In the twenty-second episode of the fourth season of Voyager, Chakotay comes in contact with a member of a species who no one can remember. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Voyager.
Trigger Warning: For discussion of consent
I’ll be upfront about the fact that – unsurprisingly – I don’t tend to like bottle episode romances on Star Trek. The show often tries to get me to believe that these deep, bottomless relationships form over the course of a few hours or days, and that’s simply not how it works for me or most people I know. Infatuation and obsession? Absolutely! Can two people gain a rapport and bond with one another in a very short span of time? Totally believable as well. Yet I felt like “Unforgettable” wasn’t trying to show me that Chakotay and Kellin were merely drawn to each other, but were in love, and that’s a whole lot harder to get me to believe.
It’s one my one true issue here. The timeline we’re given is that Chakotay and Kellin spent two weeks together while Kellin tracked down a stowaway on Voyager. During this period, we are told that these two began to feel love for one another. And really, that’s the key problem here: we are told something instead of being shown it. For some reason, “Unforgettable” does not give us a single scene of Kellin and Chakotay falling in love. Every flashback just shows them working alongside one another platonically. So when Kellin returns to Voyager and, because of her species’ memory-erasing pheromone thingy, no one knows who she is, all we have to rely on is her words.
A part of me believes that this is intentional, that the writers deliberately didn’t include these memories so that the audience would be on exactly the same page as Chakotay. That’s not a bad idea at all! And for the first act, I definitely felt lost and conflicted. Part of that was because I worried that Kellin was manipulating Chakotay, that there was some secret she was hiding and was going to reveal at the last minute. But where “Unforgettable” really soars is in the exploration of memory and romance. As far as the audience knows, Chakotay and Kellin really did fall for one another. So, does that mean Chakotay can just fall back into that if he doesn’t remember it?
It’s a challenging question that’s explored through one excruciatingly awkward scene after another. You can tell that Kellin is aware of how much power she has, that since she remembers everything, she controls the situation. At the same time, there’s a struggle. She wants Chakotay, and at one time, he wanted her. Is it fair for her to resume that relationship when Chakotay isn’t on the same page?
I was shocked and pleased when the ultimate conclusion Kellin came to was no. After agonizing it for most of the episode, after trying to rekindle some of the spark she saw before, Kellin lets Chakotay choose. If he doesn’t feel anything for her, then it is unfair for her to stay and endanger the ship. It shows maturity; Kellin knows she cannot force this feeling to exist in Chakotay, no matter how much she wishes it to.
Given the nature of these one-off romance episodes, I figured that Kellin would have to die or leave Voyager at some point. I really didn’t consider just how tragic this would end up being. The episode ends up mirroring the opening scenes, except this time, Chakotay is the one with knowledge of the romantic relationship. The way Kellin is wiped of her memories against her consent makes matters worse, and it was hard not to see the Ramura as heartless and cruel because of this. It didn’t matter how Kellin felt; she had to return home.
There’s a fascinating moment at the end of this between Neelix and Chakotay. He can’t seem to figure out why he couldn’t get Kellin to fall for him. Ironically, it’s time. She was initially on the ship for a couple weeks; the second time, she spent days with Chakotay. They had experiences together. The last round, Chakotay had only a few hours. How can you get someone to fall for you in that length of time? I found it ironic because Star Trek so often doesn’t give much time for romances to believably build. And really, that’s what these two needed: more time.
The video for “Unforgettable” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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