Toxic masculinity ruins the party again.
I’m feeling a bit under the weather, and more significantly, my hands are arthritic, so here are my feelpinions in dot point form:
- No women were involved in the writing of this episode, and it shows
- Like, a significant proportion of the Doctor’s role models were FAMOUSLY abusive towards the women in their lives
- And then there’s his sexual harassment of B’Elanna played for comedy, when it’s as much a horror scenario as his later medical abuse
- That Goth Doctor cares for Kes is treated as a redemptive trait, when it’s actually just the flipside to his abuse
- I just feel like the writers didn’t quite understand the story they were telling?
- Robert Picardo’s performance ranged from “brilliant and menacing” to “please, sir, stop eating the scenery”, sometimes in the same shot
- This feels like one of those cases where someone (Berman) was like, “Only ONE member of the cast can emote!” so Jennifer Lien drew the short straw
- Like, this should be a Kes story, but it’s … kind of not
- Her love interest is just your standard Generic Star Trek Non-Villainous Male Love Interest, ie, a bit milquetoast, a bit too charming, a lot dull
- One thing you can say about Neelix, he’s not dull
- I quite like Kes’s velour catsuits! Even though I hate what they stand for, ie, more pandering to the male gaze
- Seriously, I have a book on Star Trek costumes, and it includes a dismissal of Kes’s original outfits as “the sort of thing that appeals to teenage girls”
- Was once a teenage girl, can confirm I found those outfits very appealing
- Still not sure why that’s a bad thing!
Anyway
This episode is a mess. Aside from the bit where the Doctor and Kes are beamed out mid-fall, that’s cool. Just say no to Lord Byron. One hollow Socrates out of five.