S1E11 - Vortex

[pksullivan]

This is probably the most influential and long-lasting episode of DS9 in my personal memory. Opaka is kai for only a handful of episodes and yet she is The Kai when I think of DS9 and the Bajorans, even though we see much more of another kai in the series.

[dnaphil]

(PK I think you mean Battle Lines.)

I picked this episode because this is the first time in the series the word Changling is spoken.

This episode is a good non-Star Fleet story. The story mainly stays focused on Quark who is dealing with the Miradorns and Odo who meets someone from the gamma quadrant who has seen others like him.

I like that Croden is not as simple of a character as he first seems, and as we discover his motivation for going back to the Gamma Quardrant, we see that Odo is not just rules and regulations. Odo does something out of character when he lets Croden and his daughter go.

Without spoilers. This is not the last time the word Changling will be spoke in this series.

[Jared Rascher]

This episode is a good example of those subtle, slow seeding moments from the early seasons. While I don't think they knew EXACTLY what was coming in the later seasons, they clearly had plans they were building right from the start.