The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Remco on 2009-02-14 at 2:41am:
  Now we've had two Star Trek shows failing to address the issue of euthanasia acceptably, and that only mere weeks apart. Voyager's Tuvix was a lot more disturbing than this, even though in this episode someone is euthanizing on a massive scale. The difference is that it is voluntary.
  
  "What is the point of prolonging life when life is always painful and there is no hope of a cure?"
  
  This is exactly the discussion with euthanasia. Are we supposed to allow the voluntary killing of loads of people who are incurably suffering? Should we instead allow them to suffer? It's a bit of a stalemate. No argument is going to change anyone's mind. But you could still present the arguments nicely.
  
  The thing that saves this episode, is that there is at least some productive opposition to the euthanization. Bashir doesn't agree with the status quo, so he tries to find a cure.
  
  The big problem with "Tuvix" was the lack of differing opinions. In "The Quickening" we can see the moral ambiguity shine through the characters' opinions, even if it doesn't shine as bright as it could have.
  
  I'd rate it a 4. Missed opportunity, but not offensively so.
• From John on 2011-09-20 at 11:02pm:
  One thing I liked about this episode is that we get to see some growth in the relationship between Julian and Dax -- the days of him pining for her, and of her constantly teasing him, are largely in the past at this point.
  
  I didn't mind that the aliens (once again) looked exactly like humans -- I guess I've just gotten so used to the fact that they can't all be Cardassians or Ferengi.
  
  I do, however, agree that this episode would have been much more interesting if the morality of euthanasia were explored more.
  
  6/10
• From hugo on 2012-06-12 at 10:40am:
  I gave this a 7, the story was a tad flat, but I liked the direction, the acting, the light and the sets. The matte paintings are gorgeous, and I loved those giant round buildings.
• From Gaius Gracchua on 2021-12-27 at 4:18pm:
  This actually isn't pure filler. The Quickening comes up in S7E16 "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" as the purpose behind Bashir giving his medical presentation.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From John on 2011-09-21 at 12:04am:
  While I love the O'Brien's, and would have enjoyed seeing more of their story, in this case I was more than willing to do without, since any story about them would also involve Kira, whom I cannot stand.
  
  I thought the Ferengi plot was more entertaining anyway.
• From Martin on 2014-04-04 at 3:57pm:
  until the very last moment i actually though garak would appear out of nowhere and try to fulfill his part of the contract, killing quark without he even knowing it...
• From Abigail on 2021-08-20 at 8:58pm:
  I actually thought this was a cute and entertaining episode. I really like Quark and Rom, so I enjoyed it. I also agree with John that Kira is really not my favorite character. (I don't love Jadzia, either.)
• From The Obam-Hadar on 2022-10-18 at 7:02pm:
  The contract says Brunt gets Quarks bodyparts when he dies. Is there a timelimit or something? I don't see why he needs to kill himself.
  Brunt can still get his parts when he dies in 50 years or whatever.
• From Alex on 2023-01-18 at 12:33am:
  @The Obam-Hadar: Brunt directly quotes the contract - the dessicated remains must be available within 6 days. Surely this means 6 days since the auctioning.
  -----
  I think this episode is definitely above 3 for me. 6, maybe 7? What I enjoy the most is the delightful acting. I always was fond of Ferengi episodes due to the actors and them having to perform in that kind of heavy makeup, and they always put up a great show, intentionally caricaturish. And the comedy was just really good as it usually is on DS9.
• From Rob Uk on 2023-01-26 at 1:19am:
  Rule of acquisition 17
  
  A contract is a contract is a contract... but only between Ferengi
  
  As long as Quark is not in drag I usually enjoy a Ferengi-centric episode, especially when Brunt is involved ????

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From penguinphysics on 2010-11-07 at 6:28am:
  Kurtwood Smith also played the Federation president in STVI:TUC

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-07-09 at 9:25pm:
  This was an awful episode. First of all, the moral "dilemma" was ridiculous. Are we to say that every time we make a decision such as deciding to move to another part of the country we are killing thousands of people who never got the chance to live? Or every time you use a condom you're killing hundreds of people? The whole idea is just stupid and annoying. And I agree about the farming scene at the end. That was very cheesy. This episode felt like a poorly done TNG episode stuck in the middle of DS9.
• From John DC on 2011-01-15 at 1:04am:
  This really was just awful. I don't know exactly why I hated it so much, but I did. Perhaps it's because it's a reset-button filler episode in the middle of the Dominion War story arc. Strange thing is, it's filler, but it obviously wasn't cheap to produce either.
• From Mario on 2012-04-23 at 7:44pm:
  This doesn't make any sense at all. How can they "change" anything that has not happened yet? The present part (or the future from our perspective) only happenes once. Either they travel through time or not. If their descendants are there, that means they did and it already happened and nobody can change that - whatever happened, happened. If they don't, their descendant should never exist at all - not exist and then cease to exist.
  Haven't they watched LOST? I know it aired a few years later, but with time travel, apparently, everything is possible...
• From GregVB on 2012-08-17 at 3:45pm:
  First time commenting.
  
  For me this is the best episode so far of DS9. I actually think its very interesting that this got a 5 from the host, all the comments are negative, yet...yet... this has almost twice as many 10 votes as any other.
  
  I believe this episode represents the difference in the hard core Trek fans, and the sci-fi fans. Yes the story has some time travel issues, no great continuity, but for me, you have to suspend disbelief to believe in time travel anyway (or aliens, warp speed, etc...).
  
  For me this represents some of the best character development i have seen so far. An earlier comment stated that this was like a bad TNG episode, and I agree that it does feel very much like a communal "TNG:Inner Light".
  
  Another said it was filler. So was "Inner Light", "Tapestry", and "Family". These are only episodes I have given a 10, along with the TOS movie "Undiscovered Country". For me its a nine, and like I said earlier, the best episode (so far) of my DS9 watching.
• From Bernard on 2012-08-19 at 10:23am:
  Response to GregVB mainly here.
  
  Firstly, I wouldn't put much faith in the fan rating scores for DS9 as I think our webmaster has suffered some sabotage in that area. Just take a look at the season 7 scores - all the zeroes that have been recorded go way above what you would normally expect. I have already mentioned this in another review response and I believe the same has happened to this episode except 10's and 9's being registered.
  
  You have mentioned that dreaded word... filler. I hate that word used in relation to Star Trek episodes. Star Trek, in the main, is not a serial. It consists of mostly stand alone episodes, although DS9 did write longer reaching story arcs.
  This means, to me, that you cannot have 'filler'. You can have poor episodes that do not reach many levels but since any episode of Star Trek on any given week could be a stand alone episode then we cannot really band around the word 'filler'. So in this respect I agree with GregVB. The majority of TNG is 'filler', you have to accept that it is merely the stand alone nature of Star Trek.
  
  As for this episode.
  I would rate it fairly highly actually. Probably an 8. The only reason it does not score higher is because of the slightly contrived and forced plot points and also because the episode loses my interest at points.
  There are strong performances that really carry the episode though. In particular Rene Auberjonois and Nana Visitor but also the guest cast, Colm Meaney and Avery Brooks.
  
  Overall, if this episode had been slightly less contrived and slightly more polished it would be up there as one of the best DS9 episodes.
  
  
• From Inga on 2013-02-05 at 7:51pm:
  Oh, Dax, after five years on Star Trek you still think that going through some weird energy barriers is a good idea...
  
  Also, if they actually stayed and got thrown back in time, wouldn't they have lived differently anyway? They have the knowledge the original crew didn't have. There's a possibility a great deal of those 8000 people would seize to exist just because they'd be replaced with different offsprings. Well, taking into account that anything would change at all, since this theory does sound silly... It would've made quite a temporal paradox as well.
  
  
• From Xavier on 2013-06-01 at 4:15pm:
  This episode is offensive. Not just we going into Time Trek again, but in such an idiotic way it annoyes me. Everything is "okay", til Dax discovers it is a ploy from "new" Dax and the time travel will not produce a duplicate. Was a wasted potential in a different way made by the reviewer... Let´s imagine they actually had this Quantum duplication happening. Instead of a bunch of BS about the "needs of many", we would see them IN THE PAST. And wondering if the "new" Dax would have lied to them, thinking he did. Maybe they, after a few years in the hardships of the colony, finally realized they weren´t lied by him, the quantum duplication actually happened. But we just see this episode from their point of view, the duplicates we will never see again.
  
  About they have seen already the colony and it changed the timeline already, well, is not the first time Time Trek happens to have contact with a timeline and had no effect whatsoever, so it doesn´t matter so much. Time Trek is a pathetic concept by itself, but if you´re going that way, at least make something less contrived than telling the same story all over again. And really, rset button stories deserve nothing less than a zero. I want Star Trek. When they derived from it to do a Reset Button, is pretty much fanfiction made by the current hired writer, and that is ofensive.
• From Mandeponium on 2013-09-06 at 3:07pm:
  I agree, Xavier, downright offensive, for several reasons. I can't believe O'Brien, after watching some kids play, has a change of heart. He is being completely disloyal to Keiko, Molly, and Yoshi. I suppose he's thinking, "You know, I guess I could f*** that ensign from Engineering after all."
  
  The Quantum Duplicate plan disturbed me too. Why does no one think to ask, "But which version of the Defiant will "I" be on? I don't want to be the one stranded on the planet while my duplicate gets to go home."
  
