Re: A Hater Revisits Voyager
Wasn't this the episode where B'Elanna's suicidal depression started? I'll have to keep an eye for for that and see if it really was as random as it seemed at the time.
SUPPOSEDLY. Granted, some of it might have fallen by the wayside due to Roxann Dawson's pregnancy, but I didn't see any sign of it through the rest of the season.
I think the episode would have worked out well enough without the hunters at all - have something on the station malfunction and unleash the black hole power source (or whatever it was) all on its own, and that destroys the station. That way, the focus could be entirely on the crew and their reactions to learning what those they care about have done with their lives, and, ultimately, the only thing lost is a gratuitous space battle scene. We don't really get any idea of the Hirogen as a species in this episode - we don't really even learn anything about them next week, so their appearance here could have been completely removed without losing a thing of value.
I'm really disappointed that we only see the reactions of Chakotay and B'Elanna to the Maquis slaughter - B'Elanna's reaction is entirely predictable (though not a bad thing in her case), but Chakotay gets NOTHING to do in reaction. The fact that they lost close friends, that the cause they were fighting for is gone, that in fact, in the ultimate scheme of things, the Maquis were killed and slaughtered so casually, almost as an afterthought... This should get them both angry. What point was there, ultimately - yes, the Maquis were proven right about how you can't trust the Cardassians, but they were just slaughtered, wiped out, not for being a threat but because the Dominion wanted to get rid of this minor irritant before moving on to the bigger fish - the Dominion probably used little more than a small fleet to wipe out the people and bases of the Maquis, and did so in so short a time - Dukat promised to have the Maquis eliminated five days after taking power, and he pretty much did, basically limiting the Maquis to a handful, if that tiny pockets with no resources. This should have been a mjaor event for these characters, both of them, not just B'Elanna, but neither event saw use beyond here and 'Extreme Risk.'
And the fact that we only see things from the perspective of the senior staff is really troublesome for me - I've stated my displeasure at the emphasis of this series often enough that I'm sure you guys are getting tired of it, but... On multiple occasions we are told that this is a crew that has become a family because of the years they've spent together. Despite that, there is no word about the lives of any character who appears in the opening credits - just that a handful are recieving letters from home. What about people whose friends and family are off dying in the Dominion War? 'No, can't have that - people who watch Voyager don't watch DS9, they won't know what we'd be talking about.' Well, what about the people whose families have moved on? 'Janeway's fiance got married, that's what matters, since we don't know the other people on the ship.' Couldn't we have AT LEAST have seen a little bit with Ensign Wildman and Naomi, involving a letter from Naomi's father? Just a little moment, to indicate that maybe someone on Voyager may not look forward to returning home? 'Viewers tuning in this week wouldn't know who these two are! Best not to worry about it.'
Wow, I think I managed to severely depress myself thinking about the attitudes driving the show...
