Introduction

This season is a must-see for fans of Trek (Trekkies, Trekkers, or whatever you prefer)! S3 has some of my fave eps of the entire series (so far I’ve watched 6 seasons). When DS9 originally aired, I saw most of the eps in S3; my faves then were Bashir (Alexander Siddig) and Dax (Terry Farrell). Now, I’d say that Odo and Kira are my faves. There are a few eps which you can skip (check out the IMDB ratings), but this is the transitional season which will lead us to the (exciting) S4.

Episodes 1 & 2: “The Search, Parts I & 11”

Episode 3: The House Of Quark

Quark: Now I know we’re doomed.

Rom: Why, brother?

Quark: Rule of Acquisition 286: When Morn leaves, it’s all over.

Rom: There is no such rule.

Quark: There should be.

“War is good for business” is the 34th Rule of Acquisition, but the bar is almost empty; people are leaving b/c they fear the Dominion. A drunk Klingon, Kozak, refuses to pay, assaults Quark (Armin Shimerman), and dies falling on his knife! When Quark sees curious crowds outside the bar, he decides to tell everyone he killed the Klingon to increase business. He soon gets a visit from Kozak’s brother, D’Ghor, seeking confirmation he died an honorable death. Quark has to tell the truth to Kozak’s widow, Grilka (Mary Kay Adams); she kidnaps him and forces him to marry her to save the House of Kozak. Keiko has to close the station’s school b/c all the kids left.

[Quark is looking over the financial records of Kozak and D’Ghor]

Quark: Very clever… Very clever, indeed… D’Ghor has manipulated your family’s holdings, devalued the lands you hold… and he is the principal creditor on Kozak’s outstanding gambling debts. It’s no accident that your family is getting weaker and D’Ghor’s family is getting stronger, he has been systematically attacking your family’s assets for over five years now.

Grilka: [outraged] You mean D’Ghor has been scheming and plotting like a…

Quark: …Like a Ferengi.

Stephen Hawking visited the set during the filming of this ep. We see the Klingon homeworld (Qo’noS); Chancellor Gowron (Robert O’Reilly) appears for the first time in this series. Veteran ST actor Joseph Ruskin plays another Klingon- Tumek. Some astute viewers will notice that the scenes in the Great Hall echo the TNG ep Sins of The Father (1990), but w/ a comedic twist; Ronald D. Moore also wrote the teleplay for that ep. This is a fun ep, which is must-see esp. for those who are fans of the Klingons!

Quark [facing a fight to the death w/ D’Ghor]: Having me fight D’Ghor is nothing more than an execution. So, if that’s what you want, that’s what you’ll get – an execution. No honor, no glory. And when you tell your children and your grandchildren the glorious story of how you rose to power and took Grilka’s house from her, I hope you remember to tell them how you heroically killed an unarmed Ferengi half your size.

Episode 5: Second Skin

Kira (Nana Visitor) is contacted by a Alenis Grem from the Bajoran Central Archives, who’s doing research on the former Elemspur detention center. Grem has proof Kira was once detained there; also, the last remaining former inmate recognizes her, so Kira decides to travel to the Archives. She never arrives, but awakes on Cardassia looking like her enemy! She is told that she was sent as a spy to Bajor many years ago; her long-term memory was altered to avoid being found out. She is called Iliana Ghemor, daughter of legate Tekeny Ghemor (Lawrence Pressman). Though Kira rejects all this, she starts having serious doubts when Entek (Gregory Sierra) from the Obisidian Order provides convincing proof.

Garak: I’ll go along on your fool’s errand, but I want one thing to be perfectly clear: I have no intention of sacrificing my life to save yours. If it looks like we’re in danger of being captured, if there’s any sign of trouble at all, you’re on your own!

Cmdr. Sisko: Mr. Garak, I believe that’s the first completely honest thing you’ve ever said to me.

The teleplay is by Robert Hewitt Wolfe (I wrote to him on Twitter- he replied), who came over from TNG. Wolfe started writing on DS9 at age 31 (as he said in an interview on The 7th Rule YT channel); he also served as a producer. I think this is one the the best eps of S3; it’s intelligent, mysterious, and touching. We get to learn more re: the Cardassians (considered to be one of Trek’s most interesting/well-developed aliens). Garak (guest star Andrew Robinson) plays a pivotal role. There is the father-daughter story, which is very well-played by Visitor and Pressman (a veteran character actor). For perhaps the first time in her life, Kira sees that NOT all Cardassians are evil!