  They could have done something like TNG's "Yesterday's Enterprise" and made the story about sacrifice: The 8000 sacrificing themselves for their ancestors. Instead Sisko and Friends decide to throw themselves away for a population that shouldn't even exist. Someone has to make a sacrifice here and it's pretty clear who (you know, for the show to continue).
  
  But then O'Brien lets his emotions get the best of him and the writers get to eat their cake and have it too. Make the "right" choice and feel good about it, but still press the Reset Button.
  
  I would give it a 0 if not for the absolutely beautiful exchanges between Kira and Old-Odo.
  
  
  So 1.
• From Axel on 2015-05-23 at 3:52pm:
  An average episode. The main moral dilemma doesn't bother me as much as other reviewers. Yes, it's ridiculous for us to go through life second-guessing every decision and relationship based on the hypothetical offspring we're stopping from being born. This episode is different though: those offspring aren't hypothetical, they are real. It's harder to make that decision when there is flesh and blood in front of you, and I think that's all the episode was trying to point out.
  
  I do agree it's not the same as killing, though. This isn't murder or genocide, so evaluating the morality of one's actions on that basis is pretty ridiculous. It's more a matter of denying them the chance to exist given they already do. These kinds of temporal problems only happen in the Star Trek universe. It's interesting to think about, but that's about it.
  
  What bugs me most about this episode is Yedrin Dax's ridiculous plan. It doesn't make any sense at all, even before they found out it was a hoax. Using the barrier to create a second ship that crashes, consigning that Kira to die and forcing that crew to go through the same anguish runs into the same moral problems that the crew ends up facing anyway when they find out the plan wasn't going to work. There's also the question of how they would ensure that crash plays out exactly like the original did, as the main review points out the timeline has already been altered as well.
  
  Interesting, but not completely flushed out by the writers. Good acting though.
• From James T Quark on 2016-02-29 at 3:46am:
  This episode is much better than most people give it credit for. If you delve too deeply into the whole time issue, you'll drive yourself crazy. With Star Trek, often we have to suspend our criticism over reality and just enjoy the episode. This is one of those cases as it is truly a good story, if you don't start trying to unravel the issue of them affecting their own future by knowing their descendents survive as well as their own fates. Just sit back and enjoy a good story. LLAP
• From Zorak on 2016-06-11 at 6:19am:
  So much negativity towards this episode. I don't get it. Sure it got the slightest bit cheesy and over the top by the end, but so what? It was a great episode. One of my favorites. This is how drama on Star Trek should be. I also want to add that I love every scene with Rene Auberjonois. I don't mean in this episode (although he was great in it). I mean every scene in DS9. Odo is just the best.
• From Jan on 2019-02-28 at 7:48pm:
  This episode doesn't make a lot of sense:
  
  First of all, despite the crew of various Trek episodes trying to leave the past "intact", there are also many suggestions that there are "alternate timelines", or even different branches of said timelines.
  Though it isn't explored often, there are certain examples in TNG (like Yesterday's Enterprise), but also the so-called "Kelvin Timeline".
  
  This means that whenever something has been changed in the past, a new branch of the same timeline is created reflecting that change, but all events from the "unchanged timeline" don't suddenly cease to exist as if they never happened.
  
  If it WAS the case, then Sela would have never have been able to exist.
  Or even "Old Spock" in the Kelvin-verse movies, since Quinto-Spock can never become the same "Old Spock" even if he wanted to.
  
  Writers however just do as they please. This episode they're basically telling us that alternate timelines cease to exist, or don't exist in the first place. But that creates the paradox that these 8000 people couldn't possibly exist since the Defiant never went back in time and didn't crashland.
  
  So this episode doesn't make sense in my opinion. It tries too hard to make us feel for these people on a false premise.
  
  Just my two cents

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Abigail on 2008-12-18 at 5:11am:
  I sometimes feel that the writers of DS9 were unaware that you can develop characters through normal sci-fi epsiodes. You don't have to invent an episode with no external plot to do so. If I wanted to watch a goofy soap opera, I would. No need to turn "Star Trek" into one.
• From Christopher Wright on 2012-01-16 at 9:20pm:
  I disagree with the previous comment. I am not normally one for sappy romance stories, and redcuing this episode down to such isn't fair. The romantic tension between Odo and Kira has been so well-developed and stretched out that when the kiss came I almost jumped up and yelled "yeah!" with clenched fist. I also liked Vic a lot. This episode should have a higher rating. Lastly I would like to say that the costume design on DS9 if by far the best. Odo's tux and hologram Kira's dress were very nice touches. Those combined with Quark and Garak's wardrobes in other episodes really show off the designers' talents.
• From hugo on 2013-01-20 at 7:40pm:
  through the first half of this ep, i thought this was developing into a yawner - no suspense or sense of urgency. Then I found myself smiling through the rest of it, don't really know why. I liked vic too!
• From carsonist on 2013-09-29 at 4:36am:
  I can't believe how annoying this episode is. Instead of a second plot, they have four unbelievably long songs. Vic is fine, but takes up a lot of time in a series in its next to last season during a major war.
  
  Kira and Odo getting together is great, but there's nothing else that happens in the whole episode. You could cut the whole thing down to maybe ten minutes.
• From Scott on 2018-10-15 at 2:15am:
  I didn't think I would like it, but I did. Normally the holosuites are an overused story device, but Vic's just a great character. Wouldn't it be great to have a guy like that you could talk to about your problems?

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Benjamin Baxter on 2008-07-15 at 8:18pm:
  Problem: Sometimes when Nog walks, he's limping with the wrong leg. At least, that's what it looks like it.
• From Remco on 2009-07-25 at 11:13pm:
  I didn't get the impression that this episode was about holodiction. The prolonged holodeck time only had a positive influence on Nog. If we've seen anything before, it's 7 years of counseling sessions with Deanna Troi. I thought this was a fresh spin on both holo-issues and psychological counseling.
• From S. Egil on 2009-08-20 at 5:32pm:
  Regarding the problem of veterans' post-traumatic stress syndrome, the writers get many things right in this episode. Listen to Nog's breakthrough confession to Vic about his battle revelation that he too, though young and eager, was mortal and vulnerable. Combat veterans will certainly find much truth in this. The play of Nog's mortality against Vic's supposed (hollow)immortality makes for an interesting and subtle story. But why weren't the other crew members, most of whom had seen grueling combat themselves, more skillful and empathetic in helping Nog?
• From rpeh on 2010-08-04 at 8:18pm:
  One minor problem: in the scene just after Nog moves into the Holosuite, and the staff are discussing Bashir's programs, Ezri's collar insignia changes. It starts as a Lt. JG but with the black pip to the right, then it cuts away to Jake. When it cuts back again, the pips are the right way round.
  
  Having demonstrated my amazing powers of observation, the episode falls a bit flat. I agree that Ezri would have been a better choice for counsellor, but they did kind of explain that when Nog told her that all he'd done was talk to people about his feelings.
  
  I'll give it a 4.
• From Krs321 on 2011-10-04 at 12:22pm:
  Have to disagree with this review and your opinion of Vic in general.
  
  1. This episode isn't about Vic and his trivial holographic life. It's about PTSD and Nog. The fact that Nog could escape to a literal fantasy world is what makes the episode.
  
  2. Vic is the, what, 3rd sentient Hologram now? Shouldn't Starfleet be flipping out and studying this phenomenon?
  
  3. Vic is a better counselor than Ezri. Honestly, they should've introduced Vic a long time ago. He's more interesting than Jadzia or Ezri. They just need to spend less time showing him sing.
• From Omcn on 2012-01-10 at 12:48pm:
  
  This is one of my fav. ep. in the season if not the entire series. This is a classic example of how Trek has an excellent way of pointing out the flaws in modern (and apparently for centuries to come) treatment to mental illness. Does Ezri show off her stuff? No. Why not? Cause with a problem like this it needs to be handled in an extreme way and the holosuite is the perfect place with Vic the perfect hollow character. I think that the way Nog reacts to doctors telling him the pain he feels is "all in his head" is very believable. I love that as soon as Nog reacts violently Ezri is ready to end the experiment of allowing Nog to let things run its course in the hollowsuite, that is so realistic. Vic (not a "trained" counselor) knows better and stops her from removing him. A violent outburst is often a show of the road to recovery and modern (as well as in the future) always view violence as a negative progression of mental illness. This ep. rounds out nicely with Nog finding his purpose again, not as a soldier but as a businessmen which again fits in with his character nicely. I love this ep. for the commentary on mental illness and in dealing with physical impairment.
  
• From Harrison on 2012-08-29 at 1:58am:
  Watching a self-absorbed depressed Ferengi adolescent mope around a holosuite isn't my idea of good TV drama.
  
  Blech.
• From Esper on 2014-04-04 at 7:48pm:
  I think this was a magnificent episode.
  The episode handled PTSD suffering and healing process perfectly and the whole ride made Nog's character more alive and likable persona whom you can relate with.
  
