Mini Review #121: Star Trek DS9 4x2/4x3 "The Visitor" and "Hippocratic Oath" (Patreon)

Oh my days is DS9 season 4 starting out strong. I have so much to say about the Visitor but also nothing to say because I just don't feel like talking about it ever again. I only want to stare into space right now think about the episode. Honestly one of the best episodes of DS9 so far and one that made me cry. And not just tearing up with snot exploding from my nose but there was at least one tear that trickled down my cheek! It doesn't seem like much but I don't have tears running down my cheeks often so you know this episode got me emotionally. I don't really want to ruin my experience of this episode by analyzing it so I will keep this review fairly brief and light. I know this may be disappointing to some of y'all but you have the reaction to look forward to and trust me, it is a great one! I really loved seeing Jake in this episode and the lengths he was taking to save Sisko. It was not only admirable, but incredibly sad at the same time seeing his life fall apart in order to save his dad from time limbo. The two parts that got me the most were the very end where Sisko was comforting a young Jake after old man Jake killed himself in order to save his father; and the moment Sisko leaves Jake on the hospital bed the second time he appears. Watching Jake go from the hope of having Sisko back to incredible sadness was heartbreaking and Jake's actor did and incredible job. Nog was a captain which so cool and seeing all our cast gather to try and save Sisko as old people was so much fun. Also Tony Todd was old Jake which was so epic love that man. That's all I'll talk about for this episode. I think I still need more time to recover.

To make matters worse Hippocratic Oath was both a fantastic episode, and one that also ended on an extremely heavy note. This episode was an O'Brien Bashir episode with a Worf subplot and both A and B plots were fantastic. O'Brien and Bashir on the runabout together before it crash landed on the planet had such amazing chemistry and it really felt like they were best friends. But the episode went such an interesting and unexpected direction with the Jem'Hadar being involved. It was super cool to see them first off, but what I never expected was the fact that one of them had managed to be able to live off of the special drug used to control them and was now trying to help his squad get off the drug as well. While that was interesting, it was genius to have Bashir and O'Brien be the two leads in this episode as the conversation surrounding this lead to two very opposing views from two very confident individuals. O'Brien being the soldier, had a distinct bias and hatred for the Jem'Hadar which was not uncalled for while Bashir being a doctor, had more compassion and logic behind his actions. This lead to some head butting which by the end of the episode exploded as O'Brien destroys any chance of Bashir saving the Jem'Hadar in order to save Bashir (at least he thinks it's the only way). The conversation they had in the runabout together compared to the start was drastic. The way Bashir insinuates that O'Brien killed those people, how he doesn't accept O'Brien's apology, the awkward silence. Their friendship is changed and I am sad but interested to see where this goes. They were the best of friends and I want them to play darts together again!!! Worf's subplot was also very interesting as he discovered that DS9 is much more grey than the black and white of a starship. I left both episodes feeling sad and satisfied. Insane episodes today and can't wait for more season 4!