148. Time's Orphan

Summary

While picnicking on Golana, Molly O'Brien falls through a mysterious portal hidden away in a cave and disappears. The crew determines that the portal transported Molly 300 years into the past, to a time when the planet was uninhabited. The Chief and Dax find a way to transport her back, but they pull her out ten years later...Molly is 18 years old and feral. They take her back to the station and begin the slow process of making a connection with her and helping her remember them and herself. Just as they're beginning to make progress, Molly starts to become more and more agitated and wants to return to Golana. They take her to the holosuite where she plays happily in the meadows she knows so well, but when they have to take her out again she goes wild in Quark's and stabs a Tarkalean. The injured man wants to press charges, and Sisko sadly informs the Chief that Starfleet wants Molly relocated to a special care facility. Knowing that being confined would harm Molly, he and Keiko decide to kidnap her, steal a runabout and take her back to Golana where they can return her to the past, to the home she knows...then destroy the portal so no one will harm her. As they're leaving they're caught by Security but Odo lets them go. When Molly goes back through the portal, she is surprised to see a little girl there...herself. Just as the Chief is about to destroy the portal the 8-year-old Molly comes through and the family is reunited.

Meanwhile, Dax and Worf care for Yoshi while the O'Briens spend time with Molly. Worf feels he is being judged by his wife on his fitness as a parent and gets discouraged when Yoshi bumps his head while playing with him. Dax reassures him by revealing that Yoshi's favorite song is now one that Worf taught him.

Analysis

This is an ok episode. Not great, not terrible. It really just fails to engage in a meaningful way. The plot is just what I usually call Tech Mumbo-Jumbo...they really just wanted an excuse to do some O'Brien stuff, decided to do something tear-jerking with Molly, and needed a way to explain it...voila, time portals. Perhaps the shortcoming is that we never get a real sense of the older Molly as a person...one minute she's animal-like, cowering in trees, the next minute she's rampaging in Quark's, the next minute she's laughing and playing and saying "Molly, home." The decision to return Molly to Golana is reached far too easily, and we never saw the Chief (or Odo, for that matter) suffer any consequences from these actions. I'm not sure if I can really articulate why, but it just didn't grab me. The reset-button ending is also annoying, though I can't say I'd be happier if Molly had been lost.

The Worf subplot is amusing and does offer a nice glimpse into his and Dax' marriage...though I have a problem with the pervasive attitude that couples always want children...and it's kinda cute to see the growling Klingon warrior laid low by a crying baby.

Rating: 5.0

Memorable Quote:

"I'm disappointed in you, Chief. I would have thought that if anyone could break someone out of a holding cell it would have been you." --Odo...in other words, you weren't supposed to get caught, moron!

Classic Scene:

For its shortcomings, I will say that the scene where Miles and Keiko take Molly back to the portal and say goodbye to her is pretty emotional and well-done.

Sexually Slanted Line 'O the Episode:

"Miles, I'm getting scared. You've been at it for hours." --Keiko O'Brien

The O/K Status Report

Neither are in the episode much, but they have one scene together. Kira looks after Yoshi on the Defiant while the Chief and Keiko are on Golana...Odo comments on how good she is with him. She says she might like to have one of her own someday. At this, Odo looks uncomfortable and changes the subject. One might surmise that he read her comment as a casual statement meaning she didn't expect to be with him forever since he can't give her children, or that he just didn't want to have that particular conversation at that moment. Whatever. Later in the scene Kira is upset about little Molly's fate, Odo reassures her with a hand on her shoulder, saying that the Chief will probably beam her out right after she fell.

Special Alerts