The Abandoned (S3E06)
Airdate: 31 October 1994
Written by: D. Thomas Maio & Steve Warnek Directed by: Avery Brooks
Running Time: 46 minutes
Season Three of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine hit the ground running with a string of genuinely impressive instalments that demonstrated the series had finally found its footing. This momentum carried straight into The Abandoned, an episode that initially appears to be a standard bottle show but ultimately reveals itself as something far more significant—offering substantial worldbuilding that quietly establishes the stakes for the Dominion conflict that would dominate the series in years to come.
The narrative begins with Quark concluding a transaction with a Boslic captain (Leslie Bevis), who has brought salvage from the Gamma Quadrant. Whilst rummaging through the wreckage, Quark stumbles upon something unexpected: an infant. The child is whisked to the infirmary, where Dr. Bashir soon realises something is terribly amiss. The boy grows at an astonishing rate, maturing from infant to child to adolescent in mere hours. Bashir determines he is the product of genetic engineering, but the true nature of his origins only becomes apparent when he reaches adolescence and displays terrifying aggression. Following a violent incident on the Promenade, Odo intervenes and subdues him—then drops a bombshell on Sisko and the senior staff. This is no ordinary genetically enhanced being; the boy is a young Jem'Hadar, the shock troops of the Dominion.
Starfleet Command responds with predictable heavy-handedness, dispatching orders for the boy to be transported to Starbase 201 for study. Odo, however, is visibly distressed by this prospect. His own experience as a laboratory specimen, poked and prodded by Doctor Mora, has left him with an understandable aversion to treating sentient beings as scientific curiosities. He persuades Sisko to allow the Jem'Hadar to remain aboard, arguing that as a Changeling, he possesses unique influence over the boy—the Jem'Hadar are genetically programmed to worship the Founders as gods. Odo dedicates himself to teaching the rapidly maturing soldier about individuality, respect for others, and methods of channelling his innate aggression constructively. Kira, visiting Odo's quarters where he practices shapeshifting exercises, expresses scepticism about his chances—her doubts proving well-founded when the boy proves incapable of contemplating anything beyond violence and combat. When Starfleet finally arrives to collect him, the Jem'Hadar produces a phaser and threatens to kill everyone unless he is permitted to return to the Gamma Quadrant to join his people. Sisko reluctantly acquiesces, with Odo accompanying him only to prevent bloodshed. Upon his return, Odo admits to Kira that she was right—some things cannot be overcome.
Running parallel to this grim narrative is a considerably lighter subplot concerning Jake Sisko's romantic life. The identity of the dabo girl Jake has been seeing is finally revealed: Mardah (Jill Sayre), a twenty-year-old Bajoran. Sisko invites her to dinner with the transparent intention of finding ammunition to dismantle the relationship. Yet Mardah surprises him. An orphan who made her own way to the station, she demonstrates intelligence and substance that gradually wins Sisko over, forcing him to acknowledge that his son has better judgment than he assumed.
Written by D. Thomas Maio and Steve Warnek from a concept by executive producer Ira Steven Behr, The Abandoned emerged from Behr's desire to remind viewers of the Dominion threat without resorting to spectacular space battles. The solution was ingenious: representing the Dominion through a single individual whose extraordinary and genuinely frightening capabilities speak volumes about the danger the Federation faces. The episode also introduces the ketracel-white enzyme, a crucial element that would figure prominently in future storylines regarding Jem'Hadar addiction and control.
The script demonstrates the writers' willingness to learn from The Next Generation's missteps. Rather than repeating the mawkish sentimentality of The Child or the somewhat sanitised treatment of Borg individuality in I, Borg, this episode confronts its subject matter with unflinching honesty. The Jem'Hadar cannot simply be hugged into becoming a productive member of society; his programming runs too deep.
Perhaps most striking is the episode's refusal to provide comforting resolution. The nature versus nurture debate concludes not with the liberal idealism that characterised the Roddenberry era, but with a profoundly depressing acknowledgment that some biological imperatives cannot be educated away. The Jem'Hadar leaves not because he has been redeemed, but because Odo recognises that attempting to change him is futile—a remarkably bleak conclusion for Star Trek.
This darkness is occasionally alleviated by quieter, more lighthearted moments, particularly those between Kira and Odo. Their exchanges carry unmistakable hints that Odo is contemplating elevating their relationship beyond friendship. Whilst these scenes provide welcome emotional texture, they do occasionally distract from the episode's central thrust.
Avery Brooks directed the instalment, later explaining that he drew inspiration from observing how American society conditions young African American men toward aggression. This perspective informs the scenes with the young Jem'Hadar, lending them an unexpected cultural resonance that transcends the science fiction framework.
The episode has faced some criticism regarding the relationship between Jake—a minor—and Mardah, a woman several years his senior. Much of this discomfort stems from the production's decision to present Mardah as considerably more mature than her stated age, with costuming and makeup suggesting someone in her thirties rather than her twenties. Interestingly, the role was originally cast with a thirty-one-year-old actress, but Brooks objected. Jill Sayre, aged eighteen at the time of filming, was ultimately cast—though one wonders whether this casting change genuinely addressed the underlying concerns or merely provided plausible deniability.
The Abandoned shows Deep Space Nine's willingness to embrace complexity over comfort, delivering an episode that is simultaneously a compelling character study and essential viewing for understanding the Dominion War that lies ahead.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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