Garak and Gul Dukat banter is always entertaining.
Garak and Nog after a certain point in the series is also amusing.
Nog has such a good character arc. When you start the show you wouldn't guess it but he really comes out of nowhere with a lot of growth.
Ah, I know the exact episode you mean Shion, and I can totally understand why you felt that way about it. It was perhaps unfortunate to establish Winn's character in that way because the show, as a whole over the seven seasons, is very respectful of religion and treats the Bajoran religion in particular as a vital part of their culture and that this, overall, is a good thing.
However, there are also people within that faith who aren't perfect - Kira's deeply faithful but more than one episode shows she's not the most forgiving or merciful of people - misguided - There's a later episode where a Vedek is talking about some prophecy and he has completely misunderstood it - and pretty much straight up evil - Kai Winn encouraged division to try to get Bareil out of the way. Possibly the only major religious character who is portrayed as genuinely and wholly good is Bareil, but the show definitely skews more towards "People are the problem, not religion" rather than the reverse.
I would definitely encourage you to give it a chance as the show very much improves in that regard, and as a non-religious person it didn't occur to me until you brought it up, but there may have been better ways to introduce Winn without giving the appearance of condemning religion itself.
Also, all the banter in the show is great, but Miles and Julian's friendship is the best of all. Getting drunk and singing Jerusalem, being HUGE NERDS in their holosuite vidyas, all that stuff, it's by far the most mundanely human - and thus the most genuine and most effective - friendship in all of Trek.
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I wouldn't want them to portray faithful people as all being good just because they're religious either, that would be just as stupid to me. Or if they were portraying non-religious people as all immoral jerks or something, that would also be pretty offensive as well. I'm a strong believer in individual merit when it comes to that kind of thing. I'm not going to assume someone is a good person because of their religious views, but I'm not also going to assume they're a bad person either, you know? That's why it gets to me when people are lumped together like that. Ask sharky and he can tell you the number of times I've raged at hearing atheists called immoral and bad because they don't believe in God. It's offensive from both sides.
The way it was presented at first made it seem like that's what they were doing so I was hurt by it, but I'm glad people have told me that it wasn't like that and what they were trying to show. I appreciate the message more now
Oh, yeah, sorry - I wasn't trying to imply that was how you wanted them to be portrayed, I was just highlighting that the show is more complex and realistic in that regard than the introduction of Winn episode would suggest.
I always enjoy pretty much every time that Nog exceeds someone's expectations. "Oh, you want me to do that cargo bay inventory that normally takes a team of people 1 or 2 days to do by myself? I'll have it to you by morning."
He's not the smartest, or the most talented, but he's hardworking and determined. For an alien, he's very human, or a good example of how to be human. Raw ability means nothing if you don't use it. Conversely, being different, being "slow," coming from a different background with no opportunities, can't stop a person if they stay determined and work at what they want to do/be. So yeah, exactly Vivi. I enjoyed that the character exceeded my expectations, because I thought he was going to be an annoying twerp to the end.
Rom's son. He's the Ferengi kid who pals around with Jake.