History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E19StrangeBedfellows

On the station, Sisko settles into his marriage as Martok advises him to prepare for a lifelong war between partners. At the same time, [[Characters/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineGulDukat Dukat]] and Kai Winn are enjoying conjugal bliss when Kai Winn has another vision. This time, the Pah-Wraiths reveal themselves to her, horrifying the Kai. Dukat tries to convince her to turn her alliegence to the Pah-Wraiths, but Winn refuses. Unable to receive guidance from the Prophets, she turns to Kira for advice on repenting the greed that led her down the path of evil. Kira tells her to renounce her position as Kai, and Winn balks. She returns to Dukat stating that she has come too far in her career to give up now, so she will embrace the power that the Pah-Wraiths offer her with him at her side.

* BigNo: Winn, when she realizes that the prophets who spoke to her were actually the pah-wraiths.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Subverted. The thoroughly unscrupulous Winn repeatedly refuses to entertain the notion of following the evil Pah-Wraiths instead of the Prophets... until the final scene, when she decides ThenLetMeBeEvil.

** Winn's lust for power and self-importance is ''the'' reason she can't redeem herself and throws in with the Pah-Wraiths.
* GetOut: Winn tells "Anjohl" this when he first admits that he's with the Pah-Wraiths. Later, Winn changes her mind.

* HaveYouSeenMyGod: After the Pah-Wraiths begin to exercise their influence over Winn, the Prophets refuse to speak to her. Their silence to her helps to push her over the edge and complete her FaceHeelTurn.

* HeroicBSOD: Not exactly heroic, but Winn nearly falls apart when she learns she's being seduced by the Pah-Wraiths.
* IgnoredEpiphany: Kai Winn is horrified by the reveal that she's been receiving visions from the Pah-Wraiths and is all ready to repent and do what she has to in order to make things up with the Prophets, until Kira suggests that the first step needs to be her giving up her power as Kai.

* NeverMyFault: Winn lays her betrayal of the Prophets squarely at the feet of the Prophets themselves; in her mind, if they won't give her everything she wants, they're the ones who are unworthy of her, totally blind to the fact that it's Winn's own greed and self-righteousness that makes her choose to serve the Pah-Wraiths.
* OhCrap: Winn, once she realizes that it wasn't the Prophets that had been communicating with her, but the Pah-Wraiths.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: After Winn learns that she's been consorting with the Pah-Wraiths, she goes to Kira for the Bajoran equivalent of Confession -- and for once, there's no bitchy PassiveAggressiveKombat or posturing, as Winn is genuinely fearful and penitent. Unfortunately, it gets {{Subverted}} when Kira advises her to step down as Kai, and her usual ItsAllAboutMe attitude reasserts itself.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: If the Pah-Wraiths introducing themselves to Winn wasn't enough of a clue, the fact that Sisko's eyes turn red in her vision should be.
* RedemptionRejection: Winn would do anything to rid herself of the evil influence of the Pah-Wraiths... except surrender her power as Kai. As far as she's concerned, if the Prophets can't let her keep her power ''and'' bless her, they aren't worth her loyalty.

* ThenLetMeBeEvil: With the Prophets deaf to her, her influence waning against Sisko's, and the Pah-Wraiths offering her that which she desires, Winn decides to give the Prophets the middle finger and turn her coat.
-->'''Winn''': I'm a patient woman, but I've run out of patience. I will no longer serve gods who give me nothing in return. I'm ready to walk the path the Pah-Wraiths have laid out for me.\\

** "Feel our love … the love of the Pah-Wraith."

On the station, Sisko settles into his marriage as Martok advises him to prepare for a lifelong war between partners. At the same time, Dukat and Kai Winn are enjoying conjugal bliss when Kai Winn has another vision. This time, the Pah-Wraiths reveal themselves to her, horrifying the Kai. Dukat tries to convince her to turn her alliegence to the Pah-Wraiths, but Winn refuses. Unable to receive guidance from the Prophets, she turns to Kira for advice on repenting the greed that led her down the path of evil. Kira tells her to renounce her position as Kai, and Winn balks. She returns to Dukat stating that she has come too far in her career to give up now, so she will embrace the power that the Pah-Wraiths offer her with him at her side.

* SlutShaming: Ezri pulls this on Jadzia posthumously during her arguments with Worf; Ezri taunts him by claiming that there wasn't anyone on [=DS9=] that she didn't sleep with.

* DoubleMeaningTitle: The episode title is a reference to a quote from Shakespeare's ''Theater/TheTempest'', "Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows," that has been in modern times reworded to refer to politics and war, among other aspects of life. While there are several examples of the phenomenon (those with little or nothing in common coming together for mutual advantage) in the episode, such as Damar and the Federation (in the persons of Ezri and Worf) and especially Kai Winn and the disguised Gul Dukat, it's actually literal for the latter since the two become lovers as part of Dukat's scheme to sway Winn to the Pah-wraiths. It even applies to Ezri and Worf themselves (being forced to work together to escape while dealing with the status of their relationship and the aftermath of having had sex); Sisko and Yates (dealing with figuring out the new boundaries in their lives thanks to marriage and his status as the Emissary); and metaphorically to O'Brien, Bashir, and Quark commiserating over Ezri's absence.

** Kai Winn portrays her turn away from the Prophets as this, reasoning that she shouldn't bother worshipping gods who [[DudeWheresMyReward give her no support]] in return. In reality, it's just a case of [[ItsAllAboutMe her ego flying off the deep end]].