Thoughts on: Star Trek DS9 Season Three

•  Dax's hair has gotten a lot... bigger since S2... ("The Search P1")
• Oh dear - I think Odo feels threatened by the new security fellow in more than just a professional capacity..!
• Sisko's just like 'Odo, it wasn't that long ago that people like me were seen in a similar light as you feel viewed now... It took humans almost two and a half millenia to get over each other's differences; you can't expect us all to get along straight off the bat with non-humans!'
• The little smile on Kira's face when she learned Odo had decided to join them!
• "Let's hope it's not the last." Way to jinx it, Kira. Next you'll mention that at least it isn't raining, or that things could get worse...
• Of course, we all know the reason everything has gone so smoothly so far is because the Founders want it to; it's just that tiny little bit more obvious than the writers were hoping for.
• It's harsh and goes against everything human nature dictates, but leaving them is the right thing to do. Just have to go back later to retrieve/rescue them...
• The Romulan is obviously using a Romulan phaser that's turned right down - I thought they were supposed to be stronger than/more likely to vaporise someone than Federation ones?
• Since the shapeshifters are all mirroring Odo in how they present themselves, how come they don't all look identical to him? Why would there be any variance? They're shapeshifters! ("The Search P2")
• Happy Odo is not real and cannot hurt you. Happy Odo: (: ])
• Calling it now; they're not the real Dax and O'Brien.
• The Great Link sounds very similar to a cult... I know that's probably a deliberate parallel.
• You are Borat(h)? Where is your mankini? And your moustache? Hmmmmmmm. lol
• The fact that Borath spoke of the Dominion in the singular ('our people') instead of the plural as would be expected of a multi-species realm ('our peoples') is very telling.
• I'm starting to think that Odo's base state is 'sulking'!
• Yeah there's no way in any hell that Sisko and Bashir are back on DS9 at all.
• Okay, this is starting to get really frustrating. Can we wrap this whole 'fake DS9' thing up now and move on?
• That loud snap? That was poor little Odo's heart breaking, learning that his people are the bad guys.
• Well manslaughter of a patron is not gonna look good on the resume either... ("The House of Quark")
• Bashir's just thinking 'Well he certainly knows how to put on a show..."
• Everyone else is like 'Oh no the school's closed!' and I'm just sat here like 'but isn't Keiko a botanist, anyway?' lol
• Quark: 'See? Lying is always the best option! Works every time!'
• I love how much O'Brien loves his wife. It's adorable... everyone deserves to be loved like that.
• Oh, come on Quark. She's a beautiful woman; anyone can see that. Besides, Ferengi aren't averse to the old 'abduct a spouse' routine! (Of course, it's still sexual assault and I do not condone it's use even as a comedic device, but you gotta find a silver lining or go insane...)
• "....and you have no idea where to go from here." 'Good thing you married a master of planning on the fly!'
• "You're asking my opinion?" says Bashir, and O'Brien immediately regrets it!
• Well, if the bar business does slow down too much, Quark could always go into storytelling - like audiobooks or like a gleeman from WoT!
• Odo trying to whip souffle is adorable. ("Equilibrium")
• What if the song Jadzia knows-but-doesn't is one that Verad (S2; "Invasive Procedures") knew?
• Or maybe it's a mind conrol thing?
• *Gasp* Le Fantome??!
• Are we finally going to work through the trauma of "Invasive Procedures"? Because I think it's plenty time to start doing the whole 'toughing it out doesn't work' thing.
• So what is the pretty Trill doctor hiding? Seems a shame really; would maybe be more interesting if the doc was just as in the dark about these "hallucinations" (which are becoming more obviously suppressed memories) as Jadzia is.
• The composer was a host of Dax - one that's been erased from its memories somehow... memories that are trying to return.
• Memories that were erased because Joran Belar was never meant to be a host in the first place! Much easier to erase evidence of wrongdoing than to just admit what happened and improve upon procedure etc...
• Or maybe Dax was joined with Joran as a temporary measure after Torias Dax fell into a coma to keep the symbiont alive until its next host Curzon was ready.
