OK, this was a bit confusing. A Federation officer can’t get used to the idea that the war is over, and sees Cardassian conspiracies at every turn. So Picard has to bring him in, which he does eventually. But then it turns out that there *were* Cardassian conspiracies, and Picard was just trying to keep the peace? Weird.
Still, it’s all well done. O’Brien gets his first episode in the spotlight, continuing his run from an unnamed tech in the pilot episode, through to a regular on Deep Space 9 (with, I think, the second most appearances of any main character, after Worf). And there’s an interesting examination of what it can be like for people in war. Good stuff.
Great Star Trek moment: the first appearance of the Cardassians, and hence the start of the set-up for both the Deep Space 9 and Voyager spin-offs. Also the best ‘mortal’ enemy race that Star Trek ever had (the Romulans don’t turn up enough, the Klingons are on our side, and the Borg are too powerful).
193 down, 544 to go.