Episode 6: The Abandoned

Quark buys the rights to a ship from the Gamma Quadrant; a crying baby is discovered among the items! Bashir notices the boy has a V fast metabolic rate, so is growing quickly. In a few hours, he’s a teen who starts fighting on the promenade. Odo (Rene Auberjonois) is the ONLY one who is able to calm him down; Jadzia realizes he’s Jem’Hadar! When Odo hears the boy is to be examined in a Federation lab, he convinces Sisko to let him be in charge of the young man. Odo wants to try to change his nature, so he can live as a normal humanoid. Meanwhile, Sisko (Avery Brooks) invites Jake’s (Cirroc Lofton) girlfriend, Mardah, over for dinner. Since Mardah is 4 yrs older than Jake and works as a Dabo girl at Quark’s bar, Sisko is opposed to their relationship.

Director/actor Brooks saw this ep as something of a metaphorical study of racial tension and gang culture: “For me, it was very much a story about young brown men, and, to some extent, a story about a society that is responsible for the creation of a generation of young men who are feared, who are addicted, who are potential killers.” This is the first ep to refer to Jake’s literary talents; this is also the first appearance of Ketracel-white (the “missing enzyme” to which the Jem’Hadar are “addicted”). Some viewers were reminded of Hugh who had been separated from the Borg collective on TNG. I thought the A story w/ the Jem’Hadar was rather engaging; I liked the alien make-up and the action scenes.

Episode 7: Civil Defense

Rule of Acquisition #75: Home is where the heart is, but the stars are made of latinum.

O’Brien (Colm Meaney) and Jake (who has been assisting him w/ Engineering tasks) are preparing one of the ore processing units to convert it into a deuterium refinery. Sisko checks up on them, just as Jake finds a strange file in the database which can’t be deleted. O’Brien accidentally trips a Cardassian security alert, and must enter a password, but fails. Suddenly, the room’s locked down, and a recorded message from Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo) appears on view screens, warning the “Bajoran workers” to surrender! This resembles the VOY ep Worst Case Scenario (1997); in both stories the crew trigger a computer program which they can’t to shut down which proves life-threatening.

We see Dukat express a desire for Kira, something that would return many times in the future. Here his attempt to impress her is treated as comedy. This is something which displeased Nana Visitor, who commented: “I would have liked my character to make the point that only a few years earlier, Dukat’s wanting me would have meant that he could have had me, and I wouldn’t have been able to do a thing about it. So it shouldn’t have been seen as a ‘cute’ moment. It was actually a horrifying moment, one that would make Kira feel disgust and panic. To Kira, Dukat is Hitler. She’s not ever going to get over that. She can never forgive him, and that is important to me. Kira may have started to see Cardassians as individuals, but she will always hate Dukat.”  

We also hear the first mention Quark’s cousin, Gaila (Josh Pais), who Quark is always jealous of for this wealth/status. This ep also builds upon the antagonism between Gul Dukat and Garak which was first hinted at in S2 E5 (Cardassians).

Episode 9: Defiant

Riker: Looks like you got your evening all planned. Hope you’ve got room for the unexpected.

It’s V busy on the station and Kira hasn’t even got time to read reports. Then, Starfleet requests a complete report on the computer calibration subroutine. When Bashir asks for a runabout to get medical supplies, she snaps! Bashir says Kira is overworked and orders her to rest. At Quark’s bar, she meets Cmdr. Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) who is on his way to the pleasure planet (Risa). They chat and she seems to like him. At the end of the next day, she runs into him again; Riker asks to have a look at the Defiant. Sisko assists Gul Dukat on Cardassia Prime to prevent the ship from entering Cardassian territory.

