I know classic Star Trek always had a mix of serious business and wacky shenanigans, but I don’t know if anything will ever beat the seesaw of earnestness and ridiculousness that was Deep Space Nine season six?
- episode 7: Jadzia’s new Klingon mother-in-law is mean!! Worf invites his friends to the galaxy’s shittiest bachelor party
- ep 8: Kira must confront her dead boyfriend’s doppelganger from another universe
- ep 9: the neurodivergent breakfast club, starring Bashir
- ep 10: the Ferengi Comic Relief Brigade have to do a Weekend at Bernie’s with a POW they killed by accident
- ep 11: Ben Sisko is injured and trapped in a cave with his self-declared archnemesis who goes violently insane while hallucinating and ranting about his intention to commit genocide
- ep 12: Quark goes on a treasure hunt but the real treasure was here inside Morn’s colon all along
- ep 13: a Black science fiction writer struggles with systemic racism and police brutality in 1950s America and the entire show might be a dream he’s having
- ep 14: Honey We Shrunk The Runabout
This is why star trek should be mostly episodic with serialized elements. DS9 was the perfect balance of episodic and serialized.