Star Trek Retro Review 'Hard Time' - An Emotional Gut Punch

[@NaterTot]

Hey Tots. We are back with another Retro Review. 'Hard Time' was a hard time to get through. As someone who has lost someone to suicide, this conversation is delicate and obviously extremely nuanced. I did my best to not put too many jokes in this (and some of the more serious conversation was dialed back to suit KZbin's stringent needs). Regardless, this episode was wonderfully done, boasted by a WONDERFUL performance from Colm Meaney. As stated in the review, if you or someone you know/love is going through a mental health crisis, please reach out to the hotline or a medical professional. With all the love (and starch), Mr. Tot

[@elizabethpalladino8301]

This is my favorite of the "beat up Miles O'Brien" trope.

[@oldman5247]

If you ignore the fact that everything may not have happened. This episode was a well thought out exploration of how far humanity can be pushed into darkness. Before they start to become awful themselves along with talking about suicide and rehabilitation methods. However personally I would’ve loved this episode if everything that happened in this episode wasn’t just something that was programmed into Mile’s head.

[@MousePounder]

Any excuse to talk about Demolition Man is a good excuse to me! 😂

[@timmcdraw7568]

I just watched it and now im looking around for discussions about it while i pull myself back together. For some reason it’s taken me a long time to get through ds9, i had some initial senses about it after watching the first few episodes years ago that were completely and totally wrong and so i never got into it. Till now. Its everything great about Star Trek. And Hard Time is Star Trek at its finest. There are three episodes in all of Star Trek that make me sob - Inner Light, weirdly Darmok (dont ask me, but every time.) and now Hard Time. I’ll be thinking about this episode for a long time i think. I liked your review. It was just the 11 minute counseling session i needed after that. Thank you! I think im good now.

[@Doctoranthetardis]

This episode lives rent free in my head. I think about it a lot more than most other episodes.

[@NaterTot]

I haven’t stopped since I watched it!

[@OrganizedChaos14]

Great discussion. Makes me want to rewatch this episode, which is crazy good but also crazy brutal. Miles has it rough.

[@MousePounder]

Huge emotional gut punch episode....then the show never mentions it again...might be why it got forgotten?

[@NaterTot]

This. That’s a great point. It isn’t ever mentioned again. Not that Miles should have his trauma dragged through the mud, but it’s completely forgotten about.

[@crintondux]

@@NaterTotit’s an interesting thought isn’t it - could you actually get over something like this? Once you come to terms with the fact it wasn’t actually real, and get back into your normal routine - would you be able to just put it behind you and move on? You haven’t actually lost 20 years of your life, you haven’t really lost anything

[@jeepdude7359]

Some of the most emotional and real acting DS9 had to offer.

[@sethmaki1333]

I really love this episode, but I'll never be able to watch it a second time. It's joins a select few, such as Million Dollar Baby among others as something I can only watch once, but is something deserving every single award possible for its category.

[@NaterTot]

I completely agree with this assessment. Not that every episode of Trek needs to be fun, but the subject matter is so heavy.

[@oddish4352]

My head canon is that Sisko sent the Defiant to this world, where they locked the phasers on the Agrathi prison complex and demanded every bit of data they had on the "correction" procedure. Thus equipped, Bashir was able to devise a treatment. It didn't erase the memories completely, but it severely blurred them, so Miles remembered them the way he would a three-day tequila bender. That is why he was able to go back to his life with his sanity intact. As for the Agrathi, they didn't learn from this; they made the mistake of doing one of their "corrections" on a visiting Klingon. This proved unwise, as the Empire was less tolerant of having its citizens abused, and most of the corrections personnel wound up impaled on bat'leths.

[@NaterTot]

I love this idea.

[@kevinlawson1746]

What was wild it was all in the span of like 20 minutes, but to miles it was like 20 years.

[@trustin.p9504]

I am really enjoying these reviews.👍🖖

[@NaterTot]

We enjoy making them! :)

[@robertcringle4865]

One of the best DS9 episodes, great performances all around. Obrien must suffer rule in full effect.

[@lexwritesthings]

O'Brien had some serious trauma. Such a good episode.

[@NaterTot]

He really did. Wonderful episode that deserves more recognition

[@adamkuch9377]

Something occurs to me about this episode. Wouldn't a citizen of this planet know about the nature of their punishment? And that knowledge would change their experience? I'm sure it would still be traumatic, but having that knowledge means no fear of physical harm, and understanding that while hunger would be a real feeling, starvation would be impossible. One explanation is that they could tailor the experience in a way that still works as a deterent. But it's clear in the episode Miles thought the whole thing was real. I imagine this being worse because he thinks his wife and child are living years without him, and he's hoping for a rescue that will never come.

[@RobinTimDrake]

Jake retaught O'Brian because O'Brian taught him everything when Jake was given an engineering job in the earlier seasons.

[@MousePounder]

11001001 is my episode suggestion

[@MousePounder]

Easy A or 9.0 of an episode. Really let Colm stretch his acting legs

[@NaterTot]

Yep. He went all out!

[@MousePounder]

Would have been lifelong PTSD...would have had an early retirement

[@NaterTot]

I honestly believe he would have probably had forced retirement. No way around it. I mean he wasn’t just in prison, but tortured, starved, etc. he was back at work like the next day

[@RickWolfff]

All this time I assumed Eechar was played by Leland Orser.

[@NaterTot]

Honestly, looks a lot like him!