DS9: Season 2

I have just finished watching the second season of DS9. This one is certainly different from the first. In the extras the people behind the scenes as well as the actors talk about how this is the season that DS9 finally comes into it's own. I can certainly see why they would think that. Ds9 was always going to be different from the others as it was the only series based on a stationary community. In the first season the episodes are a little all over the place. A few really stand out as a way of allowing the viewer to get to know the background of the Bajorans and the Cardassians and the relationship with each other and with the federeation. The rest were really character episodes. Nothing wrong with that but it would be a little boring if that was all DS9 turned out to be. In the second season though the Gamma Quadrant is brought more into the picture. We hear about a group called the Dominion early on although they don't really have a big part at that point. The hint is there and in hindsight we know that the majority of the show was soon based on the Dominion war. We also learn a lot more about Bajoran politics as well as Cardassian politics which again also has a larger role in the show later on. What we are really getting is small chunks of a story that later becomes very interesting and interconnected.

Another interesting thing that was mentioned during the extras was that the show was originally seen by the producers as a Western show. We already can guess this from season 1. Especially when we have Dr Bashir talking about his having any choice of placement in the fleet but he wanted to practice "frontier medicine". Really looking into it though you can see more hints of it as the extras mentioned with Quark as your barkeep and Odo as the Sheriff. While I think that there was some success at this obviously they still wanted it to look like a Star Trek show. The only sci fi series that I think has been successful at the whole Western theme is "Firefly".

Getting away from the extras I do have some favourite episodes. While season 1 was missing those double part episodes this one had them in abundance (almost as much as TNG season6). The first three episodes; The Homecoming, The Circle and The Siege, are all linked and are amongst my favourite. Here we see the return of Vedek Winn (brilliantly played by Louise Fletcher) in a bid to become Kai and getting rid of the Federation once and for all. Of course she is only behind the scenes of this plan and allows others to take more risks. A role she continues with throughout the DS9 series. Other favourites include, Armageddon Game, Whispers, Paradise, The Maquis 1&2 (used to help set up the background to Voyager), Crossover, Tribunal and of course The Jem'Hadar.