When watching Star Trek: The Next Generation as a kid, I would check the opening credits at very season premiere to see if Colm Meaney was credited as a series regular yet. He’d been appearing on the show as a recurring guest star since the very first episode (although I don’t think he got a name until Season 2). He even had major plotlines in several episodes, and just generally always seemed to be around, dependably working the transporter controls.
When it was announced that the Chief would join the new spin-off Deep Space Nine as a main character, it felt just right. Finally, he was getting the status he deserved! He’d get more stories and more development, not to mention that a married character with a spouse and kids would be part of the lead lineup of a Star Trek cast for the first time.
Little did we or Colm Meaney know that there was a whole universe of hurt waiting for O’Brien at the mouth of the wormhole. His problems only began with the constant head-butting with his wife, and the pestering from a certain young punk of a doctor. O’Brien, due to his regular-guy personality, was subjected to annual “O’Brien Must Suffer” episodes, in which the writers put him through the physical and emotional wringer to see how he’d hold up.
Remarkably well, as it turns out. With nearly 12 years of material to cover, O’Brien’s MBTI profile is fittingly longer than most. There are plenty of episodes, and suffering, to catch up on.
Endure, if you dare, the Trials and Tribulations of Miles O’Brien.
Best Chief O’Brien Episodes
“The Wounded” (TNG, season 4)
Here’s an early example of O’Brien getting his own A-story on a show where he’s supposed to be just a recurring guest star. This also sets up his history and animosity towards the Cardassians, and his career trajectory from tactical to engineering to transporter ops.
“Captive Pursuit” (DS9, season 1)
Not a torture episode, but a nice story where O’Brien’s just a decent fellow to a stranger in need. He gets to be clever, quick, and stubborn in rescuing his new alien friend from the Hunters.
“Whispers” (season 2)
This is the first official O’Brien Must Suffer episode, and that’s a bit ironic considering where it ends up. The plot is twisty and mysterious and dangles all kinds of possible solutions to O’Brien’s quandary before arriving at a gut-punch of an ending.
(It’s not a great episode, but Season 2’s “Armageddon Game” infects O’Brien with a deadly toxin and takes the first real steps in the Bashir-O’Brien friendship, if you want to check it out.)
“Tribunal” (season 2)
O’Brien truly gets tortured, in Picard-in-Chain-of-Command-style, when he’s captured by Cardassians and put on trial for terrorism. The sentence is already determined before the trial begins, which sets Odo and the others a tough task to free the Chief.
“Visionary” (season 3)
This is just a great, off-the-wall, time-gone-bonkers story that could easily have taken place on TNG. Since it stars a former TNG character, this works great, as O’Brien hops back and forth through time trying to prevent his own death and the destruction of the station.
“Hard Time” (season 4)
Probably the darkest and hardest to watch of any O’Brien episode (maybe any DS9 episode, period), this trial finally almost gets the stalwart Chief to crack. He’s again accused of a crime he didn’t commit, but before anyone can stop it, he’s implanted with 20 years of memories of being imprisoned. The implications of this premise will haunt you long after the episode is over.
“The Assignment” (season 5)
Rosalind Chao gives her greatest Star Trek performance while playing a Pah-wraith who’s inhabited Keiko. Creepy and tense, this story really sticks the screws to O’Brien as he must follow not-Keiko’s orders or lose his wife.
“Empok Nor” (season 5)
This classic haunted house tale finds O’Brien matching wits with the suddenly murderous Garak, who’s gone ‘round the bend thanks to exposure to a vicious drug. They play cat-and-mouse around an abandoned space station that fortunately looks just like DS9 with the lights turned off.
“One Little Ship” (season 6)
O’Brien doesn’t suffer, at least not alone, in this charmingly campy story in which some of the crew are shrunk down and have to save the rest of the crew when Jem’Hadar invade. Only DS9 could get this story to work, and the sight of an exhausted O’Brien and Bashir hauling around giant models of computer chips never fails to make me chuckle.
The actual O’Brien Must Suffer entries from Season 6 are dreadfully dull, so you’re welcome to skip them. Since there’s a war going on in Season 7, everyone’s pretty much suffering, and O’Brien doesn’t get a singular focus. But he does put it all on the line to help his friend Julian in “Extreme Measures,” so catch that one if you’d like to see the conclusion to their arc.
Heroes & Villains of MBTI 