History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E05TheAssignment

The entity wants to keep up appearances with the rest of the crew, so she forces O'Brien to attend the birthday party that Keiko had planned before leaving. The entity plays Keiko's role perfectly, while O'Brien is tense. Jake asks Keiko if she saw any pah-wraiths in the Fire Caves of Bajor, and the entity dismisses them as legends. After accidentally breaking a glass in his fist, O'Brien catches the entity alone and reveals that he's finished her assignments. But the entity replies that those were just a test, and the ''real'' work will now commence. In the morning, she gives him a datapad with his new assignment.

O'Brien scrambles the brig's sensors to meet with Rom, who asks the chief why he wants to use a chronitron blast to kill the Prophets in the wormhole, since that's the only explanation for the changes he's requested. Thunderstruck, O'Brien wonders who would want to kill the Prophets and mentions the pah-wraiths. Rom, who has been educated on Bajoran legends by Leeta, explains that the pah-wraiths were cast out from the Celestial Temple by the Prophets. Now with the full story, O'Brien figures out a course of action. When Odo confronts him, having figured out that he's the real saboteur, O'Brien simply decks him.

O'Brien meets with Keiko on a runabout and heads for the wormhole. On the cusp of victory, the pah-wraith rejoices at its impending revenge, but O'Brien targets the chronitron blast on the runabout, killing the pah-wraith inside of Keiko. She collapses but quickly revives in O'Brien's arms, herself again. After returning to the station and explaining what happened, the couple are finally able to return to their quarters, and Keiko thanks O'Brien for fighting so hard for her. Meanwhile, Rom arrives at Quark's for breakfast, happy to be promoted to the Day Shift for his efforts.

* AndIMustScream: At the end of the episode, Keiko confides that she was awake and aware the whole time, but unable to do anything to stop the Pah Wraith from controlling her body. While she was terrified of the experience, she does tell Miles, "I don't ever want to forget how hard you fought for me."

* DealWithTheDevil: The Pah-Wraith forces O'Brien into this--saying he'll get Keiko back if he performs a series of tasks.

* DidntSeeThatComing: The Pah-Wraith possessing Keiko goes to meet O'Brien in the runabout to go to the wormhole, even though O'Brien has figured out what it is and what it wants. It doesn't pick up that this means O'Brien has figured out how to outsmart it.
* TheDogBitesBack: After everything the Pah-Wraith puts him through in this episode, O'Brien gets the last laugh by destroying it with the very weapon it sought to kill the Prophets with.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Later episodes would show that those possessed by the Pah-Wraiths get RedEyesTakeWarning. Of course, this Pah-Wraith may have suppressed that in order to blend in. The Pah-Wraith in this episode is also FauxAffablyEvil and very coldly calculating, whereas subsequent episodes show that the Pah-Wraiths are {{Large Ham}}s and AlwaysChaoticEvil.
* EurekaMoment: When Rom reveals to O'Brien that the system modifications they're doing is to turn the station into a chroniton array to fire at the wormhole, that such a beam would likely be lethal to the Prophets, and some relevant Bajoran lore, O'Brien is quickly able to piece together that the entity controlling Keiko is a Pah-Wraith who wants to destroy the Prophets, as well as a [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] to his dilemma.
* ExactWords: O'Brien lets the Pah-Wraith know that he knows what it's up to, but he doesn't care about the conflict between the Prophets and Pah-Wraiths; he just wants his wife back. The Pah-Wraith thinks this means that he's done as the Pah-Wraith asked. Instead, the chroniton array O'Brien has just finished targets the runabout instead of the wormhole, driving out the Pah-Wraith possessing Keiko--getting Miles his wife back in the process.
* FauxAffablyEvil: The Pah-Wraith is remarkably cheerful and casual for an EldritchAbomination, and pours on the charm for O'Brien, but it never hesitates to remind him that bad things will happen if he doesn't behave. Keiko also believes it wouldn't have spared either of them if it succeeded.
* AGlassInTheHand: O'Brien is compelled to act normally at a party. The stress becomes too much for him when the pah-wraith shows mock-affection for his daughter, and he shatters his whiskey glass.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The Pah-Wraith controlling Keiko has O'Brien reconfigure the station to fire a chroniton beam at the wormhole, which will destroy the Prophets. However, since O'Brien has learned a quick bit of Bajoran mythology from Rom, he knows that the same beam is also lethal to the Pah-Wraith itself, and fires the beam at their runabout instead, destroying it.
* IHaveYourWife: This "O'Brien Must Suffer" episode has a twist -- instead of directly targeting the Chief, the Pah-Wraith takes control of Keiko. For a family man like O'Brien, that's far worse.

* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: The first appearance of the Pah-Wraiths, who go on to be a lot more than just another MonsterOfTheWeek.

* LeaveNoWitnesses: Keiko is sure that the pah-wraith planned on killing both her and O'Brien once its mission was achieved in spite of its promises to the contrary.
* NotHerself: Keiko casually gobbles down chocolates and brushes off O'Brien's concerns about her dead bonsai trees upon being reunited with her husband, signaling to the audience, if not her husband, that there's something off about her. However, the Pah-Wraith is perfectly capable of doing a spot-on impression of Keiko when necessary.
* OutGambitted: The Pah-Wraith, once Rom helps O'Brien figure out what's going on.

* SadisticChoice: O'Brien spends the episode struggling with this: help a dangerous alien (whose goal is revealed to be to kill the Prophets) or lose his beloved wife. Fortunately, he finds a way to TakeAThirdOption -- make the chroniton beam as instructed, but [[HoistByHisOwnPetard turn it on the Pah-Wraith]].
* ScottyTime: O'Brien says he can finish the work in thirty six hours. The Wraith gives him thirteen. He succeeds with Rom's help. A {{Justified|Trope}} example, as not only does O'Brien have every reason to be trying to stall as much as possible, but even taking his highballing into account, having Rom on his side would double his productivity.

* SmarterThanYouLook: Rom begins to show his true talents, now that he decided to stop trying to be a "good Ferengi", caring about nothing but profit. Rom finishes his tasks long before his shift is over, so he approaches O'Brien for more to do; O'Brien puts him to work on some modifications to the station's deflector array that the Pah-Wraith gave him. Rom instantly puts it together saying "Why are we trying to kill the wormhole aliens?"

* WouldHurtAChild: The Pah-Wraith warns O'Brien to behave by "accidentally" pulling on Molly's hair.

** Jadzia's habit to study some spacial phenomena when she can't sleep led her to find the entire array has been put out of place, nearly exposing the full extent of the possessed Keiko's plan.

* EurekaMoment: When Rom reveals to O'Brien that the system modifications they're doing is to turn the station into a chroniton array to fire at the wormhole, O'Brien is quickly able to piece together that the entity controlling Keiko is a Pah-Wraith who wants to destroy the Prophets.

* SmarterThanYouLook: Rom begins to show his true talents, now that he decided to stop trying to be a "good Ferengi", caring about nothing but profit. Rom finishes his tasks long before his shift is over, so he approaches O'Brien for more to do; O'Brien puts him to work on some modifications to the station's deflector array that the Pah Wraith gave him. Rom instantly puts it together saying "Why are we trying to kill the wormhole aliens?"

* NotHerself: Keiko casually gobbles down chocolates and brushes off O'Brien's concerns about her dead bonsai trees upon being reunited with her husband, signaling to the audience, if not her husband, that there's something off about her. However, the pah-wraith is perfectly capable of doing a spot-on impression of Keiko when necessary.

* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: The first appearance of the Pah Wraiths, who go on to be a lot more than just another MonsterOfTheWeek.

* SpannerInTheWorks: Jadzia's habit to study some spacial phenomena when she can't sleep led her to find the entire array has been put out of place, nearly exposing the full extent of the possessed Keiko's plan.

* ScottyTime: O'Brien says he can finish the work in thirty six hours. The Wraith gives him thirteen. He succeeds with Rom's help.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Later episodes would show that those possessed by the Pah-Wraiths get RedEyesTakeWarning. Of course, this Pah-Wraith may have suppressed that in order to blend in. The Pah-Wraith in this episode is also FauxAffablyEvil and very coldly calculating, whereas subsequent episodes show that the Pah-Wraiths are LargeHam AlwaysChaoticEvil.