  I also liked Vic a lot considering he is entirely made by Bashir's genetically enhanced doctor brain, so no wonder he knows a thing or two how to handle PTSD patients.
  All and all I give this episode 9/10. The duo brought both of them both alive, each in unique way.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Marie Douceur on 2011-08-19 at 8:10am:
  I'm not to fond of any of the DS9 mirror universe episodes, this one included. However, I disagree with the assertion that the lesbianism here is "over the top". In fact, I found it, well, disappointingly tame. There was a fairly simple kiss between Mirrors Kira and Ezri, a vague show of tenderness between them, and a rather gentle innuendo between Mirrors Ezri and Leeta at the end. Mirror Kira herself was over-the-top, as always, and that was grating. But, as a bi woman, I was hoping for something a little more... sweeping and romantic... or at least, a portrayal as suggestive as hetero romances have gotten. I mean, "Rejoined" was much more "lesbianist" than this episode, and even then, that came with major caveats.
  
  It's always been pretty disappointing to me that characters with non-hetero sexuality never got much (or really any) showing on Star Trek. I hate to be on a soapbox, but it seems like that would be part of the "enlightened 24th century". It's really too bad for those of us who'd like to see the girl get the girl at the end sometimes.
• From John on 2011-12-22 at 2:56am:
  I'm not a fan of mirror universe episodes either, and this one is no exception. Personally, I think it's a shame that this is the last "Ferengi" episode, because it's nowhere near as good or entertaining as the others. Granted, we do get a little bit of Ferengi intrigue -- and we get to see Zek again -- at the very end of the series, but this is the last proper Ferengi episode, and it's kind of boring. The only thing "new" here is Mirror Ezri (who, I have to admit, is a total fox).
  
  But it's still lame, and we still have to deal with Mirror Kira and Mirror Julian, who are somehow even more annoying and than their 'regular' counterparts.
  
  2 points for Quark and Rom, 2 points for hot Mirror Ezri and 1 point for being the LAST Mirror Universe episode (thank god) = 5/10
• From Inga on 2013-06-21 at 9:31am:
  I agree with Marie Douceur - the lesbian moments were too tame.
• From Bronn on 2013-07-26 at 1:30am:
  I actually don't think this one was too bad. The inconsistencies are annoying, but the Ferengi episodes and Mirror Universe episodes are all just there for the sake of fun. It was nice to combine them and get them both out of the way at once to avoid disrupting the overall seriousness of the plotlines in season 7.
  
  
• From L on 2013-08-17 at 4:40am:
  
  Mirror Worf is the only mirror character I don't hate (apart from Ezri, rowr) - he's very entertaining as a bombastic fool.
  
  Loved Rom pointing out the logical inconsistencies, very 'meta'.
• From ChristopherA on 2021-07-31 at 3:28pm:
  I rather like this episode, I thought the exploration of a family with a specific type of dysfunction was a good one and generally made for a good Ezri character episode.
  
  You are right that the tie-in of this episode to Honor Among Thieves is largely irrelevant. This episode is about Ezri’s family, not the Orion syndicate, and O’Brien is only there to fulfill the mandatory “B Plot” requirement.
  

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From MJ on 2011-08-04 at 5:59pm:
  J.G. Hertzler and Jeffrey Combs...did DS9 strike gold when it hired those two or what? Fantastic, versatile actors.
  
  I do agree this episode fails to explore some very interesting story arcs. At the very least, Laas could have showed up later in the season having found a couple more Changelings and that could've been worked in somehow...maybe to the sequel instead of wasting it on the ridiculous Pah Wraith/Prophet arc.
  
  But overall I really like this episode. Laas' behavior is understandable, and gives us some insight into why the Changelings have such a distrust for "solids". It's likely they experienced everything Laas did, and much worse, throughout their history. Laas proposal to form a new link is exactly what I would expect a Changeling in his position to want to do. I do think it was a bit absurd that he kept baiting humanoids, being deliberately confrontational. He had to know by now what the outcome of such behavior would be. More likely he would want to avoid them entirely, but of course that wouldn't have been much of a story.
  
  I give it a 6.
• From John on 2011-12-22 at 6:30am:
  You have to love the irony of Laas complaining about how humanoids recklessly "displace all the life forms around them", while his people are trying to take over the entire galaxy and have killed billions of people and destroyed entire planets in the process.
  
  It seems to me 'the great link' is just the ultimate form of narcissism in the galaxy, and Odo is the only one who can see it for what it is.
  
  J. G. Hertzler does a fantastic job at portraying the arrogant and incredibly rude Laas here -- that alone makes this episode one of the best of the seventh season.
• From 0mcn7 on 2012-01-09 at 10:51am:
  I loved Quarks commentary on why humans are so suspicious of anything out of the ordinary and also showed how Quark despite the constant rivalry really does care for Odo.
• From Chris Wright on 2012-04-30 at 5:26pm:
  I can't believe this episode wasn't rated higher or that anyone on here hasn't pointed out the allegorical representations in the episode. While it has its problems (like why don't jails in the 24th century have surveillence cameras?), this epsiode excelled at beauty. It was beautifully acted, beautiful symbolism, and some of the lines are beautifully quotable. I gave it a 9.
• From JR on 2012-07-02 at 4:19am:
  This is one of the episodes I remember fairly strongly from the first time I watched the series way back when. I thought it came much sooner though...I was expecting it in season 3 or 4.
  
  When Laas becomes fog and the Klingons take offense, I could swear that is Rene Auborjonis (Odo) playing the Klingon that Laas stabs in the chest. It greatly resembles what he looked like as a solid turned Klingon by Bashir in an earlier episode. I checked the credits and only one of the two Klingons is listed as a Co-Star.
• From Bronn on 2013-07-26 at 3:32am:
  I think this was poorly executed. It could have been a good episode, but they missed a lot of things. There's some people acting out of character in order for this story to work. Sisko is out of character-he wouldn't have handed over Laas to the Klingons for a trial that wasn't equitable. It's a callback to the extradition hearing in "Dax,"-he knew there wasn't a fair trial on the other side of it, so he wasn't about to let that trial happen. And while I can understand O'Brien being irritated by some of Laas' baiting, Bashir ends up biting on it too, which is unlike him.
  
  They also fail to address the obvious issue-people mistrust Laas not because of his inherent nature as a changeling, but because the changelings are leading an oppressive government that has declared war on the entire quadrant. The Klingons are persecuting him in much the way they did Odo during "The Way of the Warrior." They think he's one of the Founders. The fact that's unaffected by a virus which has only been revealed through third-hand sources isn't convincing to them.
  
  (also, you have to wonder what happens to Laas after this episode-he presumably catches this virus by linking with Odo...then probably dies not long after this)
  
  Moreover, I wish we'd taken time to explore the moral dilemma that spurs the conflict of this episode-the death of the Klingon. I felt like that could have been a really interesting use for this guest character. The Klingon tried to stab him, but it doesn't affect him much since he has no vital organs to injure, then he kills the other Klingon. Was he reaching for a knife, or for his disruptor? Laas COULD have responded with less than deadly force, as we've seen Odo do countless times-he could have extended his arm and disarmed the Klingon instead of stabbing him. The Klingons attacked, but did they attack with deadly force, and was he justified in responding with deadly force? It's kind of a staple of cop shows, but the dilemma there is always whether the other person had a gun or not. Using a changeling makes you really ponder the question of how imminently he was threatened, even after he'd been stabbed once. That was more mentally engaging to me than the main plot of the episode.
• From L on 2013-08-17 at 8:28am:
  Wow, a non-lesbian homo-erotic subtext, that's pretty rare.
  Interesting episode.
• From ChristopherA on 2021-06-20 at 11:04am:
  My main issue with this episode is that it appears to have been written by a Founder as a tract against the solids, with most everyone being written out of character (as Bronn pointed out) so that Laas can make his diatribes without contradiction. The idea that solids are genetically unable to tolerate changelings comes from nowhere, there's never been any sign of that in any previous episode. They just seem to have suddenly thrown that into justify his disdain for coexisting with the solids. The reason changelings are feared has always been that they are incredibly powerful and extremely xenophobic.
  
  The one part of the episode that did make a lot of sense was that the Klingons would be hostile towards him. That could have been a more interesting episode, contrasting the arrogant disdain of Laal for inferior lifeforms, and his hypocritical demands that they treat him with respect, with the paranoid fear and anger of the Dominion’s victims towards someone who looks and acts exactly like a Founder, but nevertheless isn't one and hasn't ever done anything to harm them. Instead it seemed they were trying to awkwardly shoehorn in an unconvincing allegory of Odo being a persecuted minority who was putting up a false front and afraid to show his true self.
  
• From floreign on 2022-09-15 at 6:27am:
  To me this is an episode that outstretches the arc. Like the Voyager "year of hell" episode that could replace a full year of the season, and not as elaborate as TNG's "All Good Things" which stretched in three time periods. I have the distinct impression that at that point it was known that the show will end with the current season.
  Another comparison is Stargate:Un iverse. The first season and half was subpar, but the last half-season was amazing because it had a lot of good material that was added due to the show having been canceled.
  
  Well, soon the finale (episodes 16-26) starts, so you know I am right. It offers a possible direction for Odo if he were a few centuries out, and left one companion or a few behind (yes, it resembles Highlander here.)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Bernard on 2009-12-03 at 10:28pm:
  Two moments of sheer genius in this episode, otherwise it is atrocious.
  
  The first is Nog's practical joke involving the bucket...
  
  The second is the knife fight involving Bashir, O'Brien and the bajoran! Watch it again, it's like something from Naked Gun!
  
