12 Most Heartbreaking Moments In Star Trek
1. Old Jake Dies So That Young Jake Can Be Reunited With His Father - Deep Space Nine 'The Visitor'
There is no greater example of love and loss than in the final moments between Jake and Ben Sisko in The Visitor. Ben, lost in subspace thanks to a random accident on board the Defiant, vanishes from his son's life. Jake, unable to process this loss, struggles to go on until he is visited by his father one night. Ben is trapped and he will periodically reappear to Jake, never aging, a ghost in his son's days.
Avery Brooks credits the relationship that he developed with Cirroc Lofton as one of the things he is most proud of in his career. He has spoken about the need to show a present father, particularly one of colour, in the life of a young man as, so often, they are depicted as absent. Ben is absent by circumstance but never in thought.
He is present in every moment of Jake's life. Their final meeting, for Ben taking place mere hours after the accident but for Jake, decades later, comes with the greatest loss a parent can bear. Jake not only dies in his arms but takes his own life, tethering the connection that leaves Ben trapped. Love, in the most basic yet powerful sense, permeates every note of this scene.
Both men deliver stand-out performances, as Brooks and Tony Todd shed their last tears together. The final moments of the episode, where Ben hugs Jake close to him with urgency, is for this writer the most honest, loving and heartbreaking moment in all of Star Trek.