Deep Space Nine - Season Seven - Part III

17) Til Death Do Us Part - Sisko must choose between the Prophets and his fiancee. Meanwhile, Dukat meets Kai Winn; and the Breen hold Worf/Ezri captive. Chapter 2 of the 8-part series. Three equally important stories are going on:

• Sikso, Kasidy and the Prophets - Boring - FF'd through most of it. 
• Worf/Enzi - Quite good especially when Damar, the Breen, and Weyond are on-screen.
• Winn-Dukot - Hilarious to see Dukat posing as an 'umble Bajorian farmer and manipulating Winn.

Can't rate it higher since the Sikso part is completely useless.  Rating **1/2

18) Strange Bedfellows -A new alliance between the Dominion and the Breen further appalls Damar. Meanwhile, Winn finds her spirituality thrown into chaos when she has a vision from the Paghwraiths.
This continues the story lines from Til Death Do Us Part - except the Sisko part is put on hold - thank goodness. So, at least that's an improvement. Watching Dukat manipulate Winn continues to be enjoyable, and  Winn losing her faith and turning to "The dark side" is interesting and well acted. Another positive: Damar and Weyond get more screen time - and that's always a good thing. Rating ***

19) The Changing Face of Evil - Winn begins to turn toward the dark side and studying forbidden books, and the Federation battles the Dominion and their new Breen allies.  Chapter 3 of 8. A continuation of the plot lines from Strange Bed Fellows.  We get a fair amount of Winn-Dukat, Damar-Weyond, and NewDax-Worf.  Damar becomes a resistance leader,  and Winn discovers Dukat is not  a Bajorian. Strangely, we see a lot of Sisko in the episode, but he has few lines and does little. Rating ***

20) When it Rains  Kira helps organize Damar's resistance forces, while Bashir learns that Odo has been infected with the same virus as the Founders. This is a good episode, but its hard to rate as a standalone episode - its a just another chapter of on-going story. The best part is Winn teaching Dukat a lesson in humility with Dukat becoming a blind begger.  We won't see Dukat-Winn again till the last episode.  The rest of the episode is just set up.  Kira and Oda help Damar set up the  Resistance cell and Bashir and O'brian work on cure fo Oda.  Rating ***

21) Extreme Measures - Bashir and O'Brien capture Sloan and probe his mind  to find the cure for Odo's disease. This is almost a self-contained episode despite being related to the on-going series.  And its quite disappointing.   The episode starts out strong with Odo ordering Kira to leave DS9 so she won't watch him die.  We then get the capture of Sloan and Bashir probing his mind. But then it all goes downhill, and the last 25 minutes are a standard  "O'brien/Bashir are in Sloan's brain finding vital information".  Anyway, O'brien/Bashir bumble and stumble around before predictably finding the cure.  Thus ends Sloan. One of the best guest stars,  he goes out with a wimper and not a bang. Rating **1/2

22) Tacking into the Wind   There's infighting in Damar's resistance cell,  while Worf tries to prevent Gowron from making a key strategic mistake. This is an action packed episode which ends the Klingon impass over Gowan and has some excellent Odo-Kira moments.  Well-written and well acted. The only negative was a ridiculous "you go girl" moment when 120 lbs Kira manhandles 170 lbs Rosot and punches him into submission.   Rating ***1/2

23) The Dogs of War  Kira, Damar, and Garak are trapped behind enemy lines. while Quark is named as the head of Ferengi.  This is the last Ferengi comedy (thank God) and parts of it work. Quark's comic fury at the changes in Ferengi society, and his shock at Rom being named  Nagus were funny.  It almost makes up for the annoying Brunt, Moogi, and Wallace Shawn. Another negative is the lackluster Resistance scenes in Tain's basement.  Garak has a few good lines, but there aren't enough of them. Fortunately, we get some good Odo scenes and seeing Bashir and Dax get together was a relief.  A strange, holding pattern episode, before the finale.  Rating **1/2