The Sons of Mogh: I liked this episode a lot. There were lots of little details to it that I really enjoyed but I subsequently forgot all of them (except this one- Jadzia had her hair tied back the same way Worf did when they were training in the holosuite). I love that Dax is an expert in pretty much anything Klingon, and that they often accept her into what they’re doing, like how Worf is willing to train and debate with her. I also loved how Dax is wholeheartedly aware of the ritual Worf was performing on his brother and its significance, but chose her human Star Fleet values over that. The ethics of that choice could be debated, but I was really excited when she unambiguously made a decision. She felt bad about it, but it was the right choice. I also love the message of this episode that there is always an alternative to violence. I felt like that message was broad and overarching in TNG (and also Doctor Who although honestly not recently) and I feel like I personally grew up and derived a lot of my own sense of morality from that idea. DS9 hasn’t stuck to it as well but their episodes also tend to deviate from a structure that invites that.

Also, between this episode and the next episode, we finally have CONSEQUENCES FOR CHARACTER ACTIONS!!!

The Bar Association: you guys got me again, this was kind of fun. I still hated quark but I was so happy for Rom when he joined the station as an engineer (or technician or whatever it was- the point was he stopped working for Quark). I also live for the scenes with Miles and Julian coming out of the holosuite. And again, we had consequences for actions! Although Miles knows Worf, so I don’t know why on earth he thought it would be a good idea to call him out in the first place. And I think it’s hysterical that Miles and Worf got in a fight, Julian was the only one who got hurt, and Julian still got to spend the night in a cell with them...

Accession: we got some Bajoran politics!!! Overall I enjoyed this episode. But one thing that I didn’t like that really stood out to me is that Sisko didn’t want to be the emissary until he decided that he knew what’s best for Bajoran people and could only influence that if he were the emissary. So it felt a little arrogant and self important. Obviously I also think that the caste system was a terrible idea and something had to be done but as far as Star Fleet’s non interference policy.... we’re way out here. I think Kira used her faith as an excuse not to do anything when she was actually in a decent position to have some sort of influence. I always struggle a little bit to understand religious anything but... he could have told her to drink poison and she would have. I have a lot to learn about faith. But I still love all the little details about Bajoran history and politics. Of course Winn supports the caste system. The mention of an old caste system and how they had to “give it up” for the occupation was interesting. Would it have been overthrown at some point, especially with outside influence? Who knows? And the comparison to Star Fleet ranks was also interesting. I agree with Kira, that rank is earned and not assigned, and you can move up and down with some effort (or ya know... lack of effort...) but it’s still worth considering to me.