In the twentieth episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>, the more I think about this episode, the worse it seems. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For extensive talk of misogyny and consent<\/b><\/p>\n
Well, this was a hot mess. But it was also much more of a mess because there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an idea in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Favorite Son\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that could have been awesome. Like, this is such a horror staple, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! The whole idea of warping the tale of the sirens isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly revolutionary, but it\u00c2\u00a0could<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0have been a neat horror story, and instead\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 lord. LORD.<\/p>\n
Where do I even start with this disaster? It honestly feels like it was a power fantasy written by a bunch of dudes who just wanted to imagine how cool it was to have a planet full of women desire them. WHICH IS MINDBLOWING BECAUSE THIS WASN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T WRITTEN BY A MAN. Perhaps that is the reason this turns into a subversion of the siren story, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not this episode\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s saving grace. Instead, the whole thing paints women in a terrible light! They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re set pieces with no real characterization here aside from what needs to exist to make sure that Harry is no longer an alien at the end of the script. I have to wonder if Lisa Klink\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s script wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t heavily edited or changed because it honestly felt like two stories in one, and by the time the evil siren plot came to fruition, the truly interesting shit was gone from the episode.<\/p>\n
Yet I still feel conflicted by that! The idea that Harry Kim was actually Taresian\u00c2\u00a0could<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0have been interesting because it would have allowed Garret Wang and the writers to add a new layer to this character. That would have been a lot of fun to see! His character hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been allowed a whole lot of growth, either, so I kind of got excited at the opportunity to explore something new. At the same time\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 whew, the consent issues are completely glossed over. Like, his mother was impregnated against her will! Just because she\u00c2\u00a0wanted<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0a child doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean she was cool with aliens from another quadrant putting a child in her, especially one who was genetically coded to return to his homeland and NEVER COME BACK TO WHERE HE WAS BORN. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all in the details, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<\/p>\n
And ultimately, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why this episode falls apart. The show can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t commit to anything. Make Harry an alien! I want to go on that journey! Show him conflicted by the revelation! Or tell a story about how male power fantasies are fucked up and misogynist! \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Favorite Son\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really give us either, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just uncomfortable to watch more than anything else. With one exception, of course: GODS, I LOVE SEEING JANEWAY GET RIGHTEOUSLY ANGRY. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so satisfying!<\/p>\n
I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wait to forget this episode. I mean\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 at least it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Threshold\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? I feel like that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the saddest bar ever set, though.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Favorite Son\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 twentieth episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager, the more I think about this episode, the worse it seems. 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-5872","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\/5872","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=5872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5872"}],"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":"