  What I love about the relationship between Bashir and O'Brien at this point in the series is that they are written to be idiots. O'Brien is outrageously rude to Bashir in this episode whilst Bashir is so self important up to this point. That's where DS9 is such an improvement on TNG, the characters are flawed and therefore seem more real and you can relate to them.
• From John on 2011-12-06 at 2:26pm:
  One question kept nagging at me the whole time I was watching this episode: How can the Bajorans possibly have a 10,000-year-old, warp-capable civilization when their people are this stupid?
  
  Sadly, we will see numerous other instances of stupid, easily-led Bajorans throughout the series, so this aspect of the show never really improves.
• From Abigail on 2019-08-29 at 10:27pm:
  This one was pretty absurd. The idea of inventing a monster to fight every so often - which only one person knows is not actually a real monster - in order to bring people together is .... questionable. If nothing else, surely the townspeople would figure out it was all a hoax at some point??

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From EKH on 2007-04-29 at 4:15pm:
  The gravity in the scene in Melora's quarters were inconsistent, too, switching between low gravity and no gravity at least once.
• From djb on 2009-01-06 at 1:46am:
  I have to disagree with your review, dear Kethinov. I loved this episode! It definitely had its flaws, which I'll go into later, but first I'll say why I liked it.
  
  This was obviously an episode that wanted to deal with "disability" issues. Melora is predictably rough around the edges and fiercely independent, and very walled off. Bashir's ability to worm his way in through her defenses was beautifully written and acted, and we see behind Melora's rather off-putting exterior is a vulnerable person who's rather insecure about her qualifications. It's actually great character development for Bashir.
  
  I also liked that they pulled off a low-gravity scene. It's the first I've really seen since Star Trek VI (I may be wrong), and you'd think you'd see more of them, seeing as how most of the gravity we see in Star Trek is artificial. Of course, this is a budget issue. If, every time an away team boarded some disabled ship or derelict, they had to be weightless, as would be most realistic, the budget would go through the roof. Oh well.
  
  Anyway, it's nice to see Bashir turn his attention away from Dax for a little bit! It was also nice and realistic to see a hostile alien follow through on his threat to kill a hostage (even though she didn't die). I also liked how she saved the day, and how an analogy to an ancient earth story got her to reconsider undergoing those treatments.
  
  Now to the faults: As Kethinov pointed out, Melora's appearance is rather unrealistic. A planet with such low gravity would have to be extremely small (smaller than our moon), and would probably hold next to no atmosphere, which would probably make any species living on such a planet A) very tall, and B) able to live on very little air. Melora would probably find the atmospheric pressure on DS9 unbearably high. Maybe her species migrated from some other planet and hadn't evolved past its original humanoid appearance; who knows.
  
  They could have done it some other way; they could have made her born with some genetic muscular defect that required her to live and grow up in a low-gravity environment, but Star Trek, despite its many strengths, has always required a bit of suspension of disbelief. Some more than others.
  
  The other flaw is one not intrinsic to the episode, but another unfortunate theme in Star Trek: we never hear from Melora again. The theme of exploring a romantic interest in an episode only to have it forgotten in the next isn't new (see TNG: Lessons, The Game, etc.), and it's rather irritating! Oh well. I still liked this episode a lot.
  
  
• From Bernard on 2010-06-15 at 10:41pm:
  Solid episode. Great to see Bashir getting some nice character development, also great to see another strong female character in DS9. DS9 was particularly good at independent women but Melora is fantastically prickly, driven and stubborn. Quite similar to Ensign Ro in her first appearance actually, but I have to agree with djb that it is such a shame that we never see her again.
  
  On the down side slightly obvious plot developments lets the rating of this episode slide. I'd give it a 5 or 6.
  
  Again, suspension of disbelief is an absolute requirement when watching Star Trek. I always feel that, as long as they don't break too many of their own rules, then I'm happy with it. If you get too upset by the science of Star Trek then you'll have to switch off every time they use the transporter surely?
• From John on 2012-03-29 at 3:28am:
  While I don't always agree with our host on episode ratings, I completely concur with the 2/10 rating on this one, as well as the reason for such a rating.
  
  The character of Melora is quite irritating, and Bashir, with his constant professions of awe about her gets old pretty quick too.
  
  The high point of the entire episode for me is the Klingon chef -- I wish they had featured him, if not prominently, then more regularly in the later seasons. As it is I don't think they even gave him a name.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-06-01 at 6:24am:
  So how exactly does the universal translator work? I realize that it's just an easy way for them to all speak english on the show, but is there any science at all behind it? Does it just immediately interpret the person's language, and then rebroadcast it in english to Sisko or whoever, and also make their lips appear to be moving with the english words??? This is a rare instance of me siding with Star Wars over Star Trek. In Star Wars they simply have the language 'galactic basic'. If you're civilized, you speak it. Much easier to explain.
  
  This makes me wonder: So every time the romulans speak to someone in the federation, are they really speaking romulan? And when does the universal translator know when to allow it to stay in their own language, like when the Klingons have certain ceremonies in their native tongue. How does it know not to just translate it for everyone else? This, to me, is a ridiculous device that we have to put up with because of the original Star Trek's limited budget. George Lucas learned from Gene Roddenberry's errors on this one. But Star Trek is still waaaaay better than Star Wars :)
• From JRPoole on 2008-12-10 at 3:23pm:
  Ditto the comment above. I've always sort of assumed that the UT rebroadcasts speech in real-time, presumably through the comm badges, a step we thankfully don't have to sit through every time. It's sort of clunky when Haneek begins actually speaking English (whoops, of course I mean Standard) words.
  
  A decent, if flawed, episode altogether, though.
• From Bernard on 2010-10-17 at 10:53am:
  I enjoyed an explanation for the universal translator, further explanation will come in episode 'Little Green Men' of course.
  
  This episodes falls down at the point when the Skreeans lose the viewers sympathy as Eric already pointed out. Otherwise I'm sure it could have scored more highly as, like the last episode, it was fairly original.
• From Tallifer on 2011-03-19 at 5:45am:
  The most unrealistic part of this story is that they can find an empty, freely available and hospitable planet nearby. With all the countless races and cultures in this quadrant, with all the sexual fecundity of those races, with all the military, commercial or imperial ambitions of these races: how could a perfectly good planet remain unclaimed and unsettled?
  
  (Which brings us to another perennial problem with Star Trek: the overabundance of habitable worlds.)
• From Jeff Browning on 2011-10-19 at 6:30pm:
  This comment affects many episodes where Bajor and its situation are discussed, including this one.
  
  In this episode and many others we are told that Bajor is devastated, its citizens are starving, and so forth. I have been privileged to travel the world and have seen many areas where poverty, starvation, and disease prevail.
  
  Whenever we see an image of Bajor, we see none of this: We see prosperous, well fed, well dressed, clean, healthy Bajorans in idyllic, beautiful surroundings. The Bajorans who show up on DS9 are similarly prosperous looking. I am left to wonder: Where is all the devastation folks keep talking about? Where are the naked, starving, filthy, diseased children I have seen in places like India, China, Africa, and Latin America?
  
  It's kind of like the DS9 writers and editors did not have the stomach for it. They did not believe that their viewers could withstand a realistic depiction of a devastated society. Certainly, there is no indication within the frames of DS9 that this is the state of Bajor, at least from what we are allowed to see.
• From Selador on 2013-01-20 at 9:51pm:
  The scene directly after the one where the terrible famine on Bajor is mentioned we see Skreeans queuing up to use a replicator. Ridiculous.
  
  This episode also is a good example of why the universal translator is such a flawed idea.
• From Axel on 2015-06-24 at 3:22am:
  Some interesting comments on this episode.
  
  In response to Tallifer, I don't think it's unrealistic for a planet like Draylon II to be available. The Kepler spacecraft recently searched a tiny total portion of the sky for planets. If there were 8 Earth-like candidates found out of 1,000 identified planets and 150,000 stars, that extrapolates out to billions of potentially habitable planets orbiting their stars in this galaxy even by a pessimistic estimate. This is also why I've never been *that* annoyed by Star Trek's "alien of the week" stuff, although it's always nice when they actually develop an alien race over the series.
  
  As for the Bajorans not being shown living in squalor all the time, I guess I disagree here too. There are quite a few people in places like India and Latin America living in material comfort despite poverty and famine there. Or take post-WW2 Germany. Its cities bombed and in ruins, people broke and often starving, and itself under military occupation. It certainly rebounded quickly, at least in West Germany. Bajor has probably had significant help from the Federation and maybe others in rebuilding, too.
  
  All that said, the Skrreans were crappy guests/refugees. Haneek probably felt under the gun to find the Kentanna planet for her people, which is understandable. But I like how in the meeting with the Bajorans, Sisko keeps on throwing out Draylon II. The Skrreans *never* come up with a good reason to reject it, and their insistence on Bajor makes no sense at all.
  
  A decent episode with some nice moments, but that's about it.
• From Harrison on 2015-07-18 at 12:58am:
  I'm genuinely surprised the reviews for this episode are so poor. Of course it is easy to dislike the Skreeans -- they were not intended to be completely lovable characters, with their flaky skin, their ingratitude, and their inconvenient needs & beliefs -- doesn't reflect badly at all on the writing or acting, both of which I think are excellent.
  
