Day 146: DS9, Time's Orphan

Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine

Episode Particulars: S6EP24, “Time’s Orphan”

 Summary: While the O’Briens are having a picnic on the Bajoran colony of Golana, their daughter Molly (Hana Hatae) wanders off and winds up falling through some sort of time portal. O’Brien and the crew spring into action and try to get her back by locking onto her DNA signature…but they pull back an eighteen year-old Molly (Michelle Krusiec) instead. Leaving baby Kirayoshi with Dax and Worf (which Worf uses as an opportunity to practice his parenting skills), Keiko and O’Brien dedicate all their time and attention to trying to get Molly to recognize them and become comfortable in their world again. It is, as one might imagine, an uphill battle.

Standalone Thoughts: I’ll give this episode credit; the execution of the concept is good. Maybe it’s because I have a soft spot for scenes where characters gently help another character to adjust to a new situation (Remember my fondness for “The Begotten”), but the scenes between Keiko, O’Brien, and the adult Molly are pretty good. I especially have to praise Michelle Krusiec for conveying Molly’s feelings almost solely through facial expressions and body language. Furthermore, Dorn does a fine job in the subplot, maintaining Worf’s stoic demeanor while also letting some warmth and uncertainty poke through at key moments. So if you’re here solely for the character material, then you’ll probably enjoy yourself.

That being said, the plot itself relies on three major points, all of which have their issues. First, the reason Molly falls through the portal is because O’Brien and Keiko aren’t paying attention to what she’s doing, which allows her to wander off. I don’t have kids myself, and even I know you need to keep a close eye on them, because something can go wrong in an instant. But O’Brien and Keiko don’t even say a token “Don’t go too far, honey!” They don’t deserve what happened, but unless the episode was trying to make a point about keeping an eye on your children, I think there were better ways to have things play out without turning both characters into temporary idiots.

The second point is probably the one I have the biggest problem with. Keiko suggests they send the adult Molly back and try to pull “their” Molly through. Bashir doesn’t think they should do that, not for any engineering or medical reason, but because if they pull eight year-old Molly back, this eighteen year-old Molly will cease to exist. We’ve had this discussion before in Star Trek, and in most episodes, the argument is at least somewhat valid. But in this case, Molly spent ten years alone, struggling to survive while also having to navigate puberty completely on her own. She barely remembers how to talk and is extremely skittish. Plus, Keiko and O’Brien didn’t get to see their daughter grow up, and if the rest of the episode is any indication, they’d be facing an uphill battle getting to her reacclimatize to 24^th century life. Are you really telling me that this is the preferred option? Like I said, there could have been some technobabble reason why they couldn’t try again, so having the entire episode hinge on “we shouldn’t do this because we’ll be preventing Molly from experiencing ten-plus years of hardship” just seems asinine.

As for the third point, I can’t go into too much detail because of spoilers. Let’s just say that it revolves around a massive coincidence and solves all the problems neatly. It’s a case of having your cake and eating it too, only you kept the cake for too long so it’s stale when you bite into it.

To sum up, while the actual content of the episode is fine (though one that should probably have been in a prior season, since it has no connection to the Dominion war), the reason the plot exists at all is extremely flawed and may impact your opinion of the whole. I guess the best advice I can give is to enjoy the interactions between grown up Molly and her parents…but don’t think about the rest of it too much.

How it Relates to the Whole: I’m ninety percent sure that this episode contributes nothing to the rest of the show, except to establish the fact that Worf and Dax are kind of considering having kids. Everything else was just filler. Well put together filler, but filler nevertheless.

Other: *Just one observation, but one that made an impact on me back when I watched this episode the first time. Keiko cements her place on my “disliked characters” list this episode by basically saying she hopes Chester the cat (in his second and, sadly, final appearance) gets lost. More specifically, she claims to be reconsidering bringing Chester on the picnic precisely because he could get lost. Maybe she was teasing (and maybe it’s meant to be subtle foreshadowing for what happens to Molly), but her tone is serious. And I don’t take kindly to people who are mean to cats.

Best Line/Exchange: Since the main plot revolves around Molly re-learning and speaking in simple English, it’s no surprise that I turned to the subplot for this one;

(Kirayoshi won’t stop crying, despite all of Worf’s best efforts.)

Dax: Sounds like you tried everything. I’ll take over from here.
Worf: That is not necessary.

Dax: Worf, you’re exhausted. Get some sleep.
Worf: No. I am a Klingon warrior and a Starfleet officer. I have piloted starships through Dominion minefields. I have stood in battle against Kelvins twice my size. I courted, and won, the heart of the magnificent Jadzia Dax. If I can do these things, I can make this child go to sleep.

Dax: Talk about losing perspective. Listen to yourself. Why is this babysitting thing so important all of a sudden?

Worf: It is not important to me. (sits down next to her) It is important to you.

Dax: What are you talking about?

Worf: You are judging me on my fitness to be a parent. Don’t deny it, Jadzia. I can see it in your eyes. I have proven myself to be a worthy husband to you, but you are not convinced I would be a good parent to your children.

(He gets up again)

Dax: Who said anything about having children?
Worf: Go to sleep. I have work to do. (He squares his shoulders and walks back to where Kirayoshi is)

Not only does Worf display his ability to read his wife yet again, I like the fact that he compares taking care of a baby to other huge challenges. Dax may think he’s losing perspective, but based on the stories I’ve heard from parents, he may not be that far off.

After the Fact Update: Apparently this episode was written for TNG as a way to write Worf’s son Alexander out of the show, but Alexander was popular enough with producer Michael Piller (or rather, Michael Piller’s mother) that it never happened. So it got tweaked and used in DS9 instead, which explains the issues I had with the execution. At least they managed to adapt it into something that somewhat worked.