If you’re a fan of Riker (like me), this is the story for you; even if you’re not, it’s a compelling story (written by Moore). It turns out that this is Thomas Riker; he quickly/cleverly takes over the warship! Romance (potentially) wasn’t only in the cards for Kira and Riker; two of Maquis crew- Kalita (Shannon Cochran) and Tamal (Michael Canavan) met on the DS9 set and got married a few years later. Cochran played Gen. Martok’s formidable wife (Sirella) in S6, E7 (“You Are Cordially Invited.”) TNG fans may also recognize the Obsidian Order officer Korinas (Tricia O’Neill); this actress played Capt. Garrett in S3, E5: “Yesterday’s Enterprise.” I liked how Korinas swiftly cut down Dukat. This ep really builds up tension well; we get to learn more re: the Cardassians.

Episodes 11 & 12: “Past Tense, Parts I & II”

Episode 14: Heart of Stone

Olivia [to Viola disguised as Sebastian]: I have said too much unto a heart of stone. And laid mine honor too unchary on ’t. There’s something in me that reproves my fault. But such a headstrong potent fault it is, that it but mocks reproof. -Twelfth Night (Act 3, Scene 4)

Kira and Odo are returning to DS9 in a runabout. They are coming from Prophet’s Landing (a colony close to the Cardassian border) to review security procedures. They receive a distress call from a Lissepian supply ship that was attacked by a Maquis vessel. They start to follow the Maquis; the ship lands on a moon and Kira and Odo follow the man into a V unstable cave. Kira’s foot gets stuck inside a strange crystal. While the crystal slowly encapsulates her, Odo tries to free her. Meanwhile, Nog makes a special request to Sisko. As an adult, he is compelled by Ferengi by-laws to purchase an apprenticeship from a role model. Nog wants to be the first Ferengi in Starfleet, so he asks Sisko to write a recommendation for Starfleet Academy.

I think that was an interesting direction. Somehow, Captain Nog sounds cool. -Ron Moore

Rules of Acquisition #18: A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all.

It is revealed that a non-Federation citizen, in order to be admitted to the Academy, needs a reference from a command-level officer. This is the first ep in which Rom openly defies his brother Quark; this would continue in S3-4. We learn the origin of the name “Odo;” this is also the first time that he is seen handling a weapon. The ep title is taken from the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night, which also has themes of disguise and mistaken identity. Odo’s revelation that he loves Kira had been hinted at in several eps (The Collaborator and Meridian); Lwaxana Troi (who is Betazoid and telepathic) had guessed it in Fascination. Odo himself had never admitted it before! Both the A and B stories are terrific; I think I’ve seen this ep (written by Behr and Wolfe) 3x so far. I always liked the chemistry between Odo and Kira; the actors had much in common and became close friends while working on the series.

Episode 15: Destiny

A team of Cardassian scientists (incl. Tracy Scoggins; one of top contenders for Capt. Janeway on ST: VOY) comes to visit DS9 to help set up a subspace communications relay in the Gamma Quadrant. Suddenly, Vedek Yarka (Erick Avari), wants to speak with Sisko; he has a warning from the prophets. According to Trakor’s 3rd prophecy, 3 vipers (Cardassians) will return to their nest in the sky (DS9) which ultimately leads to the destruction of the Celestial Temple (the wormhole). Sisko and Kira dismiss it at first, since only 2 Cardassians scientists are coming. But, when a 3rd scientist arrives, Kira begins to worry. With more predictions coming true, Sisko must make a choice: between his Federation duties and his role as Emissary.

Gilora: It has been my experience that it…

Chief O’Brien: What? That Humans aren’t good engineers?

Gilora: No, not Humans. Males.

Chief O’Brien: I beg your pardon?

Gilora: Men just don’t seem to have a head for this sort of thing. That’s why women dominate the sciences.

Chief O’Brien: Maybe on Cardassia. But on this station, this man is Chief of Operations, and I know more about these systems than anyone, including you.

Sisko is (once again) tackling two roles- Starfleet officer and Emissary; he is not yet comfortable being a religious figure. This is the ep where we get to see “regular” Cardassians out there; two of these women (Ulani and Gilora) are scientists- professional, friendly, and have distinct personalities. The third woman (Dejar) is tough and judgmental to the others; she’s a member of the secretive spy group- the Obsidian Order!

