Speckle

Yeah there is a lot of story in there and the whole episode feels gritty. Patrick Stewarts acting is solid from season 2 onwards IMO, but I am quite biased

These are some of my favourites:

The Inner Light

Chain of Command

Sins of the Father

The Most Toys

The Offspring

I mean there are loads of bangers in the whole series and I think it just gets better over time in general but those are some ones that come to mind.

I’ve just seen in the sidebar there is already A Section 31 movie in production!

Yeah DS9 was a bit more ‘real’ than the other seasons I think. Especially dealing with some pretty dark stuff like the war and how it was resolved, genocide was on the table like you say. Hmmm. Does make the federation look a bit different when you think about this shady stuff being allowed by the top brass because it works in their favour.

Section 31, the secretive illegitimate covert arm of Starfleet, had Sloan who really seemed like he’d done a lot in the name of the federation. He tells Bashir as much in Extreme Measures so it would be really cool to see some of the darker things the Federation disavowed or turned a blind eye to.

Very different tone to most trek probably but a whole different side of the federation, more of the unhappy side like the Maquis who don’t get explored much either.

I always shipped Lwaxana Troi and Odo after the episode The Muse and there was often a theme of Odo exploring his emotional side.

Some kind of sitcom with Lwaxana and Odo raising a child together would be a trip. Or a series with them travelling on ambassadorial duties, Odo providing security and the kid running around being a telepathic nightmare. Good times.

My in universe reasoning is that he doesn’t shift less, he just does it privately. I don’t think he likes to remind people how different he is and he wants to distance himself from the founders who are known for taking different shapes.

My memory isn’t perfect but I think after visiting his people he gets a room for the first time, fills it with things to mimic and stops sleeping in a bucket. He has later episodes where he gushes to Lwaxana Troi about taking the different shapes and how fun it is so he’s definitely shifting. After he gets his abilities back and starts his relationship with Kira we see him have that crazy sex scene in Chimera, so that’s happening off screen a lot.

Also in the episode Chimera he explains to Laas, the other changeling, about humanoids fear of their shape-shifting abilities. It seems like he’s keenly aware how different he is and takes steps to cover it up.

Saying that he is still obsessed with the Great Link and yearns to go back so I can see him practicing his abilities in private to keep them up to par for his return. A wish he can’t say out loud because of the whole ‘evil empire at war with their way of life’ thing.