Making progress…
- Gul Dukat is back for his "Return to Grace". He and his half-Bajoran daughter have been banished to escort duty, and now he's escorting Kira to a conference. Before she leaves, there's a wacky scene involving inoculations and nausea. The routine mission becomes an emergency after a Klingon attack. Kira and Dukat become unlikely allies and resistance fighters against the Klingons. There's a lot of banter throughout--why is every male in the quadrant in love with Kira? Improbably, Kira and Dukat--on their own--board and take over a Klingon warship, while beaming the bad guys to the smaller damaged ship. Unfortunately, the Cardassians have decided on a diplomatic solution--so Dukat decides to go rogue with his stolen ship. HIs daughter isn't ready for that kind of life, so she returns to DS9 with Kira.
- Ugh! Get ready for more monologues on honor and duty for the "Sons of Mogh". There's also some flirtation between Worf and Dax--is this sci-fi or soap opera? Worf's brother Kurn then arrives--their family has been kicked off the High Council since Worf sided with the Federation. So, Kurn wants to commit ceremonial suicide (with Worf's help). They are partly successful before Odo and Dax intercede. There's a subplot regarding Klingon cloaked mines, forcing Worg and Mogh on their own secret mission. In the end, it's clear that Kurn will not live with dishonor, so Worf takes the extraordinary step of having Kurn's memories wiped--wow!
- Is it Norma Rae or Rom? Frustrated with Quark's management policies, he decides to form a union in "Bar Association". This seems to be a wafer-thin concept to base an episode on, but with some "day in the life" B-stories, they manage to eke it out. The Bajorans are holding a one month cleanse, Bashir and O'Brien are off on another holodeck adventure, Worf is tired of all the chaos on the station, Rom has an earache… Sisko seems to have become a "bad cop" for the station with little else to do--was Avery Brooks working on other projects at the time? In the end, Rom quits the bar and gets an engineering job, while Worf moves his quarters to the Defiant. The latter reminded me of Greg Brady moving his bedroom to the attic...
- Who's the real Emissary? In "Accession", an ancient Bajoran poet (Richard Libertini) arrives to take over the job. According to Memory Alpha, the producers had to fight the studio to do another Emissary show--viewers had problems with religious-based episodes, apparently. Sisko seems quite happy about getting out of the religious icon position. Unfortunately, Bajor had a strict caste system back int he poet's time, and he wants to return to that culture. Kira's family was in an artist's caste--and she proves she's no artist. In the end, both Emissaries go ask the wormhole what to do. A quick vision later, and Sisko's back in the Emissary business. Also, Keiko (remember her?) returns after a year on Bajor--and she's pregnant. Fortunately, it's quickly established that it is Miles' baby.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (and all the Trek series) is available on Netflix.