Synopsis: A Bajoran Pah’wraith takes over Keiko O’Brien’s body in order to force Chief O’Brien to create a way to destroy the Prophets that live in the wormhole.
This episode can be seen as an illustration of how sometimes one character who embodies the energy of the Senex, or wise old man, needs a little insight from a Puer-like character, or eternal youth. Archetypal psychologist James Hillman wrote that the relationship between these two archetypal energies was essential to understanding our psyches.
In “The Assignment” we learn that Quark’s brother, Rom, no longer works for Quark, but has a job on Deep Space Nine working for Chief Miles O’Brien. Then when Keiko O’Brien returns from Bajor, we learn that her body has been taken over by a Pah’wraith, an entity that considers the Bajoran Prophets that exist in the wormhole enemies. The Pah’wraith tells O’Brien that if he does not do as instructed, it will kill his wife’s body. O’Brien does as he is told, all he can think of is saving his wife, he does not know what the adjustments to the communications and array systems aboard the station will do. When Rom figures out what is going on, O’Brien is able to devise a way to extract the Pah’wraith from his wife’s body.
In this episode Rom can be seen as possessing Puer-like energy. He is the new kid on the block so to speak, and full of enthusiasm and excited for adventure. O’Brien on the other hand, embodies the Senex; he knows everything on the station. But O’Brien is so focuses on saving his wife from being killed by the Pah’wraith that has inhabited her body, that he has not had time to put together what the Pah’wraith’s plan is. When Rom blurts out the consequences of the modifications that O’Brien is making, O’Brien is then able to devise a way to save his wife. This is what happens when there is a good relationship between these two energies in our psyches.
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