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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 2 Review

The second season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is more of the same. It still has its problems, but it has a bigger number of terrific episodes in it.

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“What is this preoccupation you have with dying?

I think living is much more attractive“

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The Homecoming begins this pretty strong trilogy that peaked in The Circle and The Siege. It’s a great emphasis on Kira who continues to be a powerful character, one of the best on this show. The emphasis on the Bajoran Government and the Cardassians is rewarding here as these storylines usually appeal to me the most. Invasion Procedures is in comparison inferior and forgettable.

As for Cardassians, it’s one of those dramatic, character-driven episodes that are emotionally rich and powerful. Melora is such a silly episode that is concerned about gravity and the newly introduced character is very uninteresting and such a cliched, stereotypical woman. Rules of Acquisition is a better than average Quark episode, but I still continue to dislike his character.

Necessary Evil is a pretty solid murder mystery in a season filled with quite a number of similarly structured episodes, which was interesting to witness. Second Sight is more of a romantic and thus less important episode. Sanctuary is an entirely forgettable episode while Rivals is a very silly, filler-like Quark episode that I really did not like.

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The Alternate is a very intriguing Odo episode. He got a lot more to do in this season than he had gotten before, but still he need better development in order to reach the fullest potential. Armageddon Game is an overly political excursion even for this show, but Whispers is the best O’Brien episode so far that succeeds as a widely intriguing, captivating even mystery that is competently executed throughout.

Paradise is a high-concept story, but the execution is more standard than sophisticated. Shadowplay isn’t memorable, but Playing God is definitely fascinating in its ides, but very weakly unified with two overly differing subplots. Profit and Loss is supposed to be politically intriguing, but it ended up weaker than expected. Blood Oath is a pretty good Klingon episode in a season that finally introduced them to a fuller capacity.

The Maquis is fine, but it should have been better as a two-parter, though Part II is much more engaging than Part I. The Wire is a fantastic Garak showcase in a story that is dramatic and emotionally moving. Crossover is a mirror universe episode that attempts to connect the show to its predecessors with middling results. The Collaborator is far from memorable, but Tribunal is another terrific O’Brien episode that is this time around basically a courtroom drama. It’s a great tribunal that is very involving to follow. The Jem’Hadar sees Quark go to his homeworld, but only the ending is interesting here, at least to me.

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Overall, it’s another messy season that has way too many underutilized, forgettable, cliched episodes, but some are downright terrific with the courtroom drama/mystery installments being the best stories.

Worst Episodes: Melora, Second Sight and The Rivals.

Best Episodes: Blood Oath, Whispers, The Wire and Tribunal.