VOY: “Retrospect”

Date: November 24, 2020

Season 4, Episode 17

Musical Accompaniment: I’ve hit song #200 on my 4-star list (out of 1,351).

Interstellar News: I went out into the world today. Looks like I’m staying home until 2022 at least, sigh.

TL;DR: Voyager is dealing with an arms trader named Kovin, who is assaulted by Seven after he shoves her out of the way. The Doctor believes Seven has blocked memories and those memories find that Kovin was the one to assault her and extract Borg technology. Janeway thinks they might be hallucinations, like she had during “The Raven“, but she and Tuvok question Kovin anyway. He gets very defensive and doesn’t want to cooperate, but his government makes him. They find evidence that supports Seven but Kovin freaks out and escapes. In chasing him down, they realize they may have misinterpreted the evidence and he might have been telling the truth. It’s too late, however, as his ship explodes. Seven and the Doctor both experience remorse and Janeway tells the Doctor she hopes this will help them both to grow.

“We’re not talking about conjecture, we’re talking about science.”: I have very strong feelings about this episode, but I’m honestly not sure in which way. On one hand, it’s a great episode to give the Doctor some humility and for him to learn from his mistakes. The signs may all point to one thing, but you still need to stay objective and not become emotionally invested in your patient.

On the other hand, Janeway doesn’t really handle the situation well at all. Tuvok is the only one who, in my opinion, handled the situation the way it should have been. He questioned both parties and gathered evidence, but he didn’t make any judgements until he had more information. Jnaeway went from not trusting Seven because they’ve been on each other’s nerves, but then she decided Kovin was guilty because he was being defensive. Kovin was an absolute prick, but that didn’t mean he should die. Even if he had taken advantage of Seven, which is left unclear, he should have been punished according to his local system. I know in the real world that doesn’t always work, I mean this episode reminded me of ever Law & Order: SVU rape episode ever. The Doctor got Seven’s hopes up and put things into her mind, but he does so prematurely before he really understands the case. He’s so wrapped up in his new subroutine and this “damning evidence” that he completely forgets his objectivity and duty to science.

The real part that gets me, though, is how Seven is treated when the Doctor believes she’s a victim. Some people choose sides, Janeway even mentions Kovin being “innocent” at one point, and it just all rubs me the wrong way. I’m not saying every person should always be believed, but every person shouldn’t always be dismissed either. Seven and the Doctor had evidence of something and that needed to be investigated, but the whole thing could have been done better. This draft tried to die on my twice, so before I lose my writing again I’m going to end with no rating because I still don’t know how I feel about this episode. I just know I don’t feel good about it.

TA Out!