  In truth I found the episode refreshing, and pleased that the writers found the courage to depart from the politically correct.
• From Andy Mu;oz on 2018-08-29 at 12:36am:
  As Peter said, this is an unusual episode. Me as a non trekkie, this is a weird episode. Showing how a relationship between collegues, not even friends, could meant a lot, a huge lot, becouse you are tied with an idealogy (of justice) instead good or bad, its huge in itself for television.
  And this early in the series. My friend, a trekkie begs me to wait to season 3, but Im already an adept. And this is like that like in a lot of episode from this season. As people told me, Im awaiting for the best to come

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Matt on 2008-03-19 at 11:14pm:
  This episode is a tribute to the musical "Brigadoon". Which might help to explain the way Dax acts. Much of the main plot points are similar. Also, like the original play, it kinda sucks.
• From JRPoole on 2009-01-14 at 2:33am:
  The A plot love story is one of the most embarrassingly bad moments in all of Trek, and that's saying something. The dialogue is lame,and Jadzia's decision is ridiculous and way out of character, as is Sisko's reaction, though Avery Brooks acts it well.
  
  The B plot is uproariously funny, if a bit cheap. It's the only thing this episode has going for it, so I gave it a 1 just for that.
• From djb on 2009-05-01 at 6:31am:
  I agree, Dax's behavior in this episode is way out of character. After 7 lifetimes, anyone is going to be smart enough not to confuse infatuation with love. All Jadzia and her new boyfriend have is infatuation; they know practically nothing about each other, what to speak of them being different species. And she's ready to leave everything and everyone she knows behind on a whim? Silly.
  
  I like it when different plots in a single episode somehow tie together or are related; unfortunately plot A and plot B had nothing to do with each other, even though plot b was indeed rather humorous.
• From rpeh on 2010-07-29 at 9:38am:
  This episode is so crammed with technobabble it's almost leaking at the seams. Intersecting dimensions, singularities in the quantum matrix.... give me strength! It didn't help that I kept thinking of Deral as the bible-thumping Vice-Presidential candidate from the West Wing.
  
  The B-plot is funny, though, and the end scene just priceless!

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Kyle on 2015-05-19 at 4:56pm:
  Actually, bio-memetic gel, was mentioned before in the TNG episode Firstborn.
  It didn't seem to be tightly controlled then as Riker used 1/2 gram of it to trade for some ore from a Yridian.
• From Azalea Jane on 2021-12-12 at 4:32pm:
  Hey, it's "Remember Me" but this time it's for Dr. Bashir instead of Dr. Crusher, and half as interesting!
  
  I do like the exchange at the end, when Garak essentially commends Bashir for continuing not to trust him.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From rpeh on 2010-07-30 at 6:12pm:
  The overreaction to this episode speaks volumes about Trek fandom. It's okay for Kirk, Riker et al to snog their way around the galaxy, but show one brief kiss between two women - who *first* became attracted when they were different genders - and the whole world collapses.
  
  It's true that the episode isn't particularly interesting, but judge it on its own merits, not on prejudice.
• From Jeff Browning on 2011-11-02 at 1:06am:
  The other joined trill in the romantic relationship with Jadsia was Dr. Lenara Kahn. This character was played by Susanna Thompson who played the Borg Queen in four Voyager episodes: Voy: Unimatrix Zero Parts 1 and 2, and Voy: Dark Frontier Parts 1 and 2. Interestingly, she did not play the Borg Queen in ST: First Contact, the only other Star Trek title that includes the Borg Queen. In First Contact, the Borg Queen was played by Alice Krige. Personally, I thought that Susanna Thompson did a better job.
  
  I agree with the comment that this episode does not deserve to be rated as low as a 2. There was some pretty good stuff here. Certainly, Jadsia's heroics were entertaining. There was some decent acting. The onscreen kiss was provocative and actually kind of hot.
  
  But our reviewer is correct that this is not up to the best that DS9 can offer. The main issue was that is was rather slow. I got tired of seeing the two joined trills incessantly doing their thing. They were so boring! I actually related to Bashir in Quarks when he got so bored.
  
  Certainly, it is nowhere near other episodes in season 4 such as DS9: The Visitor (which I would say is the best single Star Trek episode ever). Or even DS9: Hippocratic Oath which was also completely terrific.
  
  I gave it a 4 personally.
• From Psycroptic on 2012-03-28 at 7:48pm:
  The kiss? Disturbing? Definitely not the word I'd use for it.
  
  All in all a pretty dull episode though.
• From hugo on 2012-04-05 at 7:38am:
  I found this a decent episode. Good acting from dr Khan and good chemistry with her and Jadzia.
  
  But - why couldn't they just beam her out from engineering... ?
• From Azalea Jane on 2021-12-24 at 9:11pm:
  The reason I love this episode is not as much because we get Trek's first same-gender kiss, but more because literally nobody in the entire episode brings up their genders as a Thing. The taboo in-show is reassociation. As a lesbian, I love seeing a sapphic love story where it's treated just like any straight love story. This ep could have been basically the same if Lenara or Dax were a man. And that's pretty much the goal of LGBTQ+ activism: that normal variations in human(oid) sexuality and gender identity are treated as that: normal. Kind of how some people are left-handed or hate cilantro. It's just one of many value-neutral facts about them.
  
  And honestly, the scenes between Jadzia and Lenara were wonderful for me. Their kiss was amazing to watch. The actors nailed it, IMO. I totally don't blame anyone else if they're not excited about it, but for me, even in 2021, seeing a WLW love story where their gayness is treated as 100% normal in-universe is still quite refreshing. Also, this episode establishes Jadzia as canonically not-straight. Take that, Rick Berman! :D Note: Roddenberry wanted a gay character on TNG, but Berman blocked it until Gene's death. Berman continued to block gay characters throughout the rest of the series he produced, so the writers and cast had to sneak it in. Garak and Bashir, for example, are _definitely_ gay (or bi, as the case may be) for each other, the actors intended it that way, but they couldn't state it outright.
  
  I tend to agree that the in-universe taboo against reassociation is absurd, but I think that may be part of the point. The real-world taboo is homosexuality, which WILL get you exiled or killed in certain parts of the world, including here in the US. (The number of homeless LGBT teens kicked out by their bigoted parents is utterly sickening. And those are the ones that don't die by suicide. Lawmakers are trying to pass anti-trans bills as I type.) Sisko rightly points out that, regardless of the morality of the situation, there will be a cost to Jadzia being in the relationship she wants. And for many gay people, that is all too often intimately, depressingly true. I can't blame Jadzia for being willing to face the cost. And I can't blame Lenara for being unwilling, either. When faced with severe, irrational societal pressures against us being true to ourselves, we cope how we cope.
  
  My little quibble here is not with this episode, per se, but it's this tendency for Dax to make these rather impulsive decisions around romance. This might not have bothered me if Meridian had never aired -- where Dax is ready to throw everything away to go join Brigadoon In Space -- but here her willingness to face exile and the deaths of two symbionts is less convincing because of that episode. I tend to agree with Lenara on this. Jadzia loves hard, and she WILL love again. Surely Lenara will too. I did appreciate the explanation for Jadzia's impulsivity, though: Curzon. This is especially insightful given us just having seen "Facets" and getting to know Curzon (albeit fused with Odo) in the flesh. Of all the characters we barely see, Curzon is one of the most interesting. I enjoyed the scene where Sisko speaks his mind but then says he'll be loyal to Jadzia whatever she ends up doing.
  
  I also wondered about the transporter thing. They could have easily waved it off with a bit of technobabble like "there's a subspace field that would scatter a transporter signal" or something. The transporter only works when it serves the plot!
  
  Side note: I said "I can't tell if Worf is messing with us" right before Kira said the same thing! ????

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Fenix on 2011-01-30 at 9:51pm:
  Just wanted to point out that Captain Sisko's acting at the end of this episode was spot on. Imagine -- to read the beginning of a work that he had, in The Visitor, only heard of shortly before witnessing Jake's death as an old man. There are complex emotions in Sisko as he tells Jake that he is sure Jake will get back to writing, emotions that are very well portrayed.
• From L on 2013-05-28 at 7:43am:
  An 'alien-energy-vampire' metaphor exploring the relationship between creativity and drug use, wrapped in the generally taboo subject of the sexual dynamics between an older woman and a younger lover. Interesting territory for Star Trek to be exploring, but not ultimately that interesting as an episode.
• From Zorak on 2016-05-19 at 4:30pm:
  Personally, I can't get enough of the Odo/Lwaxana dynamic. I think they're great together. She seems to bring out the best in Odo. I really couldn't stand her in TNG, but in DS9 she is fantastic.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Inga on 2013-02-05 at 6:51pm:
  One of the most boring episodes of Star Trek I've seen so far... And that bed scene was unbelievably cheesy.
• From Mandeponium on 2013-09-02 at 5:30pm:
  Sigh, in this episode Odo has sex as a changeling shortly after losing his human ability to ejaculate. Why? Why does he fall in love with this random person? This episode would have been better if he were still human. It might make more sense.
  
  Imagine if Star Trek were on HBO. There'd be so much weird alien sex; the bedroom was super tame compared to what I'm imagining sex with a shapeshifter to be like.
  
• From Rob UK on 2013-11-23 at 2:35am:
  A hard episode to watch, in nregards to Odo centric episodes as you mentioned being like detective shows I agree, this is sometimes done okay like an homage to the greats in the style but i'd prefer the level of Columbo or Monk rockford files or even Murder She Wrote but no sadly not a patch on Jessica Fletcher on her worst day (seriously not a fan of MSW at all BTW just incase anyone was not getting my dry British sense of humour) this was akin to Diagnosis Murder merged with an imaginary late 90's BBC low budget remake of Heart to Heart.
  
