DS9 Season 3

The Dominion threat sends the crew into the Gamma Quadrant on a search for the elusive Founders. Once there, Odo finds his people and Sisko finds that the price for peace might be too damned high. The Search is a season-opening two-parter, with two distinctly separate episodes comprising the whole. We are introduced to the…

After Quark accidentally kills a Klingon patron, the dead man’s wife kidnaps Quark and brings him to the Klingon Homeworld to save her house. The Klingons and the Ferengi have little in common, so an episode that compares and contrasts the two has a lot of material to mine. After many years on TNG, Ron…

Dax begins to suffer from hallucinations, so the crew makes a trip to the Trill homeworld to see what’s troubling her. It’s an episode that feels like it would inspire both Eyes Wide Shut and Minority Report! We’ve got masked figures running around, and pools of goo serving as home to some electric eels. The…

Kira is kidnapped by Cardassians and informed that she is a memory-wiped Cardassian spy. In an episode filled with thematic symbolism, the real star turns out to be the father-daughter relationship between Kira and her Cardassian father. Does that mean that the episode is a misfire? Or just a clever misdirect? Clay joins me to…

A young Jem’Hadar is found on a wrecked ship, and the only person who can control him is Odo. Continuing with the exploration of identity that has been the bedrock of season three, The Abandoned examines the conflict within Odo, and the raging conflict within the pants of young Jake Sisko. The episode also features…

The station is on lockdown after Jake Sisko and O’Brien accidentally trigger a Cardassian security system from years past. It’s always a nice to have a reminder that DS9 was built on the blood of slave labor, and Civil Defense shows us a side of the station we hardly ever see. However, does the insanity…

Dax falls in love with an alien who has trouble sticking around, and Quark plots to create a hologram version of Kira that people can bone. And who says romance is dead? Star Trek tends to fumble the ball when it comes to guest star romances (with a few notable exceptions), and Meridian is a…

When an overworked Kira tries to impress Commander William Riker by showing him the USS Defiant, she instead sets into motion a plan that might result in a Federation-Cardassian war. Also, it’s not Will Riker at all! It’s Tom Riker! Remember him? DS9 continues to examine the meaning of identity by bringing Tom Riker into…

It’s the Bajoran Gratitude Festival, and passion is in the air! DS9 becomes the setting for a romantic farce that leaves some viewers wondering what exactly is going on. Lwaxana Troi shows up, Bariel returns, and the O’Briens don’t have the energy to do the nasty. Can DS9 be the Trek series that bucks the trend…

Sisko, Bashir, and Dax are transported back to the early 21st century where they discover that they will become a part of the Bell Riots, a violent event that shaped the future of humanity. It’s an episode that features a lot of shotguns, some terrible headwear, and some soapboxing about the upside of humanity. So, just…

After an accident aboard a Bajoran transport, Vedek Bariel is seriously injured. As a Cardassian-Bajoran peace treaty hangs in the balance, Bashir becomes mired in a medical quandary. As the show says farewell to Kira’s lover (seriously!), it also spends some time doing all the things that DS9 isn’t particularly good at doing. In a…

Returning to the theme of identity, “Heart of Stone” examines what will happen when Odo and Nog follow their hearts. Odo must confront his feelings about Kira when the two are stuck between a rock and a hard place on an isolated planet, while Nog decides to make a big change in his life and…

The vipers are upon us, the gates are a-burning, and Clay is a-snoring! Destiny is an interesting episode of DS9. It revisits the Bajoran religion in a way we haven’t seen since season one. Unfortunately, it’s not really interesting in any other way. Featuring a trifecta of half-baked plots that include some poorly thought out Gamma…

When Grand Nagus Zek tries to completely change Ferengi culture, Quark heads into the wormhole to obtain answers from the Prophets. DS9 might have tried to move the Ferengi away from their characterization as one-note jokes, but Ferengi episodes still tend to serve as the “comedy” episodes of Star Trek: DS9. And yes, putting “comedy” in…

O’Brien gets a dose of radiation that has him jumping into the future. Meanwhile, a Romulan delegation arrives at DS9 to discuss the Dominion threat. One of Wes’ favorite style of Trek show is the sci-fi mystery, and “Visionary” covers all the bases for that kind of episode. DS9 is also starting to mix in…

Bashir is attacked by a psychic alien, and left to wander a barren dreamscape where all he hears are “Distant Voices”. In our first Bashir-centric episode of the third season, the good doctor gives us little reason to be excited. Sledgehammer symbolism is the name of the game! Plus, the villain is a rip-off of…

DS9 returns to the Mirror Universe! Sisko is kidnapped by “Smiley” O’Brien and realizes that, to save the Mirror Universe’s Terran Rebellion, he has to come to terms with his wife’s death. Or, at least, that should have been the plot. Instead, Sisko gets to act like a pirate and have sex with MU versions…

In “Improbable Cause”, Odo tries to find the truth behind a bombing at Garak’s tailor shop. However, the ever-vigilant detective instead finds himself digging up a plan that could alter the balance of power in the Alpha Quadrant! Romulans working with Cardassians? Obsidian Order assassinations? Perfume bombs? A wonderful piece of character work for both…

The Cardassian-Romulan fleet attacks the Founders homeworld, and Garak is forced to torture Odo for information. In wrapping up the story of “Improbable Cause”, DS9 re-boots its central premise by kicking the Dominion conflict into high gear, As Starfleet watches from the sidelines, the Cardassian-Romulan fleet is obliterated by the Jem’Hadar. The Obsidian Order and…

Sisko and Jake build an ancient Bajoran spacecraft in order to prove that the Bajorans visited Cardassia 800 years ago, and Bashir begins to doubt himself when an old medical school rival appears on DS9. After the intensity of The Die is Cast, the show settles down with a small character piece. While it might…

Quark heads home when he learns that his mother has been charged with making a profit, and Sisko dips his toe into the 24th-century dating scene. It’s yet another Ferengi themed episode, so you might come into this one with prejudice. Wes certainly has a hard time avoiding that problem, but join him as he…

Some Bajorans are not sharing their farming equipment, so Kira is sent down to negotiate a solution. She ends up meeting her old friend “Shakaar” and things get topsy-turvy when Kai Winn decides to burn the whole place down. Bajor returns to the podcast with a western-style adventure that has Kira filling the Bariel sized hole…

It’s actor play-time when a Trill ceremony requires the crew to become joined with previous hosts of the Dax symbiote. We meet most of the previous hosts, and Odo gets very familiar with Curzon. Plus, DS9 has its #MeToo moment! There’s also a subplot about Nog taking a test. Clay joins me to discuss the…

John Carpenter meets Star Trek when a single Changeling boards the USS Defiant and tries to kickstart a war between the Federation and… some aliens we’ve never heard about before! Paranoia is the name of the game, and The Adversary does a good job at wrapping up season three while examining how effective the Changelings can be.…

Another season of DS9 is in the can, and that means it’s time for Wes to ramble about what went right and what went wrong. This time, he’s discussing the third season of DS9. A transitional season of the show, season three had some tremendous highs but also an extended low. Was it an improvement…