10 Star Trek Episodes That Completely Ignored Convention
3. In The Pale Moonlight
Star Trek broke the fourth wall for the first time in Deep Space Nine's seminal episode, In The Pale Moonlight. While there were events that certainly tipped the hat and gave a wink to the audience along the way, this was the first time that the show had ever explicitly addressed the audience. It manages to do so while still keeping the characters in the confines of the narrative, but it is a close thing.
Sisko's logs are among the darkest that we have ever heard a Starfleet captain record. While Kirk, Picard, and Janeway had all struggled with tough decisions along the way, Sisko here seems to offer his soul for the audience to judge. What's more than that, Star Trek had always, at its heart, attempted to skew toward positive and upbeat messages.
Sisko openly states, at the episode's close, that despite the wicked things he's been involved with, despite becoming an accessory to murder, he feels justified in his actions. His final words, ordering the computer to delete the entire log he had just recorded, is the episode making sure that the audience knows that, while a soul has been bared for them to judge, after all is said and done Sisko doesn't need their blessing.