• Ah yes, an ominous unknown figure. Lovely. ("Second Skin")
• An ominous unknown figure of a race I'm sure I've seen before... the Dominion traders?
• Well that's certainly something to wake up to...
• And after a few days, and she still doesn't remember? What then?
  
• Iliana is very similar a name to Ilyena... no connection, I'm sure.
• It says a lot about Cardassian culture that 'Inquisitor' is a job at a university.
• Garak: "Commander, this is extortion!" 'I knew there was a reason I liked you.'
• Whatever is going on with Kira, I don't think the Legate is actually in on it. It seems he genuinely thinks his daughter is back from whatever fatal mission they sent her on.
• Ah, I see. Garak is a name that means 'stone cold badass.'
• I like the added realism of the purple hair dye running onto the 'scalp/hairline' of the latex mask. Makes it seem more like her actual face. ("The Abandoned")
• Surely that'd be one of the Rules of Aquisition: "Don't Purchase Merch You Have Not Seen IRL"? "Inspect Before You Buy"?
• Quark's just like 'Oh great. Now I'm a dad.'
• Lucky kid - he's got a whole space station of Mums, Dads, Aunties and Uncles, siblings!
• 'Couse, he's going to grow up awfully fast, what with the whole 'accelerated rate of cell division' thing. And need to eat almost constantly too...
• Odo put the plant in his old bucket; that's how special he finds Kira. <3
• Ah, I see. Gotta grow up fast so they can be put to use as enforcement sooner.
• Amazing; someone whose smile is creepier than Odo's!
• Looks so pointed they could stab an atom... poor Sisko!
• Never has 'I told you so' been such a painful thought.
• Quark: "I think I'll stay right here." Else he'll have to start giving... *shudder* refunds... ("Civil Defense")
• Sheesh... the Cardassians sure know how to overkill! Probably find the code is something like 1234. (That's the code I have on my luggage!)
• Gods-fucking-dammit was there a contingency they didn't plan for?!
• Welp. Didn't see that coming did you Dukat? Ha! Now they're all totally screwed! Wait...
• I do not like this orange haired man. Nope. Not at all. ("Meridian")
• Awww! Poor Odo is just like 'that was awkward... I wish she'd hold my hand some more...'
• Yep. Orange Guy is certified SLIMY.
• Oh dear - something tells me there'll be something that prevents Deral and/or his people from leaving the planet...
• Or not, since he managed to reach the Defiant, at least.
• Wait... if the natives of Meridian are the descendants of a science team that got stranded on Meridian, and Deral is worried that Jadzia's quantum whatever doesn't match Meridian's and she wouldn't survive the shift... how did the science team survive?
• Well if that wasn't the most horrifying thing I have ever seen... is what Slimy Orange Guy deserves though!
• Ah yes, the apologetic awkwardness of 'we would have told you sooner if they had told us sooner'... ("Defiant")
• Yay, Riker!
• Good old Will Riker. Here to steal hearts and kick ass. And he's all outta ass... (That sounded better in my head...)
• The little riffs from the TNG theme is nice to hear.
• Um... what. Why would Riker be all 'grr' at O'Brien? Oh no... it's not really Will, is it...
• For once, I am not happy with being right...
• OMG TOM
• Yes, because nothing says 'nothing to see here' like destroying and murdering everything and everyone that goes near there...
• Methinks Auntie Lwaxana spoilt little Molly a little too much! But who wouldn't? Small children are adorable... more so when they're someone else's! ("Fascination")
• Lwaxana: "You'll never be alone again!" Odo: 'Oohhh noooooo...!' 
• Lwaxana is so generous, sharing her headache with everyone like that. (Yes, I know she doesn't mean to.)
• Oh it's getting all Shakespearean out here! Midsommer Night's Dream, anyone?
• Sisko: "Jake, do I have to give you the Nice Guy Talk?"
• Oh yay a time travel episode. ("Past Tense p1")
• At least Jadzia is human-passing.
• Commercials everywhere... well they got one thing right about the early 2020s...
• They got the dehumanisation of poorer people right too...
