Tread Perilously is a podcast in which hosts Erik Amaya and author Justin Robinson watch the “worst” episodes of popular TV shows, attempting to determine if they would continue to watch the series based on the most off-key moments.

This Week: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s “Let He Who Is Without Sin”

Tread Perilously‘s annual Star Trek month continues with a rare visit to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Unfortunately, it’s for one of the program’s worst hours: “Let He Who Is Without Sin…”

Dax and Worf’s vacation to pleasure planet Risa is disrupted by Bashir, Leeta, and Quark deciding to come along, Worf’s bad attitude, and the extremist Essentialist Movement who believe places like Risa are making the Federation “soft.” When Worf reads one of their pamphlets, he conflates his current personal problems with Dax as an element of the phantom menace proposed by the Essentialists. Will he help them cause ecological harm to the galaxy-famous vacation world?

Erik is stunned to discover Gerd Shockley is, indeed, in the episode as the leader of the Essentialists. A scene of The Emissary and Odo chatting at the Replimat leads to a surprisingly long digression. The Duras Sisters start an OnlyFans page. The Warriors gets praised while its unfortunate Director’s Cut gets panned. Worf’s behavior leads to a discussion about jealousy and negative emotions. Lloyd Dobler’s Disease gets outlined, and Justin once again lauds Cobra Kai. He also reveals one of the reasons for this DS9 episode failing while still holding his favorite Star Trek TV writers accountable. Gerd’s opinion of Bajor becomes clear and Erik declares Ross from Friends is the only other character who could screw things up as badly as Worf does here.

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