“Armageddon Game” is a slightly above average episode thanks to some enjoyable character interactions between O’Brien and Bashir, and an interesting twist to the idea of two warring factions struggling to create a tenuous peace. There’s also a not-so-subtle commentary on biological warfare. But there are a few issues in terms of predictability which tends to dampen most of the high-end tension.

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As the episode begins, Bashir and O’Brien are in orbit around an alien planet, busily looking for ways to neutralize the deadly contaminants in an arsenal of “Harvesters” – cylinders which contain toxins which have already wreaked a great deal of destruction amongst the aliens’ two warring factions. In short order, Bashir succeeds in his task and there is much rejoicing. Predictably, though, the process of eliminating the Harvesters goes awry and the operation is attacked, resulting in the deaths of two alien scientists and the narrow escape of Bashir and O’Brien – with O’Brien becoming infected by the toxin.

What unfolds are two storylines. First, there is the struggle for survival on the planet’s surface by Bashir and O’Brien. Second, and less prominent, are the reactions (and subsequent investigations) back on DS9 to the fabricated news that Bashir and O’Brien have been killed in an accident. There are some nice character moments to both threads, but neither of them really reaches a very high level of execution.

On the planet surface, Bashir and O’Brien are holed up, trying to repair a communications panel. As O’Brien slowly slips into delirium, the two share a thoughtful conversation about love – and whether or not marriage is a worthwhile pursuit. It’s fairly well-played by both actors, providing key character moments. But if there is a criticism, it’s in the fact that instead of equally portraying both sides of the issue, the episodes tilts slightly in favor of endorsing marriage. It’s not a mistake so much as it is a missed opportunity – the episode would have been stronger with a more balanced exploration.

Back on DS9, the scenes in which the crew cope with the news of their comrades’ passing are also fairly well-done. Sisko does a particularly notable job of trying to put on a stoic front, while still demonstrating how emotional the turn of events is for him. There’s an attempt at some lightheartedness from Quark’s eulogy – and it only really works inasmuch as we, the audience, know that the characters are still alive. But the moment manages to puncture the mood, rather than provide a necessary counterpoint.

The most interesting story element comes from the ultimate explanation for why Bashir and O’Brien were attacked. The episode smartly avoids going down the route of blaming one faction (or a new faction) and instead makes the intriguing choice of portraying the whole masquerade as a joint operation between the two factions, carried out to destroy everything, and every one, with knowledge of the Harvesters – to avoid them from ever being created again.

It’s a nice idea, but it also completely ignores the fact that Bashir had just come up with a method for neutralizing the Harvesters (and subsequently cure O’Brien’s infection). Another good notion that doesn’t work out as well as the episode hoped was the bait-and-switch routine Sisko uses to elude the pursuit from the aliens. Intelligent ploy that it is, it was just way too obvious to viewers.

“Armageddon Game”gets credit for its characterizations.  But the storyline used ot explore the characters doesn’t hold up particularly well.  In the end, the episode manages fairly well — but not well enough to be a classic.

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