* SpannerInTheWorks: Jadzia's habit to study some spacial phenomena when she cannot sleep led her to find the entire array has been put out of place, nearly exposing the full extent of the possessed Keiko's plan.

* TheTell: As his wife, Keiko has noticed that her husband has a small facial cue when he is about to ask a question. As the Pah-wraith possessing her has all her knowledge, it notices too.

* UndyingLoyalty: Rom to O'Brien, even when O'Brien admits he's not actually doing a top-secret project for Starfleet. O'Brien repays him for it in the end.

* AlienLunch: Inverted. Rom refuses a bowl of grubs for classic European-style Earth breakfasts, trying to emulate his fellow workers. Quark finds it revolting.

* IHaveYourWife: The Pah-Wraith controlling Keiko.

* ForgottenPhlebotinum: A {{Technobabble}} particle that kills Pah-Wraiths dead sure would be handy in a number of subsequent episodes! The problem is [[HandWave handwaved]] in [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E21TheReckoning the next Pah-Wraith episode]] with the clarification that chronitons only drive away Prophets and Pah-Wraiths, not kill them.

* AdultFear: The whole episode is this for resident ButtMonkey Miles O'Brien. Especially when Possessed!Keiko is alone with Molly.

O'Brien has accidentally killed Keiko's bonsai trees while she's been away on a five-day trip to Bajor. When he meets with Keiko, she's casually chomping on chocolates and brushes off his concerns. Then she tells him that she's not actually Keiko but an incorporeal entity inhabiting Keiko's body and holding her hostage. If O'Brien doesn't do exactly as she says, she'll kill Keiko. To prove her point, she stops Keiko's heart for a moment before reviving herself. Shocked, O'Brien agrees to do whatever she says as long as it doesn't put the station or residents at risk.

The entity wants to keep up appearance with the rest of the crew, so she forces O'Brien to attend the birthday party that Keiko had planned before leaving. The entity plays Keiko's role perfectly, while O'Brien is tense. Jake asks Keiko if she saw an pah-wraiths in the Fire Caves of Bajor, and the entity dismisses them as legends. After breaking a glass accidentally, O'Brien catches the entity alone and reveals that he's finished her assignments. But the entity replies that those were just a test, and the ''real'' work will commence. In the morning, she gives him a datapad with his new assignment.

O'Brien has been running possible solutions in his head throughout his predicament but cannot come up with anything. He spots Sisko and starts marching toward him, but gets stopped when Keiko calls his name and hurls herself off the second floor of the promenade, causing O'Brien to rush to her side. In Sick Bay, the entity says it could tell that O'Brien was about to confess. It threatens both Keiko and Molly should O'Brien show any more resistance.

O'Brien folds and makes the changes required by the entity. Along the way, Rom bumps into him requesting more work, and O'Brien enlists his help in his assignment, telling the Ferengi that the changes are part of a secret mission and that even the highest station officers will pretend not to know about it. Rom agrees to keep the secret. But thing go awry when Dax notices the changes that O'Brien has been making and realizes that a saboteur is involved. The whole command staff recruit O'Brien into finding out the identity of the saboteur, and O'Brien reluctantly accuses Rom, whos' promptly thrown in the brig.

O'Brien scrambles the brig's sensors for a meeting, and Rom confronts the chief on the only explanation for the changes he's making: to use a chronitron blast to kill the Prophets in the wormhole. Thunderstruck, O'Brien wonders who would want to kill the Prophets and mentions the pah-wraiths. Rom, who has been educated on Bajoran legends by Leeta, explains that the pah-wraiths were cast out from the Celestial Temple by the Prophets. Now with the full story, O'Brien figures out a course of action. When Odo confronts him, having figured out that he's the real saboteur, O'Brien simply decks him.

* AGlassInTheHand: O'Brien is compelled to act normally at a party. The stress becomes too much for him when Possessed!Keiko shows mock-affection for his daughter, and he shatters his whiskey glass.
* AlienLunch: Or rather, breakfast for Rom. Eager to be accepted by the engineering crews, he tries emulating them to their meal choices. First he picks Chief O'Brien but later finds out bacon disagrees with him. He later picks another crewman to copy and orders pancakes. Since Ferengi primarily eat bugs and grubs, these are very unusual menu choices.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Later episodes would show that those possessed by the Pah-Wraiths get RedEyesTakeWarning. Of course, this Pah-Wraith may have suppressed that in order to blend in. And as mentioned below, the Pah-Wraith in this episode acts more like a FauxAffablyEvil PunchClockVillain, and not actively malicious, whereas subsequent episodes show that the Pah-Wraiths are LargeHam AlwaysChaoticEvil.

