Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV Series) Life Support (1995) User Reviews

Frankenbariel.

[thevacinstaller · 7/10 · 30 March 2020]

I enjoyed the character of Bareil but I suppose having him marry Kira and living happily ever after would not exactly be a thrilling plot development for DS9. Bareil sense of duty overshadows his sense of self preservation and he risks death for the chance of peace with the Cardassians. I ponder what exactly is Bajoran after life? Bareil certainly walks into death with little fear.

Winn manages to rise to a new low by putting pressure on Bariel to continue the peace talks so that she would have the option of shifting the blame to him should the talks go poorly. I find myself pondering the character of Winn and the idea behind her development ---- Was she created as a way to add a bit of nuance to the sympathetic bajoran race? Is it a character study on the compromises of character required to gain and hold onto power?

Random thoughts:

• Nog is a terrible wing man and if I was Jake I would be really bummed out because he had a smokin' hot date.
• It was like a birthday gift for Odo when Jake asked to be arrested. I picture Odo sitting at his security station with his feet on the table looking at the security screen of these two kids yelling to be let out.

Bashir ends the episode with a line that any human wanting to go out with dignity could identify with, "He will die like a man not a machine..."

A dilemma for the doctor

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 22 April 2010]

When a shuttle arrives from Bajor after having a radiation leak Vedek Bareil is taken to the infirmary with injuries so serious that he is soon pronounced dead. As Dr Bashir is watching a monitor he notices there is still some neural activity and after some radical procedures he manages to revive him although he is still far from well and if he is to be able to assist in important treaty discussions between Bajor and Cardassia he will need a treatment which could cause him to relapse after a few days. Bashir counsels against it but he insists after Kai Winn says how much she needs his help. In a secondary story Jake and Nog have a falling out after a double date goes horribly wrong due to Nog's beliefs about how woman should be treated being different to the others.

This was an interesting episode in which Alexander Siddig did a good job as Dr Bashir who must provide treatments even though he advises against it. Nana Visitor also put in a good performance as Major Kira who must deal with what is happening to the man she loves.

Performance Driven and Thought Provoking

[abuonvinorosso · 6/10 · 28 May 2016]

In the Star Trek tradition, this episode attempts to wrestle with, in this case, the weighty philosophical issue of vitalism -- the dualistic notion that their exists both a physical process as well as an additional "spark of life" (as Bashir called it in this ep) separate from the physical processes of chemistry and biology, that somehow is needed to essentially provide that ineffable and vital quality that makes a living being, especially a human being, fundamentally different from the more rote processes described in science texts. For the Trek vision of reality, at least, this "spark" cannot be simulated with any kind of advanced technology. Roddenberry, despite his nontheistic personal beliefs, always seems to embrace this notion of vitalism in the Trek universe, which always manifested as the human spirit being triumphal over the highly advanced thinking machines of his future; a world in which machine intelligence is never quite capable of achieving a level comparable to that of human beings no matter how advanced technology becomes. Whether or not one appreciates Roddenberry's original notion of mind vs machine is another matter altogether, but this episode stays consistent with the canonical vision of vitalism and spiritual duality long established in prior Trek story lines and, in that way, provides a good foundation upon which to build this episode's story.

As to the story, this is definitely a performance driven episode, namely for Nana Visitor and Alexander Siddig with some good support work from Louise Fletcher (Kai Winn) and Philip Anglim (Bareil). While Siddig's performance was strong as the compassionate doctor the writers did not challenge Siddig in this episode much; his role was very straight forward. Visitor, on the other hand, who plays the head-strong reactionary "Che Guevara" role very well, was given a chance to portray her character's more tender and emotional side. Unfortunately Visitor continues to struggle in her portrayal of this side of her character, a feature of her acting style that is apparent throughout this series.

