>Blood oath and the Maquis I and II were enthralling
>But wow from The Jem'Hadar into s3 eps 1 and 2!

Season 2 started really strong but fell off a bit by trying to conform to Star Trek formula with eps. like Meloara. Not bad but it was a lot of what we have seen before with TNG and outsider character ensign Barklay.

When they deal mainly with the Bajoran Wormhole/Gamma Quadrant area politics and maneuvering, it's a very strong show. Even with Bernie Casey's wooden delivery, Maquis was a couple of dope episodes that went in the face of the usual Federation people are reasonable and work to make things fair. Those cats had their backs up against the wall and were left out in the cold. They took the only path reasonable in that situation. Unfortunately they radicalized and started taking really foolish risks.

Also, the majority of episodes lead to conclusions that were not necessarily happy or fair. It seems the writers were not afraid to avoid the usual reset for everyone by the end of an ep. and that gave the show and future events that play off some of those bitter victories a lot more weight.

One final thing that DS9 solidifies by the end. Quark is a G. Really. That fool runs things when he's in a groove. Wait for the ep. House of Quark where he makes a surprisingly effective turn of events on Klingon of all places.