A Season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in 13 Episodes - Season 3

3x01       The Search, Part I

3x02       The Search, Part II

3x03       The House of Quark

3x05       Second Skin

3x07       Civil Defense

3x09       Defiant

3x13       Life Support

3x14       Heart of Stone

3x20       Improbable Cause

3x21       The Die is Cast

3x22       Explorers

3x25       Facets

3x26       The Adversary

3x11 & 3x12  Past Tense- TV Movie Presentation

Good God, this was a hard, hard season to cut down. I sacrificed some beloved episodes to do this. Luckily, there were at least 4 mediocre episodes, 1 Mirror Universe episode, and DS9's worst episode (Meridian) I could cut first.   If you get this far, and just want to see better development of Women in Cardassian Culture and Bajoran prophecies, check out "Destiny."  You want a great O'Brien episode, check out "Visionary."  Want a great story about Ferengi families? Check out "Family Business"

On to the abridged season. "The Search" brings us to Odo's people and the most badass anti-Enterprise ever, the U.S.S. Defiant.  It is action packed, a bit of a twist ending, and sets up the conflict for Odo for the next 4 years.  "House of Quark" is a nice palette cleanser that brings out the humor, showcases both Ferengi and Klingon culture in different lights, and makes for a decent episode where Quark is the hero. I hated to cut Odo's attempt to bring up a Jem'Hadar child (The Abandoned) but the season premiere did great work expressing Odo's reluctance to become like the Dominion. "Second Skin" is a great Kira episode, and another episode where the Cardassians are struggling with each other to decide what they want their society to be.  The lengths the Obsidian Order go to keep up the interesting charade, while Ghemor's attempt to convice Nerys she was his daughter was just great. Civil Defense has to be one of the best "bottle" shows, as everything happens on the station, but it is fun all on its own, while giving us Dukat and Garek. The security system goes nuts and attempts to kill them all. It sounds over the top, but is really the most plausible thing that could happen.

"The Defiant," at first glance, shouldn't be here. Jonathan Frakes shows up as Riker {both of them!}, hijacks the ship, and comes running to Cardassia to blow stuff up. But the episode ties in Kira's past hate for the Cardassians, the Maquis, a secret military base in a nebula, and serves as a touchstone to TNG. Let's say that of Frakes random appearances in post TNG shows, this is his best (The less said about his Enterprise appearance, the better.).  In another show that almost got cut, "Life Support" isn't the most thrilling. It is, however, a nice Bashir challenges the status quo episode. It also has a pretty big impact on the great story line. Winn pushes a dying Bariel to finish the Bajoran/Cardassian peace treaty, while she is also taking credit for it.  Kai Winn is such a great, pompous character played to perfection.

Season 3 is really the Season of Odo, so I couldn't cut "Heart of Stone." Rene Auberjonois deserves more recognition than he has gotten, but the man is a hell of an actor, and all his skills are showcased here. Odo bares his soul in a way he has never done before, and it is moving.  Speaking of Auberjonois, the two parter "Improbable Cause" and "The Die is Cast" is a great two-parter that has impressive cinematography, wonderful character work of Andrew Robinson and Rene Auberjonois, and a crackling tale that will spin up the Dominion threat while rocking Cardassia. That final scene, with Odo and Garak in the tailor shop is one at which to marvel. "Explorers" is a great Sisko and Jake show, with beautiful sci fi designs and a great familty theme. It also introduces Sisko's goatee, which is how we know some shit is up in the seasons to come. "Facets" is another great showcase for the Trill symbiont relationship, but a better role for Auberjonois. His Curzon Dax is amazing because it startlingly different from Odo. Like all good times, the season ends on a note of grief and racheting of the tension. "The Adversary" is all the more ironic, because you wonder if the Founders are the adversary or Odo.  And with that, we end the season and rocket into some play time with Worf.