4x17 Accession

[8.0/10] Religion is an awkward recurring motif for a Star Trek show. One writer described the denizens of Starfleet vessels as largely secular humanists, and they regularly encounter godlike beings, so personal belief doesn’t pop up much. It’s not as though the topic’s never come up. (Woe be to the 1960s episode where the twist is that the aliens love Jesus.) But it’s not always a natural fit for the ethos of the franchise.

And yet, it works for Deep Space Nine for a few reasons. For one, that means it’s largely unexplored territory for the show to charge into, something to help differentiate this spin-off from its predecessors. For another, the ethos of this particular series is to check how Federation values fare when forced to deal with the realities and friction of outsiders’ views, and religion is a good fault line for that. But most of all, it works because DS9’s protagonist is as uncomfortable about this spiritual wave crashing into his life as many inveterate Trekkies were.

He’s never liked being the Emissary. He’s always felt discomfort about being treated as a religious icon when he considers himself a friend to the Bajorans, but a mortal man simply doing his job. Deep Space Nine has engaged with that tension surprisingly rarely through the first half of its run, using Sisko’s reluctance to compartmentalize the role that was prophesied for him in the first episode. But “Accession” delves into his complicated feelings about being the Emissary with conviction, in a way that makes you glad to see the series examining what it means to him now.

And who better to write that sort of episode than Jane Espenson, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame? I believe this is her only dalliance with Star Trek, which is a shame. But if there’s anyone qualified to pen a story about a humane approach to someone both blessed and burdened by prophecy, it’s her.

In “Accession” Sisko has a chance to become unburdened! A Bajoran man named Akorem bursts out of the wormhole in an ancient ship. When he comes to, he announces himself as the Emissary. And why not? He met the prophets in the celestial temple! They healed his wounds! They “gave him his life back”! They sent him two-hundred years into the future to help his people after the Cardassian occupation! Benjamin’s read the texts, and they tell him one important thing -- he’s finally off the hook!

Only, of course, it’s not so simple. This is, in writing terms, an instance of Sisko refusing the call. He never wanted to be Emissary, which made life more difficult for him personally and with the Starfleet brass, so he’s more than happy to step aside when someone comes in to take the job. But as in all good writing, getting what he’s wanted doesn’t give Benjamin what he wants. (Or as one Buffy character more eloquently put it, “there’s always consequences.”)

That's what I like best about this episode. Sisko’s glad to be free of this burden, but then the consequences hit. He clearly despises the fact that Akorem’s big move as Emissary is to return Bajor to “the old ways,” which means reviving an abominable caste system. The de jure prejudice all but dooms Bajor’s chances of joining the Federation, and since Benjamin’s task was to bring the planet into the fold, Starfleet views this shift as his failure. (It’s appropriately and bitterly ironic since they never liked him being the Emissary in the first place.)

Sisko was pleased with this because he thought it could let him return his focus to getting things back to normal -- the guy has enough problems in his secular life without being a spiritual bigwig to a whole planet -- but instead stepping down upends everything he’s tried to achieve in the last several years.

He’s not the only one who finds that getting what he wanted means getting more than you bargained for. Chief O’Brien’s period of temporary bachelorhood is ending. Keiko is back! Molly is back! Surprise, there’s another baby on the way! Miles puts up a good front, and never complains about a thing, but in the transition back to domestic bliss, he clearly misses the drinks and dogfights with Julian that became his daily routine over the past year.

On the one hand, this storyline puts me off a bit. Yes, this is 1996, and allowances have to be made, but a sitcom-esque, “Dad dislikes being a family man” storyline is still hacky and a little distasteful. But I’d like to give Deep Space Nine and Espenson a little more credit than that. Everyone here is likable. Miles is understandably a bit wistful and worried, but he loves his wife and wants to spend time with his daughter, even as he misses the guy time with his best friend. For all the crap Keiko gets in the fanbase, she’s understanding and even connives to get her husband some of that fun time out with Dr. Bashir so that he doesn’t have to feel bad about taking some time for himself.

This subplot is mostly for comic relief, with a particularly funny callback to Worf delivering Molly back in “Disaster” from The Next Generation. But for all the broadness of the subject, it’s a pleasantly nuanced and gentle take on a parent wanting to hold onto a piece of the life they enjoyed apart from parenthood. There’s no bad guy. Everyone’s reasonable and adult about it. It’s hard to complain.

