DS9: The Sword of Kahless

         I suppose it is too much to ask for a show to have no bad episodes. This episode is at least 50% Klingons arguing in poorly lit caves and in the end they decide for some reason to beam the object of their affections into space. They seem somehow horrified that this sword could turn Klingons against each other which seems to show very little understanding of how Klingon politics works. Even Kahless himself spent most of his time fighting other Klingons, why should his sword lead to an era of anything different? 
         The episode begins with Kor telling the story of a battle he fought in with Kang and Koloth at Quarks. After he finishes Dax introduces him to Worf who is a bit star struck, but very excited at the prospect of joining him on the search for the sword of Kahless. That night Kor gets his mind read by a Lethean but we don't see anything else about this until the most obvious moment. Sisko agrees to let the three of them take a runabout to find it and they set off. They arrive at the planet where the Vulcan's found signs of it and Kor tells them it is behind a forcefield which upsets them for about 10 seconds since he didn't mention it earlier. But of course they easily defeat it but find the archive behind it ransacked (by who they don't seem to care about). Dax discovers another forcefield behind a holographic projection and manages to get through and they find the sword of Kahless. After some excited picking up and holding of the sword they leave but are confronted by Toral, some soldiers and the Lethean. And despite the soldiers holding disruptors they are totally ineffective and are easily defeated in hand to hand combat. 
         They escape and seal Toral and company behind the first forcefield but because it would be too short otherwise their communications are blocked so they can't beam up. Worf and Kor spend the next 20 minutes or so of the episode in poorly lit caves arguing about which of them should get to decide what happens to the sword but they both eventually let Dax have it. They find Toral again and kill his soldiers and Lethean and then he apparently lets them use their comms again and they get back to the runabout. And for some reason the best solution is to just beam the thing into space and let some other Klingon discover it later which is dumb, won't Toral just find it?

         Review: An episode without much going on and which a dumb ending. Far from DS9 at its best, possibly the worst episode of the series so far.

3 out of 10