10 Weirdest Star Trek Doppelgängers

Whispers is arguably one of Deep Space Nine's best bait-and-switch episodes.

It starts with Miles O'Brien (who else) returning from a mission with the Paradas, preparing for peace talks. He slowly starts to realise that everyone is acting strangely around him. #NotMyKeiko is distant to the point of frosty, and seems to be in cahoots with Sisko, who's later caught in a lie about it. Miles is managed out of his work preparing for the peace talks, and forced to attend a medical with Bashir, who's acting so sus that anyone in their right mind would vote to eject him.

Whispers is an exquisitely written episode that leads the viewer on a merry dance, right beside O'Brien. It seems like a classic case of crew possession, leaving you cheering for O'Brien during his daring escape from the station. Until O'Brien follows Sisko down to the surface of Parada II and is told that everything he needs to know is behind a closed door.

The tense standoff results in O'Brien being shot...before the door opens to reveal the real O'Brien. Only then does it become clear that it wasn't the crew that had been replaced...it was O'Brien himself, by a replicant so well made that he was convinced he was the real deal. The only difference was that he had been programmed to eventually sabotage the upcoming peace talks.

Which begs the question: if a replicant has all the memories and lived experiences of the original, how do they differ? To all intents and purposes, he was O'Brien, with the same gruff personality and knack for suffering. Even his habits were the same, judging by how many cups of coffee (Jamaican blend, double strong, double sweet) he ordered. And most poignantly, his love for Keiko was real, at least to him. But while Whispers asks the question, it expertly ends in a place that allows the audience to answer it for themselves.