History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E15Paradise

** In her justifying speech to the colony at the end, she claims that they should all be grateful she did this, as it allowed them all to "realize their true potential" instead of wasting away their lives in menial, dead-end positions. She did this by essentially kidnapping them and forcing them to perform endless agricultural labor on a backwater planet without technology and with the risk of fatal diseases and accidents. While she's right about how the experience "redefined" them, it's only in her view that it was for the better.

* BittersweetEnding: Alixus and Vinod are taken to face justice for what they've done, Sisko and O'Brien are rescued, and the colonists are freed from Alixus' control. However, she still claims a moral victory in that they still feel tied to their community and choose to stay on the planet, though they are now aware they can re-establish contact with the Federation if they choose so.

* TheBadGuyWins: While Alixus and her son are exposed and taken prisoner to answer for what they've done, the colonists still agree with her philosophy and the results it achieved, and choose to stay on the planet and continue to live there without technology. She's no KarmaHoudini, but Alixus won in the end.

* AntiVillain: It's pretty easy to dislike Alixus, but her whole motivation is trying to [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans create a utopia]], and she's ultimately vindicated in the end when none of her followers choose to leave the society she created even after learning about her lies.

* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: ''Nobody'' is going to interfere with Alixus SpaceAmish dictatorship. Even if it means dying from an easily curable illness. When Sisko directly asks if she would still believe this if it had been her own son who was fatally ill, Alixus replies "yes."

* TheBadGuyWins: While Alixus and her son are exposed and taken prisoner to answer for what they've done, the colonists still agree with her philosophy and the results it achieve, and choose to stay on the planet and continue to live there without technology. She's no KarmaHoudini, but Alixus won in the end.

* LuddWasRight: The colonists become convinced that Alixus's old fashioned lifestyle really is the best way to live.

* VillainBall: Alixus is dead-set on not allowing Sisko and O'Brien to leave the colony, even though it's obvious they have no intent of staying and she gains nothing from keeping them there. Her repeated efforts to try and keep them there also ensure that even if they eventually gave up hope of escape, they would never trust her or submit to her and would probably cause trouble of some sort otherwise, so her insistence on them staying is downright self-sabotaging.
** Alixus also keeps O'Brien and Sisko from wandering far from the camp, since O'Brien was able to find the field generator using a simply compass, made from a bowl of water and a magnetic silver of rock.

Sisko and O'Brien are given jobs, which seem to take precedence over any effort they might make to facilitate an escape. It soon becomes apparent that Alixus is ruling the colony with an iron grip -- anyone who breaks any laws is placed inside a punishment box to go without food or water. They also learn that Alixus had luddite views long before winding up on a planet that required a luddite lifestyle. As time goes on, Alixus makes increasingly blunt assertions that escape from the planet is impossible, so the two newcomers will have to settle in as permanent members of the community.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Sisko and O'Brien put less than five minutes into trying to persuade the community members to come with them -- that's in contrast to the ''ten years'' of brainwashing they've received from Alixus. But the officers' haste is understandable; at that point, they just want to get the hell off that planet.

* AbsenteeActor: Only half the main cast appear in this episode. Bashir, Odo, Quark and Jake are all missing.

Sisko and O'Brien have no desire to live the rest of their lives as medieval farmers. They refuse to change out of their uniforms, and Sisko orders O'Brien to study the duonetic field so they can return to their ship. When a colonists gets deathly ill, Sisko campaigns for him and O'Brien to try to reach the medical kit in the runabout, but Alixus thinks that it would be a waste of time and focus, saying they should instead search the wilderness for new herbs. The patient ultimately dies.

Sisko and O'Brien are not in a hurry to live the rest of their lives as medieval farmers. They refuse to change out of their uniforms, and Sisko orders O'Brien to study the duonetic field so they can return to their ship. When a colonists gets deathly ill, Sisko campaigns for him and O'Brien to try to reach the medical kit in the runabout, but Alixus thinks that it would be a waste of time and focus, saying they should instead search the wilderness for new herbs. The patient ultimately dies.

Sisko and O'Brien are given jobs, which seem to take precedence over any effort they might make to facilitate an escape. It soon becomes apparent that Alixus is ruling the colony with an iron grip -- anyone who breaks any laws is placed inside a punishment box to go without food or water. They also learn that Alixus had luddite views long before winding up on a planet that required a luddite lifestyle. As time goes on, Alixus makes increasingly blunt assertions that escape from the planet is impossible, and the two newcomers will have to settle in as permanent members of the community.

Sisko and O'Brien are not in a hurry to live the rest of their lives as medieval farmers. They refuse to change out of their uniforms, and Sisko orders O'Brien to study the duonetic field. When a colonists gets deathly ill, Sisko campaigns that he and O'Brien try to reach the medical kit in the runabout, but Alixus thinks that it would be a waste of time and focus, saying they should instead search the wilderness for new herbs.

