‘TIME’S ORPHAN’ (DS9)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Chief O’Brien gets to reunite with his family in this ‘DS9’ episode. It’s been a while since we last saw Keiko and Molly in the ‘DS9’ series as well as little Yoshi. This episode focuses a lot on Molly though.
In the episode, O’Brien and his wife Rosalind Chao as Keiko take their children Molly and Yoshi to the planet Golana for a picnic. They seem happy enjoying their picnic, after being apart from each other.
While Hana Hatae as 8-year-old Molly is playing however, she falls into an abandoned time-portal which closes after she passes through. I gasped once I saw that, even on a re-watch on the DVD here.
Apparently, the portal sends Molly 300 years into the past, in a time when the planet was uninhabited. The DS9 crew including Kira, Jadzia and Bashir help the O’Briens to recover dear Molly.
They do that by using transporter technology to lock onto Molly’s signal once they are able to open the portal again. Sadly, the portal has opened at a different time and they rescue a different Molly. 😦
This happens to be Michelle Krusiec as an 18-year-old Molly who is now feral after having survived on her own for ten years in the planet’s past. She doesn’t recognise her parents when meeting them.
Molly is soon brought back to DS9 where she is placed inside a special habitat made to resemble the planet. Miles O’Brien and his wife Keiko try reconnecting with their daughter whilst on board DS9. 🙂
I like how this episode showcases Miles and Keiko as loving and caring parents when they try to reconnect with Molly as an 18-year-old. It’s good how it turns out alright in the episode’s conclusion.
Molly slowly comes to remember her parents. I like the ball-game playing that occurs in the episode between Miles and Keiko with their daughter. Molly also starts to use a bit of English speech here. 🙂
Mind you, she is still barely controllable whilst confined to the boundaries of the habitat. Molly wants her parents to take her ‘home’ and they do not realise that she backs on the planet Golana. 😐
They take her back to their quarters and it is there where she makes it clear when she wants to go back to Golana. Miles and Keiko take her to a simulation of Golana when they are inside a holosuite.
Molly responds positively when they’re inside the holosuite. But when Quark tells Miles that a few Klingons want to use the holosuite, the simulation is soon deactivated and Molly becomes violent. 😐
This is illustrated when Molly is rough with Quark; is wild in Quark’s bar and she soon stabs someone. Sisko soon tells Miles that Starfleet plans to put Molly in a mental institution somewhere.
This is something Miles and Keiko aren’t happy about as they believe a mental institution isn’t ideal for Molly. They soon try to steal a runabout from DS9 so they can return Molly back to Golana itself.
They get a little help from a sympathetic Odo who catches them in the escape of freeing Molly and trying to get away on a runabout. Interesting how Odo is sympathetic towards the O’Briens’ cause. 🙂
When back on Golana, Miles and Keiko return Molly to the portal with the intention of destroying in order to prevent Starfleet from finding her. It could mean Miles and Keiko will never see Molly again.
After saying their goodbyes, Molly soon returns through the portal to find her younger self there. Only a short time has passed since little Molly fell through the portal and she’s very scared indeed. 😦
The older Molly shows the way for her young self to return back through the portal and reunite with her parents. The older Molly disappears once little Molly returns to her parents, happy to see her. 🙂
I liked the side plot going on in the episode where Jadzia Dax looks after Molly’s little brother Yoshi and Worf volunteers to care for him. Worf hopes to prove his parenting skills to Jadzia in the future.
After Yoshi bumps his head however, Worf condemns himself for being an unfit parent. But he’s reassured when Jadzia tells Worf that Yoshi learned one of the Klingon games that Worf taught him.
‘Time’s Orphan’ is a solid entry in the ‘DS9’ series. It showcases Miles and Keiko O’Brien being good parents when caring for their daughter who becomes 18 years old. I’m happy it had a happy ending.
‘Time’s Orphan’ (DS9) rating – 8/10
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