To be honest, another 'meh' episode - seems we're stuck in the mid-season slump of Season 3 (and Destiny coming up doesn;t help matters either :))

It was a nice touch to see the surprise return of the Female Shapeshifter (and it seems kudos must be gives to Salome Jens for letting them demote her to only being credited in the closign credits). And so soon after Bareils death they're reigniting the Kiro/Odo story and going at it properly with Odo's confession - shame it'll take another 3 seasons and at least one other boyfriend before the actually get together.

While the Nog story is interesting, the notion of being the first Ferengi in Starfleet seems unoriginal - why is it every 'first of a race being in Starfleet' is a main cast member, such as Worf in TNG? I felt this story followed on badly after Nog's attitude last episodes of 'I'm Ferengi and I'll treat my woman like crap' - seems a big jump from being a typical Ferengi to suddenly wanting to embrace all of Starfleet's rules and regulations!

Also Sisko's racism seeems a bit out of place (moreso given his comments in 'Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang') - while in the end it works out, it takes a huge confession of Nog's fears of becoming like Rom before he gives in and sends the letter of recommendation....

Not sure I'd say Sisko was being racist about Nog - he does steal, cheat and generally mess about, which is not the sort of thing you'd want to see in a prospective Academy student.

As you say some of the changes in the ep are all a bit sudden, but I can forgive them that as it paves the way for Nog to be more interesting and Rom to be developed properly, although they have been hinting that Rom wasn't just an idiot for a while now.

Not an amazing ep but useful from a character development point of view :)

What about Melora in Season 2 - she wasn't a main cast character :p

Edited for Spoilers. Avoid the white text ;)

Yeah, I'd agree with that - I didn't see it as him being racist at all, seemed to me that he was just trying to figure out exactly what he felt, as he was so close to the situation it was easy for him to have a knee-jerk reaction because of Nog's less than pristine reputation, so he needed to find out exactly why Nog had made this decision.

I enjoyed that side of the story more than the main plot, tbh. Whilst I liked the effect the situation had on Odo, and indeed felt sorry for him, I felt that it was a horribly contrived way to get to those emotions and then, effectively, hit the BRB at the end of it.

And Nana was getting on my nerves, too, even though she wasn't playing Kira, per se <_< :lol: