Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — 2x03 — The Siege

Aired 1993-10-10

SpaceOpera.com rating:5

Average reader rating:4.62

Synopsis

While Sisko leads a daring last stand against the Bajoran takeover forces, Kira and Dax embark on a desperate mission to reveal the truth about the coup.

Filler rating: not filler

This arc sets up a number of long term plot threads, including Bareil's relationship with Kira.

Remarkable scenes

Dax: "Whoa! What is that, a spider or a dog!?"
Kira's feeling of enthusiasm flying the old broken down ship.
Kira and Dax's dogfight.
Rules of Acquisition; 31. Never make fun of a Ferengi's mother.
Morn appearances; 1. Sitting behind Quark and Nog when they initially talk about the evacuation. 2. Attempting to board a runabout.

Review

The final part of this three parter resolves the plot exactly as expected. Kira proves the Cardassians were behind the contraband and the fight ends. And just like that everything is as it was. Star Trek's first three part episode was certainly entertaining, but I feel like all this plot could have been sprinkled into the first season as a more complex story with more long term consequences. What we got instead certainly wasn't bad though, just not as good as it could have been I think.

4 reader comments

I give this 3-parter a 9 overall.
This is DS9 coming into its own. Vedek Winn is scheming, we get to learn more about Bajoran society, and the bit with Li Nalas' legend having little to do with his reality is smart. Plus, this trilogy is chock full of action (the dog fight, the mission to Cardassia 4, the fire fights on the station) and humor (Quark lugging around his suitcase of latinum, Rom selling his seat, etc). The middle part does lag a bit, but other than that, I don't see what's not to like here.
by JRPoole | 12/03/2008 at 2:59 pm

This final part pays off all of the build up from the previous two and a bit episodes and does it quite well too.
There are particular highlights, such as the bajoran general, Quark, Dax and Kira. A very enjoyable romp.
by Bernard | 02/08/2010 at 7:52 pm

The three-parter was mostly decent, as the above comment said, the first hints of what DS9 was going to be about. However, the ending of the entire story was wrapped all too quickly and conveniently in less than five minutes - Kira and Dax bring the evidence to the Bajoran council, the General on the station is instantly notified and gives DS9 back to Sisko, and Nalas is killed.
There might have been a more elegant way to finish the story off… I mean, the cargo manifest that proved that it was all staged by Cardassians could very well have been faked by the Federation in order to break up the rebellion and keep DS9 in the hands of the Federation.
Also, there were never any consequences for Minister Jaro or anyone else involved in the overthrow of the government, which is a major failure on the screenwriters' part. Too bad we won't get to see Frank Langella again.
by Gul Ranek | 12/11/2012 at 10:39 pm

Jaro literally kidnapped Kira and was revealed to be leading this extremist Circle in the last episode and he gets no consequences thrown at him for this nor does Kira call him out on it in front of the government? Very weird. Otherwise the episode was fine.
by Gemini | 07/01/2020 at 7:49 pm