The fifth season of the show begins with...
- …the conclusion of the Klingon/Changeling cliffhanger, "Apocolypse Rising". The war has begun, so Sisko is sent on a secret mission to expose Gowron/Barney Google as a Changeling. He uses Dukat's stolen Klingon ship (from last season), while Bashir makes up Sisko, O'Brien, and Odo as Klingons (of course Worf joins them). Odo isn't dealing with his change to "solid" status well--he wants to retreat from life, but Sisko won't have it. The team sneaks into a Klingon warrior ceremony--it's like WWE in SPAACE. They've got some technobabble that can destabilize Changelings, but are caught before they can set it off. In the end, Gowron's lieutenant Martok turns out to be the Changeling, and all the Klingon warriors take him out--just like that, the war is over. It seems rushed at the end, which makes sense, because it originally was to be a two-parter.
- A crashed Jem'Hadar warship becomes quite the prize in "The Ship". It's found on a world in the Gamma Quadrant, and both our heroes and Dominion forces want it. The interior ship scenes reminds me of the Alien movies. There's a new character, Engineer Muniz, whom we are clearly supposed to emphasize with, and who obviously is injured in a battle. There's also a new Dominion member Kilana, who jumps from threatening to apologetic to romantic. They learn the bad guys want something on the ship, not the ship itself. There is dialogue throughout that would be more at home in a WW2 movie. At least Muniz gets a dramatic monologue before his death scene. The prize on the ship? A dying Changeling hiding as a bulkhead of the ship. The wrecked ship is towed back to the station.
- It's back to wackiness in the episode "Looking for Par'Mach in All the Wrong Places". Quark's ex-wife Grilka is back, and Worf is interested in her--uh-oh! He doesn't have a chance, though, since his Klingon house is dishonored. Quark wants to rekindle the romance, but doesn't know how to woo her. Worf becomes Cyrano (with Dax's assistance), prepping Quark for his big "date". Of course, since Klingons are involved, it ends up in a duel to the death--wah-wahhh. Only Dax's technobabble saves his bacon. She also finally gets through Worf's thick skull about her feelings for him--they are now officially a couple. Meanwhile, Miles and Kira are fighting over the baby--he's being a bit too overprotective, and Kira resents it. Then they seem to become intimate--it becomes rather inappropriate. Keiko doesn't seem to have a problem with it--hmmm…
- Here's a combo we haven't seen before--Jake and Bashir in "…Nor the Battle to the Strong". Jake has a paper to write, so why not put him in danger? Well, that wasn't the plan, but a Klingon attack on an outpost forces the issue. While the doctor handles the wounded, Jake is introduced to the horrors of war. Mindy called it "Star Trek: MASH". During a trip back to the runabout, Jake panics and runs away--ending up next to a mortally wounded Federation soldier who then dies in front of him. We get a lot of internal monologues from Jake throughout the episode--he believes himself a coward. The Klingons invade the compound, and by chance becomes the "hero" through wild phaser rifle fire. Jake writes his story, and all is inexplicably well at the end.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (and all the Trek series) is available on Netflix.