In the sixth episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>, I TAKE IT BACK.\u00c2\u00a0NOW<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For extensive talk of genocide and consent<\/b>.<\/p>\n
After \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Ship,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I was not physically or emotionally ready for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Remember.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Through sheer coincidence, I happened to watch two brutal episodes of\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0back-to-back. WHEW, I NEED A BREAK. But don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let that stand as my commentary on this episode. This is easily one of the best written episodes of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0PERIOD. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m \u00c2\u00a0still in awe at how well the writers managed to handle both of the big issues here without coming off as condescending or cheesy. Instead, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Remember\u00e2\u20ac\u009d chronicles the painful process of realization and guilt, and it does not spare the people who are inolved.<\/p>\n
Indeed, if there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anything to be impressed about in this script, it is certainly the writers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 willingness to portray Korenna in a truthful light, even if it means she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the hero, even if means we must view her as complicit in the genocide of an entire part of Enaran society. And really, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no mistaking that: the technology-obsessed and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153progressive\u00e2\u20ac\u009d members of Enara actively and deliberately murdered the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Regressives,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d then blamed them for their own genocide. This is not an idea crafted out of thin air; this is social commentary borrowed from history. You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to look far to find it, either.<\/p>\n
And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of many reasons why this is such an upsetting episode. The writers get so close to a terrifying truth about how humans with power can exploit and destroy those without it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fascinating to think how this episode starts because there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no hint of this horror for the first third of the story. BUT THAT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S THE POINT. The Enarans sanitized their own history so well that they seem harmless. When Janeway has her first experience with their telepathic abilities, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s portrayed as a mere stumble of procedure. Therefore, once we put two and two together and realize that someone must be putting their memories into B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna, we assume it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s for a nefarious reason. How could we\u00c2\u00a0not<\/i>? Jor Brel (believably) states that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an ethical obligation to get the consent of anyone before using telepathy on them, and B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s consent is clearly being violated here.<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not to suggest that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing fucked up about this; indeed, Korenna most likely knew she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be doing this, but rationalized that her truth was more important than B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s consent. But I do think it fits within a framework that the Enarans work within. They historically have positioned themselves as the ethical and moral ones, initially in contrast with the Regressives, and later, they do the same with Korenna and the memories. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how well-sanitized their version of history is. Jessen literally cannot conceive of her own people as being capable of doing anything so horrific, and it was in that moment that it was clear that the Enaran upper class had succeeded in doing exactly what they set out to do.<\/p>\n
Through B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dreams, we watch that plan unfold, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so goddamn disturbing. Especially since I just thought that the dreams were a story about falling in love with someone from the wrong side of the tracks or something! No, this was way more serious; Jareth was already planning to exterminate the Regressives. Thus, the dreams are a means to understand how the Enarans did that. How did they separate the Regressives? How did they exclude them? And how did they turn the Enarans against them so fully that no one dared question where the colony was for their relocation?<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the most damning part of this. At the end of her life, Korenna shares the ugly truth. She was absolutely complicit in this nightmare, and she can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever deny that. She bought her father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gross manipulations, and she not only got her lover executed,\u00c2\u00a0she cheered at the sight of his death<\/i>. Yet even this doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t provide an easy resolution to the problem, and as frustrating as it was to see the Enarans so readily deny their own history, I thought it was the more realistic choice. This is something that will have to be slow. Painful. Awful. And the only way B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna has to convince someone is to be honest herself. Perhaps Jessen will be the one to pull the thread until the whole horrible fabric comes undone. We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a start.<\/p>\n
FUCKED UP. SO FUCKED UP.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Remember\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.<\/b> In the sixth episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager, I TAKE IT BACK.\u00c2\u00a0NOW\u00c2\u00a0I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek.<\/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-5779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-star-trek","category-voyager","tag-mark-watches-star-trek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5779\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\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 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":"