Yeah, if they wanted to use a mysterious race that posed a threat, how about the one we spent the season three finale avoiding a war with, the Tzenkethi?

I remember director Rene Auberjonois talking about how he knew the script for "Strange Bedfellows" was way too long, and everything would never make it in the episode. He was right. The second half of Kasidy's story is just gone from the episode. (I tried to link to the script, but something is not enjoying that…

I don't know that Zack has any choice in the matter, but the way the episodes are laid out here, he's going to end up reviewing the last three hours in the final review. I think the two-hour finale (well, one-hour-thirty finale) has so much going on just by itself that it could use its own space.

I think it's much more successful than not. It does, IMO, peak 3 eps (4 hours) early with "Tacking Into the Wind," but it still has good stuff to offer after that.

I think it has a great first act (which was written by Ron Moore, if I recall), and then meanders a lot.

MILD SPOILERS FOR NEXT WEEK'S EPISODES

That's maybe my favorite scene in the episode. It does make me really regret that we see so little of the Bashir-Garak pairing in the latter seasons (for whatever reasons).

I have always wondered who the original actor for Dukat was. I can understand not naming him to spare him the embarrassment at the time.

I remember having concerns about the Ezri-Worf stuff in "Penumbra" at the time, but I have to say that I was pretty satisfied with the direction that it takes. (Vague enough, I hope). This is the plotline that supplies our adventure/danger angle for a few episodes, and I think it does it pretty effectively. And…

You might be right.

I was just referring to the fact that Siddig had a crush on Nana for years (Nana Visitor has talked about this interviews), and that they eventually got together, had a child, got married, then got divorced (so not working out… eventually).

Season 7 is not Quark's finest hour, but he gets a couple of really nice supporting moments to shine, I think, like this one here and also his speech to Nog about humanity in "The Siege of AR-558."

Yeah, they easily could have gone with, "the-jack-in-the-box has turned the holosuite safeties off!" (Followed by, I guess, Bashir realizing that Felix is, in fact, a psychopath.)

I think Quark's "This is no time for a Changeling pride demonstration on the promenade" is a very clear nod in that direction.

"In my experience, pining desperately for your friend in secret for years rarely results you ever landing them, and it never works out even if you do."

It does feel like two mature people in a relationship in "Chimera," especially on Kira's end. Nana Visitor gives a great portrayal of Kira's calm, but growing sadness at seeing Odo slip away from her. She never gets angry, just resigned.

Disagree with Zack on “Chimera.” I’m really, really fond of it.

I agree. (That's what I meant by "our universe," the non-Mirror one.)

There's no particular reason "Crossover" had to be a one-off. I just wish they had stuck to the tone of that one for the follow-ups.

Truly, Joran was the Tora Ziyal of Trills.