In the tenth episode of the fourth season of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>, I WAS COMPLETELY NOT READY FOR THIS EPISODE. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of consent and nonconsensual medical procedures, extreme violence, and with mentions of abortion, homophobia, and drug use.<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to think that over the years, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done a decent job at analyzing metaphorical storytelling, to tear analogies apart and explain why some work really well (In the Flesh<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is a great example of that) and why others don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. (VIRTUALLY MOST OF THE REST OF THEM.) It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rare, though, that I watch a genre show tackle an important issue in our society through metaphor and feel like I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t preached to or that the metaphor immediately fell apart.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Random Thoughts\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is an idea \u00e2\u20ac\u201c censorship \u00e2\u20ac\u201c taken to an extreme to make a point, much like satire, and yet, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still chilling, believable, and thoroughly thought-out as well. This society feels so big and complete and detailed, and frankly? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m impressed. VERY IMPRESSED.<\/p>\n
And I say this while we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re currently in a cultural climate where the phrase \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thought Police\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t at\u00c2\u00a0all<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0what 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more important is to care about\u00c2\u00a0action<\/i>. Who is an active agent of violence in this society? Who acts on their thoughts?<\/p>\n
Initially, though, I got\u00c2\u00a0real<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0worried because I did not suspect Guill at all. As far as I could tell from the episode itself, B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s violent reaction to Frane bumping into her really\u00c2\u00a0had<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0infected other people. In a nation full of\u00c2\u00a0very<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0sensitive 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t 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?<\/p>\n
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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna really\u00c2\u00a0had<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0done what she was accused of. It was at this point that Tuvok became the main focus of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Random Thoughts\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and I SHALL NEVER RECOVER FROM TIM RUSS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S PERFORMANCE IN THIS EPISODE. There is an intensity in him here that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve only had glimpses of before, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much more\u00c2\u00a0focused<\/i>. He unleashes himself specifically to goad Guill into revealing his role as the leader of a black market in negative, violent thoughts. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the writers, the production crew, and the actors \u00e2\u20ac\u201c come up with so many ways to get us to believe that people are discreetly trading illicit thoughts, and I LOVED IT.<\/p>\n
In particular, seeing Tuvok toy with his darker side \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which is buried in all Vulcans \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a monumental and unforgettable sequence near the end of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Random Thoughts\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 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,\u00c2\u00a0he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a frightening scene because Tuvok NEARLY CHOKES GUILL TO DEATH WITH HIS MIND.<\/p>\n
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Random Thoughts\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a base similarity: restriction leads to a world that is\u00c2\u00a0worse<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0for 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\u00c2\u00a0might<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0have? No. Instead, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a stigma, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fear around negative thoughts, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s deception. In the end, no one wins.<\/p>\n
One last thing: HOW GREAT IS THAT SCENE AT THE END BETWEEN SEVEN OF NINE AND JANEWAY. Answer: it is\u00c2\u00a0perfect<\/i>. I love the continued development of Seven, and here, she takes Janeway\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s advice by pursuing her individuality. Specifically, she challenges Janeway. (Which is fascinating, given that Seven did this in the erased timeline of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Year of Hell.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) Why does Janeway insist on stopping and exploring? Wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t they all get home faster without that? Yes, of course, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the point of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m interested to see how Seven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sense of curiosity develops. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already starting to behave that way, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a delight to witness.<\/p>\n
Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all: I loved this episode.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Random Thoughts\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded\u00c2\u00a0here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards. I POST A LOT OF CUTE PHOTOS, OKAY. Think of it like a private Tumblr blog that only SPECIAL PEOPLE get to read.<\/b> In the tenth episode of the fourth season of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager, I WAS COMPLETELY NOT READY FOR THIS EPISODE. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Voyager.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[614,656],"tags":[615],"class_list":["post-5978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-star-trek","category-voyager","tag-mark-watches-star-trek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5978\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I have updated my list of conventions and events for the remainder of the year and much of next year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"