Mark Watches ‘Voyager’: S04E10 – Random Thoughts

In the tenth episode of the fourth season of Voyager, I WAS COMPLETELY NOT READY FOR THIS EPISODE. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Voyager.

Trigger Warning: For discussion of consent and nonconsensual medical procedures, extreme violence, and with mentions of abortion, homophobia, and drug use.

I’d like to think that over the years, I’ve done a decent job at analyzing metaphorical storytelling, to tear analogies apart and explain why some work really well (In the Flesh is a great example of that) and why others don’t. (VIRTUALLY MOST OF THE REST OF THEM.) It’s rare, though, that I watch a genre show tackle an important issue in our society through metaphor and feel like I wasn’t preached to or that the metaphor immediately fell apart.

“Random Thoughts” is an idea – censorship – taken to an extreme to make a point, much like satire, and yet, it’s still chilling, believable, and thoroughly thought-out as well. This society feels so big and complete and detailed, and frankly? I’m impressed. VERY IMPRESSED.

And I say this while we’re currently in a cultural climate where the phrase “Thought Police” is regularly thrown out in reference to efforts from marginalized folks to fight back against things like microaggressions, outright aggressions, and an all-around sense of being more thoughtful people. In that sense, I think this is a brilliant episode that shows that this isn’t at all what people are asking for. No one wants to outlaw thoughts, and I certainly have no interest in a world that resembles the Mari homeworld. Indeed, the whole point here is that it becomes horrifying to police thoughts when what’s more important is to care about action. Who is an active agent of violence in this society? Who acts on their thoughts?

Initially, though, I got real worried because I did not suspect Guill at all. As far as I could tell from the episode itself, B’Elanna’s violent reaction to Frane bumping into her really had infected other people. In a nation full of very sensitive telepaths, it kinda made sense to me that there had to be a more strict rubric for people to follow. At the same time, B’Elanna’s crime seemed so deeply unfair. She had an understandably negative reaction to an annoying situation, but the thought was fleeting. It was gone a few seconds later, and in any other context, the moment had passed. No one was harmed. So why punish someone for a conscious or subconscious reaction? Thought can rarely be controlled, and it certainly can’t be in such an all-encompassing way, at least not from species like humans or Klingons or LITERALLY ALL OF THE NON-TELEPATHIC RACES. How could you ever ask that of someone?

Yet these characters were bound by the Starfleet regulation of following laws of the places they visited, and the conflict only gets more terrifying once it seemed like B’Elanna really had done what she was accused of. It was at this point that Tuvok became the main focus of “Random Thoughts” and I SHALL NEVER RECOVER FROM TIM RUSS’S PERFORMANCE IN THIS EPISODE. There is an intensity in him here that we’ve only had glimpses of before, but it’s so much more focused. He unleashes himself specifically to goad Guill into revealing his role as the leader of a black market in negative, violent thoughts. Y’all, let’s just take a moment to appreciate how cool that is and how utterly genius it is to see the show pull it off. How do you convey such a thing in a distinctly visual medium? The show – the writers, the production crew, and the actors – come up with so many ways to get us to believe that people are discreetly trading illicit thoughts, and I LOVED IT.

In particular, seeing Tuvok toy with his darker side – which is buried in all Vulcans – was a real treat for me. At times, it felt like he had gone too far, that in attempting to seduce Guill, he was losing control. But there’s a monumental and unforgettable sequence near the end of “Random Thoughts” that showed all of us just how in control Tuvok was. When he mind melds with Guill in order to disarm him, I thought my soul was going to exit my body. At that point, he’d already had three men beat the shit out of him, and yet, he concentrated on just one thing: getting close enough to Guill so that he could overwhelm him with the power of his own rage and violence. It’s a frightening scene because Tuvok NEARLY CHOKES GUILL TO DEATH WITH HIS MIND.

I don’t think “Random Thoughts” condones violence by any means, but rather shows us how this extreme solution to it gave rise to desperation. In that specific context, the metaphor has a different meaning. If you restrict certain things from a population, they will turn to other means to get them. I was reminded of the criminalization of drug use, or the outlawing of abortion, or even the way that the illegality of homosexuality has affected people all over the world. Obviously, those are not all the same scenarios, but there’s a base similarity: restriction leads to a world that is worse for specific people. Is Mari a better world because there is no way for people to deal with their curiosity? Or to cope with thoughts they might have? No. Instead, there’s a stigma, there’s fear around negative thoughts, and there’s deception. In the end, no one wins.

One last thing: HOW GREAT IS THAT SCENE AT THE END BETWEEN SEVEN OF NINE AND JANEWAY. Answer: it is perfect. I love the continued development of Seven, and here, she takes Janeway’s advice by pursuing her individuality. Specifically, she challenges Janeway. (Which is fascinating, given that Seven did this in the erased timeline of “Year of Hell.”) Why does Janeway insist on stopping and exploring? Wouldn’t they all get home faster without that? Yes, of course, but that’s not the point of Voyager, and I’m interested to see how Seven’s sense of curiosity develops. She’s already starting to behave that way, and it’s a delight to witness.

Y’all: I loved this episode.

The video for “Random Thoughts” can be downloaded here for $0.99.

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