Lost - One of Us

There is a lot of stuff going on in this episode which is a relief after the start of the season. We see more of Juliets back story as her flashbacks fill in her time on the island and fill us in on her motivations before throwing in a possible swerve at the end. 

The majority of the episode is the ramification of Juliet switching sides from The Other to the Losties* and the issue of will they accept her. There's decent stuff happening here with Claire getting some screen time and Juliet gets a rather convenient chance to prove herself. We get a good bit of character stuff as various Losties get to interact with Juliet - some for the first time with Hurley stealing the scene he's in and Sayid & Sawyer showing their distrust.

It's a 7/10 from me and a really good strong flashback which adds a lot to the episode and helps colour in a character we hadn't met until this season.  

* I need a shorthand for the regulars and this is all I've got 

Deep Space Nine - Q-Less

Oh, I'd forgot that Q was in DS9!

We're in curates egg territory in this episode in that we have the first episode not to have any of the main cast as the starring character - something that the show would go on to be known for due to the strength of the supporting cast. However the two main characters of the episode are Q and (looks up wikipedia) Vash who I have no memory of what so ever.

Vash is actually quite fun - she's paired up in a fun double act with Quark and if anything she's the actual base of which the episode is built around. Q however does not fit at all into the DS9 format which is strange as he's brilliant everywhere else I've seen him. The strength of Q has always been in his relationship with the commanding officer to the show - to Picard he's the court jester ready to throw the Enterprise about for his own amusement and to Janeway he's the maturing class joker eager to prove that he's capable of maturing. With Sisko we get nothing - straight away he's viewed as a nuisance and someone who he's been briefed on. We get an amusing scene and moments here or there but there's no time given to creating a relationship.

The regulars mostly suffer this episode, O'Brien is perhaps given the worst material wondering around the station making references to the Enterprise while the only two that escape unharmed are Bashir and Quark. Quark gets his fun double act and arguably the most screen time while Bashir gets some comedy moments with Vash and Q before being written out for half of the episode.

I'm giving this 6/10 as Vash alone (plus Quark) makes this a fun episode however there is no need for Q. He's a half arsed addition to the episode that the producers don't fully commit to. The episode is notable for being the first to be fronted by a guest cast but it feels wrong as it's the guest cast from another show. Personally I think it's a swing and a miss instead of something that didn't work and without an early episode like this we'd never see the supporting cast grow.