A Season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in 13 Episodes - Season 5

5x01	Apocalypse Rising
5x02	The Ship
5x05	The Assignment
5x06	Trials and Tribble-ations
5x10	Rapture
5x12	The Begotten
5x13	For the Uniform
5x14	In Purgatory's Shadow
5x15	By Inferno's Light
5x16	Doctor Bashir, I Presume
5x19	Ties of Blood and Water
5x23	Blaze of Glory
5x26	Call to Arms

It says something about a season when I spend so much time talking about what I am cutting. There is so much succulent story here, the cuts were hard to make. I spent a good amount of time on this list, moreso than any other. Luckily, as I started pruning, it was a bit easy in the first part of the season. After the big reveal of the season opener,  the season does some strange waffling between serious and silly. I nearly cut "The Ship," so I could place my first cut episode "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places."  "par'Mach" is a great call back to "House of Quark" in Season 3, shows a nice side of Quark, and gives us Worf and Jadzia hooking up. Ultimately it was too much. Like I said earlier, cutting to 13 episodes would dampen the occasional lark and whimsy episodes. "Nor the Battle to the Strong" nearly stayed as well. It is a nice Jake grows up episode, a Farewell to Arms riff. But Jake doesn't become a focus again till much later, and even then there is little call back to this particular episode.

I waffled hard over the next series of cuts. DS9 will have a great season next year, in part because it is serialized and builds, but Season 5 is filled with gems that have nothing to do with the larger plot, making it a much harder cut. First, It was a choice between "the Assignment" and "Things Past". One has a great Rosalind Chao performance, the other has Kurtwood Smith! Both build character relationships, but I had to cut "Things Past"  It showcases a time before the series, shows creepy Dukat and his Bajoran fetish, and cast some ambiguity on Odo's role in the Occupation, but all those things get done better in later episodes. Plus Dax and Dukat have no chemistry, where as Dukat and Kira have chemistry galore, which the show will explore later.  "Let He Who Without Sin" works as a great parallel to fundamentalism, like "Paradise" did in Season 2, but I cut "Paradise" and I cut "Let He"; it isn't a great episode.

After looking at my cuts, I realized that while I declared Season 3 to be the Season of Odo, I spent most of this season cutting Odo stories. "Things Past", "The Ascent", "  "Simple Investigation", and "Children of Time" are good Odo stories. Auberjonois and Shimmerman share a great banter that is worth it if you want to spend the time with "The Ascent.". With "Simple Investigation", Odo makes with a woman.  Once again, "Children of Time" is a great episode, with strong Scifi merit to watch on its own. Think of it as a Special Episode or holiday special and watch it, but it was cut because t just didn't stand up to the other episodes.

Another great episode that just didn't make the cut is "Business as Usual". It shows why Quark is the heart of gold capitalist by showcasing the truly horrible arms dealers. "Ferengi Love Songs" is much more traditional Ferengi episode by comparison. I love them, but they rarely stay in these cuts.  "In the Cards" plays with Ferengi, but in this case it is Nog and Jake in an almost direct take off of the season one episode, "Progress", of Jake and Nog hijynx. Fun, whimsical, and worth a watch for the strange professor and his cellular entertainment device. "Soldiers of the Empire" and "Empok Nor" are great fun, but advance the overall story so little, they were let go.

Whew... 4 paragraphs in and I haven't even talked about what stayed!  If Season 3 was the Season of Odo, and Season 4 Worf's, then Season 5 is the Season of Shit Getting Real. The premiere closes out the season 3 finale. "The Ship" is a good precursor to next season's powerhouse "Rock and Shoals".  "The Assignment" managed to stay because it introduces the Pahwraiths, the demons of the Bajoran mythos. It sets the stage for the eventual series climax, plus a stellar play by Chao. "Trials and Tribble-ations" was a celebration of Star Trek that used the Forest Gump technology to digitally insert DS9 characters into TOS's "Trouble with Tribbles" episode. The story is great, the shoutout to old school Klingons plays with the franchise, and we get a grandfather paradox that makes Bashir go ewww. A Stellar episode that has nothing to do with the season, but sometimes you have to pay homage, and they do a hell of a job (better than Voyager's decent, but flawed attempt). "Rapture" sees the uniforms change to match the filims, but really puts Sisko back into the chair of the religious leader. Also, Kasidy is back!  "For the Uniform"  starts tying up the loose Maquis ends before the Dominion conflict explodes. Eddington will resurface one more time in the season's penultimate episode "Blaze of Glory."  "In Purgatory's Shadow" and "By Inferno's Light" are a great 2 parter that sees the show shaken up pretty heavily and the re-introduction of possibly the greatest Klingon since Worf. Plus Garak is an integral part, and really what more do you need?

"Doctor Bashir, I Presume" despite being a sillier episode, really ties in well with the franchise, addresses a great scifi idea, and sets the stage for further developments. "Ties of Blood and Water"  plays to Kira's series' long arc of reconciling Cardassia and Bajor in her own relationships. It is heartbreaking, and makes you feel for both Kira and Ghemor, who we last saw in Season 3's "Second Skin."  The finale, "Call to Arms" really shakes up the show, and ends on such a dramatic note that when I watched it live, I was euphoric and pissed I would have to wait till Fall to see what happens.