The Voyager crew are forced to dream of labour.
I’ve been really hard on Voyager‘s seventh season, and I stand by that, but you know what? I really like “Workforce”. Or, at least, I thoroughly enjoyed part 1, and having no memory at all of part 2, I have no reason to expect that to change.
Hey Siri, play “the happy worker” by tori amos
Voyager‘s latter seasons have seen a lot of two-parters that were conceived as BIG EVENTS, with varying levels of success. But “Workforce” feels like a more organic story, as if the writers had a good idea, realised it needed more than 44 minutes, and gave it that time.
And they were not wrong to do so! Part 1 takes a lot of time with its set-up, even giving us a couple of location shots as the happy workers enter the power plant — including Janeway, on her first day of a new job.
We don’t get to spend as much time in media res as we would like, and okay, I’m not sure we needed the flashbacks to Voyager’s capture — in a single episode story, it would be enough that the Doctor can tell the away team about it. But I do think there’s value in seeing the contrast between Kathryn Janeway, starship captain, versus Kathryn Janeway, worker who is just happy to be here.
Is the latter who Janeway would be in civilian life at home? I actually don’t think so. Yes, she’s carefree, flirty and dedicated to her job, but there are scenes where she also borders on … how shall I put this? Adorably clumsy.
And it makes sense that the Quarren might make a few little changes to her personality, along with implanting new memories and erasing others as they craft the perfect labour force. Janeway and Tuvok, with their personalities intact, are the most obvious threats to the system. So is B’Elanna. All are, essentially, defanged.
And Seven? You would think she’d be another threat, but instead, the Quarren have spotted that her love of efficiency is a personal weakness and potentially profit-generating. I’m not saying that Seven would be happy as an Amazon warehouse manager, but I don’t think she’d be unhappy, either.
The nature of work
I have to confess, watching “Workforce” part 1, part of me was like, “Why do the Quarren need to kidnap people to work in their economy? Look, these people have subsidised housing in nice apartments, free time to socialise outside of work, enough money to eat out, a curfew … wait, a curfew?”
Oh yeah, it’s a company town. Or a company planet. The brainwashed workers are, above all, grateful. They remember their homeworlds as dystopian capitalist hellscapes, so they feel lucky to have new lives and new jobs — and no one is thinking about unionising, or even asking why there’s a curfew. You don’t even have anything like the Mechanics’ Institutes of the Victorian era, facilities for the education and self-improvement of workers after hours. (These were often set up by industrialists and wealthy people for paternalistic reasons, but became centres of education and entertainment for working class people, and formed the basis for the modern public library and makerspace.)
In short, the Quarren have imported a proletariat, but with just a little bit of light brainwashing to ensure they haven’t accidentally landed themselves a Marx. Tom loses his factory job, but he doesn’t go, “Wow, this system is broken! We need a new system!” Instead, he looks for a different type of work, which he enjoys.
And to be clear, none of this is a criticism on my part. I think this makes for both a compelling story, and a satisfying commentary about work in an era when “the economy” is apparently completely unrelated to the experiences and well-being of workers.
There’s also a janeway romance
As far as Janeway’s love interests go, Jaffen is completely inoffensive. Unless he’s secretly working for the Quarren government to kidnap and brainwash people, I can’t remember.
Truthfully, I don’t love his relationship with Janeway, because so much of it is based on a “silly woman who is too clever to be practical”/”charming deadpan guy” dynamic that does not excite me. Also he’s moving way too fast — he and Janeway have been together for, what, a week? And he wants her to move in? AND he claims to be from a species that reproduces asexually and yet …
Anyway. He’s not my fave, but I think Janeway deserves some pleasure, and I enjoy watching Chakotay suffer as he realises what’s going on.
The B-plot is also about work
Specifically, it’s about Harry being disrespected by the script — he has a gastric parasite, which is for some reason treated as funny and a personal failing on his part — while he and the Emergency Command Hologram fight over who gets to be in charge.
And I can see both sides. Harry studied for four years and has worked for seven to get to where he is in his career, and now he’s at risk of being replaced by AI. Relatable king.
On the other hand, we keep coming back to the question of whether the Doctor would even be a doctor if he had a choice. Which he does not. Is Starfleet so different from the Quarren in this regard? Even a post-capitalist utopia cannot abolish work.
Other observations
- “I’m not married.”
“But you’re pregnant.” It’s difficult to believe this dialogue was written in 2000 - Nevertheless, I enjoy that Tom and B’Elanna are drawn to each other
- I have questions. About Seven of Nine’s hair. Why did the Quarren cut her a fringe?1 And where will it go when the story ends and the reset button is hit?
- Chakotay going undercover in alien make-up is surprisingly attractive. Not because of the make-up, but because his hair is styled differently. Let this man part his hair! For my sake!
In conclusion
Despite the weird conservatism around B’Elanna being a “single mother”, I love this episode. I can’t really rate it yet, but I hope part 2 is equally satisfying.