"Retrospect" Ridiculous

[Vic Sixx]

This episode was weak. In the midst of Janeway trying to get new weapons from some shady guy, 7 and that Kovin guy have a skrimish, and & 7 accuses him of Violating her. Stealing some borg nanos from her.

This episode seems to have a hidden agenda, debunking repressed memories, since 7's turn out to be false. I don't see how 7 could just dream up those false memories.

What if Kovin had just raped 7 would that have been easier to deal with? I dunno.

Like I said the crew and writers seem to have a predisposed opinion to repressed memories.

Fortunately Kovin was kind enough to kill himself and settle matters once and for all.

 

[Centurion]

I'm one of the very few on this board who believe the whole show was weak. It was a wonderful cast but the writing NEVER really used them very much.

 

[Akiraprise]

Centurion trust me when I say this. You are not in the minority.

 

[Leroy]

What happened to that big gun they installed at the beginning of the episode? I always waited for them to use it again but they never bothered.

 

[od0_ital]

^

They weren't able to buy it from the guy after Seven of Nine accused him of nano-rape.

 

[Christopher]

Vic Sixx said:
This episode was weak. In the midst of Janeway trying to get new weapons from some shady guy, 7 and that Kovin guy have a skrimish, and & 7 accuses him of Violating her. Stealing some borg nanos from her.

This episode seems to have a hidden agenda, debunking repressed memories, since 7's turn out to be false. I don't see how 7 could just dream up those false memories.

The episode's "agenda," like that of any decent work of fiction, was to explore the characters, not to use them as puppets for a polemic. Seven of Nine is a person who was subjected to intense trauma and violation throughout her childhood and adolescence. It would be ridiculous if she hadn't had some serious psychological baggage to deal with. And since she would've been afraid to confront those deeply painful emotions directly, her mind came at them obliquely, mixing them with a more recent memory.

So you're wrong. The episode wasn't debunking repressed memories. Seven was reliving real repressed memories of her assimilation -- she was just interpreting them wrong. And that's entirely realistic. The human brain is not a tape recorder. We rewrite our memories every time we recall them, and they can be very easily changed, distorted, and confused with more recent experiences. This is a neurological fact, not an ideological position.

If anything, you're the one who seems to have an agenda on the issue of repressed memories, since you're condemning this episode solely because it doesn't agree with your stand on that issue. I see it as using the topic of repressed memory as a vehicle for exploring the character of Seven of Nine, for telling a story about the consequences of the profound violation she endured. What you're interpreting as the "hidden agenda" of the episode was merely a means to the more fundamental end of character exploration.

 

[flandry84]

The "repressed memories" topic is an interesting one but as usual for Voyager,totally fluffed.The cheap and nastily convenient suicide left a very bad taste.
To deal with sensitive and downbeat storylines perhaps the writers shouldv'e watched some episodes of "Law and order".

 

[Leroy]

od0_ital Wrote:
They weren't able to buy it from the guy after Seven of Nine accused him of nano-rape.

Are you sure? I mean they were installing it even before the accusations were made. I wondered that even back when the ep first aired it's like the writers resolved about half the story, stuff like this is why many fans find falws in the show.

 

[Hermiod]

The biggest flaw in the story is a simple question - why did it take them four years to start looking for better weapons ?

 

[Nebusj]

Well, are you really going to bring your ``A'' game to beating the Kazon, a species of such tactical geniuses they were once held at bay for a month by The Doctor holding up his car keys and jangling them around?

 

[WalkinMan]

This episode left me with a bad taste, despite my credulity at Seven having some form of represed trauma manifest as false memories.

I'm saddened both by A) the senseless death of Kovin and B) the tragedy of Seven's damaged psyche.

This was one of those eps that was out-of-the-box but in a tragic sad ending way. Interesting how VOY did that more (at least it seems that way now), reminds me of Course:Oblivion and others where it was a sad ending.

 

[od0_ital]

Leroy said:

od0_ital Wrote:
They weren't able to buy it from the guy after Seven of Nine accused him of nano-rape.

Are you sure? I mean they were installing it even before the accusations were made...

Well, they tested it out in the teaser, so it was on the ship, but when they were workin' on installin' the thing and routin' power & such, that's when Seven first tore into the dealer.

So, I'm guessin' that no, they didn't get it. Whatever parts of the weapon that were on the ship were probably given back when Janeway decided to believe Seven & the Doctor and not buy it from the dealer.

 

[Gadrin]

According to the Voyager Companion, the cannon was for the purpose of dealing with the technology of Hirogen ships, even though we never see it again, so in short a simple plot device, to launch the ep. Apparently Hirogen ships are covered in Monotanium & heavily shielded.

As for the ep itself, it was a bit confusing, but it was a nice turn on the usual Trek A+B+C=We do everything right by the end of the ep.

The doctor turns out to be meddler, Seven has repressed issues and a innocent man dies.

Another good thing, is there's no Neelix in this ep

But when you think about it, Voyager has already a spotty rep in the D-Quadrant, so I don't think the ep was a big black eye.

Think I'll watch this one again.

 

[Gadrin]

Okay, just watched it...

Janeway's crappy hairdo -- although she looks a little better later on

Seven's a problem as usual as of late

Doctor can't wait to help

Writers lead us a-stray: instead of the usual "nefarious trap by the bad guy" it plays on our
own trek-preconceptions. The dark, mad-scientist atmosphere of Kovin's lab for instance.

Tuvok never offers to Mind Meld with Kovin

Nice touch -- the monofilament stimulator, where later Kovin mentions he could reconfigure the
comm badge to act as a monofilament stimulator, something that Janeway does with Seven in the
upcoming Hope & Fear ep.

I got the feeling Janeway's little speech at the end was almost: "Welcome to the human race doctor" something he wants, but realizes it's not always a good thing.

 

[destructive]

if kovin were innocent he wouldn't have ran

 

[flandry84]

/\ Welcome to Guantonamo JACKASS!

 

[od0_ital]

flandry84 said:
/\ Welcome to Guantonamo JACKASS!

One warnin' for flamin'.

Comments to my PM inbox.

 

[flandry84]

Look, did this guy even watch the episode?
Kovin , an innocent man was accused wrongly and driven to suicide.Even in Bush's America ,flight from capture or the invokation of the right to silence is not tantamount to an admission of guilt.
If not we'll have 2 choices of clothing in the future .....
brownshirts or orange jumpsuits.

 

[exodus]

flandry84 said:
Look, did this guy even watch the episode?
Kovin , an innocent man was accused wrongly and driven to suicide.Even in Bush's America ,flight from capture or the invokation of the right to silence is not tantamount to an admission of guilt.
If not we'll have 2 choices of clothing in the future .....
brownshirts or orange jumpsuits.

But you didn't need to call him a jackass.

Not one thing we talk about here is that heated of a subject to name call another poster.

 

[flandry84]

APOLOGY extended.
My blood boils when confronted by someone who can so spectacularly miss the point of the show and perhaps the point of Star Trek too.