{"id":5610,"date":"2016-05-31T13:00:35","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T20:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=5610"},"modified":"2016-05-20T15:06:45","modified_gmt":"2016-05-20T22:06:45","slug":"mark-watches-voyager-s02e02-initiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2016\/05\/mark-watches-voyager-s02e02-initiations\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Voyager’: S02E02 – Initiations"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the second episode of the second season of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>, Chakotay is taken hostage by a child. Sort of. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

This episode tries. A lot. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kind of adorable how close it gets to something that I would have found genuinely fantastic. And I definitely don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bad\u00e2\u20ac\u009d episode of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0at all! There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot to enjoy here, but I have complicated views on what the show is trying to do. LET US TALK.<\/p>\n

Chakotay<\/b><\/p>\n

The show\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s refusal to give Chakotay a tribe is going to get grating if they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do something about it. Native American tribes are not homogenous entities. You cannot just call someone \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Indian\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and assume that they all share the same cultural traditions and practices. Specificity matters a lot! It otherwise contributes to this idea that these cultures are all interchangeable with one another when they most certainly are not.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, I\u00c2\u00a0really<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0like that Chakotay gets his own story here. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Initiations\u00e2\u20ac\u009d allows us to get a sense for Chakotay\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s personality. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s given to us through this moral conundrum: What does Chakotay do when a\u00c2\u00a0child<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0tries to kill him? And when he gets to know that child and learns of the violent initiation ritual he must be a part of, does he abandon the kid? Support them? Sacrifice himself?<\/p>\n

I found Chakotay to be beautifully sympathetic and understanding towards Kar, even when he had a clear escape and could have avoided dealing with this entire mess. Instead, he offered Kar a chance to leave with him; then he took Kar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s advice when the shuttlecraft was nearly destroyed; then when Kar has a crisis of morals, HE STILL DOESN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T DEMONIZE HIM. At any point, he could have left Kar to his own devices, but he never does. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, he even devises a plan to LET KAR KILL HIM so that he can earn his name. Like,\u00c2\u00a0literally kill him<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Chakotay is a goddamn angel, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<\/p>\n

The Kazon<\/b><\/p>\n

Thankfully, Chakotay is so great in this episode that he largely allowed me to see past some of the flaws in the construction of the Kazon. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m actually way into Aron Eisenberg playing Kar, even if you can hear some of Nog in him. The two characters are distant enough that I got to see Eisenberg do something different. Which is exciting! However, I feel confused by the Kazon in general. The idea that their boundaries and internal organization change so frequently meant that it was hard for me to grasp them as a whole culture. How exactly do they work as a community? Are they bound to specific locations in the Delta Quadrant? Do they have planets that are their home base, or are they nomadic?<\/p>\n

I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell, and I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realize who they reminded me of until I started writing this review. The obvious comparison is the Klingons, especially since they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a culture who values death in battles. The Kazon are taken to an extreme in this sense, since they execute those who fail to succeed in battle. WHICH FEELS LIKE A REALLY INEFFICIENT WAY TO TRAIN WARRIORS, but okay. The Kazon actually remind me of the Ferengi, specifically how the Ferengi were portrayed over the course of\u00c2\u00a0The Next Generation<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Bear with me. The Kazon we meet in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Initiations\u00e2\u20ac\u009d feel nothing like the Kazon in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Caretaker.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Now, that could be because this culture is like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, a bunch of roving gangs with their own initiation rites? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a shaky metaphor, though, since it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fit the actions we see in this episode all that well. But I felt like the writers were trying to change who the Kazon were after their introduction and usage in season one didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do what they wanted for the show. That ends up leaving me confused. I can only speculate since I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t read up on behind-the-scenes stuff for whatever I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m doing for Mark Watches. Thus, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly know what the writers were going for here. Do these Kazon not know of the Ocampans? Is there no history between them? Do the Kazons resent cultures that are more technologically advanced? That would explain their treatment of Kes in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Caretaker\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and Kar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attitude in this episode\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 sort of.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s confusing, and I hope that the\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0writers figure out something more definitive for the Kazon, especially if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be a common sight in the Delta Quadrant.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Initiations\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><\/b>!!! MANY SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU SUPPORT ME<\/a>.
\n– I\u00c2\u00a0will be at numerous conventions in 2016! Check 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 will be Death Note<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0Neon Genesis Evangelion<\/em>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\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":"