I just watched "The Visitor" for the first time in several years, While it's always been one of DS9's best, this time it floored me extra hard, and I just figured out why. This time, I watched it as a father myself, and I watched it from Ben's perspective as a dad seeing his progeny effectively destroy himself in the space of a few minutes, and not a son's lifelong journey to save his father.
If you look at Ben's journey in the story, he gets zapped, then in an extremely condensed time sees his son go from the beginning of his life to throwing it away in order to save him. In '95, I was Jake's age and truly sympathized with his obsession of saving a family member. I wasn't as close with my own dad but I could believe that should it come down to it, I'd wand to go to heroic lengths to save him. Now, at (nearly?) Ben's age and with a daughter of my own, I experienced the tragedy of seeing a life full of potential cast aside to save a parent. Not that I wouldn't WANT to be saved, but I sure woulnd't want to be saved at the expense of my own offspring's happiness. If Jake had succeeded in his attempt to save Ben on the future Defiant, I'd question how proud Ben would have been of him knowing what Jake had sacrificed, and knowing how awkward their life would have to be as a result. He's also seeing just how reliant Jake was on his presence, even after decades away, and how
Either way, both perspectives came to a head with Jake declaring that he was killing himself, not JUST to save his father, but also to save himself from a lifetime of obsession that he wouldn't wish on either of them. This satisfied each Sisko's desires for the other and even if Jake had failed, I'd have been satisfied anyway. Damn fine story from any perspective.
I'd love to see a ten minute cut of this episode someday, which trims all of Jake's story and shows us ONLY what Ben saw. Tony Todd and Avery Brooks (and also Cirroc Lofton! Man, can he CRY!) were so good here that even just those parts would be so powerful - perhaps even more so if we Jake's life disintegrate in fast forward.
Mark
[Edit - it first aired in 1995. My bad!]
If you look at Ben's journey in the story, he gets zapped, then in an extremely condensed time sees his son go from the beginning of his life to throwing it away in order to save him. In '95, I was Jake's age and truly sympathized with his obsession of saving a family member. I wasn't as close with my own dad but I could believe that should it come down to it, I'd wand to go to heroic lengths to save him. Now, at (nearly?) Ben's age and with a daughter of my own, I experienced the tragedy of seeing a life full of potential cast aside to save a parent. Not that I wouldn't WANT to be saved, but I sure woulnd't want to be saved at the expense of my own offspring's happiness. If Jake had succeeded in his attempt to save Ben on the future Defiant, I'd question how proud Ben would have been of him knowing what Jake had sacrificed, and knowing how awkward their life would have to be as a result. He's also seeing just how reliant Jake was on his presence, even after decades away, and how
Either way, both perspectives came to a head with Jake declaring that he was killing himself, not JUST to save his father, but also to save himself from a lifetime of obsession that he wouldn't wish on either of them. This satisfied each Sisko's desires for the other and even if Jake had failed, I'd have been satisfied anyway. Damn fine story from any perspective.
I'd love to see a ten minute cut of this episode someday, which trims all of Jake's story and shows us ONLY what Ben saw. Tony Todd and Avery Brooks (and also Cirroc Lofton! Man, can he CRY!) were so good here that even just those parts would be so powerful - perhaps even more so if we Jake's life disintegrate in fast forward.
Mark
[Edit - it first aired in 1995. My bad!]
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