Star Trek: 10 Greatest Genre Episodes Ever
5. War: The Siege Of AR-558
War, as a genre, is a little harder to pin down. According to OxfordReference.com:
The war film is generally (if somewhat arbitrarily) regarded as featuring scenes of combat that are dramatically central and that determine the fate of the film’s principal characters—hence the other commonly used term.
Much of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Discovery depict the horrors of war in their run, with both examples delivering enormous space battles, as well as ground assaults. One might consider Sacrifice Of Angels for this entry, with that particular episode being a strong contender for the previous action-adventure entry, but the true, greatest example of the war film is The Siege Of AR-558.
When Star Trek confines itself to space battles, however exciting they are, they lose that personal connection to the characters. Yes, consoles will explode and people can and do die, but it is often a cold, detached depiction. The Jem'hadar assult on the Starfleet forces in The Siege Of AR-558 is brutal, deadly, and devastating. Though Starfleet wins the day, there is no real victory here.
Nog becomes the heart of the episode as he goes from a naive, bright-eyed ensign to a badly injured, shell-shocked officer. We are introduced to characters who, in a lesser episode, may have been consolidated to red shirt status, but here are given room to breathe and emote. When Vargas is killed, it means something. When Kellin dies protecting Ezri, it means something.
This, combined with Paul Baillargeon's haunting score, plays on the audience's discomfort and horror at what they're witnessing. It remains one of the darkest episodes in Star Trek's run for exactly that reason.