It's the appropriate conclusion to a great double feature. It's great how DS9 dares to further stain the usual immaculate Star Trek fabric. Except maybe for the occasional Section 31 shenanigans or officers literally possessed by worm aliens (cf. TNG's Conspiracy) Star Fleet officers are usually loyal and ethical men of honor with a sound understanding of what democracy means. Never we have seen anything like this.
However, despite the dramatic and great story there are some things I don't like: the Red Squad involvement wasn't a real mystery anymore. Basically, we got the idea already in part one. Plus, I don't understand that one ship (the Defiant) is able to break through Earth's protective diameter. Plus, most of the dramatic apex is basically a quick and too easy escape from prison and a lot of talk between Ben and the Admiral. And all the talk sometimes feels like the two reminiscing the good old times. The first part also had a much more subtle and thus satisfying approach how to show that Ben starts to question his actions. That's mostly gone here because - in the end - there's an actual group of conspirators that represents a clear threat and must be stopped. In the end they are stopped and the founders show their cards too easy. That ends every philosophical debate over why it's perhaps only their own fear freedom minded people should fear.
Maybe execution could have been better and maybe the conclusion isn't as good as the first episode, it still is pretty good because of the audacity to smear Star Fleets reputation. Well done. That's a +1 bonus. Hence this ultimately results in a 8/10 which would otherwise have been a 7/10.
What did i say...ugh.
Writers write about what they know... Unfortunately this type of tactic is more real than we're led to believe.
As I'm learning more and more, I seem to usually enjoy the first part of two-part Star Trek episodes, but then find myself a bit disappointed by the second. All the promise set up initially is rarely delivered.
So, this one just kind of passes by. The Admiral turns into a one-dimensional villain and his plan doesn't make the most sense. Sisko spends a lot of time arguing the same things over and over with him and it's never compelling. Meanwhile, Sisko's dad doesn't feel like the same person we met in the first part.
On the plus side, there's a fun dogfight with the Defiant and the whole notion of Red Squad is quite intriguing. Sisko uses some nice tactics to find out information, and Colm Meaney gives a great unsettling performance as a Changeling version of O'Brien who feels like a completely different character.
Whew the similarity is astounding ... The Plan has been in the works for a long time indeed
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2023-02-10T03:50:17Z
[7.4/10] In some ways, “Paradise Lost” is the peak anti-Roddenberry episode. By the time of The Next Generation, he envisioned the Federation as a utopia, where all threats had to be external, and all the Starfleet officers had to be on the same page. It’s hard to imagine a storyline more contrary to that vision than a leading admiral conspiring to steal power from the civilian government and trying to outright kill the fellow officers who might expose him.
On the other hand, if there’s a trope that The Original Series returned to again and again, it was a rogue admiral (or commodore, or ambassador, or some other Starfleet potentate) causing trouble or otherwise putting roadblocks in the Enterprise’s way, to where Kirk had to make a principled stand in the name of protecting his crew and doing what’s right. Sub in Sisko for Kirk, and that's pretty much what you have here, so maybe Roddenberry wouldn’t be so against an outing like this one.
And yet, it’s that latter point -- the evil admiral and our valiant captain making a stand -- that leaves me a bit disappointed in this one. All the complexities of this situation set up in “Homefront” are flattened out to a binary struggle between good and evil. Gone are the thorny questions of how to balance preserving the values of your society while also striving to preserve the society itself. And in its place is a villainous leader ready to lie, cheat, and steal his way into power, and our noble protagonist who’s barely conflicted at all about bringing him down.
Frankly, it’s a problem that affects scads of Star Trek two-parters. The first half will evoke a sense of mystery, possibility, and thematic complexity. And the second half, which has to land this plot within forty-five minutes flat, will reduce the story to a straightforward enough resolution and a Manichean good guys vs. bad guys dichotomy. Deep Space Nine is no exception, but it’s especially disappointing with such a great setup from last time crumpling into a facile struggle this time.