Episode 19: Through the Looking Glass

A man looking exactly like O’Brien suddenly pokes a phaser in Sisko’s back and disappears w/ the captain through the transporter. He is taken to the Mirror Universe, where Kira and Bashir got stuck in S2. O’Brien (AKA Smiley) tells how the Mirror Sisko was the leader of a rebellion against the Klingon-Cardassian-Bajoran alliance, but he recently died. Sisko tells Smiley he’s not interested in replacing him, but his interest is piqued when he learns that a “Jennifer Sisko” (Felicia M. Bell) is alive and working for the alliance.

[Mirror Jadzia kisses Sisko]

Mirror Jadzia: That’s to let you know I missed you. [slaps him] And that’s for letting me think you were dead!

As fans know, in the Mirror Universe, clothes are more risque, the acting is over-the-top, and violence can break out anytime. Brooks was esp. happy when he read the teleplay, b/c Sisko has sex for the first time since the show began (w/ Mirror Dax and The Intendant). However, this is problematic (to our modern sensibilities) b/c Mirror Dax doesn’t know that he is a different man than her Sisko!

The raider’s corridor, transporter room, and turbolift, are redresses of the USS Defiant sets, using computer graphics from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. The lighting department had a harsh red light to make contrast to the bright white lights of “our” universe. The raider’s bridge was a redress of the runabout cockpit which served as the Maquis raider Val Jean in VOY series pilot (Caretaker). This is the second role for Tim Russ on DS9, the played the Klingon, T’Kar, in Invasive Procedures. His character role of Tuvok is a crossover from the role he played in VOY.

Episode 20: Improbable Cause & Episode 21: The Die is Cast

Garak: Never tell the same lie twice.

Garak’s shop explodes, but the tailor isn’t hurt badly; Odo immediately expects foul play. Odo asks Garak if he can think of possible suspects, but the Cardassian seems uninterested, and frustrates Odo’s investigation. Evidence of a pheromonic sensor in the bomb is found; this is a method favored by Flaxian assassins. A Flaxian had just arrived on DS9 prior to the explosion, so Odo decides to interrogate him.

Cmdr. Sisko: The question still remains, why would the Romulans want to have Garak killed?

Odo: I don’t know. Considering those uniforms of theirs, you’d think they’d appreciate a decent tailor.

I loved this joke from Odo, didn’t you? We see a new style of Tal Shiar uniform; this was Moore’s idea. After Visionary, Moore came to feel that the old style Romulan uniforms were unacceptable; he had Robert Blackman (costume designer) give the design an overhaul. Moore said: “I hated, underline hated, the Romulan costumes. Big shoulder pads, the quilting, I just loathed it. I begged, insisted, screamed, pleaded.” This was the first Star Trek two-part ep w/ different names for Part I and Part II. (There had been a 3-parter with different titles: The Homecoming, The Circle, and The Siege.)

Informant: Garak isn’t the only former operative in the Order who had an “unfortunate incident” yesterday, but he’s the luckiest. The other five didn’t survive.

Odo: Five operatives were killed yesterday?

Informant: Killed? No. Three died from “natural causes”, the other two perished in “accidents”.

Odo: Quite a coincidence.

Informant: If you believe in coincidence.

Robert Lederman and David R. Long’s original idea for this ep revolved around the punishment exacted upon Garak by the Obsidian Order for his killing of Entek in Second Skin. Garak realizes that someone is planning on assassinating him, so he blows up his own shop to ensure Odo gets involved. The producers decided to connect the ep to Defiant (to reveal what the Obsidian Order was up to in the Orias system). Joseph Ruskin (who plays The Informant who meets w/ Odo) has played the roles of Galt in TOS: The Gamesters of Triskelion, Tumek in The House of Quark and Looking for Par’Mach in all the Wrong Places, a Son’a officer in the TNG movie Star Trek Insurrection, a Vulcan master in VOY: Gravity, and an alien doctor on ENT: Broken Bow. Another veteran actor (Paul Dooley) plays Enabran Tain, the former head of the Obsidian Order and a mentor to Garak.

Enabran Tain: Always burn your bridges behind you. You never know who might be trying to follow.

