| "Strange Bedfellows" | |
|---|---|
| Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 19 |
| Directed by | René Auberjonois |
| Written by | Ronald D. Moore |
| Featured music | Jay Chattaway |
| Production code | 569 |
| Original air date | April 19, 1999 |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"Strange Bedfellows" is the 169th episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It is one of eight episodes of Deep Space Nine directed by Rene Auberjonois, who also played the role of Odo on the series.[1]
Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the crew of the Starfleet-managed space station Deep Space Nine near the planet Bajor, as the Bajorans recover from a decades-long occupation by the imperialistic Cardassians. The station is adjacent to a wormhole connecting Bajor to the distant Gamma Quadrant; the wormhole is home to powerful alien beings worshipped by the Bajorans as the godlike "Prophets", who have made Deep Space Nine's human captain Benjamin Sisko their "Emissary". The later seasons of the series follow a war between the United Federation of Planets and the Dominion, an expansionist empire from the Gamma Quadrant, which has already absorbed Cardassia; the Dominion is ruled by the shapeshifting Changelings and administered by the genetically-engineered, cloned Vorta.
This is the third episode of the nine-episode concluding story arc of the series, which brings the Dominion War and other story elements to a close. The episode follows two major plot threads. As the Dominion allies with the enigmatic aliens known as the Breen, the Cardassian leader Damar grows more and more discontent with Dominion rule and eventually decides to turn against it; meanwhile, Kai Winn, the conniving spiritual leader of Bajor, wrestles with her faith and eventually chooses to abandon the Prophets in favor of their evil counterparts, the Pah-wraiths. A third thread examines the complicated feelings between Deep Space Nine officers Ezri Dax and Worf: Ezri is a member of the Trill species, symbiotically joined to the long-lived sluglike creature Dax, and the previous host of Dax was Worf's late wife Jadzia.
The episode received Nielsen ratings of 4.2 points, equating to almost 4.2 million viewers when it was aired on television in April 1999.[2]