* NotHerself: Defied. The Pah-Wraith plays the part of Keiko so well that no one notices anything is wrong. Even O'Brien doesn't notice until the Pah-Wraith reveals itself. About the only tell is that the Wraith isn't upset that O'Brien and Bashir killed Keiko's plants, and O'Brien initially just chalks that up to luck on his part.

* PunchClockVillain: The Pah-Wraith never acts especially evil, coming off more like someone who simply has a job to do.

** Rom's knowledge of Bajoran religion and folklore, which he acquired from his regular conversations with Leeta, leads to Miles realizing what the Pah Wraith is up to as well (and as a result, what the Pah Wraith is and how he can destroy it). To a lesser extent, Rom approaching O'Brien during the latter's "assignment", which causes O'Brien to enlist Rom's help.

Another "[[RunningGag O'Brien Must Suffer]]" episode dealt with in a unique fashion. Keiko returns from Bajor possessed by a dangerous and malicious entity. And O'Brien is stuck fighting the clock to make sure he can get it out of his wife without killing her. This marks the first appearance of the Pah-Wraiths.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Jake says that he'd like to see a Pah-Wraith.
** Rom tells Miles that he and Leeta had become friends and she liked to tell him stories of Bajoran folklore. These two would later become a BetaCouple on the show.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Defied. The Pah-Wraith plays the part of Keiko so well that no one notices anything is wrong. Even O'Brien doesn't notice until the Pah-Wraith reveals itself. About the only tell is that the Wraith isn't upset that O'Brien and Bashir killed Keiko's plants, and O'Brien initially just chalks that up to luck on his part.

Another "[[RunningGag O'Brien Must Suffer]]" episode dealt with in a unique fashion. Keiko returns from Bajor possessed by a dangerous and malicious entity. And O'Brien is stuck fighting the clock to make sure he can get it out of his wife without killing her. This marks the first appearances of the Pah-Wraiths.

* TheTell: As his wife, Keiko has noticed that her husband has a small facial cue when he is about to ask a question. As the Pah-wraith possesses her has all her knowledge, it notices too.

Another "O'Brien must suffer" episode dealt with in a unique fashion. Keiko returns from Bajor possessed by a dangerous and malicious entity. And O'Brien is stuck fighting the clock to make sure he can get it out of his wife without killing her. This marks the first appearances of the Pah-Wraiths.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Later episodes would show that those possessed by the Pah-Wraiths get RedEyesTakeWarning. Of course, this Pah-Wraith may have suppressed that in order to blend in. And as mentioned below, the Pah-Wraith in this episode acts more like a PunchClockVillain, and not actively malicious, whereas subsequent episodes show that the Pah-Wraiths are AlwaysChaoticEvil.

* FauxAffablyEvil: The Pah-Wraith pours on the charm for O'Brien, but it never hesitates to remind him that bad things will happen if he doesn't behave. Keiko also believes it wouldn't have spared either of them if it succeeded.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Defied. The Pah-Wraith plays the part of Keiko so well that no one notices anything is wrong. Even O'Brien doesn't notice until the Pah-Wraith reveals itself.

** Rom's knowledge of Bajoran religion and folklore, which he acquired from his regular conversations with Leeta, leads to Miles realizing what the Pah Wraith is up to as well. To a lesser extent, Rom approaching O'Brien during the latter's "assignment", which causes O'Brien to enlist Rom's help.

* AndIMustScream: At the end of the episode, Keiko confides that she was awake and aware the whole time, but unable to do anything to stop the Pah Wraith from controlling her body. While she was terrified of the experience, she does tell Miles, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming "I don't ever want to forget how hard you fought for me."]]

* SadisticChoice: O'Brien spends the episode struggling with this: help a dangerous alien (whose goal is revealed to be to kill the Prophets) or lose his beloved wife.