DS9 - The Collaborator

[Fianna]

Depending on the circumstances, the truth of what happened can be pretty unimportant. Was a particular guy a hero who helped save Bajor, or just a random schmuck given way too much credit? Whichever version is true, the results are the same. And, especially once they're dead, knowing what really happened doesn't change anything of consequence. So why not go with the version that makes a better story?

[Yukaphile]

It was stated Kai Opaka was what held them together. It's kind of like the sacrifice Batman made at the end of The Dark Knight. Bajor suffered so much during the occupation, that, well, if she was discredited, it could seriously damage further faith in the Kai, and just destabilize Bajor even more, and then the Cardassians would be back, as the three-parter earlier that season showed.

[Trinary]

As I said, doing it for Kai Opaka was the example of this I was the most okay with. But the others? There's really no needed reason.

How you view historical figures has continuing results even after the person in question is gone, so I'd say it does matter how they view figures like the overblown Bajoran resistance leader. Throughout early DS9 we saw many Bajorans had embraced a very black-or-white mentality. Not just in terms of 'Cardassians bad, Bajorans good' (like the drunk SOB who murdered Aamin Marritza) but even in more general terms. Their heroes were heroes and the villains were villains. Period. Nuance and understanding was not something they believed in. It led to expressions of them being arrogant, judgmental and not subject to seeing other points of view.

Remember Kira's little snit when Miles O'Brien pointed out the simple logistic issues with a Bajoran pre-warp craft making it to Cardassia? Or her simplistic attitude towards everyone who collaborated with the occupation, wrapping them up in big generalizations that didn't recognize any difference between a Kubus Oak or her own mom? The sort of approach fits current and historical people events into a narrative. If something doesn't fit the narrative you want, you edit it out. If you can't look at yourself, your past and even your own heroes somewhat critically, you end up becoming convinced that you're all-but infallible.

That doesn't meant that each and every fact that gets changed or distorted over time is super-important. Because they aren't always. But once you get into the mindset that you should hide away an inconvenient truth for the good of the nation, the people, etc. it becomes so easy to whip out that justification again and again and again until you aren't even left with your own history. Just an edited, sanitized, cartoonishly simple version of events as approved by whoever the censor happens to be.

[Mecha82]

Now that I finally watched this review I must say that what Bariel did to protect Kai Opaka's legacy was noble act even if he sacrificed his chances to become Kai making him far better person than Wynn ever could be. It's shame that writers needed Wynn to be in charge to have conflict and make sure that Sisko didn't have it easy because I would had loved to see Bariel as Kai instead of Wynn.

[clearspira]

As I said, doing it for Kai Opaka was the example of this I was the most okay with. But the others? There's really no needed reason.

How you view historical figures has continuing results even after the person in question is gone, so I'd say it does matter how they view figures like the overblown Bajoran resistance leader. Throughout early DS9 we saw many Bajorans had embraced a very black-or-white mentality. Not just in terms of 'Cardassians bad, Bajorans good' (like the drunk SOB who murdered Aamin Marritza) but even in more general terms. Their heroes were heroes and the villains were villains. Period. Nuance and understanding was not something they believed in. It led to expressions of them being arrogant, judgmental and not subject to seeing other points of view.

Remember Kira's little snit when Miles O'Brien pointed out the simple logistic issues with a Bajoran pre-warp craft making it to Cardassia? Or her simplistic attitude towards everyone who collaborated with the occupation, wrapping them up in big generalizations that didn't recognize any difference between a Kubus Oak or her own mom? The sort of approach fits current and historical people events into a narrative. If something doesn't fit the narrative you want, you edit it out. If you can't look at yourself, your past and even your own heroes somewhat critically, you end up becoming convinced that you're all-but infallible.

That doesn't meant that each and every fact that gets changed or distorted over time is super-important. Because they aren't always. But once you get into the mindset that you should hide away an inconvenient truth for the good of the nation, the people, etc. it becomes so easy to whip out that justification again and again and again until you aren't even left with your own history. Just an edited, sanitized, cartoonishly simple version of events as approved by whoever the censor happens to be.

I agree, but I think this also serves to make Kira a very realistic character. She has been scarred forever by her experiences, and not everyone has the ability to forgive and forget which is why in real life we have vendettas that can last generations. And I think it really does not help that Gul Dukat is still very much in her life, the man who both figuratively and literally raped her people. That wound is not healing when he is still walking your decks.

[Yukaphile]

He is in every respect a war criminal who escaped justice. And that's always depressing for a generation of victims.

[Trinary]

I agree, but I think this also serves to make Kira a very realistic character. She has been scarred forever by her experiences, and not everyone has the ability to forgive and forget which is why in real life we have vendettas that can last generations. And I think it really does not help that Gul Dukat is still very much in her life, the man who both figuratively and literally raped her people. That wound is not healing when he is still walking your decks.

While a big part of her character is motivated by not being willing to forgive or forget, I would draw a contrast between Kira at the start of the series and how she was by the end. We saw how much Kira cared about Ziyal and how much she hated Damar for killing her. By the time Damar died at the end of the series, she, I think, grew to respect him and didn't hate him anymore. She hated what he did, certainly, but I think she recognized that Damar was a far more complicated person than her Season 1 self ever would. And that's GOOD thing, that show's growth of her character over time.

But here's where my original point comes in: would she have ever gotten to that point if people kept lying to her or tried to hide away certain unpleasant truths about people she looked up to? Do you think she'd grow that much if people tried to hide the flaws of her mother or Opaka or Odo from her? I don't think she'd be nearly as strong a character by the end and that's why I generally dislike stories that end with the heroes deciding to preserve a lie in order to save someone's reputation. And again, this episode, given Opaka's importance, I can see the need to wait for a few years or decades. But in general, I don't like the thinking that underlies the decision. That this is one of at least three DS9 episodes that does this--the others with far less justification for doing so--really irks me.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I agree, but I think this also serves to make Kira a very realistic character. She has been scarred forever by her experiences, and not everyone has the ability to forgive and forget which is why in real life we have vendettas that can last generations. And I think it really does not help that Gul Dukat is still very much in her life, the man who both figuratively and literally raped her people. That wound is not healing when he is still walking your decks.

With consideration of this, In the episode where Kira goes back in time to see if her mother was really one of Dukat's lovers, did Nerys herself save Dukat, or was it the person that was a vessel she was viewing through? She sure did seem to have a bit of overall consideration after being exposed to that.

[Shuboy07]

There was a profile on Michael Piller in the TNG Blu-Ray set where Ira Steven Behr talked about killing off Bareil and getting an angry phone call from Piller (who had left DS9 to start Voyager). Behr explained to Piller that the writers had run out of ideas for Bareil and told him to watch the episode once it was finished. Piller called after that to say that he agreed with Behr's decision AND would no longer interfere in DS9's production. The part that stuck with me is Bareil wasn't one of Piller's creations (in fact Robert Hewitt Wolfe's) but he sounded willing to fight for the character. Then there's Behr's hard decision that Bareil had to die because he was no longer an interesting character.

Now getting back to this review, I'd also disagree with Chuck's usage of Cosby and Saville to compare to Opaka. Opaka was a good person who made a very difficult choice. I wish I could think of someone in history to compare to this.

[Yukaphile]

I agree. Kira probably had her faith shattered to the point she never thought of her as anything but a "filthy traitor" again, but, well... there you go. It was the lesser of two evils.