"Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places" (season five, episode three; 14 October 1996): Wikipedia-link.
Commentary: The Lady Grilka returns, Quark's Klingon ex-wife from "The House of Quark" (season three, episode three). Grilka is on the starbase seeking Quark's help with the financial straits in which the Klingon war against the Federation has placed her house; Quarks lusts for Grilka, but doesn't know how to woo a Klingon lady; Worf is smitten with Grilka, but cannot pursue her because of his formal dishonor. Actor Michael Dorn, who played Worf, suggested adapting Cyrano de Bergerac for Star Trek. Worf & Dax help Quark win Grilka's favor, after which Jadzia throws herself at Worf, who had been too distracted by Grilka to recognize Jadzia's not-so-subtle pursuit of him.
"Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places" also features an embryonic romance between Major Kira & Chief O'Brien, brought together by Kira carrying the O'Briens' baby & residing in the O'Briens' quarters (since "Body Parts," season four, episode twenty-five). Keiko almost sends Miles & Nerys to one of the most romantic, secluded locations on Bajor, but Miles stays on the starbase & Nerys goes to visit Shakaar, her paramour, instead.
"Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places" is a very light episode, a bit of relief between the intense war stories in "The Ship" & "…Nor the Battle to the Strong."
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"…Nor the Battle to the Strong" (season five, episode four; 21 October 1996): Wikipedia-link.
Commentary: "…Nor the Battle to the Strong" is the Star Trek version of The Red Badge of Courage: Jake Sisko, overconfident from being on Deep Space 9 during multiple assaults, is shocked by the casualties from a Klingon attack on a Federation colony & abandons Doctor Bashir & runs away in a blind panic during an artillery barrage. There is a thoroughgoing exploration of war archetypes: gallows humor from the physicians & nurses, a Starfleet officer who shot himself in the foot with his phaser, a dying Starfleet chief who is disgusted by Jake's cowardice but demands his help to be propped up, so that the chief will die looking up at the sky, not with his face in the mud. Through Jake's writing, & the voiceover narration of such, the episode meditates on the thin line between courage & cowardice in combat.
The title, "…Nor the Battle to the Strong," is drawn from the Bible, the Book of Ecclesiastes, 9:11:
Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the men of skill; but time & chance happen to them all.
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