Shakaar

Kai Winn sends Kira on a mission to Bajor.

This is a solid Bajoran political episode.

I enjoy most of the episodes where Kira or Sisko get drawn into the machinations of Winn Adami. She is a superbly realised character, played to perfection by the great Louise Fletcher, and in this story she is written as uncompromising in her ambitions. This lends itself nicely to the introduction of Shakaar, who is played effortlessly well by Duncan Regehr.

I like the premise of the story and interactions between Winn, Sisko, Kira and Shakaar very much.

It ends quite abruptly and there is a very random B-plot that takes up time that could have been used to better finish the main story, but it does not impact the overall enjoyment for me.

I rate it as a 7.5/10 but I round scores upwards.