DS9 - "Captive Pursuit"

When a distressed alien comes through the wormhole, the crew of DS9 aids him. O'Brien develops a friendship with the simple-minded alien, known only as "Tosk." When it is revealed that Tosk is the prey in the hunting game of his people, O'Brien helps him to escape.

This is a decent premise, if not terribly exciting. There's definitely some interesting ideas here, with the concept of different cultural values placed upon life. O'Brien has a form of crisis of conscience, unsure whether to trust his sense of personal rights and morality or understand that it's an alien culture and it's not for him to interfere with. In the end, of course, he basically says "screw it, I'm gonna do what I think is right." This is why O'Brien was one of my favorite TNG characters; he broke the mold of politically-correct, detached morality that permeated the senior staff of the Enterprise-D. He's recognizably human, relatable, and understandable. When O'Brien makes his decision, the audience cheers him on.

Unfortunately, however, this episode doesn't really do anything amazing. There's a few nice points here and there, but it mostly continues DS9's trend of being "okay, but not great."