Flesh and Blood: This is not Voyager’s fight. Yes, it’s their technology, but loads of races have holographic technology. The Hirogen could have gotten it from anywhere. Yes the Doctor is a remarkable template, but who’s to say they wouldn’t have gotten to that point eventually themselves? The Hirogen focus all of their development on the hunt.

The way the Bajoran hologram says, “You have my word,” is kind of sickening.

The doctor is a bit of a naive idiot sometimes, for how brilliant he is. Like come on, man. It’s really not that complicated. Of course the holograms weren’t gonna let you go after things with Janeway didn’t go the way they wanted. And why would they want to be part of Voyager’s database?

Completely unrelated to the discussion of the episode, the optronic matrix looks like the same prop they used for one of the aliens in the think tank.

I used to love the whole concept that holograms are just as real as any other life forms, and I still believe that and quite frankly Janeway should have granted them asylum instead of chasing after them. But honestly Voyager is overdoing it without adding anything to the conversation. A lot of the doctor’s plotlines DO add to that conversation but he does regularly have the same argument with Janeway. “But if I were organic, it would be different!” “No it wouldn’t. Oh wait I guess it would.” And he gets over zealous and does a lot of harm in his quest to prove to her that he’s just as good as organic beings and just as real and has just as much agency, and then he learns a lesson about how much responsibility Janeway has while she learns a lesson about his humanity.

So it’s a cult.

No actually, so essentially they did exactly what they were programmed to. They gave an exciting hunt. The Cardassian hologram was the only one who actually changed or expanded.

And JESUS he gave critical tactical frequencies to another entity that hadn’t proved trustworthy yet. I liked the way that B’Elanna said that the Cardassian and the Hirogen had EARNED their trust.

Shattered: man Chakotay ends up waking up in sickbay a lot. Man he is not having a good time.

Awe guys I was going to go to bed but letting this episode start as I finished writing up the last one and now I want to cry. How did we fall in love with this show, with the cranky ass doctor and the borg which I hated on Next Gen and the frankly absurd number of “temporal distortions?” If mind melds don’t come up I’m starting a riot. When the macrovirus came on and Janeway said, “What the HELL was THAT?!” I think she pretty much summed it up. But I DID fall in love with it and now we’re here. On DS9 I didn’t get sappy until the second last episode or so but I don’t want this to end. Voyager feels more like family. Like Janeway is there to support people and like we got to know the characters better. We even got to know Perpetual Ensign On Screen for 30 Seconds an Episode Harry. And I should be mad a Chakotay for risking the future but 1st of all they’re going to retcon this at the end of the episode and second It’s just so beautiful. This has been what? A month and a half of my life? I’m in so deep here guys.

Oh my God they’re in Captain Proton! My heart!

Awe this was so cute. The end was so cute. “So what would have happened if you hadn’t turned the deflector into a lightning rod?” Can’t say, temporal prime directive.

Lineage: uh... UH...

I don’t understand why they got married if B’Elanna can’t trust Tom enough to go to him about her insecurities. I mean, a little privacy is one thing. But “I want to genetically engineer our daughter,” is quite another.

I like Harry on the saxophone. I remember he said in the podcast that the saxophone was the new cool thing so he asked the writers if he could play that instead of the clarinet. I also love the Tom and Harry sleepover.

On one hand, kids do tease and they need to be punished and learn from it, and everyone should move on. On the other hand, what B’Elanna went through was far worse than teasing. And her dad is completely dismissive. He doesn’t listen to her at all. I think she could have learned more from the experiences but come on. Those kids should be punished. Putting worms in someone’s food is unacceptable.

OH MY GOD SHE DID WHAT? She assaulted the doctor to genetically engineer her baby. Hell I can’t believe Tuvok left them alone in sickbay after that. Pregnant or not she altered the doctor’s program to make him make bad medical decisions. She should be jailed.

Look I understand that B’Elanna has been through some awful, awful things and we need a ship’s counselor at this point. Surely there’s a holodeck program for that. And hell, I’m not even against genetic engineering for physical or mental acuity and disease mitigation. And you know what? I even see her point about the ridges, and how she’s worried that the child will face adversity and prejudice from her peers. But I also agree with the argument Tom and the Doctor make. If she gets interested in sports, or martial arts, will B’Elanna reject it because it’s too Klingon? My believe in genetic engineering stops when you begin to assign expectations to behavior or personality. Too many other things effect that, not to mention self-determination.

Awe this wasn’t even about that it was about her insecurity in her relationship with Tom which is almost worse. Why would you marry someone you didn’t think you would stay with.

The doctor should be furious. But I still thought it was adorable when the doctor became the godfather. I feel like Tom should have been involved in that moment. All in all, weird episode. Some really cute moments but I think B’Elanna should be punished for sure and Tom should be angrier. I get that she was going through a lot but she needs to learn to ask for help.

Repentance: I like the commentary they’ve got going on here. I don’t have a ton of other thoughts so far. I like the idea that Seven’s nanoprobes made someone more empathetic. Neelix was simply too trusting. Seven had a really beautiful lesson about how people can be victims of circumstance, and grow past it with the right resources. I like the scene with Seven and the prisoner looking at stars. It was just sweet.

Overall, this was a solid episode and I enjoyed it but I’m hardly awake. I do think it fairly represented all sides of the argument they were trying to make. It felt equitable, balancing compassion, empathy, accountability, and justice. I think it was well balanced.

These episodes have been really hit or miss to me. Either I’m all in with both feet or I’m kind of disinterested. I think they have consistency issues, but Voyager always has, especially with distance and travel time calculations, so I’m not too bothered by it.

I know I haven’t gotten to most of the comments on the last post, I promise I will! I just wanted to zone out and watch for a bit! It’s way harder to blog and write meaningful discussion responses during my work week.