“Time’s Orphan” can, at times, be a thoroughly visceral experience. Unfortunately, though, that’s all it really has going for it. The premise is a bit suspect, coming across more as a contrivance than a legitimate source of drama. Worse still, the episode presents a kind of “false choice” for its characters, forcing them into situations that seem disingenuous.

With Keiko, Molly and Yoshi returning to the station for the first time in months, life would appear to be pretty good for O’Brien. Of course, we know that his character will be put through the emotional wringer and, sure enough, while on a family picnic to a Bajoran colony, something bizarre, and tragic, happens to his daughter, Molly: she runs into a cave and falls into a liquid pool of … something … and disappears.

We learn that this was a temporal thingy, sending Molly back through time. But it’s difficult to take the moment entirely seriously because it seems so unlikely that the series would simply kill off an eight-year-old girl. Or leave her trapped in the past. What is unexpected, though, is the fact that Molly returns as a feral eighteen-year-old, having somehow spent a decade living entirely on her own.

The rest of the episode is spent on how the O’Briens try to reconnect with their daughter, now that she is very different from who she used to be. And this is where the emotional element to the episode comes in to play. Losing a child is a nightmarish scenario for a parent. Having one suddenly and irrevocably changed is a very traumatic event for everyone involved.

The aplomb with which the O’Briens try to help their daughter is what really makes the episode work. Wacky sci-fi concepts aside, the episode is at its best when it confronts the familial elements of the story. The love and dedication the O’Briens feel for their daughter are palpable. And despite the very strange performance from older-Molly (she is, afterall, more like a wild animal than a person), the result is a both touching and moving. Scenes like the ones where Molly remembers her childhood doll, or remembers her name are especially moving.

But the episode really runs off the tracks once Molly’s progress begins to become a problem. The O’Briens take her to a holosuite to let her experience living back on the planet once again, but are kicked out because a couple of Klingons have a reservation. It seems odd that neither Sisko nor Bashir (who seems conspicuously absent from the various “sessions” involving the O’Briens) would be able to have set aside some therapeutical time for Molly.

And this leads to another forced moment: Molly, in a rage at being removed from her home, trashes Quark’s and stabs an alien, who subsequently presses charges. Suddenly Molly is facing a life of internment … or something … as if there couldn’t possibly be a verdict that would take into account her circumstances and order an appropriate course of action.

As a result, the O’Briens plan to break Molly out of jail and steal a shuttle. They are caught — then let go — by Odo. (Why even have Odo catch them and let them go?) They head back to the planet and send Molly back to her “home” — the past where she has spent ten years of her life.

And in the episode’s most saccharine moment, little Molly meets her older self, and is returned home … and all is right with the world (even Miles’ actions in stealing a shuttle will be glossed over because Sisko is defending him — but where are the consequences for Keiko and Odo?). It’s so neat and tidy that it merely underscores the fact that the episode was, simply, a contrivance. Sure, it gets an emotional reaction out of the audience. But it has no value beyond that.

In fact, the best parts of the episode stem from its subplot in which Worf tries to take care of Yoshi, while the O’Briens are working with Molly. Worf wants to prove to Dax that he can be a capable parent. And despite the cliché plot, it’s worth seeing Worf actually struggling with the very real challenges of parenthood in a manner that isn’t melodramatic or overly ridiculous.

“Time’s Orphan” can be a moving experience for some viewers. But in terms of an actual story or character exploration, it doesn’t work especially well.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine