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> “O’Brien Must Suffer” episodes Eh, these were among my less-liked episodes. None of them advanced the plot, they mostly made no sense relating to O'Brien's
by colanderman 9y ago
> “O’Brien Must Suffer” episodes
Eh, these were among my less-liked episodes. None of them advanced the plot, they mostly made no sense relating to O'Brien's character (like, why did Starfleet choose him, a chief engineer, to run an organized crime sting operation), and the sum of these was O'Brien gaining this weird parallel backstory of him as some woebegone magnet for unluck. They were all clearly contrived; at least from reading this article I now know why.
(To be fair, some were really good – like when Keiko (O'Brien's wife) was possessed by a Pa Wraith. Others were just like, what the heck, O'Brien's in jail again?)
> Season one’s nadir, “Move Along Home.”
Funny thing is, this is one of the more "traditionally" Trek episodes. Meet a weird species, have some misunderstanding during first contact, everyone almost dies, but j/k it's all OK in the end and we forget anything ever happened in the next episode.
> Season 2 establishes one of Star Trek’s greatest characters, Elim Garak.
Glad he got a call out! Was disappointed he was missing from the cast drawing, given that he plays an increasingly prominent role in the later seasons.
> this would be a great time to abandon my guide and just watch the whole thing.
Uhh… but make sure to skip Profit and Lace. It's objectively awful (and I love the Ferengi episodes), and I refuse to consider it canon. Unfortunately it advances the Ferengi subplot; just imagine a story that fits the plot points and you'll be better off than watching it.
> Optional episodes: Take Me Out To The Holosuite
I highly recommend watching this. It has nothing to do with the plot whatsoever, but it's fun to watch and does a lot of good (if silly) character building. You can tell the cast enjoyed it too.
- cholantesh 9y agoThe one where he has memories of being in prison implanted was fantastic, and I really enjoyed the one where he infiltrates the Orion Syndicate, though I don't know if they explained why an engineer was chosen for an intelligence mission...
- colanderman 9y agoYou know, thinking some more, I liked the episodes individually (including the ones you mentioned). But they just always felt to me like they were made for another show or another character. So the article's explanation that O'Brien, as a "likable" character, was specifically chosen to suffer these misfortunes clears things up a bit. Not to mention they usually didn't tie into the main plot at all. Like – O'Brien has 10 years of prison psychologically weighing on his mind now! For the rest of his life! That should be a character-defining change. But it's never brought up again ever. Same thing with the "parallel universe" episodes. As set-piece action/adventure episodes, I loved them; the Intendant and the Regent are among my favorite (if over-the-top) characters. But the set-ups never made sense and they never advanced the main plot, so I always started and finished each episode a little disappointed. I think that's why the Keiko/Pa-Wraith episode stood out to me as much better than the others – it actually ties into and advances the main plot. Sure, O'Brien is again randomly the poor sap who takes the fall, but it's not forced and it actually advances the plot.
- parrellel 9y agoO'Brien is already massively psychologically traumatized (re: Next Gen) so the ten years of prison and other horrors weren't enough to really change his overall mental state?