It’s much easier to gripe about what Akorem is doing as the Emissary. With his proclamation of the return of the caste system, things are becoming ugly aboard the station. Bajorans expect deference to those higher in the social hierarchy. The Vedek who seems to be orchestrating much of this kills a man for refusing to give up his life and submit to the expectations of his caste. (And we know how much Benjamin just loves culturally-justified murder after the last episode.) This is all escalating and worsening quickly.

The great thing, though, is that none of this is what puts Sisko over the edge. He doesn’t like any of it, but he’s willing to tolerate it all, even the personal setbacks, in the name of good ol’ Federation non-interference. But what he won’t tolerate, won’t sit idly by and let happen, is losing Kira.

I love Kira in this. She is arguably the most untraditional Star Trek character in the whole lot. She was a freedom fighter, who engaged in tactics and personal actions that most Starfleet officers would find unbecoming. And she is also a person of supreme faith, who may not buy the word of every charlatan in a Vedek’s robes, but who believes deeply in the Bajoran religion and its precepts.

So when Akorem becomes Emissary and declares that everyone’s going back to their castes, she’s put out but acquiesces, because she thinks it's what the prophets demand of her. She stays up all night making ugly clay birds because she thinks she’s supposed to be an artist. And when she tries to tell the local Vedek that something must be wrong because she’s no good at it, Kira takes his advice, gets ready to resign her commission, and apprentice with an artist back home to truly throw herself into this and commit.

It is, in some way, the greatest fear of people like Odo, who don’t necessarily understand the tenets of belief. It’s hard to watch Kira throw away all she’s accomplished because the man she thinks was chosen by the gods tells her too. I imagine it’s many Trekkies’ fears about blind faith realized, one that tracks with real life instances of would-be prophets and self-proclaimed messengers leading good people into darkness because they think it’s what their religion demands of them.

As tolerant as Sisko is, he won’t tolerate this. His solution is brilliant. Rather than challenging Akorem, he implores him to go see the prophets together. And there, the prophets disclaim Akorem’s interpretation of his role, discarding him as the Emissary and rejecting his need to return to the caste system.

But they do so only indirectly, and that's part of what makes them so interesting. There are limits to how far you can go in a show where the audience still needs to understand what’s happening. (Sorry, my fellow Twin Peaks fans!) But I like the sense that the prophets here are still somewhat unknowable. They don’t so much say, “returning to the caste system of the past is wrong” as they say, “We have no concept of past, so we don’t even understand why someone would think like this.” They have no concept of the Emissary exactly, just that Benjamin is “the Sisko” and that Akorem wasn’t sent to the present to lead the Bajorans in a spiritual awakening; he was sent there for Ben.

That's the rub. The Prophets send Akorem back to his time period (with implications for temporal mechanics that are as confusing and nonsensical as Star Trek always is). But this episode is the clearest affirmation yet that, like it or not, Benjamin, you are the Emissary. An “orb shadow” visit from none other than Kai Opaka in his dreams is a fitting affirmation of the idea that Akorem was sent to help Ben, to show him that however reluctant he may be, this is his part to play, and more than that, that it helps him do good for the Bajoran people, keep them from harm and help lead them on a path toward, if not salvation, then certainly greater peace and prosperity. And it helps him keep the people he loves, people like Kira, safe and happy too.

In the beginning of the episode, he is gracious but hesitant when asked to bless a young couple as the Emissary. In the end, he smiles with ease and peace when asked to bless a young woman who’s coming of age. The Prophets work in mysterious ways, but the result of their intervention is a man who was once unsure, and is now comfortable with what he is, knowing that it means something to him having temporarily lost it. Whether they’re deities or mere wormhole aliens, they have a way of helping him reach breakthroughs.

And that's the glory of the exploration of religion on Deep Space Nine. It evinces skepticism about how religion is practiced and manipulated, but it embraces the comfort and catharsis a connection to something greater can provide. The show’s most prominent religious character is also its most dastardly villain, but one of its strongest players is a woman of deep faith. Religion will always be an awkward fit for Star Trek and its fans. But with great episodes like this one, both we, and Captain Sisko, can grow more comfortable with the place it holds.