The (imposing) joint Romulan-Cardassian fleet approaches DS9; Sisko is ready for a fight, but the fleet flies goes through the wormhole. We meet Col. Lovok (Leland Orser); he doesn’t seem to respect or fully trust Tain. The Tal Shiar and Obisidian Order ships are on a renegade mission to destroy the Founders’ home planet! Sisko (perhaps taking a cue from Kirk) decides to pursue them, defying Adm. Toddman’s (Leon Russom) orders to guard Bajor. Tain gives Garak his first assignment: interrogate Odo to find out more re: the Founders. Garak is given a device created by the Romulans which prevents Changelings from altering their form (yikes)!

Garak: We both value our privacy, our secrets. That’s why I know there’s something about the Founders you haven’t told anyone, something you didn’t even share with Starfleet and Commander Sisko. Hm? But you are going to tell *me*, Odo.

There are references to ancient Roman dictator Julius Caesar in this ep. The title The Die is Cast is taken from the words reportedly said by Caesar in 49 BC, as he led a legion of troops across the Rubicon River (an illegal act that started the Great Roman Civil War). Garak also quotes Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar to Tain (“I’m afraid the fault, dear Tain, is not in our stars but in ourselves”). The Changeling says to Odo at the end that the Dominion already has plans for the Klingon Empire and the Federation. This line is foreshadowing of the story arc in S4.

Odo: They’re still my people. I tried to deny it, I tried to forget. But I can’t! They’re my people, and I want to be with them, in the Great Link!

E21 is the first w/ Behr as EP; one of the major changes he made to the show was in action sequences. Space battles had to be shown onscreen more, not just referred to (as TNG had repeatedly done). We see the most number of ships (so far) in any of Trek. We see (again) that Garak isn’t a typical good guy; he’s capable of shady deeds (incl. torture). We see another side of Eddington (who reports directly to Toddman, not Sisko); he sabotages the cloaking device! The stakes are high here, the writing is very good, and also the directing is interesting (w/ some shots reminiscent of film noir).

Lovok: [just as Odo and Garak are to make their escape, Col. Lovok arrives armed with a disruptor, but he then hands Odo a PADD] You will need this in order to gain access to your Runabout.

Odo: [surprised] Why are you doing this?

Lovok: Because no Changeling has ever harmed another.

Episode 24: Shakaar

Odo: It has been my observation that one of the prices of giving people freedom of choice… is that sometimes, they make the wrong choice.

Sisko gets an urgent message from Bajor and delivers some bad news to Kira. Kalem Aprem, First Minister of the Provisional Government, has died from a heart attack. Kira is V upset to hear spiritual leader Kai Winn (Louise Fletcher) has already been appointed as successor. Kira can’t shake the feeling that giving Winn control is a mistake. Suddenly, Winn visits the station to see Kira; she has a favor to ask. Shakaar (Duncan Reghr), the leader of Kira’s resistance cell during the Cardassian occupation, refuses to return some government-loaned soil reclamators (used to detoxify soil poisoned by the Cardassians). Winn wants to use them in the Rakantha province, which was once Bajor’s most productive farmland. She thinks this will once again make export possible, increasing Bajor’s chances of being accepted into the Federation. Kira agrees to talk to Shakaar, who is now a farmer.

Shakaar: I didn’t fight the Cardassians for 25 years just so I can start shooting other Bajorans.

This ep serves as a sequel of sorts to Life Support; it contains references to the death of Vedek Bareil and the signing of the Bajoran-Cardassian Treaty. We meet Kira’s friends Furel (William Lucking) and Lupaza (Diane Salinger) for the first time; they have also become farmers and jokingly bicker like a long-term couple. We also see the Bajoran phaser rifle for the first time. Lenaris Holem (John Doman) is a leader in the civil police; he was also a freedom fighter in his day (and doesn’t want to fire on his own people).

I have met people who are obsessive and I find it fascinating to watch Kia Winn throughout the DS9 run. Her obsession over power is a cautionary tale about the power of fanaticism and watching her slow march into insanity is intriguing. -Excerpt from IMDB review

Episode 26: The Adversary

Major Kira: Well, now that you have another pip on your collar, does that mean I can’t disagree with you anymore?

Capt. Sisko: No. It just means, I’m never wrong.

Major Kira: Ah – we’ll see about that.