The secondary story in this episode between Nog and Jake, too, is overshadowed by the gravity of the primary one, making it an odd story pairing, as well as a fairly forgettable one too. Also, given the earlier episodes where Odo's affections for Kira were firmly established, this rather blatant "write out" of the Bareil character from the story was a transparent and simplistic choice. An opportunity for exploring the far more interesting and realistic complexity found in love triangles, for example, was lost by this choice.

Criticisms aside, however, this was still a fairly enjoyable episode. It goes a long way in further establishing the psychopathic character of Kai Winn, whose wonderfully ambiguous portrayal by a grandmotherly and overly polite Louise Fletcher is both an acting and writing highlight throughout the DS9 run and no less of a joy to watch in this episode.

Feel free to make a complaint to the management

[snoozejonc · 7/10 · 1 May 2022]

Vedek Bereil and Kai Winn arrive at DS9 en route to a peace treaty with the Cardassians.

This is a reasonably good episode but feels slightly uneven.

The A/B story does not work particularly well with the tone of both plots being so different. For me the more serious of the two is stronger, but it is not without issues.

I like the character focus on Winn, Bereil, Kyra and Dr Bashir. I find Bereil to be fairly bland usually but this is a more compelling use of the character. Kira has some great emotional moments that Nana Visitor performs very well, albeit I did struggle with her reaction to a certain plot development towards the end that did not feel right. Bashir and Winn are the standouts for me with both characters written with contrasting beliefs than clash well. Alexander Siddig and the great Louise Fletcher share the best dialogue exchanges.

The medical drama is good from a sci-fi perspective and the ethical themes it covers with Bereil's situation are worthwhile subjects.

The sub plot with Jake and Nog is okay, but out of place in the episode. This could have worked better in a lighter toned episode about cultural differences.

It's a 6.5/10 for me but I round upwards.

Death with Dignity

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 13 October 2018]

Vedek Bereil suffers plasma burns and damage to his internal organs. Dr. Bashir manages to pull off a miracle, managing to bring him from the brink of death. Unfortunately, he is badly damaged. The Kai is negotiating with the Cardassians and needs Bereil, so she selfishly keeps at him so she can use his experience and advice. But he is dying. This has to do with the idea of an honorable death versus an outside chance of survival.

The writers are just making way for Odo...

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 22 December 2014]

"Life Support" is a good episode and well worth seeing. However, to me it seems pretty obvious that the main reason for this episode is to kill off Vedek Bariel so that a new plot involving Odo and Kira falling in love can take place.

When the show begins, Kai Winn and her assistant, Vedek Bariel, arrive on Deep Space 9 for some negotiations with Cardassia. Why? Because they want to get past the stormy past between the two planets in order for them to grow bast that. However, there is an accident on their way there and Bariel is nearly killed. But since he is so important to the negotiations, he and Kai Winn work against Dr. Bashir's orders and there is a good chance that this will end up killing Bariel.

Interesting and well written--and another chance to see the tricky and snake-like Kai Winn!

Ultimate Quality Yin-Yang

[Walnut_ · 4/10 · 20 February 2023]

This episode exhibits the single largest contrast in quality between two plotlines in a single episode of the show I can recall seeing. You almost get whiplash when viewed without commercials, and them being completely unrelated in topic and tone doesn't help. Apparently some of the people working on the show expressed dissatisfaction with these two plots being in the same episode, and would've preferred they each be paired with different A and B plots, and I certainly agree - though really, the B plot needed some major rewrites before it went anywhere.

The A-plot of this episode is really impeccable. It a great story about what was a topical issue at the time, and it was handled beautifully. Every character has their own take on the issue, informed by their spiritual, scientific, and ethical beliefs, as well as their own motives. It's 90s trek at it's best, and something any television program would do well to study. It examines a complex issue with an equally complex depiction of something similar (*too* similar for me to call it a metaphor, I think), and it doesn't over simplify the problem to guide you to the author's perspective - it presents the problem in a relatable format with familiar characters to make the viewer really feel all sides of the issue. It's a rich text, one that I feel could support lengthy debate about it's interpretation and moral dilemmas themselves, and I feel like I'm a better person for having seen it. There is one line that's phrased in a way that felt super dated and took me out of the episode, but, well, the show came out nearly 30 years ago - & the phase I would've replaced it with was coined (as far as I can tell) only the year before this episode came out - so I think I can cut them some slack.

