Miles Edward O’Brien: The Most Dangerous Game

Jim’s Take on Episode 2.15: “Paradise”

From previous viewings, I have strong memories of “Paradise” as a Sisko episode. Mostly because of the scene where he proves himself to be a formidable, indomitable, badass by walking himself back to Alixus’ torture box instead of bending to her “cult leader” beliefs in any way. I still love that scene, and it does a lot to demonstrate the elements in Sisko that I find so impressive, but who really saves the day here? Yep, yet again, Chief Miles Edward O’Brien is the man on the scene. It is quickly becoming clear that Deep Space Nine would not last long without O’Brien. Not only would the station literally fall apart without him, but most of the crew would be dead or lost if O’Brien hadn’t been there to save the day on so many occasions. And anyone foolish enough to take on the dream team of Miles O’Brien AND Ben Sisko? Well, they’re clearly making an incredibly poor choice and deserve the unavoidable comeuppance they get.

It must have been a slow week on the station, because Sisko and O’Brien are out and about looking for suitable planets to colonize. This seems like the kind of job that would usually be given to a couple of ensigns, so maybe they just needed a change of scenery. They come across a planet that has a mysterious bunch of humans on it, where no colony is supposed to exist. Curious, they beam down and discover a bunch of generally friendly colonists who crashed here 10 years ago. Mysteriously, no technology works here, so they’ve been stranded all this time. While most of the residents have questions about news from civilization, such as new ship designs, fashions, and soccer scores, their leader, Alixus, seems very keen on telling everyone how super-great it is to live without any technology in this swell paradise of constant labor, rationing, and infections. Fun times!

As O’Brien and Sisko investigate, Alixus becomes more and more insistent on enforcing her harsh views on them, rather than letting them actually figure out what’s going on here. Like any true cult leader, though, she’s only doing horrible things to them because she cares so much! It’s so painful to inflict slave labor and torture on everyone. She’s only torturing you for your own good and you should be grateful. What she didn’t reckon with is that no one can break one of Starfleet’s finest officers and no one can outsmart Chief O’Brien. A Starfleet uniform comes with responsibility, respect, and a symbolic weight that is not easily cast aside. 

Sisko’s understated and contained disgust and anger reveal so much about his character and Avery Brooks’ incredible performance. Where Kirk or Picard would feel the need to make stirring and impassioned speeches about why she’s in the wrong, Sisko simply points out that he finds her “contemptible.” Everything else is conveyed through the calm, but seething, glare he levels at her. A twitch of the eye says it all when she sentences him to her torture box in the sun. The fact that he crawls back to the box silently, rather than bend one inch to her will, shows a strength of character that makes Sisko the kind of leader anyone would follow and the kind of leader Alixus could never hope to be.

Of course, O’Brien has pretty much figured out that this whole thing is a con by Alixus and is on the case. He can solve the mystery and knock you out so you won’t even feel it. Is there anything he can’t do? (Next episode we learn that he can even play the cello! Why did we never see O’Brien and Riker play a duet? This needs to happen!)  Alixus’ son tries to stop the Chief from revealing the truth and learns the painful lesson that Miles O’Brien IS the most dangerous game. He thinks he’s gonna take out O’Brien with his little bow and arrow? Ha!  Instead, he gets his butt kicked by an engineer in his underwear. That’ll teach him!

“Paradise” is a great story for two outstanding Starfleet heroes. Things do wrap up a little bit too tidily, though. How did Alixus send their runabout away to fly into a star? Why does NO ONE else want to leave? They didn’t give them very long to decide, or even poll everyone as to how they felt. Those two kids at the end definitely were considering the better life they could have if they got the heck out of this stupid colony. Those are minor details. The really important thing is that we all understand you can’t break Ben Sisko and you can’t beat Miles O’Brien. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.