In the twenty-third episode of the sixth season of Voyager, this is a lot. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.Â
Yeah, I don’t buy this at all.
I’ve sat on this for a bit after finishing my first watch of “Fury.” There’s a part of me that appreciates the challenge of an episode like this and the willingness to give a character as beloved as Kes a story that isn’t exactly positive. But my ultimate problem with this is that the writers gave Kes this huge motivational background… and then showed us none of it. This script asks the audience to use their imagination – which I don’t necessarily have a problem with as a concept! – but does so in a way that leaves practically everything to be desired.
In a more direct sense, “Fury” asks a lot of us. It asks us to accept that in the three years since Kes left Voyager on a journey to explore herself and her abilities, she found sadness. Grief. Anger. Over what? We don’t actually know. We don’t know a single place she’s been. A single person she met. A single experience she had. All that we’re told is that the experience off Voyager was so terrible and confusing that she KILLED B’ELANNA SO THAT SHE COULD TRAVEL THROUGH TIME AND THEN SEND HER YOUNGER SELF BACK TO OCAMPA BY KILLING EVERYONE ELSE ON THE SHIP. If a character is going to return to a show after a long absence and do that… yeah, I’m gonna need a real good explanation for that.
“Fury” gives us no such thing. And as great as an actress as Jennifer Lien is, as great as Kate Mulgrew is, as great as Tim Russ is… they can’t sell this story on their talents alone. And oh, they try so hard! I almost believed it. But “Fury” so fundamentally changes who Kes is and provides us with practically no justification of it. I suppose that might be the point; Kes has become so far from who she used to be because she was consumed by fury. BUT WHY. WHAT CAUSED THIS. WHY CAN’T SHE GO HOME. Even the ending refuses to give us a concrete answer. Is she in that ship? Won’t it take it six years to get home? WON’T SHE BE DEAD BY THEN. If she uses her powers to jump home, why not be nice and thank Voyager for their troubles and give them a push? This version of Kes looks like the original, and there is even a smidgeon of her in that final scene in the Transporter Room, but otherwise, this feels like way too much to ask of the audience, particularly since Kes does such horrific things. How is this show gonna bring back Kes and have her interact with Neelix for like twenty seconds? That alone felt criminal.
Bah, I wish I enjoyed Kes’s return more.
The video for “Fury” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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