Kira and O'Brien

[Six of Twelve]

I just watched Looking For ParMach In All The Wrong Places, where Kira and O'Brien have to fight their attraction for each other while the oblivious Keiko kept pushing them together.

I realized that Kira had much better chemistry with him than did Keiko. The interactions between Miles and Keiko were always so wooden, while he and Kira seemed more natural. He and Kira would have been a much more believable couple.

Anyone agree?

 

[2takesfrakes]

Miles & Keiko have no chemistry, they never did. It's almost like they're uncomfortable around eachother, so they act very formally. Even when they're in close quarters and trying to be intimate, it seems very awkward for them. Strangely, this can even happen to Real Life couples acting together. HOW? I don't really know ... it's very strange. Maybe it's a technique thing, or ... maybe the writing has to be catered to the actors, instead of the characters they're playing? It's hard to tell what's wrong. But you're not mistaken ... the chemistry just isn't there and instead of working on it, obviously, DS9 had Miles hanging out with Julian, instead.

 

[Kronos]

Writers should have killed her off, would have been better then the awkwardness they always had on screen.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Chemistry? There were many moments when they felt like a married couple and, indeed, a family. Unfortunately, those moments tended to be when the station faced a crisis and the family was going off in different directions. The evacuation during the Siege was particularly touching, showing where they agree and where they care for one another.

 

[TheSubCommander]

I always found Keiko overly emotional and annoying, and felt most episodes with her in it could be summed up as her throwing a temper tantrum to get her way until poor, hen-pecked O'brien realizes he's "wrong" about this or that, and begs her forgiveness. I agree they had zero chemistry together.

That said, a Kira/Obrien relationship would have just been creepy.

 

[Six of Twelve]

I never said that Keiko should have been a doormat Stepford wife, just that she and Miles were ill suited.

I always thought it would have been a hoot if he'd gotten together with that Cardassian scientist who hit on him, considering his history with them.

 

[dub]

It felt like a strange pairing to me.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I have never understood the Keiko-hate, I've always quite liked her, and found the O'Brien's marriage to be a fairly consistent and believable one.

Kira and Miles got on well together and had a good bit of back-and-forth that I wish we'd seen more of--especially since they are the grizzled combat veterans of the crew. Their flirt with romance was also understandable, given the circumstances, but I don't see it really going anywhere.

 

[kkt]

I don't understand the Keiko dislike either. The chemistry is not that of newlyweds who are still all over each other. Their chemistry is that of a married couple who accept that some aspects of their partner aren't made to order but are still happy nevertheless. Perhaps people would've liked her character more if she were in more episodes and got to do more.

 

[TheSubCommander]

The chemistry seems to me of people who just should never got married in the first place.

I don't HATE Keiko, but don't care for the character. Like I said earlier it just seems every time I saw an episode with Keiko in it, she's arguing or fighting with Obrien, including the TNG episode they get freaking married in, at some point. I never really saw much acceptance coming from Keiko, and it always seemed Obrien trying to appease her. She seemed like the type of person that would pout or lock herself in the bathroom until she got her way. You are free to disagree, but I always found her an unnecessary and annoying character.

 

[jaime]

Keiko and Kira are not dissimilar in the first place. So it worked.

Don't forget that Miles and Keiko have gone through the gauntlet of starfleet weird shit and are still together.
That one scene is Rascals, daft though it is, really showed the emotion and strength of their relationship....granted, it didn't have Rosalind Chao doing the acting, but that must have been a really weird moment to get over.
Then they have both got over multiple possessions by alien intelligence, gone through two pregnancies together......

Miles and Keiko are, along with Tom and Bells, the most realistic and best portrayed couples in Trek. Whilst trying to avoid being condescending, I actually think I only appreciated that after being married and having children. My viewpoint characters were different when I was younger, and Miles was basically boring to me.

Miles clearly likes dark haired, strong women, with a leaning to the exotic from his point of view. Though maybe he is exotic from theirs....see the Cardassians.
He does pretty well for a tubby guy with curly thinning hair. Go miles,

 

[bajorangirl]

I always liked Miles and Keiko's relationship I always thought they had a deep connection and represented what society would call a "normal" family/marital life (yes I know not all families and marriages are like this). Some scenes between them were very touching. In especially liked them in Times Orphan.

 

[OldManDoom]

Writers should have killed her off, would have been better then the awkwardness they always had on screen.

I can't remember the episode, but there was one when she was possessed by a pah-wraith. They should have killed her off in that episode.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Haha! No!!! No killing off Keiko. don't do it. The actors playing her and Miles had no chemistry, which is only true and very full of proof. And it's also true that Keiko bitched at Miles often ... sometimes quite publically to his - and my - chagrin. But Keiko was very pretty, indeed. I would've never believed O'Brien capable of dating outside his league, he was such a working stiff. But he did.