• The only problem I have with the whole 'sanctuary district' aspect of the lore is the fact that if the idea was raised IRL people would scream 'communism!' and it wouldn't happen anyway. Not that I think they're a good idea, of course.
• I can only imagine how these episodes went down when they originally aired...
• "Um, if the timeline has changed because of Bell's death, what do we do with the Defiant? We can't just un-exist that too." 'Oh, just have O'Brien spout some technobabble, that usually works.' "...alright."
• Quick thinking of Sisko there; giving Bell's name as his own to try to fix the timeline. Now, how to die without dying? I don't think the Dragon Reborn's method will work here...
• That guy playing the rich dude looks juuust enough like David Bowie to leave you thinking 'is it him?' (I know it isn't.) ("Past Tense p2")
• Really feeling Sisko's frustration right now. Ghost Guy is not helping even himself with the way he wants to do things.
• Of course, this whole thing is made a bit easier by the knowledge of what's supposed to result from it.
• Ah no; Webb is dead. He's said both 'I'll meet up with you later' and 'Tell your mom I love her' - those are words usually said by characters the scene before they die in a brutal manner...
• Well, now we know what actually happened during the Webb Riots of 2024... (lol)
• Aahhh. I get it now. (The fact I have to state that is saddening to me, but some people don't seem to get the whole 'thoughts as I have them' part of this and seem to assume I only watch half of each episode and feel the need to explain the rest to me...)
• Of course, there's still the issue of their stolen comm badges left behind in 2024..!
• Not much of an airlock if you open both doors at the same time, but then I suppose in an emergency you can't afford the time to open and close and wait etc... ("Life Support")
• Oh noes Bareil!
• The words Winn speaks sound far too hopeful to be ones spoken in honesty by Cardassians.
• But is he returned to life, or is Bareil now a zombie? Do we now call him Frankenbareil?
• Um, you realise that giving back 'everything of Cardassian origin left behind' would include DS9, right?
• "I must carry out the will of the Prophets." Dude, it sounds like their will is that you be dead. I don't think they care much for your peace talks or even your continued aliveness.
• Well, Jake, you didn't quite think this plan through 100%, did you? Maybe Jake and Nog could use the time to teach each other about their cultures some more!
• I mean, we all knew they were going to kill off Bareil at some point. But did it have to be in such a horrible way?
• Odo acting like a sulky teenager... *sigh* why are men the same across so many species? ("Heart of Stone")
• Sisko's simultaneously honoured and horrified! Nog as his apprentice?!
• Nog says to Sisko to keep the latinum but what's the betting his dad or Quark will stop by Sisko's office later and have an idea that requires, oh, just a few bars of latinum and could he spare any?
• I don't think Kira's new boots suit her very much!
• Ok, at this point, with the crystal thing having been up to her neck for a good while, Kira would have suffocated by now. You know, what with having no room for her chest and therefore her lungs to expand and bring in air.
• Yay he finally admits it!
• "No-one could ever love a Changeling." Bitch, a good chunk of the female fanbase of DS9 would like a few 'words' with you.
• Good catch, though, Jadzia. Though part of me wonders how she would know what good kanar tastes like... on second thoughts, never mind! ("Destiny")
  
• I don't think Sisko would even have the authority to call off the project, no matter how important the Emissary is. He is, after all, just a commander.
• Yeesh, Dejar is salty enough to make the Dead Sea seem like freshwater!
• Couldn't they just wait until the comet has gone past the Wormhole? Just make up some reason to delay sending out the relay?
• And now Sisko has to deal with the guilt that he could have stopped or at least delayed the relay testing and didn't and now the Prophecy is coming true. But would that really have changed anything?
• Sorry, love; he's married!
• If she could blush the same way humans do she'd be red enough to use as a stoplight!
  
• Love how, at the mention of the coupling's depolarisation, all Cardassian eyes turn to glare at Dejar!
• Y'know, Ulani reminds me very much of Garak; they look somewhat alike, the slightly hunched posture... any relation?
• lol He's still struggling to be rid of all those stem-bolts! ("Prophet Motive")
• The next hit sitcom - 'My Roommate is The Grand Negus!' 