  Now then onto the part which could have redeemed the episode and instead destroyed it, the sex, or more accurate the lack of it, i know TV censors n stuff i am not expecting some Reed Richards-esq shlong action pinning her to the ceiling in a low gravity room as Odo morphs into a thousand different phallic object spearing her from every angle anywhere she wants it and more but at least some reference to it expanding her horizons in some way sexually instead it was like she had taken the virginity of a shy young boy and was his moms friend. When she found out it was his first time and she said she couldn't tell?!? Seriously Odo never swelled up the shape shifting manhood once inserted? I am trying to keep it pg13 here but you get what i am saying surely, how did Odo even know what to shape down there? I always thought he'd be like an action man figure or a ken doll, cough cough, not that i was checking that my action man had a schlong or not as a kid or anything but i remember when i found out that he did not have one i was concerned for my action man, why does he not have a little soldier like the rest of us boys? Never trusted action man after that, anyhoo slight distraction to my review / comment there but in a slightly altered reality it is all totally relevant. Thankfully a good Quark episode next if anyone out there like myself who has to watch them in sequential order for the good and the bad.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Remco on 2009-05-22 at 12:14am:
  The episode wasn't too bad, but it ran out of juice about half way in. After 20 minutes it was clear where the plot was going. Then it just kind of meandered. Maybe it would have worked better as a special half-hour comedy, complete with laugh track. ;)
• From Jaap on 2010-10-08 at 11:28am:
  Am i wrong or is Quark's mother played by another actress than in the previous episode (3x23)?
  I wasn't too impressed with this one and think the other acted much better.
• From Christopher Wright on 2011-12-14 at 5:36pm:
  I think this episode deserves a much higher rating. Sure, it was a little slow-paced, but it actually did what Star Trek and many sci-fi shows and movies often don't - show that species are not so singular. The following episode, "Soldiers of the Empire" tells us that not all Klingons are courageous - some are cowards and some are weak. Just as Star Wars showed us simplistic planets (Hoth - totally frozen, Tatooine - totally desert), such simplistic representations aren't realistic as life thrives on diversity.
  
  This episode showed us that Ferengi are capable of self-sacrifice. Sure, we've seen it in them before, but the two story arcs of Quark and Nog having to sacrifice a lot for those they love helps us to fully realize that they are not so simplistic a race.
  
  I loved the humor at the end with Brunt in the closet and Quark playing with his action figures.
• From Selador on 2013-06-18 at 11:39pm:
  I hate the Grand Nagus. He makes my skin crawl. If Quark wasn't such a great character and actor, I would hate all the ferengi.
  
  Whoever wrote this episode must have been drunk at the time, it's truly terrible and full of bad jokes and weird script.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From rpeh on 2010-08-02 at 10:06pm:
  Dreadful episode.
  
  Having built up the tension of the Dominion war then taken a quick break to let Worf and Dax get married as they had always promised, one expects a return to action. Instead... we get a banal episode in the awful mirror series that takes the story nowhere and just acts as a method to assist sleep after a late night Trek-thon.
  
  I'd like to know if *anybody* was surprised by the plot "twist". He's from the mirror universe! Of *course* he's going to be evil!
• From Rob UK on 2023-12-06 at 12:56pm:
  This gets my vote for worst DS9 episode, definitely puts it in contention for worst Star Trek episode too, right up there with Move Along Home, i'm sure we all remember that one
  
  Allamaraine, count to four, Allamaraine, then three more, Allamaraine, if you can see, Allamaraine, you'll come with me.
  
  But this episode is bad for totally different reasons, it is as if Disney bought it for a single episode with the intent of destroying the mirror verse storyline and then gave it back.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Jaap on 2010-11-15 at 7:54pm:
  Why do doorbells on Empok Nor have a Starfleet tone?
• From Omcn on 2012-01-09 at 10:19am:
  
  While it is true that this ep. did not fit in a whole lot to the overall storyline of the series (other then a look at what Mr crazy man has been up to since he killed off the last dax). I saw this episode as a social commentary on the dangers of many of the negative aspects of organized religion. Viewing it from that perspective I thoroughly enjoyed it.
• From Psycroptic on 2012-07-18 at 2:27am:
  I agree with Omcn, definitely not the best episode, but it had a good message.
• From Harrison on 2012-08-28 at 11:42am:
  I thought it one of the better episodes of the closing season, with particularly strong performances. It was a lucid and memorable commentary on injustice and manipulation.
  
  Empok Nor is displayed at a slightly evil tilt simply to distinguish it at a glance from DS9.
• From L on 2013-08-17 at 12:07am:
  The Bajorans are credulous superstitious peasants. How did they ever qualify for membership to the Federation?
  
  This episode was probably a pretty accurate portrayal of the dynamics within a cult.
  Loved the mural of Dukat.
• From Alex on 2021-03-22 at 9:33pm:
  Why is it a "problem" every time that Empok Nor is shown at an angle? It's a scenic technique... to signify something that's perhaps odd, irregular, out of "order", broken. In Empok Nor's case, it's an odd/dark counterpart to DS9. So, it's shown at a different angle, it fell out of the normal loop, it's the "wrong" station.
  
  My 'problem' actually is how Dukat is wearing a snake/alligator skin like coat. Isn't it like... if humans were wearing ape skin coats? Cardassians are reptilian...

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-07-26 at 3:15am:
  I think your dislike for Vic Fontaine is obscuring your judgement here. If the reason for giving this a 1 was that it is filler in the middle of the dominion war, then you should have given "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" a 1 instead of a 10. This episode is extremely entertaining, and is a wonderful use of Vic's character. Obviously they couldn't have done this episode EARLIER because they invented Vic during the Dominion War arc.
  
  I especially like that this episode demonstrates that the characters still have personal lives amidst all the turmoil, and that they can still have fun. I wouldn't care for episodes 15 and on to be solely dominion war arc episodes. That would be boring, and not Star Trekish enough.
  
  Sisko's comment about black people in the sixties also shows that this episode isn't just filler. Not only does it make a point about racism in the sixties; it also shows how hypersensitive Sisko is to anything regarding racism. Great character development episode all around, and it's always fun to watch one of these holodeck malfunction episodes. I love them!
  
  Just because you didn't care for it isn't justification to give it a 1. I mean, come on. It's not THAT bad, even if you hate it.
• From Kethinov on 2006-07-26 at 6:46am:
  This episode fails to measure up to "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" in a number of ways.
  
  Firstly, it was redundant. We already have a comedy episode in the holodeck in this season. I forgave it once, and only because "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" was so unusually profound.
  
  But more importantly, this episode was inferior. The situation in this episode was a result of either holosuite error, or simple diversion, depending on how you look at it. Neither situation is a good premise for the episode. In the middle of the Dominion War, I don't want a "holodeck malfunctions" episode, and I even less want a "let's all go to Risa" episode. This episode was an excuse for slapstick comedy.
  
  Conversely, the situation in "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" was brought on by an external player (the Vulcan captain) with an arrogance problem. Sisko didn't ask for any of this, he simply faced it. And it taught him a lesson about the value of one's principles, reinforcing his seemingly weaker hand in the entire Dominion war.
  
  Ignoring the timing of this episode, yes, it deserves a higher rating. But as is so often said, timing is everything. This episode's timing was unforgivable. Such diversions are only acceptable when an episode has something truly profound to say, and guess what, everything it had to say was said better in other episodes!
  
  You speak of the crew having a personal life. Well, we're made aware of that in "Take Me Out to the Holosuite." We're also made aware of it by Vic's various cameos across the later episodes. You also speak of the episode making a statement about racism. But that was easily done better in "Far Beyond the Stars."
  
  Fnally, yes, I am fully aware of when Vic's character was created. That doesn't justify the episode's placement in the timeline and certainly doesn't invalidate my criticism that an episode like this was better suited in an early season. The episode had plenty of intrinsic value. Replace Vic with any other hologram, rebrand an early season episode, and not only is it now a good episode, it's better because it's less out of place.
  
  And that's just how it is. "Badda-Bing Badda-Bang" was filler of the worst kind. It's underserving of a zero solely because it has no technical problems. It sure would have been worth more points in an earlier season, but alas, it's smack dab in the middle of season 7. So there you have it.
• From Pete Miller on 2006-07-27 at 2:46am:
  I was very pleased that you responded to my commentary, and I'll have to say you cleared it up a bit for me. I will concede that the timing does lower the rating substantially. And you're right, some of the character development-type things are covered in other episodes, so I guess this one is dispensable in that manner as well.
  
  I still hold that it doesn't deserve a 1, because it isn't as horrible as something like "Move Along Home", but I take back what I said about your rating being based on your dislike for Vic. I see your point about the timing, but I guess it's just a matter of how important that kind of thing is to you. If you hold sequence and timing of episodes in high regards, then I guess a 1 could be appropriate. For me, however, a 5 is more like it.
  
