DS9 Flashback: Paradise Lost

"Paradise Lost" follows up on "Homefront," and concludes Deep Space Nine's two-part episode about paranoia and terrorism on planet Earth.

A global blackout has panicked Earth, driving the Federation president to agree to increased security measures. But as Sisko and Odo investigate how a changeling infiltrator could have sabotaged the power grid, they make an unsettling discovery: that's not what happened. Instead, it appears to be a military coup within Starfleet by forces convinced that extreme measures are needed in the face of the Dominion threat.

Much like part one of this story, "Paradise Lost" is a good idea -- with occasional moments of greatness -- that unfortunately falls short in many ways. The producers blame budget shortages (with show runner Ira Steven Behr even claiming to have pinned a note to his office wall after this as a cautionary tale against making too many compromises: "Remember Paradise Lost"). They are right that the episode feels strangely small despite the enormous stakes, and that much of that is about a lack of money in the production. (Constant cutting away from a pitched space battle to feature two people talking in an empty office, for example, is an ineffective technique you'd wouldn't likely choose if you had the budget to show more of the ships.)

Still, I think the larger issue is that the story doesn't quite succeed in making the disloyalty of Starfleet officers feel credible. I'm hardly a Roddenberry purist when it comes to the notion of noble future humans, and I'm very much open to showing Star Trek characters who have lofty goals but flawed methods. (Several episodes later in Deep Space Nine's run do a great job of this, in fact.) I just don't think Admiral Leyton's "heel turn" here is particularly well-earned. We really do need to see every step down the road that gets him to the point of ordering one Starfleet ship to fire on another. We need to understand why the Dominion threat (and not, say, the Borg, who have also attacked Earth in recent Trek history) affects Leyton so profoundly. We simply don't get that vital connective tissue.

That said, there are moments where the sense of paranoia does play right. Using Colm Meaney to play a "shapeshifter O'Brien" is particularly effective, as he smirks and mocks and reveals that only four changelings on the entire planet have managed to cause this kind of havoc. This is how paranoia works: give someone a little push, plant one small seed of doubt, then let them do the rest. Put a little fear in someone, and watch their behavior transform completely -- as Joseph Sisko's does when he enthusiastically submits to the blood screening he decried just last episode. There's an important moral here, and it does come through: don't destroy your own way of life. You may indeed have enemies who want to do that, but you should at least make them do that.

This is a strong episode for Benjamin Sisko (and Avery Brooks) as he investigates the conspiracy. The way he pulls rank on both Nog and a Red Squad cadet shows the business side of Sisko in a compelling way. The fact that he bluffs at knowing more than he actually does shows his cleverness. Brooks is good in the family moments, too. He has noted in several interviews how important the relationship between Jake and Ben was to him, a break of the negative stereotype of "brown" (the word he uses himself) sons and their absent fathers. Three generations of Siskos feature in this story, and you can sense that this means a great deal to Avery Brooks in how he shades his performance.

Other observations:

• The apparently throwaway plot in part one, of Nog attempting to join "Red Squad," pays off here in part two when the Squad is revealed to be at the core of the conspiracy.

• The changeling posing as O'Brien claims that "we do not fear you the way you fear us." But that doesn't seem objectively true. Xenophobia and paranoia are closely related. While the Founders may not have a paranoid fear of humans, their rejection of all "solids" is ultimately rooted in a xenophobic fear of ever again being treated in the way they once were treated.

• Odo uses a Vulcan nerve pinch to disable someone. According to writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe, this was an example of the budget being short on this episode: "We ran out of money for the morphs."

I like the message at the core of "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost," but the episodes themselves feel lacking -- hollow in character motivation, and lacking in production value. I give this second part a B-.