12 Darkest Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Moments
9. Benny's Breakdown - Far Beyond The Stars
Star Trek has always been socially conscious and steeped in politics, that's what's always set it apart from its sci-fi contemporaries, especially at the time when the original series came out. And one of the absolute best episodes to bring that socially conscious mindset to the forefront was Far Beyond The Stars.
This episode finds Sisko, for various reasons, transported to another universe where Benjamin Sisko is "Benny", a science fiction author in 1950's America facing the challenges that black creators faced just trying to get their work published. Over the course of the episode, we see him face obstacle after obstacle, all because he's a black man writing a story where a black man is the lead.
Eventually, it all becomes too much for Benny and the man has a breakdown. He's tried so long staying calm for these people, but all that got him was further underfoot. He knows that nothing he says can change things at this point, but what he has to say needed to be be let out, for it had been building up in him all his life. It's a haunting tear down of systemic racism and oppression, made all the more painful by Avery Brooks' being the best leading actor in Star Trek history and turning in a defining performance.