Synopsis: Earth is placed under martial law while Captain Sisko and Odo investigate whether or not there is a reason to fear a Dominion attack.
This episode, which continues the storyline from the previous one, can be seen as another illustration of how the Logos-driven rational conscious ego responds to bits of material from the Eros-driven irrational unconscious, when it is perceived as a threat.
In “Paradise Lost” Federation President Jaresh-Inyo has declared martial law on Earth, yet Captain Benjamin Sisko and Odo become suspicious about the actions of Admiral Leyton. Their investigation proves that Leyton himself had the power grids of Earth attacked in an effort to heighten the fear of a Dominion attack. Because of his investigation Sisko is placed in custody, but with the aid of Odo escapes and confronts Leyton about his plan. When some of Leyton’s key officers refuse to obey his illegal orders, the admiral resigns, but not before telling Sisko that they opened Pandora’s box together.
This episode, just as the last one, can be seen as analogous to how the rational conscious ego will go to great lengths to protect itself from what it perceives as threats to its stability from bits of material from the irrational unconscious that come into its awareness through a complex. But here, even though Leyton’s belief that putting Earth under martial law will protect it can be compared to how initially the rational conscious ego resists acknowledging those bits of unconscious material, in the end Leyton surrendered. This can be compared to how the psychic wounds that created the complex in order to be healed, the ego must integrate them into itself to make the psyche stronger.
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