And Keiko could be sweet with him and she liked pretending she was jealous over him, sometimes, which was cute. And she gave him his babies, so that elevates her status, considerably. I was never interested in seeing her killed off, or her husband leaving her for another. Their character problems and chemistry problems just needed some doing, that's all. That's where a good director could've made the most difference. Someone who could get these two together and really act, with some good material to act with. The staff working on DS9 just didn't want to put in the effort. Good for them. Bad for us ...

 

[TheSubCommander]

I concede it could have been that there was writing and directing that was lacking, that caused Chao and Meany not to have very good onscreen chemistry. Rosalind Chao is attractive and all, and I don't dislike her, I just dislike the Keiko character.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Keiko just wanted Miles to challenge her, that's all. She needed her husband to wear the trousers, from time to time - at the very least - but all he wanted was just to keep the peace. He didn't want to have any problems, or anything like that. Everyone should just get along, voluntarily ... without need for confrontations, testing of boundaries, or shows of strength. But, no. Keiko found out early on that she could henpeck O'Brien and became quite adept at it, unfortunately.

By the same token, she wanted him to show her that he was, indeed, all Man. That's all she wanted - you know? She needed his strength - so very badly - and he'd just kowtow, or whatever, to shut her up. O'Brien probably thought that his caving in actually kept her from acting up, even worse.

He compounded this miscalculation by getting her pregnant a couple of times in the hopes of it giving her something else to occupy her and take some of the pressure off of him. He'd rather do anything else, than confront his own woman. Honestly, I believe it was because he knew he'd never get anyone that good-looking, again. So, he'd endure any hardship, just to keep it working ... and did.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Keiko just wanted Miles to challenge her, that's all. She needed her husband to wear the trousers, from time to time - at the very least - but all he wanted was just to keep the peace. He didn't want to have any problems, or anything like that. Everyone should just get along, voluntarily ... without need for confrontations, testing of boundaries, or shows of strength. But, no. Keiko found out early on that she could henpeck O'Brien and became quite adept at it, unfortunately.

By the same token, she wanted him to show her that he was, indeed, all Man. That's all she wanted - you know? She needed his strength - so very badly - and he'd just kowtow, or whatever, to shut her up. O'Brien probably thought that his caving in actually kept her from acting up, even worse.

He compounded this miscalculation by getting her pregnant a couple of times in the hopes of it giving her something else to occupy her and take some of the pressure off of him. He'd rather do anything else, than confront his own woman. Honestly, I believe it was because he knew he'd never get anyone that good-looking, again. So, he'd endure any hardship, just to keep it working ... and did.

This is bordering on misogyny.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Supporting actors don't always throw themselves into their scenes with gusto, but Miles & Keiko have very short scenes that seem to drag, at times. Watching someone getting nagged at isn't entertaining, unless there's a payoff, there. But there wasn't. It was just marital spats peppered with television tropes about Family Values. It would be an interesting exercise to take an episode that could really benefit from it and edit the Miles & Keiko sequences so that the pacing of them is faster. Maybe even using ADR, since the actors are still with us, rewriting their dialogue, so that it's more fresh and add a bit more interest.

 

[TheSeeker]

Keiko just wanted Miles to challenge her, that's all. She needed her husband to wear the trousers, from time to time - at the very least - but all he wanted was just to keep the peace. He didn't want to have any problems, or anything like that. Everyone should just get along, voluntarily ... without need for confrontations, testing of boundaries, or shows of strength. But, no. Keiko found out early on that she could henpeck O'Brien and became quite adept at it, unfortunately.

By the same token, she wanted him to show her that he was, indeed, all Man. That's all she wanted - you know? She needed his strength - so very badly - and he'd just kowtow, or whatever, to shut her up. O'Brien probably thought that his caving in actually kept her from acting up, even worse.

He compounded this miscalculation by getting her pregnant a couple of times in the hopes of it giving her something else to occupy her and take some of the pressure off of him. He'd rather do anything else, than confront his own woman. Honestly, I believe it was because he knew he'd never get anyone that good-looking, again. So, he'd endure any hardship, just to keep it working ... and did.

This is bordering on misogyny.

I'd say it's a lot more than just bordering. Let's knock off the 1950s gender stereotypes. Thanks.

 

[e3jeremey]

I hate to be part of the chorus here but I myself was never a fan of Keiko either. I always felt like she was overbearing and under appreciative of Miles far too often. I personally feel he would have been much better off with someone else.