In the twenty-first episode of the fifth season of Voyager, THIS IS HORRIFYING AND I LOVE IT. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.Â
Trigger Warning: For body horror.
There is just so much I love about this episode, even as it tackles tropes familiar to most horror fans, because the execution is so haunting and sincere. LET’S TALK ABOUT WHY.
The Core
I know, I know, we’ve seen quite a few uses of the whole “abandoned space ship” trope within Star Trek‘s canon. But goddamn if I don’t love it most of the time because… I don’t actually know? I know I’ve written about it before, but I think I’m just entertained by the notion of the mystery. I just have to know why the ship is abandoned and what happened to the crew and WHAT WAS LEFT BEHIND. Of course, we know exactly why the ship is in the state it is… sort of? See, this episode tricks us into believing that this is going to be a tense episode because of the deadline of the exploding tanks. I expected this to be about that and B’Elanna’s anger issues, and I WASN’T READY FOR THIS TO BE PART SLASHER AND PART SOCIAL COMMENTARY. And lord, it’s executed so well!
Namely, the horror of “Juggernaut” concerns the monstrous things that Malon society asks of its workers. It’s an interesting take on their culture, given that the show already addressed how horrible it was that the Malon dumped their waste in ways that affected other societies. Here, though, their high-waste culture affects individuals who take the risk to work in the core of these ships. Despite knowing that many die in the course of their jobs, the pay is lucrative. But the cost? Yeah, turns out that every so often, Malon are immune to the radiation, at least in the sense that they don’t die from poisoning. They’re not immune from the effects of the radiation, though! They become the Vihaar, mythological creatures who live in the waste containers, except they’re not “creatures” at all. The horror for them is that they’ve been doomed to this life. They’re ghost stories, urban legends, scary tales that Malon tell their children or other workers. It’s dehumanizing and frightening to be dealt that kind of fate, you know?
Anger
Thus, we’re given two stories of anger. There’s the core worker, who resents his fate and takes it out on the rest of the crew and any other innocent bystanders who happen to be caught up in this mess. There’s also B’Elanna, whose temper frames the events in “Juggernaut.” After an outburst towards the Doctor lands her in meditation sessions with Tuvok, I felt it was obvious that this episode would revolve around this bit of character development. Plus: cramped quarters! A stressful mission! A morally reprehensible group of people! Everything about this was built to be a test for B’Elanna, and the episode hit all these notes over the course of forty minutes or so.
But it’s the final two scenes that upended my expectations for this story. I anticipated that B’Elanna would have to keep her anger in check, and she did struggle with that. However, look at the big climax of “Juggernaut.” B’Elanna puts aside her anger and fear and tries as hard as she can to reason with the core worker. She appeals to sympathy; she promises she will do what she can to help him; and it doesn’t work. In the end, B’Elanna has to rely on her anger and her violence to save herself, Neelix, and Fesek. Her anger is what gives her strength; courage; bravery. (Which Tuvok does acknowledge early in the episode, I should note.) So, everyone praises her for keeping it together, but she didn’t.
Maybe this wasn’t the intent of the episode, but I like my interpretation: that maybe people don’t get how B’Elanna’s anger isn’t a bad thing. It’s what keeps her alive. It’s what allows her to focus when she needs it. Anger can be a tool for good, and perhaps others don’t really see that.
The video for “Juggernaut” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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