DS9 Flashback: Battle Lines

While the Deep Space Nine episode "Battle Lines" does have its flaws, it might be the first instance where the series really approached the tone that would define the best episodes of its run.

The Bajoran spiritual leader, Kai Opaka, arrives on the station and convinces Sisko to take her on a trip through the wormhole with Kira and Bashir. When their runabout is attacked in orbit of a barely inhabited moon, the Kai is apparently killed in the ensuing crash. But soon a dark truth about the moon is revealed: everyone who dies there is soon resurrected by microscopic robots, a punishment engineered to torment two warring factions who've been marooned there.

I think the concept of this episode is one of the season's strongest. It came from outside writer Hilary J. Bader, who sold stories to The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager throughout their runs. She says she was inspired by the "war is pointless" episodes of the original Star Trek to come up with this scenario where there was literally no point to the fighting -- the purpose had been long forgotten, leaving only the desire to inflict violence.

Once the writing staff started working with the story, however, it became not just a good Star Trek story, but a good Deep Space Nine story. That happened when they decided to replace the redshirt victim in Bader's pitch with a recurring character, looking to avoid an obvious trope. It was decided that Kai Opaka was the most expendable character (though technically, she only became "recurring" by appearing for a second episode here). The addition of Opaka made the story far more personal for Major Kira than it would have otherwise been. More importantly, this introduced what I think of as one of the core elements of Deep Space Nine: the endings don't always have to be happy. The Kai cannot be rescued at the end of this episode, and must remain behind to help the warring aliens. Not only does it make the story more impactful, it paves the way for future episodes about the vacuum of power in Bajoran religion.

Kira goes on a real emotional roller coaster ride this episode, and Nana Visitor commits wholly to the performance at every step of the way. Her anguish at the Kai's death is truly shocking, the most uninhibited emotion we've seen on the series so far. The monologue she then gives about what the Kai meant to her and Bajor is equally powerful for being so hollowed out, as though her emotional well has run dry. When the Kai returns, Kira is led to strong moments of self-examination -- is she nothing more than a violent person, incapable of change?

The story is great, but the episode is still lacking that certain oomph to lift it to the heights of the truly best Deep Space Nine episode. For this, I'm going to blame the director, Paul Lynch. This was only the dozenth episode of the series, but it was the fifth directed by Lynch. There's a certain "meh" (at best) quality to his previous efforts: "A Man Alone," "Babel," "Q-Less," and "The Passenger." Specifically, there's a sense that Lynch is only concerned with making the trains run on time, that he lacks a facility to actually direct his actors.

That's really apparent here. Nana Visitor is giving it her all, making choices and running with them. In this she all but stands alone. Avery Brooks appears not to know what to do; Sisko seems unimpressed even when he witnesses an actual resurrection. Guest star Jonathan Banks, who modern TV viewers will know is absolutely amazing on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul (or hell, on Community!) will be surprised at how flat he is here.

Lynch was so uninterested in directing his actors that he purportedly turned over two entire days of filming to stunt coordinator Dennis Madalone. In an interview, Madalone says Lynch told him:

"This is fights all day with the actors. Can you just direct it?" And "I kept going up to the director and saying, 'Do you like it?' and he would say, 'Yeah, just print it'. He was reading a magazine the whole time."

With a level of disinterest that pronounced, it's unsurprising that Paul Lynch was never hired to work on Star Trek again.

Other observations:

• Gul Dukat gets a shout-out in this episode, though not by name. In the teaser, the files of "the last Prefect" are discussed, and Dukat totally negs Kira.

• The moment where Opaka gives O'Brien her necklace to pass along to his daughter Molly is an interesting one. O'Brien so clearly does not believe in Bajoran religion, but just as clearly, Opaka seems to know more than she should in that moment. It's a shame the necklace gift is never followed up on in the future (though the next episode would center on O'Brien's relationship with Bajoran religion).

• This episode gives us the series' first lost runabout, the Yangtzee Kiang. We'd go through several more rivers before finally getting the Defiant.

• The moon set looks especially cheap, with fake-looking rocks and a generic black backdrop all around.

• O'Brien gets to look quite smart in the hunt for the lost runabout. Unfortunately, this is done by making Dax look especially stupid. Not only does she do nothing to solve any of the problems, she has to have a lot of technology (which as science officer, she should understand) mansplained to her.

• Kira makes a point of noting that the aliens have no sense of strategy or tactics. This is certainly true at the end, when none of them thinks of killing (or threatening to kill) Kira, Sisko, or Bashir to force them to stay on the moon.

I think "Battle Lines" is a very solid B+. Under better direction, I think it could have been the series' first A or A- episode, but it nevertheless feels like a foundational installment.