  But thanks for the response. Always awesome to hear different viewpoints on Star Trek!!!
• From Kevin on 2009-06-07 at 2:06pm:
  One of my least favourite DS9 episodes for sure. The Vic Fontaine character was a fun novelty for one episode, but has certainly worn his welcome by this point. Now we have a whole episode about him? Also, holodeck malfuntions of any kind are so cliche. Vic Fontaine and holodeck malfunctions... guess the writers were feeling really lazy that week. (Or were simply bad writers)
• From Remco on 2009-08-01 at 3:43pm:
  I guess your enjoyment of this episode really depends on whether you like Vic. The same was true for "Take Me Out to the Holosuite". To enjoy that episode, you needed to enjoy baseball.
  
  I absolutely hated "Take Me Out", because I find watching baseball (or watching any sports) utterly boring. I skipped through most of the episode, and I wasn't entertained by all the sports movie cliches. I know that they were deliberately paying homage to such movies, but I just couldn't stand it.
  
  Because of that experience, I can completely understand your sentiment in giving this a 1 while giving "Take Me Out" a 10, even though they are essentially the same episode. That's an aspect of ratings, which makes averages meaningless. I would give this episode a 7 for being a very entertaining, if not very relevant episode. A rating I would have given "Take Me Out" if I wasn't so completely bored by it.
• From rpeh on 2010-08-05 at 11:55am:
  I think everyone is being harsh on this episode.
  
  It's true that the timing isn't ideal, I don't particularly like Vic Fontaine either, and I don't particularly like holodesk episodes, but beyond that it's probably my favourite holodesk episode.
  
  One thing you all seem to have missed is that it's *not* a holodesk malfunction - we're told that Felix designed the takeover to stop the program from getting boring. The way all the senior staff (bar Worf) get into the spirit of things for a hologram shows their spirit of friendship to great effect, and the way they resolve the situation is well-done and a lot of fun.
  
  I'm only giving this a 4, but I felt I had to speak up for this episode because of all the vitriol it's received up until now!
  
  One extra little thing. The "stirred, not shaken" point was picked up in the West Wing too, where the president points out that shaking a martini would chip the ice so Bond was really "ordering a weak martini and being snooty about it". Perhaps Bashir is a *real* man?
• From Psycroptic on 2012-07-20 at 12:41am:
  The timing was definitely not right, but it was still an extremely entertaining episode.
• From Bronn on 2013-07-29 at 6:15am:
  I actually really liked this episode. "It's Only a Paper Moon" is a personal favorite of mine because I see a lot of myself in Nog in that episode. He escapes into a fantasy world because the real world is really tough and scary, and he's faced it for the first time. But I like that it's not really a holodeck malfunction episode, because those are tired and stupid. It's just a holodeck story in which they have to solve in a holodeck manner, and nothing is at stake except for Vic Fontaine's program.
  
  I don't know where else they could have timed it, though. They wanted one last bit of fluff before they got back to the serious war plot to close out the series. The problem is that the war plot has been sitting ignored for too long-the last episode that really dealt with it was "Paper Moon"...which was also the last Vic episode. They wanted to introduce Vic as a recurring character, so it seems like he gets shoved down the audience's throat a bit. And the episode in which he introduced was a fluff episode in which they used musical numbers basically as filler, not a good way to introduce him to the audience.
  
  This episode had to take place after "Paper Moon," because that's the only episode when the audience really started to care about Vic-if at all. It would have been nice if "Paper Moon" hadn't been so recent, since it was an episode in which two non-regular cast members were at the center of the plot, which might be why some people were irritated about it. What they needed was a good stand-alone episode involving the war plot to air prior to this episode just to let the audience know that they hadn't gotten distracted. We probably could have done with "Prodigal Daughter" or "The Emperor's New Cloak" or "Chimera" and still had a solid season. If it were me, though, I'd have pushed back "Once More Into the Breach," Kor's last episode, and aired it just before this one. That was another one which didn't prominently feature the main cast members, but then you follow with this one, in which most of the main cast gets to operate together. It would have kept the war fresh, and I don't think people would have been as irritated at the war plot settling into the background for just one episode here.
• From L on 2013-08-18 at 12:16am:
  A pointless novelty episode that made me cringe.
  Not that a 'caper' genre episode was necessarily a bad thing, but I just hated it. Maybe it was just the context of it coming this late in the series, and that the one before it actually explored some interesting issues through science-fiction, as Star Trek should.
  This is just pointless indulgence in bad-taste americana.
• From spline on 2013-09-14 at 11:17am:
  This ep was great. It wouldnt work in an earlier season because we'd have had no connection to the characters. It's a simply fun ep that allows the cast to show off, combined with great music and great direction. Dont take it so seriously, and just love it for what it is!
  
  The best is yet to come!
• From mandeponium on 2014-08-03 at 12:04am:
  This was actually one of my favorites. I watch it as a farewell episode: the last fun holodeck romp before the final episodes running-up to the series finale. The end of this one gives me tingles when they are all alone in the lounge with Vic. They are still dressed up and as the camera pans over them Sisko sings "The Best Is Yet to Come."
  
  The viewer knows DS9 is almost over. This is such a hopeful episode and the second half of the season does not disappoint. They even copy the lounge scene in the last episode doing it all over again with Vic and the final farewell.
• From Axel on 2015-06-07 at 10:54pm:
  I don't see the appeal of Vic Fontaine. He was okay in "It's Only a Paper Moon" because that story served a purpose: Nog's post-injury recovery. But he's overused to the point of being annoying. It gets really bad in the finale when he takes up a ridiculous portion of the episode.
  
  This one, though, is bad for several reasons. They already had a wonderful holodeck episode in "Mr Bashir, I Presume?" So that angle's been done. The timing in the story arc is also poor as pointed out. Not everything has to be about the Dominion War, but this is just too silly. Finally, it doesn't even really feel like Star Trek. From a purely entertainment point of view, I guess it works but it's hard to ignore the context of the episode, which you have to do to enjoy it IMO.
  
  I'd give it a 2 for the acting, but it's by far the worst overall episode of the season.
• From ChristopherA on 2021-06-13 at 4:35pm:
  I really didn't much like watching this episode, and I wasn't quite sure why. There have been holosuite episodes I've liked in the past, the caper itself really isn't bad. I agree with others that the timing of the episode just didn't seem very good, while watching the series in order I was really feeling like it was time to return to the Dominion war, not to have yet another offbeat standalone episode.
  
  I agree with Axel that the episode really doesn't seem connected to Star Trek, and the episode doesn't compare that well to “Mr. Bashir, I Presume”. Somehow that episode felt like the homage was more fun, and felt like you were exploring the Star Trek characters placed in an unusual environment. Whereas this episode felt more like you were watching an ordinary miniature heist movie that just happened to feature the Star Trek actors, but could have been put on with any actors and it wouldn't have been any different. The only attempt to tie it to DS9 at all was the idea that they were coming together to do it for their friend Vic, which really didn't come across as a very dramatically interesting reason, especially since Vic is kind of a questionable character to begin with, and because the show seems unable to clearly confront the question about whether Vic is a sentient being or not. If he is sentient why are the characters so unable to perceive or acknowledge it, and if he is not sentient then the justification for the episode is pretty silly.
  
  Also, in all of the better Vic Fontaine episodes he is being used to significantly change the lives of the DS9 characters by offering them good advice or a different perspective. In this episode he seems totally pointless, he doesn't have any purpose other than to act as a MacGuffin to get the characters into a heist movie.
  

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-04-15 at 4:36am:
  I'd give it a 2 instead of a 1 because it does have some fairly comical moments
• From JRPoole on 2008-11-17 at 3:40pm:
  My (admittedly now vague) memory of DS9 is that it was the high point of the Trek franchise, so it's been a bit surprising to me in my current run through the series to find that, after the promising pilot, the early part of the first season flounders with some truly unremarkable episodes.
  
  "Dax" is a bad episode and doesn't really even get to accomplish the character development it shoots for because the episode is handled so badly. "The Passenger" is lackluster because we pretty much know that Julian is the one carrying Vantika's consciousess from the very beginning.
  
  Then we get this mess: Annoying, ridiculously over-the-top alien-of-the-week. What amounts to a recylced holodeck-malfunction-puts-crew-in-danger plot, and then there turns out to be no real danger at all. On top of that, none of this really makes any sense. At least there are some comical moments.
  
  Also, what's with Primmin? I have no recollection of him, and I can only assume that he goes away quietly after a few episodes. Was he simply a replacement for O'brien during his short stay away from the station?
• From Bernard on 2009-12-02 at 7:03pm:
  Couldn't bring myself to watch this one again in my current 'revisiting' of the series. So it must be bad.
• From John on 2011-01-06 at 12:58am:
  It cannot be overstated how much I completely hate, Hate, HATE this episode.
  
  The worst show of the entire series. The only good thing you can say about it is that they got it out of the way early.
• From Tallifer on 2011-03-08 at 6:22am:
  This story is similar to "The Celestial Toymaker" from early black & white Doctor Who, and believe it or not, the hoary 60s show did it far better. In the Whovian story, there was a real threat that the characters would be trapped forever as toys of the game-playing Toymaker. The games were equally silly and easy to overcome, but the dialogue and the villain were more convincing.
• From Zaphod on 2011-04-16 at 10:18am:
  I really enjoyed watching the first season of DS9 so far, much better storytelling than any other Star Trek series and more interesting characters than the one dimensional ones TNG had ... except for Ro Laren, love her, a real shame that she didnt want to play the Kira character (but Nana Visitor is awesome too).
  
