was concerned this one was going to be called "The Nana". To o'brien's consternation, julian tries to help a group of renegade jem'hadar break their ketracel addiction. Worf thinks odo's security isn't worth a damn. A fine turn by scott macdonald (CARNIVALE, JACK FROST 1-2), and a shame they never availed themselves of the chance to bring back his character, as the only ketracel-free jem'hadar.
-Indiscretion **
Kira and a secretive dukat go after a lost prison ship. Will he kill his half-bajoran child?
-Rejoined ***
Boldly going where no TREK had gone before...a lesbian kiss! Jadzia goes on a Defiant mission with a group of trill scientists, one of whom is host to a symbiont who was a mate to one of dax's former hosts. Trill society forbids romantic reassociation, under penalty of exile (meaning death for the symbiont). Jadzia and lenara (susanna thompson - VOYAGER, GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI) are deeply drawn to one another, and jadzia is willing to pay the ultimate price. Some of the climaxes are underearned, as this one should have been a two-parter, but it's beautiful and touching.
-Starship Down **
A damaged Defiant plays cat and mouse with two jem'hadar ships inside a gas giant. Another TREK first, and unholy god, hopefully last - a regular prays over a fallen comrade. This one could have been four stars, but for that and some writing that samples the simplistic, "Up With People" vibe. Yet another dandy TREK turn by james cromwell (W., THE ARTIST), as a conniving alien.
-Little Green Men *
Ewwwwf. Quark, rom, and nog pilot a ship into a time accident, ending up in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. With game turns by megan gallagher (CHINA BEACH, 24) and classic veteran charles napier (B.J. AND THE BEAR, MEN IN BLACK: THE SERIES), it's so silly it almost works, but...worthy of consideration for worst TREK ever.
-The Sword of Kahless ***
Kor convinces jadzia and worf to join him on a quest to find the greatest icon in klingon history. Pursued by enemies, they find it in the Gamma quadrant. Worf and kor squabble, as self-serving goals clash amid dreams of empire reunification. The ending is striking, if a bit of a cop-out. Worf has a moment of genuine darkness, something never seen on that other series...but it feels forced. It feels like that rarest of all TREK flaws, a character misstep.
-Our Man Bashir ***
Sisko, kira, dax, o'brien, and worf are accidentally trapped in the transporter pattern buffer. Huge chunks of station computer memory must be wiped to make room for their neural patterns. They suddenly appear as non-sentient characters in a superspy holoprogram julian is running. Kira is eye-popping. The safeties go off, and he must keep them all alive until their patterns can be retrieved. Sweet and fun.
-Homefront (see following) ***
-Paradise Lost ***
These episodes were perhaps what the producers had in mind when they promised a darker TREK. After a changeling terrorist attack on Earth, sisko and odo take over planetary security. A plot to institute martial law is uncovered, amid fears that the President doesn't understand the severity of the situation. A promising premise is compromised by ham-handed writing. Admiral leyton is turned into a mustache-twirling, one-dimensional baddie, which is a shame...the storyline has genuine ethical merit. Susan gibney (TNG's dr. leah brahms) plays a Starfleet captain.
-Crossfire **
Shakaar visits, and falls in love with kira. Odo no happy. Quark and odo steal the show, with their attempt to move beyond antagonism...but despite lovely performances, some missing chemistry can't quite be overcome.
-Return to Grace ***
Dukat, stripped of his position and prestige, escorts kira to a conference. The klingons attack en route. Promising, but a deftness deficit in the writing holds this one down.
-Sons of Mogh ****
-written by ronald d. moore
-directed by david livingston
Kurn arrives, stripped of all honor and possessions because of worf's failure to support gowron. He asks to be ritually killed, allowing him to join their ancestors with honor. Worf knifes him in the chest, but he is saved. Worf gets him a job in security. A klingon battlecruiser mysteriously falls out of cloak, having suffered a tremendous explosion. A plan to mine the sector is uncovered. Rife with no-holds-barred reflections of klingon life, it's a tight, powerful ride. The first flirtations between jadzia and worf are intoxicating.
-Bar Association ***
Unfair conditions cause rom to organize a bar worker's union. Chafing from the non-Starfleet disorder all around, worf moves his quarters to the Defiant.
-Accession **
An episode that could only have been cooked up in a denobulan drum of depravity, with heaping dollops of religiosity and the o'brien/keiko home life - a level of quease not seen since "Menage a Troi". A stranger claims to be the real Emissary, and sisko gladly accedes.
-Rules of Engagement **
Worf destroys a klingon civilian shuttle during battle, and an extradition hearing is held. I'm not sure i buy the conceit that he made a mistake. It feels ridiculous to suggest that he should have waited to ascertain that the de-cloaking ship was anything other than the bird of prey again. His number one priority was protecting the lives in the convoy, and you can't protect anything when you're dead. Of course, it's also preposterous to suggest that "rules" can apply to anything as perverse as war.
-Hard Time ***
O'brien tries to re-integrate into station life after spending twenty virtual years imprisoned. Starkly dark. Sure, there are one or two pulled punches that keep it from four stars, and it will never join any best-of-TREK marathon, because it's not really a TREK episode, from a story standpoint. But...colm meaney's finest hour? Probably.
-Shattered Mirror **
Mirror jennifer kidnaps jake to lure sisko to the other universe. Wonderful chemistry. They should have left more of the focus on the main three characters - the other plots feel a bit forced. Can mirror jennifer be the anti-kasidy? Pretty pleeeease? Oops, she dies.
-The Muse ***
A pregnant lwaxana needs odo's help (and hand in marriage) - i know, this has Titanic written all over it, but it actually holds together. A vampiric woman takes great interest in jake's writing.
-For the Cause **
Commander eddington defects to the maquis, but the potential is diluted by weak writing. His farewell speech is too much polemical rhetoric and not enough humanity, and sisko's response is too vengeful for a 24th-century human. In a delightful subplot, garak meets ziyal...and they date. Awww. For sisko fans hoping to avert to the unfolding kasidastrophe, she's off to jail for smuggling! But just like herpes, she'll be back...
-To the Death ***
Renegade jem'hadar plunder the station. Sisko agrees to a joint retaliation with Dominion forces.
-The Quickening ***
Bashir tries to help a planet in the grips of a Dominion-engineered plague. The visuals are striking, and the ending realistically grim. Fine guest turns by ellen wheeler (DARK SHADOWS, TONYA AND NANCY: THE INSIDE STORY) and michael sarrazin (THE FLIM-FLAM MAN, THE SEDUCTION). Alexander siddig's finest hour?
-Body Parts **
Quark learns he's going to die. Should he profit from his auctioned body parts while he still can? Keiko is injured, and her fetus transferred to kira (sensible, given that nana is pregnant). Nerys gets melded into the o'brien home life. Oy.
-Broken Link **
A critically-ill odo is rushed to the founder homeworld. As punishment, he's turned into a solid...and discovers that gowron is a changeling.
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