• OMG the scene with Quark and Rom trying to figure out the book must have been fun. I hope they didn't make him lick it too many times...
• Rom's face journey... made my night! This whole episode is just... excellent!
• Zek makes being kidnapped seem fun, singing away there in his sack.
• O'Brien: *throws a bullseye then faints* Quark: See? Told you this game was dangerous! ("Visionary")
• If those Romulans try anything with Odo they're in for a surprise!
• OK, that laser blast made me jump!
  
• Does it seem weird to anyone else when O'Brien calls himself Miles? IDK just seems strange to refer to yourself in third person, even if you are talking to yourself as a separate person...
• Romulans being spied on with something beamed in with the aid of equipment made near the Klingon Empire... why do I get the feeling this is a Romulan plot to stir up trouble?
• Well this one is scary... ("Distant Voices")
• I just had the worst feeling that all this is part of Jadzia's surprise party thing, and while Bashir was unconscious they put him in a holosuite and all this is part of the program that Garak gave him... If they go that route I will be so disappointed.
• Bashir's silver temples look pretty good actually... Alexander Siddig should have been cast as Reed Richards at some point! Think he might be a little too old for it by now though.
• It was all a dream... well at least they put it in the middle of the episode so the characters can resolve that, rather than at the end like everyone else does and no-one is phased by the fact the (current) main protagonist just had a dream that seemed to last hours at the minimum, in which they could read and write without spelling mistakes (or like in mine where I try to type a sentence and what comes up on the screen is something completely and frustratingly different) and made sense...
• "You represent my doubt and disbelief." 'No I don't!' Best exchange so far this episode!
• Lethean: Gets disintegrated Lethean's reaction: vaguely annoyed. Looks like the prosthetics were a little too thick for the agony the actor was trying for!
• "Through the Looking Glass." Another Mirrorverse episode? Ugh.
• It's getting toward the point where, if you want your new Star Trek series to stand out from the others: don't feature the Mirrorverse. Like, at all. Ever.
• Evil is self defeating. We get it. You can stop with the Mirrorverse episodes now. Please. I'm tempted to skip this one, to be honest. I won't though. Promised myself I wouldn't.
• "Jennifer; look at the colour of our skin. We as a people have done it before; we can do it again!"
• I do hope Primeverse O'Brien didn't get into too much trouble before they worked out what happened.
• Yelosians can only see yellow and onwards of the spectrum... appropriate name for the species then! ("Improbable Cause") I'm just sad that means they can't see the full glory of a tiger!
• Garak, people actually care about you. Get used to it!
• Bashir trying to talk theatre to a rather stereotypical Irish engineer... aw honey! ("The Die is Cast")
• No one really wins when you try to turn a cold war hot..
• Goodness, Garak can really put on the slime when he wants to.
• Well who would have guessed... the commander we've never really met before is not who they think he is. What a shock. (In case you can't tell, I'm being sarcastic.)
• So maybe not a Dominion spy. Still a frustration though.
• "Fire! The bridge is on fire!" 'Quick, get the Black and Deckers!'
• 'We'll get a bit singed at that range!' Yes, but think how cool it will look!
• That final scene must have been nice for Renee Aubergenois to do. "The camera will be on Garak the whole time so you don't have to sit for five hours in make-up for this one." Win!
• Finally, a completely relatable character! ("Explorers") I mean, who of us wouldn't find an excuse to get a personal examination from Bashir?!
• 'OH THANKS DAX.'
• Come on, O'Brien; surely you, an engineer, can understand wanting to do something purely because 'why not?'!
• Don't you just love when your parents are obviously disappointed in a choice you've made so they lay on thick with the disappointment in the hope you change your mind, all the while denying that that's what they're doing and they respect your decision etc...
• Ok, but the Bajoran lightship is a beautiful thing. Kudos to the CGI and design teams!
• Oof. All that angst and she didn't even so much as glance at him. That's gotta sting.
• Oh nothing good is going to come from drunken advice... plenty entertaining, but none good!
• One problem though... no real Irishman would be caught dead singing "Jerusalem" no matter how many sheets to the wind he was!