  And because DS9 was really great to this point I am very offended by this terrible episode.
  I think the biggest problem is that Odos reaction to the game didnt make any sense. If he really feared that these aliens would play with the lives of Sisko and the others why didnt he force them to end this immediately? But no, they played along and gambled for their lives! That's just bloody stupid and even vicious. I cant find words for how much I hate this lazy written bullshit episode!
• From Shani on 2014-01-12 at 12:50pm:
  I watched every episode of ds9 when I was a child. For some reason this is the only episode I can remember clearly. Now that I'm re-watching this episode it does seem a little ridiculous. But I still like it for some reason (probably nostalgia more than anything else).
• From BV on 2015-10-28 at 5:35pm:
  Glad to see I am not alone in being appalled by this episode

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Bernard on 2009-12-03 at 10:29am:
  Interesting premise done badly, and I agree that the Kai is just thrown in there as a convenient way of setting up the ongoing bajoran story arc. I'd hardly say misuse of a great character though, she was only in the pilot for about five minutes!
  
  The three regulars are all well within character though and I liked Kira's reaction to Opaka's death, unfortunately because the viewer has not grown to know the Opaka character well enough any emotional impact is lost for me so you cannot share in her grief. It smacked much more of a TNG plot however with the convenient escape at the end. I gave it a 4, mainly for all the interesting moments and good characterisation throughout.
• From John on 2012-03-24 at 8:06pm:
  This episode is pretty bad. Not nearly as bad as 'Move Along Home', but still pretty bad. It has the additional distinction of being the episode which open the doors for Winn's rise to power. This is also a bummer.
  
  However, it does have one redeeming moment: when Kira reads her Cardassian intelligence file and discovers they didn't consider her much of a threat, she flips out, and I laugh every time. Yet another example of Kira taking things way too seriously.
• From Nathan on 2013-10-12 at 9:42am:
  This was a filler episode, and it was pretty awful. I think it might be my least favorite in this season (possibly even worse than move along home).
  
  About the only redeeming quality this episode had was setting up the Kai election at the end with Opaka's demise. Additionally, her end was thankfully brief- I hated every scene with her in it. She was a one dimensional character that spouted meaningless mumbo jumbo. People say she was a character that didn't get the chance to be developed. I say I am glad she didn't get more time and that they got rid of her when they did.
• From tigertooth on 2016-08-08 at 3:03am:
  Mike Ehrmantraut!
  
  I also thought I saw Hack Scudder (John Savage) in there as leader of the Nol-Ennis, but maybe it wasn't him.
  
  Anyway, did they ever follow up on the microbes that keep people from dying? You'd think that would be a major discovery.
• From Abigail on 2019-08-29 at 9:52pm:
  I just rewatched this episode. I didn't hate it as much as anyone else. Sure, it was a rather unfitting end for the Kai, but it's not like she was a hugely developed character prior to the episode. The main thing that bugged me is the way they didn't explore this new nanite technology at all. You'd think they'd be staying there to study it, doing anything they could to recreate it so the people could leave that world. It was weird how they discovered how the people returned to life, realized they'd die if they left the surface, and then were just like, "Oh, well. We'll leave the Kai here and never think about it again!"

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2008-11-18 at 9:30pm:
  Do we have to see Odo herding animals three times? The first time it was funny, but not the second or third.
  
  The conversations with the ball player were so boring!
• From Jake on 2012-05-22 at 2:46pm:
  although I agree that this was a lame episode I always thought that the alien species were the prophets trying for the first time to figure out the the way corporeal existence. Sisko even gets the baseball at the end that play a role in several important future episodes.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-06-10 at 1:50am:
  Yeah I still don't understand what they did with the universe. Did they beam it back into space in the gamma quadrant? If so, wouldn't it just destroy the area? And they tried so hard to make the episode really epic, with sisko's comments about the Borg "stepping on" other races.
  
  Just a very crappy episode
• From Remco on 2008-10-06 at 9:27pm:
  According to Jadzia, Runabouts are 14 meters wide, not 17. The tight passage was 17 meters wide.
  
  Arjin: I don't see it! I don't see it!
  Arjin: I see it! It's less than 17 meters across.
  Jadzia: This ship is only 14 meters wide. That gives you over 2 meters to work with.
• From rpeh on 2010-07-27 at 9:51pm:
  Another problem. When flying into the wormhole towards the end, the shuttle accelerates to "50 kilometers per hour" and then we're told that it'll take 17 seconds to enter the wormhole. Is the station really just 236 meters from the wormhole?
  
  The universe size "problem" isn't a problem. Read some Iain M. Banks for ways around it. Otherwise, this is a decent episode that adds a lot of back-story.
• From Bernard on 2011-03-27 at 8:52am:
  With this episode marks a big change for the series dynamic. The reason for that is the complete turn around in the writing of Jadzia Dax. Gone is the aloof, ageless, purely scientific young woman. In comes the raunchy, loud, aggressive Curzon... Sorry, I meant new Jadzia. This is the first big shift towards a more action orientated series (the later changes are the dominion, the defiant, bad-ass Sisko and finally the introduction of Worf).
  
  I don't complain about the change in the Jadzia character, but you have to ask why not change the host? You have the only species in the Star Trek universe that allows you to completely change actors legitimately and instead they decide that Jadzia will be written completely differently to before.
  
  This episode is okay but it does contain loads of interesting tidbits of Trill info that will be built upon later in episodes like 'Equilibrium' and 'Facets'.
  
  I don't care about bad science in the slightest... when the story is good enough to make you suspend disbelief. Here it isn't, and I found myself scratching my head just as some of you have commented.
  
  So, poor outing, but the first steps toward making DS9 into the best of the Star Trek series' have been taken.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Krs321 on 2011-09-12 at 12:18am:
  Problem: The Bajorans have an orb that allows you to travel through time now? WTF?
• From Cory on 2011-11-10 at 5:08am:
  Yes, The Orb of Time was introduced in Trials And Tribble-ations. However the fact both the Bajorans and Sisko will risk altering the timeline just so Kira can figure out for sure if Dukat and her mother were lovers is the biggest problem which knocks the episode down to a 1 in my eyes
• From Armsauce on 2017-06-16 at 12:57am:
  It didn't take much for Kira to convince Sisko. There's no way he'd agree to her plan like that, at least no so easily.
• From Jan on 2019-03-18 at 7:59pm:
  I didn't think the episode was that bad, but this 'Orb of Time' is way too powerful in the wrong hands.
  
  A bit of nit-picking: As we all well know, Nerys has dark brown eyes, but 3-year-old Nerys had very lightblue/grey eyes.
  It's possible that this is one of these 'differences' between Bajorans and humans, but I don't believe that.
  I AM aware that eyecolour can change even after a child hits one-year-and-a-half, but they won't turn from light blue to dark brown.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Paul on 2007-05-16 at 8:28pm:
  Remarkable scenes:
  
  Maihar'Du and Uri'Lash facing off.
  
  As for the rest of the episode...the less said about it the better.
• From EKH on 2007-07-13 at 8:15pm:
  A wonderful set-up. What a shame that it wasn't followed up on. Ferenginar conquered by the Dominion? That would have made for an interesting story, and hopefully would have finally gotten Ishka, Zek and Brunt killed off so that we didn't have to ever see them again, except in reruns. What we get, instead, is not only the worst episode of DS9, not only the worst of Star Trek, not only the worst science fiction episode ever, but the single worst hour of television ever written. An hour that really, truly hurts, in the most physical, literal and direct sense of the term. An hour that, luckily, I shall never, ever have to ever watch ever again, ever. Now, to suppress all memory of this travesty...
• From rpeh on 2010-08-03 at 8:25pm:
  I think most of what needs to be said has already been said. This is a very, very bad episode.
  
  There's one bit that made me laugh. Shimmerman's timing to deliver the final joke is absolutely spot on. Otherwise... what were they thinking???
• From Tallifer on 2011-04-21 at 10:29pm:
  Don’t listen to the critics! This episode was hilarious!
  1. Each rival Nagus has his own tall silent servant.
  2. Rom reveals his feminine side to his disconcerted friends. The look on his wife’s face was priceless.
  3. Sluggo Cola: the slimiest drink in the galaxy.
  4. How the initally annoying feminism of the episode is subverted: Quark persuades the Ferengi to clothe the females because they will become irrationally voracious consumers.
  5. Countless other offensive jokes about gender relations.
• From OmicronThetaDeltaPhi on 2014-06-30 at 12:49am:
  I guess I'm in the minority, but I thought this episode was quite entertaining. Now, I do wholeheartedly agree with the critics, that the cross-dressing thing wasn't funny at all. But most of the jokes WERE funny. And as usual, Armin Shimmerman gets 110% out of the script.
  
  Not a masterpiece by any means, but a decent (pardon the pun) episode nevertheless. I would give it a 5.
• From tigertooth on 2018-02-27 at 4:11am:
  I think this was a decent idea for an episode, but the execution was awful. Every now and then the humor worked -- the main example being Rom teaching Quark how to be female -- but most of it missed the mark big time. The Nog gag where he was running around the hallways made no sense. Why was he having such a hard time following a guy who was walking? And why would a Starfleet cadet be so out of shape? And even if you ignore that stuff, it just wasn't funny.
  
  They hardly even worked the obvious "Quark learns how hard it is to be a persecuted Ferengi female" angle. They sort of hit on that at the end, but again, it was done really poorly.