Miles O'Brien has had a really hard life. First of all he has been in over 250 combat engagements which is plenty for anybody. Then he has to replace a version of himself from the past and go on as if nothing happened. Then this episode where he experiences 20 years being stuck in a prison cell without adequate food and finally the incident with Molly. And I am sure I am probably forgetting some other horrible stuff from later in the show. This episode is kinda like the dark mirror to The Inner Light but instead of getting to have a family and live a good life in his head O'Brien just learns to survive in a horrifying prison and kills his only friend in an act of desperation.
We open with an old O'Brien in a prison cell alone. He is awoken by two guards who tell him he is free to go, he says he doesn't have anywhere to go but then wakes up with Kira not looking any older than when we last saw him. She explains he was convicted and sentenced but that the sentence was carried out in his head rather than in an actual prison. On the station Sisko warns Keiko that Miles is going to need some time to recover. He meets with Bashir and while Julian promises to try to remove the memories it isn't clear he is going to succeed. Julian asks Miles if he was alone the whole time and Miles says yes, but he has a flashback that immediately reveals that to be a lie. He has flashbacks of a man named Ee'char who taught him how to survive both in terms of stashing food but also how to try and stay sane under such harsh conditions.
Miles is having a hard time adjusting to life outside of prison. At home he is distant from Keiko and separates his food to save some of it. He sleeps on the floor instead of in bed with his wife. And at work things aren't any better. He gets Jake to drill him on which tool is which and is agitated the entire time. Julian stops by while he is working and asks why Miles hasn't been going to his counseling and Miles explodes in anger at him. He also keeps seeing Ee'char everywhere he goes. Ee'char seems to care about Miles but the sight of him is driving Miles mad. Miles orders a drink at Quarks and almost breaks Quark's wrist when he isn't fast enough with it.
The next day Sisko calls Miles to his office before his shift is about to start. He talks to him about the incidents with Julian and Quark but Miles insists he is fine. Sisko relieves him of duty and Miles goes straight to Julian and yells at him for a while before storming home. Keiko tries to comfort him but he eventually yells and Molly, then realizes what he has done and storms out again. He heads to a cargo bay where he knocks around a bunch of containers with a giant wrench before going for a weapons locker. He takes out a phaser and sets it to maximum power and points it at himself. Before he can do anything Julian walks in and gets him to talk about what happened, specifically with Ee'char. It turns out Miles snapped and killed him over what he thought was him holding out on food just weeks before he was released. Julian gets him to see that how much he cares is a sign he isn't lost and the hallucination of Ee'char says goodbye one last time. Julian gets Miles on a depression drug and he goes home to hug Molly.
Review: A super intense and touching episode that could only exist on DS9. None of the other shows allow characters to have such depth and such strong feelings. Not one I want to watch again immediately, but one of the best episodes I have seen.
9 out of 10
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