1×02 — Past Prologue — The introduction of Garek. Garek is one of the greatest characters on this show. One of the interesting things about DS9 as opposed to each of the other series is that since the show was on a space station it allowed for 30+ side characters to come back multiple times. Garek was one of those characters, the only remaining Cardassian on the space station who owns a clothing store. He befriends Bashir which is good because it given Bashir something to do besides being a spunky young doctor. This episode was also fun in that it had a return of the Duras sisters.
This episode was mostly however about Bajorians and their fight with the Cardassians. It became a Kira centric episode and that part of the story wasn’t as good.
Rating: C+
1×03 — A Man Alone — This episode is a Odo centric episode and it’s got some interesting moments to it. It shows the early visions they had of Odo, being the sheriff in town who would butt heads with the Federation. This tension becomes less as the series goes along.
The side story is of Keiko O’Brien trying to find her way on the new station. Miles was an interesting character to bring onto DS9 not just because he was somewhat established on TNG but also because he was married, and had a kid on TNG. So bringing him to DS9 brought Keiko to the show as well. She decides to become a teacher to Jake and Nog. Overall it’s an okay episode.
Rating: C-
1×04 — Babel — Fun title to the episode since it’s all about everyone losing the ability to speak clearly. The funny thing about this episode is it seems like it’s going to be an O’Brien episode but as the episode goes through each character they focus on is unable to speak and so they use every character for a good amount of time. The interactions of Quark and Odo are really good in this episode and they show a good precursor to just how good their overall relationship becomes. Auberjonis and Shimerman are both fantastic actors and this episode shows how even at this point they were outshining the rest of the cast.
Rating: B-