In the thirteenth episode of the first season of Deep Space Nine, this is one of the most fucked up things imaginable. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.
Trigger Warning: For nonconsensual medical procedures, torture, body horror.
Who wrote this? WHO DECIDED TO GIVE THIS TO US? I jest, y’all, because I think this episode is a brilliant examination of warfare and the effect it has on those who have lived it. It’s brutal, scary, shocking, and gives us no pretty resolution. It’s ugly – as it should be – and the sense of hope provided by “Battle Lines” is slim, but believable. In short?
Holy shit, what an episode.
The Camp
Let’s start first by discussing the construction of this episode. The opening suggested that this would largely follow Kai Opaka and her weird prophecy of Sisko, or at least I thought it would. But it leads to a deeply uncomfortable disaster when an innocent, wonder-filled exploration brings Sisko, Julian, Kira, and Opaka to a prison camp, one where two rival clans are perpetually entrenched in war. Oh, and KAI OPAKA DIES IN THE CRASH ON THE PLANETÂ WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS EPISODE.
But this episode isn’t even remotely interested in easy answers or comforting storylines. Initially, I didn’t understand what it was that the Ennis were fighting against. An invading force? Had they crash landed on this planet, too? It was easy to few the Nol-Ennis as some sort of ruthless enemy, hellbent on destroying the Ennis, and we were meant to think that. If we sympathized with Shel-La and his people, then it only made future developments even more upsetting. Who can you sympathize with? How can you resolve a conflict that was designed to perpetuate infinitely? Because y’all, these people were put into a prison full of nanotechnology that entered the body and PREVENTED THAT PERSON FROM EVER DYING. Who knows how long the Ennis and the Nol-Ennis had been imprisoned here? How many different ways had they tried to stop fighting and how many times had they given up? Actually, as far as I can tell from “Battle Lines,” they never stopped fighting. They just kept devising more and more ways to continue killing one another until they developed an apathy of violence that was so severe that they fought just for the sake of it. They became utterly dependent on the war, just as their bodies became dependent on the nanites within him.
So how the hell do you stop something like that?
A History of Violence
It’s through this story that Deep Space Nine posits that someone like Major Kira – who has known violence her whole life due to the Cardassian presence in Bajor – is struggling with a similar challenge. I don’t think this is done in a way to minimize what the struggle is, and I think the presence of Opaka helps Kira accept that what she went through prior to this moment was justifiable and important. Kira’s anger is always on the surface, and it’s one of my favorite things about her character. The show lets her be forceful without saying that this is a bad quality for a person to have. And truthfully, I don’t think she’d be the same person without it! So when she sees what’s happening between the Ennis and the Nol-Ennis, it’s easier for her to rely on violence and justifications of self-defense than to do anything else. Again, it’s very clear that she had to defend herself and the others here.
However, Opaka begins to suggest that there’s another option here that Kira has never considered. Why is that? Why is it so easy for her to put herself in a mindset that accepts the existence of war? Because, as Opaka gets her to admit, she’s known nothing else. It’s what her mind goes to in situations like this. Which is understandable! But after picking a particularly nasty fight with Sisko about the Ennis’s need to defend themselves, Kira must come to terms with the fact that she’s got to move into a new world. She’s got to accept that violence isn’t always the solution for other people or other contexts. It’s a deeply emotional storyline for a number of reasons – including Kira’s own history – and it fits so well within the larger story of the prison camp.
A Light at the End of the Tunnel
Is there one provided by “Battle Lines”? I wouldn’t say there is in any traditional sense. After Sisko brilliantly offers both sides a chance for freedom – from both the planet and each other – the two warring clans almost immediately descend into battle, unable to put aside their own violent tendencies and their long history with one another. It’s a disheartening moment, but you know what? It felt like a truth. It felt like the kind of honesty we’ve gotten from Deep Space Nine so far. These factions were not going to get a deus ex machina because that wouldn’t solve the nightmare they’d been forced into. Even if Kai Opaka is a mystical religious figure, she’s not a god. She isn’t here to magically solve this conflict. The work she’ll have to do is going to be hard, difficult, and I imagine she’s going to die a lot in the process.
But for the first time, there’s a third party, invested in the idea of freedom and nonviolence, and she might just be the light at the end of the tunnel.
The video for “Battle Lines” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
– I am now on Patreon!!! MANY SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU SUPPORT ME.
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