I think his having a short fuse is pretty much acknowledged semi-frequently on the show.



Well Dax is a scientist, not an engineer. And yeah, he's effective and all, but not the whiz that either Scotty or LaForge were. And that's okay. I don't expect every character to be the best that Starfleet has to offer. It's just one more thing that isn't exceptional or particularly likable about him.



Might just be that "Time's Orphan" episode. Otherwise, I don't recall his having too many memorable interactions with Molly, positive or otherwise. Come to think of it, most of his more memorable character-building episodes had him hiding out at Quark's or the holodeck, AWAY from his family. I guess that irked me. Every parent needs to get out now and then, but the writers pretty much always had him out, never home watching Molly while Keiko did stuff instead. Even when Keiko goes off for months at a time, I don't recall the writers often having O'Brien and Molly spending much time together.



Total shrew, but he married her.


....

Yeah, it had it's moments. It just felt forced. I think the writers realized that neither character had much going for them on their own.




And I think that's why O'Brien is written the way that he is. DS9 is less idealic fantasy and more gritty reality, so having a working class petty officer instead of a top ranked engineer keeping a rotting station together while cursing under his breath fits the tone a lot better. I was just never able to find anything likable about the guy in contrast. It took a long while for Sisko to grow on me because he's similarly just a ball of anger and pain early on, but he hits his stride somewhere around Season Three or Four. O'Brien never does the same for me. Jake either.




Unlikely, but as opinionated as I can be, I always try to keep an open mind. After all, I once HATED DS9 as a whole

Good to know. I definitely don't recall that. Of course, my sense of O'Brien being an unlikable curmudgeon didn't really blossom until the later seasons. I'm not sure how much of it is due to a change in how his character was written and how much was just me going "ya know, it kinda' seems like he does this sh*t a lot."




Well you can only have child actors work a certain amount of time, and the actress playing Keiko couldn't exactly be waiting in the wing on the chance she'd get guest appearances. I'm sure she had other things to do.




That most certainly changes. We see a lot of Sisko and Bashir off duty, in particular.

Ep. 16: The Forsaken

Plot: Sisko pawns off a delegation from the Federation to Bashir, and said Delegation is not happy.   Just as he was squirming most, Luxanna Troi (who, of course, was part of said delegation) cries 'thief'.  Odo brilliantly deduces who did it... I think Luxanna is in love.... again.

On the bridge, O'Brien's fighting with the computer again.. he wants to rip it out and start over, but Sisko doesn't like the idea of a three year project to get 13% better performance.  He finally tells him to do what he has to.

The 'tourists'(less Luxanna) arrive on the bridge to see a dead probe, and try to horn in on what's going on..Sisko shooes them off before they can give too much advice.  Mrs. Troi, meanwhile, goes to work on Odo, as only she can. Odo asks Sisko to help him with her. *LOL* 

Odo: 'I understand thieves and killers... I don't understand.... her'  Luxanna arranges a picnic, but Odo runs.  She follows along, and the elevator gets stuck, much to Luxana's delight.  She talks on while Odo tries to sit quietly, wondering if braving the electrified shaft was better than listening to her.

Meanwhile, the computers are very successful analyzing the probe, much to O'Brien's surprise.. it seems the probe is a big computer with no obvious purpose.

Bashir whines about the ambassadors to Sisko, while Sisko enjoys his squirming.  O'Brien still has the computer running great, but it isn't quite doing what it was.. he thinks the probe has changed the computers personality... and that it likes him, and stuff is breaking on purpose to keep him working on it.   

They decide the probe files, and try to send the files back, but it doesn't work, and in fact knocks the power out.  They try to distract it by having it do lots of stuff, but it explodes... right where Dr. Bashir and the ambassadors are.  

Back in the elevator, Luxanna tries to get Odo to talk, and has some small measure of success.  He's about due for his bucket, and is struggling to hold himself together.  Luxanna makes him feel better, and he turns into goo, which she holds in her dress.

O'Brien has a plan... and starts on it...he's trying to 'build a dog house' for the 'lost puppy' of the probe files.   He takes the probe files and moves them into isolation, which totally works.  

They get into where the fire was, at last, and it turns out Bashir tucked them into a crawlspace and saved the day.  

Everything works out.. the end!

Analysis:
-- Talk about troping it up with the ambassadors/delegates/whatever... it serves the purpose, but it's a bit over the top.

-- it's always fun when the people argue with the computers.

-- Odo being hit on by Mrs. Troi was pretty hilarious... though why Odo (seemingly and older man) is so uncomfortable with women is a story that I'd like to hear

-- I don't recall there being any Bajoran Ensigns or whatever around before.. the one working the computer seems to be the first I can recall.

-- Sisko seems much more useful than in other episodes, for some reason.  

-- The was more background on Odo than we've had the whole series... and it explains alot.

-- Bashir does something useful!   Call the press!



This was the first good use of a TNG guest star, IMO, but then I'm a big fan of Mrs. Troi anyway... she was brilliant.  The episode was pretty pedestrian otherwise, not bad, but nothing to write home about... though it did feel more like TNG than TOS, which is a bit unusual.  

I think it would have been less forced if she had some purpose (besides hitting on Odo, that is)... they said she was part of the federation delagation, but that makes no sense, and she wasn't part of it.. she wasn't with the other 3 even for a moment. It'd would have been alot more logical (if stil forced) if she had her own reason for being there, like, say, buying some gimgrack from the Gamma Quadrant from Quark or something.

Universal translator.  Just always assume it's the universal translator.

I'm surprised you don't remember it for it's horrible-ness. Only 2 more for season 1... there's been enough good ones to keep me interested, but just barely.

I'd probably go through them a bit faster, but between Gotham, Agent Carter, Justified, and Mythbusters, there's alot of TV on for me right now for my limited attention span

Yes, that is the next one....good to know it's a good one