I found the idea that the Prophets created Sisko kind of fascinating (even if the means through which they do it are terrifying).

Maybe they should have taken an episode somewhere in season 7 and just done "DS9: In Treatment."

Ross: "That's the trouble, isn't it? And for the past six years, you've tried to be both. And up to now, I've been patient. I've indulged you. I've gone out on a limb for you many times."

It helps that DS9's finales are more about "Everything has just changed," rather than "How do we get out of this one?" It makes sense to start your next season a few months down the line in the former case.

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"Tears of the Prophets" is just so overstuffed. If ever a finale was crying out for two episodes, this one is. It's going for BIG, but it just feels kind of forced.

Let's see.

I don't think network hour-longs are any shorter than DS9 episodes, are they? About 42 minutes (sans opening and closing credits) without commercials?

Deep Space Nine always seemed to hit its stride as it neared the end of any particular season (even season 1 had "Duet" and "ITHOTP"). Sadly, season 6 is the first one where it feels like the writers just hit a wall in terms of making the concepts they went with really work. Maybe the difficulty of doing that…

Agreed. The better the episode, the more we're willing to forgive the narrative shortcuts it uses.

I don't think it's really a debate that if you're going to give just one person (you can't, but let's do it anyway) the credit for DS9, it would be Ira Steven Behr. He wasn't the best writer the show had (I would go with Ron Moore, Rene Echeverria, or maybe Peter Allan Fields), but he clearly brought a quality to…

I feel ya, Zack. I broke somebody's taillight when I was 16 trying to park a Ford Bronco in a stadium parking lot, and didn't leave a note. (I just finished parking and went to the game. Clearly, I was a teenage criminal mastermind.) Still regret that one.

Well, if she's anything like everyone I know who has watched it, once she gets to the end of season one, it shouldn't take her long to finish the rest of the series.

I've introduced about 20 people to "Avatar: The Last Airbender," and they have all ended up watching the entire series and loving it to one degree or another.

Considering later events, I really wish they had brought back the Romulan who escaped from the prison with them and used her for just that purpose, as a Dominion plant.

I've seen that reaction before from people doing a "public" watch of DS9, where the barrage of hype starts early and just totally oversells what kind of episode "In the Pale Moonlight" is, and they end up underwhelmed.

Section 31 is probably the biggest contribution DS9 made to the Trek universe, at least in terms of lasting impact. "Enterprise" used them and they were even name-dropped and sort of/kind of the bad guys in "Into Darkness."

I think one thing you can say about both of the episodes is that they are competent. Whether you love them or not, they more or less accomplish telling the stories they set out to tell.

I never know quite how well "Far Beyond the Stars" fits into DS9 (even with the inclusion of the Prophets in the framework of the story), whether it says anything about the show's themes, how effectively it speaks about the power of ideas, or how important it is to the show as a whole.