Things come to a head when O'Brien gets caught researching the duonetic field, and Alixus announces that he's committed the colony's greatest offense: wasting energy on a pointless pursuit. She punishes Sisko as his commanding officer to sit in the punishment box. After a long stay, Alixus releases him temporarily, offering him water and rest if he'll discard his uniform and commit to staying in the colony. Without a word, Sisko staggers back to the punishment box and goes back inside.

Sisko and O'Brien, in a runabout, come across an M-Class planet with an uncharted human settlement on it. They beam down to talk to the people there and find an agrarian society led by a woman named Alixus. They also find that their equipment no longer works -- nothing electronic does -- due to a duonetic field around the planet, so they are unable to beam back up or call for help. They are determined to return to their ship, but Alixus tells them they may have to accept that they will never leave, as they have never been able to themselves.

As Sisko and O'Brien stay on the planet, it soon becomes apparent that Alixus is ruling the colony with an iron grip -- anyone who breaks any laws is placed inside a punishment box to go without food or water, and the efforts of O'Brien and Sisko to contact their runabout earn Alixus' retribution, culminating with her ordering Sisko placed in the box. He goes along with this punishment, even returning to the box over submitting to Alixus when she temporarily frees him.

Realizing the planet's geology can't be responsible for the duonetic field and uses a makeshift compass to track down its true source -- a generator. O'Brien shuts it down and returns to the village to free Sisko and reveal the truth. Alixus confirms she purposefully marooned the colonists on the planet but it was for the best, as it allowed them to build a peaceful, happy society together.

Dax and Kira, who had gone looking for the two and found their runabout, contacts Sisko. The colonists, though now aware of Alixus' true colors, agree that she gave them their community, and elect to stay on the planet, now with the option to return to the galaxy if they choose to. Sisko and O'Brien are beamed up, along with Alixus and her son Vinod to answer for their crimes.

* ContrivedCoincidence: Averted. Indeed, that fact that Alixus and company find themselves stranded on a planet that just happens to coincide with her personal philosophies so well is what first raises Sisko's suspicions.

* EvilLuddite: Alixus.

* LuddWasRight: Alixus espouses a philosophy that technology is bad, while Sisko grows increasingly suspicious of the fact that she has "accidentally" found a planet that suits that philosophy so well.
* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: A routine survey mission is carried out by the man who runs the station and the man who ensures said station is running.

* AlphaBitch: Alixus, to a tee. She adheres strongly to her philosophical beliefs, has lied to the colony about their situation, uses an iron hand to dispense justice, and even lets a colony member die because she is so ardent with her back-to-nature beliefs. On top of that, with an [[Hypocrite implied stash of technological tools]], she almost throws away the ''Rio Grande'' runabout to burn up in the planet system's sun, if it weren't for the timely intervention of Kira and Jadzia.

* YouKeepUsingThatWord: Alixus keeps saying how human ingenuity is more useful than any technology. However, the application of ingenuity is ''technology''.

* VillainBall: Alixus is dead-set on not allowing Sisko and O'Brien to leave the colony, even though it's obvious they have no intent of staying and she gains nothing from keeping them there. Her repeatedly efforts to try and keep them there succeed only in ensuring that even if they eventually gave up hope, they would never trust her or submit to her.

* [[NothingCanStopUsNow Nothing Can Stop Me Now!]]: Alixus is so sure of

** Alixus, an EvilLuddite, uses advanced technology to restrict anyone else from doing so.
** In her justifying speech to the colony at the end, she claims that they should all be grateful she did this, as it allowed them all to "realize their true potential" instead of wasting away their lives in menial, dead-end positions. She did this by essentially kidnapping them and forcing them to live on a backwater planet without technology. While she's right about how the experience "redefined" them, it's only in her view that it was for the better.

* VillainBall: Alixus is dead-set on not allowing Sisko and O'Brien to leave the colony, even though it's obvious they have no intent of staying and she gains nothing from keeping them there. Her repeatedly efforts to try and keep them there succeed only in ensuring that even if they eventually gave up hope, they were never trust her or submit to her.

* HopeSpot: The end of the episode shows two young kids, who seem to have broken from Alixus influence.

* BittersweetEnding: Alixus and Vinod are taken to face justice for what they've done, Sisko and O'Brien are rescued, and the colonists are freed from Alixus' control. However, she still claims a moral victory in that they agree with her views and choose to stay on the planet, though now aware they can re-establish contact with the Federation if they choose so.

* DiabolusExMachina: The ending feels a little like this. Throughout the episode we're shown that many of the colonists really would desperately like to have the technology to survive, and are appalled by Alixus' treatment of Sisko and O'Brien, then learn that all their suffering has been built on an lie. The sudden decision to continue living their technology-less life in her image feels like the writers decided that resolving the episode by taking down the big bad and having it become a more standard colony world was "too easy" so wrote something that didn't really jive with the rest of the episode up to that point.