These Are The Episodes... Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 6

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 5 ended with a bang, literally. After three years of build-up, the war everyone knew was coming finally arrived. The Dominion attacked the station under the command of Dukat and captured it. Sisko and the crew retreated and joined the allied fleet, vowing to return.

Season 6 is where the action really gets started. We had been waiting for war, and now it’s here, and because it’s Deep Space Nine, we’re going to get to explore every aspect of it. This season starts with a six-episode serialized story and also features what I consider the best episode of the whole series.

These are the episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, season 7.

Reminder:

Must See episodes feature the main plot or primary character development. These are required viewing to understand everything at the end.
Should See episodes feature secondary plot elements or character development, and while they aren’t required, they will give you a more complete experience with the show. If you have watched the should-see episodes so far, you should continue watching them now.
Take It or Leave It episodes are all one-offs and filler.

It’s worth noting that must-see episodes aren’t necessarily good and take it or leave it episodes aren’t necessarily bad and that ideally, you’d just be watching all of them.

Season 6 has 26 episodes. Fourteen are Must See, six are Should See, and the remaining six you can Take or Leave.

6×01 “A Time To Stand“

Must See
Relevant to Everyone
Relevant to War
Part 1 of 6

6×02 “Rocks and Shoals“

Must See
Relevant to Kira
Relevant to War, The Jem’Hadar, Vorta, The Dominion
Part 2 of 6

6×03 “Sons and Daughters“

Must See
Relevant to Worf, Kira, Dukat
Relevant to War, Klingons
Part 3 of 6

6×04 “Behind The Lines

Must See
Relevant to Benjamin Sisko, Kira, Odo, Damar
Relevant to War, The Dominion, Changelings
Part 4 of 6

6×05 “Favor The Bold“

Must See
Relevant to Benjamin Sisko, Dukat, Damar
Relevant to War
Part 5 of 6
This Happens:

6×06 “Sacrifice of Angels“

Must See
Relevant to Benjamin Sisko, Dukat, Damar
Relevant to War
Part 6 of 6
This Happens:

6×07 “You Are Cordially Invited“

Must See
Relevant to Worf, Jadzia Dax
Relevant to Klingons

6×08 “Resurrection“

Should See
Relevant to Kira
Relevant to The Mirror Universe

6×09 “Statistical Probabilities“

Should See
Relevant to Bashir
Relevant to War

6×10 “The Magnificent Ferengi“

Should See
Relevant to Quark, Nog, Rom
Relevant to Ferengi, The Dominion, War
Guest Star Iggy Pop

6×11 “Waltz“

Must See
Relevant to Dukat
Relevant to War

6×12 “Who Mourns For Morn?“

Take It or Leave It
Relevant to Quark

6×13 “Far Beyond The Stars“

Must See
Relevant to Benjamin Sisko
Relevant to Earth History, The Prophets

6×14 “One Little Ship“

Take It or Leave it
Relevant to War, The Jem’Hadar

6×15 “Honor Among Thieves“

Should See
Relevant to O’Brien
Relevant to War, The Seedy Underbelly of Space

6×16 “Change of Heart“

Should See
Relevant to Worf, Jadzia Dax
Relevant to War

6×17 “Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night“

Take It or Live It
Relevant to Kira, Dukat
Relevant to Cardassian Occupation of Bajor

6×18 “Inquisition“

Must See
Relevant to Bashir
First Appearance of Section 31

6×19 “In The Pale Moonlight“

Must See
Relevant to Benjamin Sisko, Garak
Relevant to War, War is Hell, The Federation, Romulans, Cardassians

6×20 “His Way“

Must See
Relevant to Odo, Kira
Relevant to Odo Has Feelings And He Feels Them
First Appearance of Vic Fontaine

6×21 “The Reckoning“

Must See
Relevant to Benjamin Sisko, Winn Adami
Relevant to Bajor, The Prophets

6×22 “Valiant“

Take It or Leave It
Relevant to Jake Sisko, Nog
Relevant to Jake and Nog are Bros, War is Hell

6×23 “Profit and Lace“

Take It or Leave It
Relevant to Quark
Relevant to Ferengi

6×24 “Time’s Orphan“

Take It or Leave It
Relevant to O’Brien Family

6×25 “The Sound Of Her Voice“

Should See
Relevant to Everyone
Relevant to War, Odo and Quark are Bros

6×26 “Tears of the Prophets“

Must See
Relevant to Benjamin Sisko, Jadzia Dax, Dukat
Relevant to War, The Prophets

Conclusion

Where season 5 ended with the Federation taking a defeat and putting on a determined face, season 6 ended in a much darker place. Season 6 serves as the middle chapter in the story of The Dominion War, and as with the middle part in any story, things don’t look so good.

The war is going poorly; the Prophets have been attacked, one of our comrades has fallen, and Benjamin Sisko has returned to Earth. Things at this point cannot get any grimmer.

We’ve also had some of the best explorations of the grey areas of conflict, good people doing bad things and the collateral damage that war causes. We’ve seen major leaps forward for many of the cast and crew, Star Trek’s best-developed antagonist takes a turn for the worse, and more of the epic space battles that we’ve been dying to see for years.

There’s only one more season to go in Deep Space Nine. Join me next week for our last viewing guide and again in two weeks for a discussion of which episodes are the series-best (and why). See you then!

Awesome Friday!