The B plot is some of the hardest Star Trek I've had to watch (and that's saying something). To the credit of the actors and the production crew, they did about as much as they could with it, and by 90's TV standards the child acting could've been a lot worse. But the entire plot is a moral lesson about how you shouldn't judge a person just because they treat women like slaves, and 'reasonable people disagree' about how much respect should be extended to women. I think the most charitable read I can offer is that it's use of the kids to play out this storyline means it was actually intended to be about how we shouldn't blame children who are indoctrinated into harmful ideologies, but there's never any lip service paid to that interpretation by the script, and it's certainly framed in the far more problematic way described above by even the adult characters attempting to impart this lesson on the children. In fact, they seem to imply that this difference in attitudes towards women is - to some extent - an inherent racial trait, meaning this plot manages to stray into racism as well. I think I recall later episodes attempt explore how the race aspect was actually have been reflective of the prejudices of these characters, but that still leaves the sexism.

Really I think you could argue that this B-plot is so flawed it should be invalidating for this episode getting anything higher than a 2, but the A-plot is so well written I couldn't bring myself to go that low. The plots have basically nothing to do with each other so I wish they'd replaced it with something else. I generally am not a Jake/Nog plot hater but this time, for the ideal viewing experience I'd recommend just skipping to the next scene whenever Jake or Nog show up and you could very well have a 9/10 episode on your hands.

I simply cannot stand Winn. She's not the true Kai anyway.

[txriverotter · 5/10 · 13 June 2022]

I hate episodes with Winn in them. Louise Fletcher is a wonderful actress; she's made me hate the very sight of her because of the kind of character Winn is: evil, devious, power-hungry, and not the slightest bit spiritual or even religious. She is contemptuous of everyone around her and uses people, to their deaths if necessary, to accomplish her sick end game.

I would skip every episode she's in, except that I'm a completionist and I know I'd miss plot points that are important to future episodes because of the way the DS9 series story line works.

That being said, this episode for me doesn't work on multiple levels. For one: if Bariel had been meeting with a Cardassian rep for months discussing a peace treaty, there would be recordings or at the very least, written minutes of all their meetings. It makes zero sense that Bariel needs to be kept awake unto his death to be Winn's constant resource to continue the peace talks in his absence.

The second thing I don't understand is why Bajor would pursue peace talks with Cardassia at all. Cardassians are devious, deceitful dicks. Any peace treaty with them will be treated just like the treaty they have with the Federation...they'll ignore it and do what they want anyway. So what's the big damn deal?

And lastly, the two plots, the main one with Bariel, Winn and the peace talks; and the second plot with Jake and Nog and their petty fights over Nog's ridiculous actions on a recent double date, are jolting. The two plots are so incongruous, so disparate. It jars the senses going from one deeply emotional, tense, frustrating story line, and bouncing back to Jake and Nog and their basically childish antics. It felt very off kilter.

And I realize that Kira was trying to honor Bariel's wishes in keeping him alive long enough to help Winn with the peace talks, but it still irritated the hell out of me to watch Winn with her self-satisfied, smug face as Kira agreed with her rather than Bashir.

I think Bariel was an idiot to give his life for something that had so little meaning in the long run. And by that I refer back to my comments about Cardassians actually honoring a peace treaty. He martyred himself for nothing, and that made the ending feel more hollow to me than anything else.

Flawed premis

[jeannettelavoie-11869 · 4/10 · 23 May 2022]

The whole premis is flawed. It's unlikely that talks would have been conducted without any recording of such. Not to mention transcripts and notes, all of which could have been used while the Vedick was put into stasis.