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We say an unexpected goodbye to a recurring character this week in “Life Support”. Later in “Heart of Stone”, Odo says goodbye to his dignity. Plus! Kai Winn has the flu.
Trekabout Episode 177: Life Support/Heart of Stone
Jonas
-I think Bareil was an important character, played by a good actor, who was never utilized properly. The reason I think he’s important is that he adds some desperately-needed variety to the show’s depiction of Bajor and especially the Bajoran religion. For a show that in many ways keeps becoming more religious as it goes, DS9 is incredibly vague about its religion. What do the Bajorans actually believe? What’s the philosophical basis of their religion? What are the details of their theology? Even after seven years it’s little more than “wear earrings and buy some candles,” and whenever we see anyone refer to the social teachings of their religion, it’s no more than a vague ascetic conservatism. Even Kira, who can be a fun character, becomes extremely conservative whenever she is in religious mode. (But without any real detail – specific taboos, rituals, stories, etc.) Vedek Bareil was a refreshing change from that, a man with a different understanding of spirituality, with a sense of humour about the whole thing, embracing the joys of existence (including sex). I don’t have a problem with him dying per se, but I find it baffling that the writers couldn’t find more to do with him.
What I do have a major problem with is how he dies. Not the whole peace treaty thing, but the technophobia that underlies that aspect of the story. Why is it that progressives still buy into the idea that “OMG WHAT IF MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY MAKES US LESS HUMAN” is somehow a subversive, original story? (I actually read an excellent book recently, Austerity Ecology by Leigh Phillips, that’s basically all about that. I highly recommend the ebook version. It is, in many ways, extremely relevant to what Star Trek is/was about. It’s also the best book about climate change that I’ve ever read.) I truly resent the reactionary mumbo-jumbo at the core of all this, which in many ways is the very opposite of what Data was about – that what we call humanity is not an invisible essential force reserved for God’s Biological Children. If the show really wanted to challenge our thinking, then it should make us think about what it means if Bareil is the *same* with bits of his brain replaced by machinery. And it could make Bareil think about that, too, and what it means to his spiritual view of the universe. That would be interesting. Instead we get another version of Caveman Science Fiction.
I like your thoughts about the banality of evil. Let’s remember to go back to them in season 7.
Eric Brasure
-Vedek Bareil has always struck me as an interesting character concept that was badly miscast.