In the second episode of the second season of Voyager, Chakotay is taken hostage by a child. Sort of. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.Â
This episode tries. A lot. It’s kind of adorable how close it gets to something that I would have found genuinely fantastic. And I definitely don’t think it’s a “bad†episode of Voyager at all! There’s a lot to enjoy here, but I have complicated views on what the show is trying to do. LET US TALK.
Chakotay
The show’s refusal to give Chakotay a tribe is going to get grating if they don’t do something about it. Native American tribes are not homogenous entities. You cannot just call someone “Indian†and assume that they all share the same cultural traditions and practices. Specificity matters a lot! It otherwise contributes to this idea that these cultures are all interchangeable with one another when they most certainly are not.
Otherwise, I really like that Chakotay gets his own story here. “Initiations†allows us to get a sense for Chakotay’s personality. That’s given to us through this moral conundrum: What does Chakotay do when a child tries to kill him? And when he gets to know that child and learns of the violent initiation ritual he must be a part of, does he abandon the kid? Support them? Sacrifice himself?
I found Chakotay to be beautifully sympathetic and understanding towards Kar, even when he had a clear escape and could have avoided dealing with this entire mess. Instead, he offered Kar a chance to leave with him; then he took Kar’s advice when the shuttlecraft was nearly destroyed; then when Kar has a crisis of morals, HE STILL DOESN’T DEMONIZE HIM. At any point, he could have left Kar to his own devices, but he never does. Y’all, he even devises a plan to LET KAR KILL HIM so that he can earn his name. Like, literally kill him.
Chakotay is a goddamn angel, y’all.
The Kazon
Thankfully, Chakotay is so great in this episode that he largely allowed me to see past some of the flaws in the construction of the Kazon. I’m actually way into Aron Eisenberg playing Kar, even if you can hear some of Nog in him. The two characters are distant enough that I got to see Eisenberg do something different. Which is exciting! However, I feel confused by the Kazon in general. The idea that their boundaries and internal organization change so frequently meant that it was hard for me to grasp them as a whole culture. How exactly do they work as a community? Are they bound to specific locations in the Delta Quadrant? Do they have planets that are their home base, or are they nomadic?
I couldn’t tell, and I didn’t realize who they reminded me of until I started writing this review. The obvious comparison is the Klingons, especially since they’re a culture who values death in battles. The Kazon are taken to an extreme in this sense, since they execute those who fail to succeed in battle. WHICH FEELS LIKE A REALLY INEFFICIENT WAY TO TRAIN WARRIORS, but okay. The Kazon actually remind me of the Ferengi, specifically how the Ferengi were portrayed over the course of The Next Generation.
Bear with me. The Kazon we meet in “Initiations†feel nothing like the Kazon in “Caretaker.†Now, that could be because this culture is like… I don’t know, a bunch of roving gangs with their own initiation rites? It’s a shaky metaphor, though, since it doesn’t fit the actions we see in this episode all that well. But I felt like the writers were trying to change who the Kazon were after their introduction and usage in season one didn’t do what they wanted for the show. That ends up leaving me confused. I can only speculate since I don’t read up on behind-the-scenes stuff for whatever I’m doing for Mark Watches. Thus, I don’t exactly know what the writers were going for here. Do these Kazon not know of the Ocampans? Is there no history between them? Do the Kazons resent cultures that are more technologically advanced? That would explain their treatment of Kes in “Caretaker†and Kar’s attitude in this episode… sort of.
It’s confusing, and I hope that the Voyager writers figure out something more definitive for the Kazon, especially if they’ll be a common sight in the Delta Quadrant.
The video for “Initiations†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
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