Bickering and bonding at the heart of this episode

Jim’s Take on Episode 2.13: “Armageddon Game”

There are many great character duos in Star Trek’s long and storied history. Kirk and Spock. Data and Geordi. Odo and Quark. Seven and The Doctor. Michael and Tilly. Mariner and Boimler. I could go on listing awesome duos all day. But none of them can really compare to the true greatness of DS9’s, and maybe all of Trek’s, greatest pairing: Doctor Julian Bashir and Chief Miles O’Brien. So far the show has teased the relationship between these two through little moments where O’Brien is annoyed by Bashir’s earnest enthusiasm and Bashir expresses his great respect for O’Brien’s many talents, but this is the first episode that throws the two of them together, truly on their own, in a struggle for their lives. And it is magnificent!

As the episode opens, our power couple has been helping the T’Lani and the Kellerun solidify an end to centuries of war by defusing the horrific “harvester” weapons both sides have deployed in their conflict. Clearly these people have been unable to arrive at a peaceful solution to their troubles because of their wildly different, and alarmingly precise, views on how to appropriately style their hair. How do you get an entire culture, presumably billions of people, to agree that they will all have EXACTLY the same extremely complex hair? The salon industry on their respective planets must be massive. I imagine that the only two real career choices on their planets are to join the military or to become a stylist. (I have a distant memory of my much younger self utterly hating this episode when it first aired because I thought the hair was silly. That guy was an idiot. The hair is marvelous.)

When things go wrong, which is inevitable the minute O’Brien says, “I suppose another day won’t kill me,” our heroes quickly switch gears to “action mode.” Bashir holds his own well enough, but I love how quickly mild-mannered Miles O’Brien goes into full-on soldier mode. It’s great writing that shows how much their Starfleet experiences have differed. O’Brien is a peaceful man who fixes things, but, as harmless as he may appear on the surface, he has an inner warrior that could go toe to toe with the most fierce Klingon. Our heroes quickly suss out the threat, beat down the Kellerun attackers, and find a way to escape, but the Kellerun and T’Lani ambassadors quickly head to DS9 to report their deaths and offer condolences. (Every time Sisko tries to sit down for a nice meal, Kira has to interrupt with terrible news about something that ruins his appetite. Could she be doing it on purpose? Not cool.)

A truly epic relationship begins. Step aside Kirk/Spock and make way for Star Trek’s greatest duo!

The real mistake these fancy-haired clowns made was in trying to pin the blame for the “terrible accident” that supposedly killed Bashir, O’Brien, and all the scientists working on this project, on a mistake made by O’Brien. What!? Miles O’Brien does not make stupid mistakes that kill everyone! Suddenly he’s Arnold Rimmer? This obviously will not stand. The command team all express disbelief that O’Brien could have made such a mistake, but it takes Keiko’s insistence that her husband simply does NOT drink coffee in the afternoon to finally convince everyone that there is something fishy about the footage documenting this supposed “accident.” While Sisko and Dax head off to investigate, Julian and Miles are hiding out on the planet, trying to repair a communications console before they are tracked down by the Kellerun who are out to kill them. Their bickering and bonding is the highlight of this episode. Julian is so earnest and sincere in his admiration for the Chief, and O’Brien is so clearly annoyed, but also impressed, by Bashir. You can see the gears turning while he struggles to resist enjoying Julian’s non-stop chatter. Despite their very different attitudes about everything from marriage to military rations, the growing bond between these two opposites starts to become clear. Even when their deaths are imminent, Bashir is clearly moved by O’Brien’s admission that “It’s been an honor serving with you.” Not that O’Brien is going to admit that when he ISN’T about to die…

Of course Sisko and Dax outsmart the T’Lani and Kellerun, who have spent too much time on their hair and not enough time thinking through their plans to murder everyone who helps them. Keiko doesn’t actually know as much as she thinks she does about her husband’s coffee habit. And a truly epic relationship begins. Step aside Kirk/Spock and make way for Star Trek’s greatest duo!