This is an excellent examination of the dynamics of a cult. I loved that it initially seems like nothing more than an ordinary, benign farming community and was gradually revealed to be a very controlled society run by an anti-technology zealot who was willing to let people die for her theories. Alixus is a great character with a very forceful personality. She has brainwashed her followers so thoroughly that none of them openly object to her resorting to torture in placing first Stephen and then Sisko in what O'Brien very accurately describes as a hell box. Alixus' actually quite frightening speech after Joseph defends O'Brien's attempts to contact the runabout to access the medkit and immediately before she puts Sisko in the box very effectively demonstrates both this brainwashing and her zealotry:
"Thank you, Joseph. I knew you would feel that way and I'm glad you said it, so that all of us could see the true danger these two represent. Our very own Joseph defending what he knows is wrong. He knows that if we had spent our energy all these years trying to escape, we'd all be dead today. This is good. This is a test of our convictions, and we will survive."
Another more subtle moment which demonstrates her controlling attitude and her attempt to break Sisko comes when she says, "Oh, will you be able to work your regular shift in the field today?" The use of the word "regular" in particular struck a chord with me. Sisko had only worked one such shift but Alixus' very deliberate choice of that word was meant to serve as a stark reminder that he would be there for the duration and that he would eventually fall under her control. Thankfully, he proved her wrong on both counts.
Rewatching DS9 has given me a new appreciation for Avery Brooks, who has always been my least favourite captain, in his quiet moments as Sisko. However, I still hate his shouty ones, I'm afraid. The scene in which Sisko silently returns to the box is a masterclass of subtle acting on Brooks' part and is easily my favourite Sisko scene so far. It is also an extremely well written scene which says a great deal without dialogue.
Alixus' Luddite views are interesting and a very small part of me thinks that she may be right when she says that humanity has lost something because of its reliance on technology. However, a far greater part of me – about 99% — thinks that those sacrifices were worth it because of the great strides, particularly in the field of medicine, that were made in the 20th Century and have already been made in the 21st. Like everyone else, I have ancestors and other relatives who died young whose deaths could have been avoided just a few decades later. If this episode had not touched upon that issue with Meg and the mention of the other three people who died of the same illness, it would have been a major oversight so I am very glad that it did. Funnily enough, I had two power cuts in the space of three days the week that I watched this episode so I was thinking more about my own reliance on technology that I might have been otherwise.
The ending is nicely ambiguous as it is not clear whether Joseph and the others want to continue the community because they think that hard work is good for the soul or because they have been so thoroughly brainwashed over the course of the last ten years. I loved that Alixus did not realise what she had done was wrong because she was so fanatical in her beliefs that it would not have rung true.
Finally, I did quite like Gail Strickland's performance as Alixus but I was not too enamoured of it. She is certainly charismatic but not as charismatic as I would have liked. I'd have preferred if someone like the always wonderful Tovah Feldshuh had played the role.
"Thank you, Joseph. I knew you would feel that way and I'm glad you said it, so that all of us could see the true danger these two represent. Our very own Joseph defending what he knows is wrong. He knows that if we had spent our energy all these years trying to escape, we'd all be dead today. This is good. This is a test of our convictions, and we will survive."
Another more subtle moment which demonstrates her controlling attitude and her attempt to break Sisko comes when she says, "Oh, will you be able to work your regular shift in the field today?" The use of the word "regular" in particular struck a chord with me. Sisko had only worked one such shift but Alixus' very deliberate choice of that word was meant to serve as a stark reminder that he would be there for the duration and that he would eventually fall under her control. Thankfully, he proved her wrong on both counts.
Rewatching DS9 has given me a new appreciation for Avery Brooks, who has always been my least favourite captain, in his quiet moments as Sisko. However, I still hate his shouty ones, I'm afraid. The scene in which Sisko silently returns to the box is a masterclass of subtle acting on Brooks' part and is easily my favourite Sisko scene so far. It is also an extremely well written scene which says a great deal without dialogue.
Alixus' Luddite views are interesting and a very small part of me thinks that she may be right when she says that humanity has lost something because of its reliance on technology. However, a far greater part of me – about 99% — thinks that those sacrifices were worth it because of the great strides, particularly in the field of medicine, that were made in the 20th Century and have already been made in the 21st. Like everyone else, I have ancestors and other relatives who died young whose deaths could have been avoided just a few decades later. If this episode had not touched upon that issue with Meg and the mention of the other three people who died of the same illness, it would have been a major oversight so I am very glad that it did. Funnily enough, I had two power cuts in the space of three days the week that I watched this episode so I was thinking more about my own reliance on technology that I might have been otherwise.
The ending is nicely ambiguous as it is not clear whether Joseph and the others want to continue the community because they think that hard work is good for the soul or because they have been so thoroughly brainwashed over the course of the last ten years. I loved that Alixus did not realise what she had done was wrong because she was so fanatical in her beliefs that it would not have rung true.
Finally, I did quite like Gail Strickland's performance as Alixus but I was not too enamoured of it. She is certainly charismatic but not as charismatic as I would have liked. I'd have preferred if someone like the always wonderful Tovah Feldshuh had played the role.