In the sixth episode of the third season of Voyager, I TAKE IT BACK. NOW I CAN’T. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.
Trigger Warning: For extensive talk of genocide and consent.
After “The Ship,†I was not physically or emotionally ready for “Remember.†Through sheer coincidence, I happened to watch two brutal episodes of Star Trek back-to-back. WHEW, I NEED A BREAK. But don’t let that stand as my commentary on this episode. This is easily one of the best written episodes of Voyager PERIOD. I’m  still in awe at how well the writers managed to handle both of the big issues here without coming off as condescending or cheesy. Instead, “Remember†chronicles the painful process of realization and guilt, and it does not spare the people who are inolved.
Indeed, if there’s anything to be impressed about in this script, it is certainly the writers’ willingness to portray Korenna in a truthful light, even if it means she’s not the hero, even if means we must view her as complicit in the genocide of an entire part of Enaran society. And really, there’s no mistaking that: the technology-obsessed and “progressive†members of Enara actively and deliberately murdered the “Regressives,†then blamed them for their own genocide. This is not an idea crafted out of thin air; this is social commentary borrowed from history. You don’t have to look far to find it, either.
And that’s one of many reasons why this is such an upsetting episode. The writers get so close to a terrifying truth about how humans with power can exploit and destroy those without it. It’s fascinating to think how this episode starts because there’s no hint of this horror for the first third of the story. BUT THAT’S THE POINT. The Enarans sanitized their own history so well that they seem harmless. When Janeway has her first experience with their telepathic abilities, it’s portrayed as a mere stumble of procedure. Therefore, once we put two and two together and realize that someone must be putting their memories into B’Elanna, we assume it’s for a nefarious reason. How could we not? Jor Brel (believably) states that there’s an ethical obligation to get the consent of anyone before using telepathy on them, and B’Elanna’s consent is clearly being violated here.
That’s not to suggest that there’s nothing fucked up about this; indeed, Korenna most likely knew she’d be doing this, but rationalized that her truth was more important than B’Elanna’s consent. But I do think it fits within a framework that the Enarans work within. They historically have positioned themselves as the ethical and moral ones, initially in contrast with the Regressives, and later, they do the same with Korenna and the memories. That’s how well-sanitized their version of history is. Jessen literally cannot conceive of her own people as being capable of doing anything so horrific, and it was in that moment that it was clear that the Enaran upper class had succeeded in doing exactly what they set out to do.
Through B’Elanna’s dreams, we watch that plan unfold, and it’s so goddamn disturbing. Especially since I just thought that the dreams were a story about falling in love with someone from the wrong side of the tracks or something! No, this was way more serious; Jareth was already planning to exterminate the Regressives. Thus, the dreams are a means to understand how the Enarans did that. How did they separate the Regressives? How did they exclude them? And how did they turn the Enarans against them so fully that no one dared question where the colony was for their relocation?
That’s the most damning part of this. At the end of her life, Korenna shares the ugly truth. She was absolutely complicit in this nightmare, and she can’t ever deny that. She bought her father’s gross manipulations, and she not only got her lover executed, she cheered at the sight of his death. Yet even this doesn’t provide an easy resolution to the problem, and as frustrating as it was to see the Enarans so readily deny their own history, I thought it was the more realistic choice. This is something that will have to be slow. Painful. Awful. And the only way B’Elanna has to convince someone is to be honest herself. Perhaps Jessen will be the one to pull the thread until the whole horrible fabric comes undone. We don’t know, but it’s a start.
FUCKED UP. SO FUCKED UP.
The video for “Remember†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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