Watch what? Its the final episode. No one is watching because the show is over. And, fyi, i was not a J/C fan at the time so it's not because I cared one way or the other about them.
I have noticed - and highly appreciated, btw - how light producers/writers have written on C/7. Indeed, we were witnessing the beginnings of Chakotay and Seven as a couple in Endgame - part 1, while in the 2nd part, both as a couple was almost totally absent. Was it because they have guessed correctly that this unexpected event wouldn't be joyfully welcome by all fans?! ;-) In the same time, let's be honest, the two Janeways (from the present and from the future) had enough on the plate to fill the time and space, hadn't they?! :-)
i still stand by my statement that if she had to take a lover (75 years is heck of a long time to live like a nun) it would probably only have worked with Chakotay as they are more equals than anyone else on the ship. The rest are clearly subordinates. As for arguments...
Yes, Janeway and Chakotay were the most logical choice to form a couple BUT according to what I saw, love was one way, from Chakotay's side, while Janeway was well accommodated over the years, with some "one-night-stand with Michael, the charming Irish holocharacter and some random encounters with true living being like Jaffen, Krashyyk (I'm pretty sure that both would have ended as lovers if they have met again).
-> it seems to me that the trust Janeway and Chakotay had in each other has faded gradually after the events in Scorpion and Equinox, where their disagreements were particularly violent. And the fact that Chakotay chose not only to hide his "romance" with Seven at the end, while before, he has never been shy to share with Janeway, his introspective comments or ask about her love life etc... ) but too, to spend less time , like lunches or dinnes rwith her, while before he was so quick to take advantage of every opportunity to spend more time with her beloved friend, was quite informative on the state of their relationship.
I do think there might have been some issues here and there if they became romantically involved but that's what makes great love stories interesting. Some angst is a good thing. Happily ever after rarely works on TV.
Well, if KJ/C romantic relationship was conducted like BT/TP, sorry but it would quickly become boring. :-( Don't get me wrong, I like Tom Paris as individual with his strengths and weaknesses but for me, when his romance with Torres became serious, he became annoying..., without forgetting to mention that I still don't see them going well together.
2. This is probably the only reason that would make sense except it is basically shot down in Life Line when she gets angry about the admiral asking about the Maquis. Clearly it is not an issue for her at all so it can't be a deterrent.
Regardless the sympathy Janeway can feel towards Chakotay and his former crew, Starfleet is not obligated to follow her convictions on this issue and besides, they clearly didn't. By cons, Admirals were reasonable enough to leave Janeway some autonomy in the management of her crew the time where her vessel, Voyager, was stuck in DQ, especially if the said renegades/felons helped her to find the way back ("no matter how, only the result counts",right?!). That being said, once back on AQ, Starfleet will take again the reindeers and Janeway will again be under the orders of bunch of higher ranks. Result: she will not only be asked to account on some of her potentially questionable actions but decisions too, including her choice to entrust vital positions on board to criminals (= Chakotay as XO, B'Elena Torres as Chief of Engineering Dpt, Ayala to second Tuvok in the Security Dpt, etc...), which could have endangered the safety of the ship and Starfleet crew, in the case of a potential mutiny led by Chakotay -> even if I'm pretty sure that any attempt by our Angry Warrior and his henchmen to take control of Voyager would have failed, it would not have done without significant damage and potential injuries or casualties on board, for which Janeway would be held personally and rightly responsible for.
And of course, you can be sure that there will be at least one admiral or Janeway's peers who will question Janeway about the nature of her relationship with the leader of the Maquis, especially if rumors of a love affair had eventually transpired (cf to crew's logs/ letters addressed to families).
-> even if Chakotay wasn't strictly speaking a subordinate as seeing as he has left Starfleet, he acted as such, in accepting to be Janeway's Second in Command. So, the policy about the (non) fraternization applied to their situation : Janeway acting as her superior, she could not give in to his advances unless she wanted to put herself at fault, fault would have been aggravated if Chakotay's criminal status was maintained = court-martial assured and resignation requested! As for Chakotay, the little love affair could aggravate his situation because 1) as a former Starfleet officer, he was not unaware of the settlement/rule of (non)fraternization with a superior and 2) he would have been accused of trying by this approach of using Janeway to reach his goals.
(all this, I say it from experience)
Imo the only reason this doesn't happen is because Janeway is a woman. If the roles were reversed J/C would probably have happened. Heck, Chakotay had a relationship with a member of his crew while Captain....Seska. Hate the idea of a double standard but life is what it is.
With Seska, Janeway (even if nothing happened, he tried to seduce her even after she told him that she was already engaged in s1 then after the break-up with her fiancé in s4, he kept trying Janeway but still without success) and finally, Seven, Chakotay demonstrated how the rules mattered little to him, especially in term of looking for his half. That's why, I wouldn't be surprised if between Janeway's refusal and Seven, he had lived some regurlar one-night-stands with some female member of the crew and especially as he did not let the female gender insensitive! ;-)
I also totally agree Janeway had no interest at all after season 3. That ship had sailed so to speak.
I'm forced to recognize that Janeways's reaction at the end of "Resolutions", once both had returned to the ship, was all the same quite cruel. Maybe should she have talked to him in private, in her Ready Room, to explain again that she was held by her role of captain and her mission to find a return path and nothing could happen between them that would disrupt her captaincy and mission. Instead, she prefered to return to the routine without any regret (in fact, she was quite happy to regain her seat!) or even thought about what/how they have lived on this unknown planet.