Credit where it’s due, “Paradise Lost” at least has the presence of mind to have Admiral Layton believe that he’s in the right. He makes speeches about the chain of command, about the unique threat they’re facing, that show he doesn’t think he’s the bad guy. But the episode frames him in such an antagonistic posture, not someone who regrets that it’s come to this but believes it’s the only way. Basically, he’s not sympathetic, despite having at least some sympathetic impulses, and it makes both the thematic tug-of-war the show wants to establish, and the personal push-and-pull between Benjamin and his former commanding officer, less interesting because of that.
What’s especially frustrating is that I essentially agree with where “Paradise Lost” lands and the message it wants to send. I like Sisko’s resolution that it’s not worth tearing down the things that make a place like Star Trek’s utopian Earth a paradise in the name of protecting it. The episode just becomes so hamfisted and oversimplified about it.
It doesn't help that the twist was so predictable. Once Sisko got a whiff that something was amiss, it wasn’t hard to guess that Admiral Layton was behind it. Even if the destination is known, the journey to get there can still be interesting. But Sisko doesn’t do anything especially clever or exciting to expose Layton beyond dressing down one cadet. The rest of the plotting comes as wheel-spinning before the inevitable reveal that Layton is behind it all.
Honestly, that's part of what put me off of this one. In my review for the last episode, I talked about how this arc feels eerily prescient about the issues swirling around in post-9/11 America. Well, in an era of 9/11 “Truthers”, I’ve grown more and more tired of false flag terrorism narratives. The idea that there must be evil masterminds behind every big world event, and that the call must always be coming from inside the house, has only grown more pernicious in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it’s harder to be tolerant of that as a storytelling device.
Wild twists and global problems that can be reduced to one key figure and his allies may make for more exciting and more accessible stories on television. But in the real world, these sorts of problems are more the results of systemic issues and incentives that can't be reduced to a couple of Great Men:tm: on either side of the divide. It’s not fair to hold that against Deep Space Nine. These problems hadn't grown as large in 1996 as they would soon thereafter. And Star Trek’s entire M.O. is using individual characters as stand-ins for larger ideas. But it makes it harder for an episode like “Paradise Lost”, with its true conspiracies and bad guy mastermind, to resonate in a world that seems closer to the Bell Riots than to utopia.
On a more practical level, for all the momentous things that happen in “Paradise Lost”, it’s a very talky episode. Most of the meat here comes in the form of Sisko and Layton speechifying at one another and writing the episode’s moral on the screen. If you get the point the show’s trying to make, especially if you feel like it’s preaching to the converted, those on-the-nose speeches quickly grow tiresome, even if they happen at phaser-point.
“Paradise Lost” still has its moments. It’s nice to see Nog at the Academy, already finding his way in Starfleet, if only a little. Brock Peters remains a godsend as Joseph Sisko, with a joie de vivre and a relatable dynamic with his son that is both warm and recognizable. And the scene with a Changeling posing as O’Brien is chilling. He posits that there are only four shapeshifters on Earth, but that even that many is plenty to sow fear and mistrust in a civilization already primed to worry about whether the Founders might be lurking in every dark corner. The point again feels salient to what would come, when an age of terrorism sparked concerns of when and where the next attack on American soil would happen, with attendant anxieties and prejudices.
Despite all that, and a title to boot, “Paradise Lost” is ultimately an optimistic episode. In the end, even Captain Benteen, Admiral Layton’s executive officer, defies orders and stops firing on the Defiant when she realizes he’s gone too far. Benjamin’s able to rely on his usual allies to expose the bad actor among the Starfleet faithful. The armed officers formerly patrolling the streets of New Orleans beam back to their ship. Whatever the path to get there, the day is saved, and the actions of some noble people keep Earth from giving into that fear and the military coup that would come with it.
In the end, none other than Joseph Sisko admits he’s scared to death of what might come next in this cold war with the Dominion. But he’s also ready to open his doors again, welcome his community in once more, and continue to live his life, safe in the knowledge that the values his son strives to protect have been preserved, which is as important as preserving the civilization that represents them. It’s hard to imagine something more in the spirit of Gene Roddenberry’s vision than that.