https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp244
Miles gets a promotion when he moves over from the Enterprise-D, but he unfortunately has some tough times on DS9 like in the episode Tribunal, in which he experiences the horrific Cardassian judicial system, and then questions himself and how he looks as a role model to his daughter.
QUOTE (from Tribunal, S2):
Chief O'Brien: I've been in service to the Federation - Starfleet - all my adult life. No one has ever questioned my loyalty. No one in my entire life has ever had cause to ask "Miles O'Brien, are you a criminal?" I took an oath to defend the Federation, and what it stands for. I don't steal from them, I don't lie to them. I'm no angel. But I try to live every day as the best human being I know how to be. I need my little girl to wake up in the morning and look up at me and see a man she can respect. Until now, she always could.
One of O'Brien's best character building pieces is Hard Time, an episode where Miles has trouble adjusting back to real life after 20 years in a virtual prison, and he nearly commits suicide in the process of PTSD.
QUOTE (from Hard Time, S4):
[Chief O'Brien is holding a phaser under his chin, preparing to commit suicide]
Dr. Julian Bashir: Chief?
Chief Miles Edward O'Brien: Get outta here, Julian.
Dr. Julian Bashir: You don't want to do this, Chief.
Chief Miles Edward O'Brien: The hell I don't.
Dr. Julian Bashir: Look, I don't claim to know what you're going through, but whatever it is, it's not worth dying for.
Chief Miles Edward O'Brien: You don't understand at all. I'm not doing this for me. I'm doing it to protect Keiko and Molly and everyone else on this station.
Dr. Julian Bashir: Protect us from what?
Chief Miles Edward O'Brien: From me. I'm not the man I used to be. I'm dangerous. I nearly hit Molly today. All she wanted was a little attention, and I nearly hit her.
[He begins to sob]
Dr. Julian Bashir: But you didn't. You're a good man, Miles Edward O'Brien, and whatever it is you think you've done wrong, you don't deserve to die.
However, when it comes down to it, Miles is a great operations and transporter chief who is incredibly loyal to his crewmates and to his family. We learn about how he mentors best friend Julian Bashir to enjoy such family relationships in the episode Extreme Measures:
QUOTE (from Extreme Measures, S7):
Chief O'Brien: Well, I'd better get home. Keiko is holding dinner for me.
Doctor Bashir: This late?
Chief O'Brien: Yeah, well, she's a helluva woman.
Doctor Bashir: That's why you love her.
Chief O'Brien: M-hm, that's right - that's why I love her.
[he is about to leave but comes back once more]
Chief O'Brien: You wanna come?
Doctor Bashir: Sure.
O'Brien does have a sense of humor, and it comes out often in his family dealings like this one from the episode Children of Time:
QUOTE (from Children of Time, S5):
Molly: Aren't you gonna help?
Chief O'Brien: I'm busy.
Molly: You don't look busy.
Captain Sisko: [laughs] She's an O'Brien all right.
Miles O'Brien was played by Colm Meaney, who has had recent appearances in shows like Hell on Wheels. He holds the distinction of being the only Star Trek actor to appear in more than one pilot episode and more than one finale episode.
-----
Contact me with segment suggestions @BuckeyeFitzy on Twitter! Thanks!
No comments:
Post a Comment