Death and birth in this batch of episodes...
- Odo and Quark's relationship comes to a head in "The Ascent". Odo is taking Quark to a distant planet for a grand jury. Unfortunately, they find a bomb on the runabout, which takes out the ship's systems, forcing them to crash on a savage world. WIth the main distress beacon down, they have to go up a mountain to get a signal out. During the hike, Odo realizes Quark is a witness in the trial, not the defendant. They continue to bicker until they come to blows. Odo's leg is broken during the fight, so Quark drags him up the mountain on a litter, then must go on alone. He succeeds--to Odo's annoyance. The B-Story is all about Nog, who's back on the station for a field study. He and Jake are now roommates--and Nog is now the responsible one. It's a wacky sitcom!
- Emissary Sisko is having bad visions in "Rapture". He somehow manages to find in a Bajoran painting the location of a legendary city after getting zapped in a holosuite. Bajor is about to be accepted into the Federation, but Sisko is missing the hoopla. He's searching for the city--and finds it! He starts to have stabbing headaches, can now read minds, and has more and more visions. His brain activity is killing him--but he won't stop. Kai Wynn helps Sisko through his visions with one of the Orbs. He warns Bajor NOT to join the Federation, then passes out. Jake gives Bashir permission to do the surgery to save him. The visions cease--Sisko is distraught--and Bajor holds off on joining. During all this, Kasidy returns after her prison sentence, and Starfleet sent over new uniforms so they matched the type used on Voyager and the later TNG movies as of this episode.
- Kira's life is in danger due to "The Darkness and the Light". Her old Resistance buddies are getting knocked off one by one--could she be next? Kira gets a mysterious message after each death. She's torn between her duty to Bajor and her role as pregnant mother (remember, she's carrying Keiko's baby), finally charging off to track down the killer. He turns out to be a Cardassian physically scarred during a Resistance attack--and Kira has no remorse about it. There's a whole "Silence of the Lambs" thing going on. We do get a rare transporter accident with grisly results, as well as some new backstory for Kira. There's also a minor B-story with the bickering Klingon/Trill couple.
- It's baby time in "The Begotten". KIra's going into labor, while Odo gets a baby Changeling from Quark (huh?). Bajoran birthing ceremonies are as weird as their other religious events--it involves playing musical instruments to generate a regular rhythm for the baby. Her story ends up being comic relief for the Changeling story. Odo has a long monologue with the "baby"--basically a pile of goo--and becomes quite attached. Odo's old "professor" Dr. Mora (he originally studied Odo) gets involved--to Odo's dismay. There's a great sequence where Odo shows the "baby" various simple shapes to try out. They bicker and play mind games with each other, but team up in the end. Unfortunately, the Changeling baby doesn't survive--but it transfers it's essence to Odo--he's a Changeling again!
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (and all the Trek series) is available on Netflix.