• Don't tell me... the Cardassians have essentially laid caltrops along Sisko's route so his ship falls apart and then they can say 'See? It was all just a load of Bajoran BS! They were just mindless savages til we came along!'
• Turns out that it wasn't the Lexington they should have been aiming for, huh!?
• Still, I suppose "I thought Julian Bashir was Andorian!" is a reasonable excuse for apparently ignoring someone!
• Welp. That explains how the ancient Bajorans made it that far - by pure happenstance!
• Dukat so salty you could flavour your chips with him!
• Just what Quark needed... an audit! ("Family Business")
• "We have discovered you've been embezzling your own profits! Frankly, we're disappointed. You can certainly do better than this! Take a larger percentage or we will have to fine you!" (I know that's not what's going on but that would totally fit the whole Ferengi image!)
• "I'm not confessing anything!" You don't need to, lady; the fact that you're clothed says it all!
• Oh this silly grin I got when Sisko finally meets Kasidy face to face! I'm trying not to 'metagame' this, as it were, but it can be difficult when you know a little of how their relationship plays out!
• Well now Quark has a very difficult decision to make: sell everything and hope for the best or help advance Ferengi society...
• Jake's smile of 'CALLED IT' just perfectly capped that scene!
• Well that reeks a little of corruption. Surely being Kai should have meant she wouldn't be allowed to even run for government, let alone be named, essentially, Planetary President. ("Shakaar")
• I'm going to guess that this detox thing only works if the machines are constantly used; remove the machines and the soil returns to toxicity and that's why the farmers are refusing to cede them.
• ...Is there a reason they can't build more reclamators?
• That's how it always goes - you're successful, you get too cocky, you hurt yourself, game over.
• Lead your enemy into a bottleneck and one small group can stand against an army. It's almost strange watching this episode so soon after I re-read 'King Solomon's Mines'.
• "I'll see you in Ops." After a long, so-hot-it-hurts-at-first bath! Nothing sooths an aching back better. So long as the bath is big enough to properly soak in... which ours isn't... *sadface*
• Don't worry, Nog. If (third-hand) experience has taught me anything, they'll be gagging to accept you so then they can boast about the first Ferengi to join Starfleet and how it's a huge step forward in Ferengi-Federation relations etc etc...
• Oh this one should be good; I'm a complete slut for lore! ("Facets")
• This one must have been a fun one; a chance for the cast to stretch their acting muscles a little to become a different character somewhat for a time!
• Quark fiddled with the program to make sure Nog failed, the bastard.
• Wait, is this the one with Satan? ("The Adversary")
• The Captain's fine; he's just making sure the artificial gravity is working properly!
• Ok, but it would be hilarious if Avery Brooks had tripped and fell over off-camera and Colm Meaney just ad-libbed and they kept it.
• Listening to that distress call; when it cut out it sounded like they were about to say something about The Dominion... things are heating up!
• What if Bashir didn't know he was sabotaging the ship, though? These devices seem to be self-propagating; what if the 'mother' device was hidden in the thing he added while it was back on DS9 and so he didn't know it was there?
• If Changelings don't sweat, why not just gather everyone into one room and turn up the heat? The person who isn't soaked after a few minutes, aside from Odo, is the bad guy!
• Stun em both. The real Odo would understand.
• Well, that one had me forget to breathe those last couple minutes!
• Now that is how you get people to watch the next season! And how to introduce a conspiracy arc; not out of nowhere because you've run out of ideas, like with so many other shows we've watched...

This season took a while to watch, mainly because I tend to do this during long nights awake, and I went through a patch of 'normal sleep cycle' due to having a job at the time. As you can probably guess by my posting of this (at last) that that didn't work out lol. I can't wait to start season four, though I might watch a couple animes first; got a long list of that I'm working through too! Not bothering with blog posts about those, though. Mainly because they're too short to be worth it, but also because I don't want to feel like I'm talking to people who aren't interested. I'm already struggling with the whole 'no-one reads this blog anyway so why bother' bad thought cloud; I don't want to feed it!