Template:Realworld Convicted of espionage, Miles O'Brien is given the memories of twenty years in prison in a matter of hours. Returning to DS9, O'Brien finds he cannot shrug the memory of his awful experience or rid himself of the guilt he feels over the death of his cellmate.
Summary
On a mission to Argratha, Miles O'Brien is accused of espionage and sentenced to twenty years in prison. However, the Argrathi are experts at mind-controlling and mind-altering technologies, and their criminal system is able to administer him the experience of twenty years of prison in just a few hours of treatment, without physically harming him.
By the time the details of the events had been received by Deep Space 9, the "correction" had already been completed, and he was free to return home, accompanied by Major Kira.
Back at the station, Doctor Bashir examines him, and he finds that the memories of his imprisonment were not simply implanted: he really experienced living in a cell for twenty years, though in an accelerated fashion. Thus, eradication of these memories is out of question, and he has to accept them.
"So why don't you give me my drink, or I break every bone in your worthless little body!"
O'Brien's memories come back to haunt him and, despite having told his crewmates that he spent his entire sentence alone, he begins seeing his former simulated cellmate Ee'char walking around the station.
O'Brien finds it very difficult to readjust to life back on the station, and lashes out at people, first Doctor Bashir, then Quark, then Jadzia Dax, then finally at his daughter Molly. Captain Sisko, hearing about O'Brien's behavior, relieves him of duty, and orders him to report to the infirmary, and to continue his counseling sessions.
O'Brien storms out of Ops and throws his combadge at the floor of a turbolift. Then he goes to the infirmary, and tells Bashir to leave him alone. O'Brien returns to his quarters and becomes so angry with Molly when she wants some attention that he nearly hits her. He then goes to a cargo bay, and vents his frustration by smashing containers with a pole in a rage. Finally he spots weapons locker 47, pulls a phaser out, sets it to level 16, and aims it at himself.
Bashir arrives and manages to convince him not to kill himself. Ee'char appears next to Bashir, and O'Brien tells Bashir about Ee'char, and how he killed him in a jealous rage when he found that he'd been hoarding food without telling him, before realizing that the food was for both of them. Anguished about killing his best friend of almost 20 years, O'Brien breaks down, and Bashir takes the phaser away from him.
Bashir then gives O'Brien a hypospray with a medication designed to lessen the severity of the depression and prevent hallucinations. He convinces O'Brien to resume counseling sessions, and O'Brien returns home to his family.
Memorable Quotes
"The crime of espionage requires a minimum of fifteen cycles of correction; you've been here for twenty. It's time for you to go."
"Go? I can't leave. Where would I go to?"
- - Argrathi and O'Brien, after his "20 years" in prison
"After six years in a place like this, you either learn to laugh or you'll go insane. I prefer to laugh..."
- - Ee'char to O'Brien in prison
"I'm not your friend! The O'Brien that was your friend died in that cell!"
- - O'Brien, confronting Dr. Bashir
"When we were growing up, they used to tell us... humanity had evolved, that mankind had outgrown hate and rage. But when it came down to it, when I had the chance to show, that no matter what anybody did to me, that I was still an evolved human being... I failed. I repaid kindness with blood. I was no better than an animal."
"No. No, no, no. An animal would've killed Ee'Char and never had a second thought, never shed a tear... But not you. You hate yourself.You hate yourself so much you think you deserve to die. The Argrathi did everything they could to strip you of your humanity and in the end, for one brief moment they succeeded. But you can't let that brief moment define your entire life. If you do, if you pull that trigger.. then the Argrathi will have won. They will have destroyed a good man. You cannot let that happen, my friend."
- - Julian listens and sets things right with O'Brien
"Daddy's home! Daddy's home!"
"That's right. Daddy's home."
- - O'Brien is welcomed back home with his little girl's embrace.
Background
- Daniel Keys Moran and Lynn Barker pitched the story that ultimately became "Hard Time" during the first season of Deep Space Nine. Robert Hewitt Wolfe was always a big fan of the story and he tried to persuade Michael Piller to purchase it at the time, but Piller was uninterested. Wolfe tried again during the third season but again, Piller refused. Finally, in the fourth season, Wolfe was able to convince Ira Steven Behr to buy the pitch and do the episode. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
- The character of Ee'char hadn't been in the original pitch, Robert Hewitt Wolfe himself added that character. He also introduced elements from a completely separate pitch that had been purchased, but which hadn't made it into production. This other story concerned the discovery that Ensign Sito Jaxa, from the Next Generation episodes "The First Duty" and "Lower Decks", was still alive. After being presumed dead, she was found to have been held in a Cardassian prison since the events of "Lower Decks". This episode would have detailed her struggle to reintegrate into normal life, and was basically a study of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). However, there was no motivating factor for why Sito was suffering from this condition, so Wolfe had decided that she had killed her cellmate, to whom she had become very close. The episode was never produced, but when composing "Hard Time", the idea of Sito killing her cellmate resurfaced in his mind, so he took that idea and imported it into the O'Brien story. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
- While composing the teleplay, Robert Hewitt Wolfe and Ronald D. Moore disagreed as to how best to use the character of Ee'char. Wolfe felt he should be seen only in flashbacks to the past while Moore felt he should only be seen in hallucination in the present. In the end, they settled on a compromise and Ee'char is seen in both flashbacks and hallucinations. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
- Celeste Wolfe, Robert Hewitt Wolfe's wife, who works as a psychotherapist and is a licensed family counselor, acted as a kind of unofficial consultant on the script. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
- This episode shares a similar premise to that of TNG: "The Inner Light" in that Captain Picard also experienced a lifetime of memories within a short period. Interestingly, both episodes feature actress Margot Rose.
- Reference to 47: At the end of the episode, O'Brien opens weapons locker number 47.
- Bashir makes reference to TNG: "The Wounded", as well as DS9: "Whispers" and "Tribunal". Obviously, this is another 'O'Brien Must Suffer' episode. Ira Steven Behr sums up the rationale for these episodes; "Every year, we like to drive O'Brien totally mad. We did it with "Whispers", we did it with "Tribunal" and "Visionary", and we did it again the following season in "The Assignment". We just like to hammer him because he's such a great character. And he's so accessible. You feel his pain, and even though it's a TV show and you figure he's gonna come out all right at the end, you're still compelled to root him on." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
- This episode was the last of the series to be directed by Alexander Singer.
Video and DVD releases
- The cover and label of this volume give the episode name as "Hard Times".
- As part of the DS9 Season 4 DVD collection.
Links and References
Guest Stars
- Rosalind Chao as Keiko O'Brien
- Margot Rose as Rinn
- Hana Hatae as Molly O'Brien
- F.J. Rio as Enrique Muñiz
- And
Co-Star
- Judi Durand as the computer voice
Uncredited Co-Stars
- Patrick Barnitt as an Argrathi guard
- Tom Morga as an Argrathi guard
- James Lee Stanley as a Bajoran security deputy
- Chester E. Tripp III (stunt actor)
References
Argratha; Argrathi; Argrathi Authority; Argrathi prison; Argrathi Security; black hole (beverage); bread; Cardassia Prime; chee'lash fruit; cycle; eseekas; espionage; interphasic coil spanner; kayaking; magnetic wave guide; milligram; ODN recoupler; quantum flux regulator; Paradan; phaser; reeta-hawk; synthale; Telnorri; toilet facility
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 4 |
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