Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we review a key character from the two-part episode Past Tense of Deep Space 9, Christopher Brynner.
https://archive.org/details/characterinsightep338
Christopher Brynner is the wealthy businessman and owner of Brynner Information Systems, a company based in San Francisco in the 21st Century on Earth. His past is not revealed in any detail on screen, but a short story in one of the Strange New Worlds compilations posits that Brynner was previously a lieutenant in the US Army in the early 2000's, serving in the Iraq war. Whatever his background is, he turns out to be in the right place at the right time to help Jadzia Dax when she and two other DS9 crew members are transported back in time to this history of Earth.
Ben Sisko and Julian Bashir were being held in the city's sanctuary district, a place where the homeless and mentally-ill were interned. Outsiders thought this was a good solution with ample care being given to these people, but on the inside, it was basically a prison. Dax convinces Brynner to help her find and retrieve Sisko and Bashir from this prison-like setting.
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But because a Starfleet crew cannot let injustice stand for no reason, Dax also works to convince Brynner to restore computer access for the residents at the sanctuary district. He does help achieve this in the end, allowing residents to reveal their poor condition to the outside world. It is left as an open question where Earth will take this information from there, and given the current political nature of our society, who knows how this would be handled in real life today.
The little additional bits of character we learn about Brynner come from his dialogue with Dax, including some about his life experiences of skiing on Mount Cook and obtaining and later removing a Maori tattoo from his body. He may not be the most likeable character, but he does have power and influence and he is convinced to use those for the greater good. His character name was derived from Chris in The Magnificent Seven, who was played by actor Yul Brynner.
Brynner was played by Jim Metzler, who enjoyed a long acting career with many small appearances in television shows. He's appeared in shows ranging from NYPD Blue to Grey's Anatomy, and he was nominated for a Golden Globe for one of his supporting roles in the 1982 film Tex. His final TV appearance credited was on Mad Men in 2014, and he's been enjoying retirement since then.
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