It's certainly the most memorable of the customary "Miles must suffer" episodes. Meaney's performance is outstanding. For Miles, it's a recurring topic: he faces [again!] a hostile alien race and their frankly inhumane justice/penal system. More than previous iterations of this topic, this episode explores his psyche. It's also a bit mysterious since it's not always clear what's real or what's just imagined by a very troubled mind. Well, eventually you realize that parts of it are imaginary but you cannot be absolutely certain just how much of it was real. His trouble, pain and confusion ia understandable and exploring the effects of what's [allegedly] a solitary confinement in a prison cell with very little comfort is a very ambitious topic. The episodes culminates in a suicide attempt. Wow, that's dark! Kudos to the writers for daring to write such a dark episode for syndicated TV. Rating-wise and marketing-wise, this was probably not a wise decision. The episode's structure isn't entirely linear neither. It tells part of the story almost "backwards". That adds complexity to this story. Not sure, everybody appreciates that sort of non-linear storytelling.
In theory this episode deserves a high rating. I however don't enjoy this episode. Maybe it's too dark. Maybe it's too much psychology. Maybe it's the fact that Miles - like in other similar episodes before - seems to fully recover easily from his trauma. In later episodes, he can't ever remember these 20 years of his life it seems. The episode feels strangely isolated given the sheer enormity of Mile's trauma. Plus, it's a missed opportunity that Keiko isn't allowed to do more here. No wonder she is sometimes perceived as "Skyler White" in space. She should play a major role in his healing process. Instead Mile's buddy Bashir is doing all the heavy lifting and conveniently saves his life.
Review by Alexander von LimbergBlockedParent2023-07-18T19:51:03Z— updated 2023-07-20T07:32:01Z
It's certainly the most memorable of the customary "Miles must suffer" episodes. Meaney's performance is outstanding. For Miles, it's a recurring topic: he faces [again!] a hostile alien race and their frankly inhumane justice/penal system. More than previous iterations of this topic, this episode explores his psyche. It's also a bit mysterious since it's not always clear what's real or what's just imagined by a very troubled mind. Well, eventually you realize that parts of it are imaginary but you cannot be absolutely certain just how much of it was real. His trouble, pain and confusion ia understandable and exploring the effects of what's [allegedly] a solitary confinement in a prison cell with very little comfort is a very ambitious topic. The episodes culminates in a suicide attempt. Wow, that's dark! Kudos to the writers for daring to write such a dark episode for syndicated TV. Rating-wise and marketing-wise, this was probably not a wise decision. The episode's structure isn't entirely linear neither. It tells part of the story almost "backwards". That adds complexity to this story. Not sure, everybody appreciates that sort of non-linear storytelling.
In theory this episode deserves a high rating. I however don't enjoy this episode. Maybe it's too dark. Maybe it's too much psychology. Maybe it's the fact that Miles - like in other similar episodes before - seems to fully recover easily from his trauma. In later episodes, he can't ever remember these 20 years of his life it seems. The episode feels strangely isolated given the sheer enormity of Mile's trauma. Plus, it's a missed opportunity that Keiko isn't allowed to do more here. No wonder she is sometimes perceived as "Skyler White" in space. She should play a major role in his healing process. Instead Mile's buddy Bashir is doing all the heavy lifting and conveniently saves his life.