Bar Association (DS9)
Season 4 Episode 16
In most cases, Star Trek addresses real world threats via allegory. Not so with “Bar Association,” in which Rom must deal with one of the greatest threats in the world today: a greedy boss who wants to exploit his workers. In this case, the boss is Rom’s brother Quark, who runs his bar according to the hyper-capitalist Rules of Acquisition that drive his people. Inspired by Miles O’Brien’s ancestor—”He was more than a hero; he was a union man”—Rom organizes his co-workers to strike against Quark.
Like most Ferengi-focused episodes of Deep Space Nine, “Bar Association” has plenty of comedy to lighten the mood. And, to be sure, Quark’s unfair labor practices don’t fill the viewer with dread like the Jem’Hadar. But while few of us viewers will ever have to do battle with warriors pumped up on ketracel-white, most of us will have to stand up to those who would exploit us, making Rom’s rebellion one of the most immediately hopeful moments in the entire franchise.
In the Cards (DS9)
Season 5 Episode 25
With the exception of maybe the first two seasons of Star Trek: Picard and (ugh) the Section 31 movie, Deep Space Nine is easily the series most skeptical of Federation ideals. As they face the annihilating force of the Dominion, Sisko and his crew make some morally questionable decisions (to their credit, though, they do actually debate and question those decisions, something missing from more recent attempts to darken the franchise).
And yet, the series never forgets the humanity at the center of the war, a point illustrated by the extremely low-stakes episode, “In the Cards.” It may occur on the cusp of the Dominion War, but instead of taking us back to the front lines, it follows Jake and Nog as they try to get a rare baseball card to give as a gift to Sisko. As we’ll talk about next, Jake and especially Nog will be forever changed by the Dominion War, so there’s something wonderful about seeing kids being kids, doing something silly and sweet without (yet) being tainted by war.
It’s Only a Paper Moon (DS9)
Season 7 Episode 10
On first glance, it’s hard to see how “It’s Only a Paper Moon” fits on a list of most hopeful Star Trek episodes, especially coming after “In the Cards.” After all, “It’s Only a Paper Moon” finds Nog crippled and traumatized from the Dominion War, having lost his leg in battle. One of the series’ most inspiring moments came when Nog joined Starfleet; this episode sees Nog at his lowest point.
Nog’s only comfort comes from listening to the song “I’ll Be Seeing You,” as performed by hologram Vic Fontaine, and that desire for comfort drives him to live in Vic’s lounge and pad in a holosuite. But when Vic, Jake, and counselor Ezri Dax realize that Nog’s delaying his healing by escaping into a safe fantasy, they must work to help him face the difficult truth. Nog’s journey, brilliantly depicted by the late Aron Eisenberg, is a difficult one and isn’t always pretty. But the mere fact that he finds healing earns the episode’s place on this list.
