Season 3

Disk 1, Episode 1 (445): The Search- Part 1

Art Of War	Definitive
Rating	Great
Relationship	The Dominion
Notes:	The introduction of the Defiant, which get’s it ass kicked, first time out, (which is kinda cool that they would take that risk) and continues the idea that the Federation may be outmatched by the Dominion.

 

Disk 1, Episode 2 (446): The Search- Part 2

Art Of War	Required (The Drums of War)
Rating	Great
Relationship	The Dominion
Notes:	Talky, Talky wrap up to the The Search Part 1, but you really need to watch this to finally learn who are “The Founders” of the Dominion.  No War, but The Drums of War are sounding here.

 

Disk 1, Episode 3 (447): The House of Quark

Art Of War	What is Brain
Rating	Great
Relationship	none
Notes:	A fun filled Ferengi episode romp that does nothing for the war but is fun to watch, none the less

 

Disk 1, Episode 4 (448): Equilibrium

Art Of War	What is Brain
Rating	Not so good
Relationship	none
Notes:	As a Trill episode, not one of my favorites, nothing to do with the war, and trill episodes kinda bore me as a rule.

 

Disk 2, Episode 5 (449): Second Skin

Art Of War	Deep Background
Rating	Good
Relationship	Cardassian Politics
Notes:	This episode was a filler and a “what if it is TRUE” sort of thing, but the writers later use the seeds that were dropped here for the story to allow nuance to Cardassian Politics, especially the tension between the military and the Obsidian Order (secret service)

 

Disk 2, Episode 6 (450): The Abandoned

Art Of War	Recommended
Rating	Great
Relationship	Dominion (Jem’Hadar) background
Notes:	This begins to truly introduce us to the Jem’Hadar and their nature.  Will come in handy later on

 

Disk 2, Episode 7 (451): Civil Defense

Art Of War	Deep Background
Rating	Good
Relationship	none
Notes:	This has nothing directly to do with the war, but understanding Gul Dukat is so important in later episodes and this one gives us some good fun background about him.

 

Disk 2, Episode 8 (452): Meridian

Art Of War	What is Brain
Rating	What is Brain
Relationship	none
Notes:	Brigadoon moved into DS9… As bad in execution as the concept sounds.

 

Disk 3, Episode 9 (453): Defiant

Art Of War	Required
Rating	Good
Relationship	Cardassian Politics, Dominion War
Notes:	This episode lays the ground work for a VERY important pivotal 2 parter coming up later in the season.

 

Disk 3, Episode 10 (454): Fascination

Art Of War	What is Brain
Rating	What is Brain
Relationship	none
Notes:	Save yourself some time and skip this one!

 

Disk 3, Episode 11 (455): Past Tense- Part 1

Art Of War	What is Brain
Rating	Great
Relationship	none
Notes:	This one and the follow up episode have nothing to do with the war, but as social commentary on politics in the U.S. this one is worth watching

 

Disk 3, Episode 12 (456): Past Tense- Part 2

Art Of War	What is Brain
Rating	Great
Relationship	none
Notes:	As the wrap up to the first part, this episode does so well and adroitly what Star Trek does best, reflects both the worst in Humanity and the U.S. and the best.  It is timely commentary on how we treat our fellow down and out humans

 

Disk 4, Episode 13 (457): Life Support

Art Of War	Recommended
Rating	Poor
Relationship	Cardassian Politics, Bajoran Politics
Notes:	I really didn’t like this one, just never gelled as a story for me, but it does dispense with Vedek Bareil (in a fairly bad way if you ask me), thus opening Kira for future developments.  It feels like Bareil was in the way of where the writing staff wanted to go, and they couldn’t take the time to give him a good send off.  On the other hand Kai Winn is as duplicitous and slimy as ever, don’t you just love a good villain?

 

Disk 4, Episode 14 (458): Heart of Stone

Art Of War	Required
Rating	Great
Relationship	Odo & the Founders
Notes:	This episode tells you why we had the previous one.  I suspect they came up with the idea for this one first and wrote the previous one to clear the decks for what is revealed here.  Having said that, this is a VERY GOOD episode, well played and tells us a lot about the Founders and Odo

 

Disk 4, Episode 15 (459): Destiny

Art Of War	Background
Rating	Good
Relationship	The Emissary
Notes:	Here we openly confront the problem that Sisko faces in his role as Emissary and as a Starfleet Officer.  A good examination of the role of “Prophecies” both in the larger context of the series and in Bajoran society

 

Disk 4, Episode 16 (460): Prophet Motive

Art Of War	What is Brain
Rating	Good
Relationship	none
Notes:	Another fun filled Ferengi episode romp that does nothing for the war but is fun to watch, none the less.  I like Grand Nagus episodes

 

Disk 5, Episode 17 (461): Visionary

Art Of War	What is Brain
Rating	Great
Relationship	none
Notes:	I like temporal mechanics episodes, and this one is a good one, but I gotta tell you, isn’t it amazing how handy it is that someone gets bounced in time just when they are facing multiple ways they are going to die?  Lucky for them.  There is a bit of a paradox (time travel wise) that the writers just throw out there and will not come into play later on, but still it’s fun to “think” about.

 

Disk 5, Episode 18 (462): Distant Voices

Art Of War	What is Brain
Rating	Not so Good
Relationship	none
Notes:	Alexander Saddig’s (as Siddig El Fadil) acting is actually very good here and the make-up is excellent, but it was a week story!

 

Disk 5, Episode 19 (463): Through the Looking Glass

Art Of War	What is Brain
Rating	What is Brain
Relationship	none
Notes:	The writers REALLY WEAR OUT the alternate universe in DS9 (easy lazy bottle show writing), so much so, that I didn’t even bother to watch it this time thru, and I won’t watch the other ones either.

 

Disk 5, Episode 20 (464): Improbable Cause

Art Of War	Required (Drums of War)
Rating	Great
Relationship	Cardassian Politics
Notes:	Well it’s a Garak episode, so I like. It’s an Odo episode so that also recommends it, and finally some of the earlier hints of things to come begin to come together.

 

Disk 6, Episode 21 (465): The Die Is Cast

Art Of War	Definitive
Rating	Nerd-vana
Relationship	The Dominion War
Notes:	The Obsidian Order and the Tal’Shiar join forces to make an Alpha Quadrant first attack on the Dominion, and The Founders in particular, with amazingly bad results and dire consequences for the Alpha Quadrant, and the future of Cardassia.