Sisko is (finally) promoted to captain; we see him for the last time w/ a full head of hair! We have the first appearance of several new sets on the Defiant, incl. main engineering, the mess hall and the extended corridor. This ep also has the first mention of the Tzenkethi, who fought a war against the Federation that Sisko participated in. They’re mentioned again later, but never seen onscreen. Sisko takes the Defiant to Tzenkethi space to prevent a coup-de-etat, which Ambassador Krajensky (Lawrence Pressman) said could be problematic. While working on the ship, O’Brien hears strange sounds; soon, breakdowns and mishaps start occurring. Sisko believes someone on-board is the cause of these acts of sabotage. This ep is the last time Alexander Siddig is credited as Siddig El Fadil as an actor.

Before things get quite serious/risky, I liked the light-hearted scene where Dax playfully questions Sisko re: Kasidy, who he recently met and went on a date w/ (thanks to Jake). Suddenly, there is a message (w/ heavy static) from a planet (Barisa Prime) saying they are under fire; Sisko assumes that war w/ Tzenkethi has broken out. They try to contact a nearby Federation ship (USS Ulysses), but it turns out that the communications relay isn’t working. O’Brien and Dax find parasites (w/ force fields protecting them) growing inside all the major systems of the Defiant.

Moore really liked this story b/c he considers it to be very un-Star Trek. Krajensky morphs into his true form as a Changeling and escapes into the conduits! You can’t trust anyone, since the enemy could be disguised as anyone. The non-essential crewmen are locked into their quarters. Then, Dax is knocked out, so O’Brien has more work to do. Control of the ship is gone; it’s cloaked, armed, and flying to the Tzenjethi border at high warp. Sisko declares to Kira that if O’Brien can’t regain control, he’ll have to destroy the ship (to prevent a war)!

Odo: [on using a phaser on a fellow Changeling] In the history of my people, no Changeling has ever harmed another. I’d hate to be the first.

Eddington: Apparently that Changeling doesn’t feel the same way. If we don’t stop him, no one on board will escape unharmed, including you.

Odo: You may be right. But I’ve been a Security officer most of my humanoid existence; and in all that time, I’ve never found it necessary to fire a weapon, or take a life. I don’t intend to start now.

They break off into teams of 2, armed w/ phaser rifles (modified NOT to damage equipment), and sweep the ship. The Changeling attacks a security officer (stunt coordinator Dennis Madalone) and strangles him inside a Jeffries tube! Sisko tries to follow it, then comes across a stand-off between a Bolian security officer and Kira in the corridor. Odo and Eddington come upon the scene also. Odo punches out the Bolian who was refusing to drop his phaser. Sisko decides that Bashir will test everyone’s blood to reveal who is the Changeling. Unlike humanoids, they revert to their natural gelatinous state when injured. Though we think Eddington is the one, it turns out the Changeling has morphed into Bashir (trapping the real doctor in the brig)! The Changeling escapes again inside the conduits- Odo follows him.

We learn that the ship has changed course and it heading to a Tzenkethi colony just 12 mins away. On the bridge, Sisko initiates the auto-destruct sequence, then Kira follows up; it’s set to a 10 min. counter. While O’Brien and a crewman work to get the force fields down around the Changeling, two versions of Odo appear in Engineering! Kira says that shuttlebay doors are closed and evacuation pods are locked also. Whoa, this is as tense as things can get!

The fight between Odo and the Changeling was very complicated to put together b/c of many morphing effects. There were more morphing effects in this scene than in the the rest of S3, producer Steve Oster noted. The writers decided to use the line “no changeling has ever harmed another” as an important element; this line had been heard before (The Search, Part II, Heart of Stone and The Die is Cast). Odo is very affected by the other Changeling’s death.

Odo: Captain, there’s something you need to know. The Changeling, before he… died – he whispered something to me.

Capt. Sisko: Go on.

Odo: He said…”You’re too late. We are everywhere.”

[1] This is a very tense episode with lots of surprises and twists. I also appreciated the ending when you see Odo do something you’d never expect! All in all, one of the better episodes- which is true of all the Changeling episodes.

[2] As the crew start to distrust each other and the sense of paranoia increases the atmosphere becomes more tense.

[3] Good story, good action, and good performances combine to make an open-ended season finale without a contrived or over-the-top cliffhanger.

Deep Space Nine can be great Trek when it wants to be…

-Excerpts from IMDB comments