Like the other 5 reviews of this particular episode I also had a problem with it. When a series runs for 7 years it is impossible to have them all great, there will be peaks and valleys just like anything else in life so it is impossible not to have episodes that just don't work or fall short. I am not one to do write-ups on a lot of shows but this one episode, like the other 5 reviewers, bugged me. All the other reviews made good points, some referred to other Start Trek shows, valid points, etc. My main objection was the writers hard stance that by using the information garnered by unethical or immoral means, taints it therefore it should not be used, period. They take the victim stance to the full tilt, as they should, the whole "lest we forget" road which is fine BUT they didn't balance it with
"on the other hand
" approach. They greatly downplay the theme of using the sins of the father (or past generations if you like) to benefit the future or future generations. The only counter punch to the victims stance was the Cardassian Dr. Moset's hollow arguments that "the ends justifies the means" morality. This character was set-up to lose from the get go and only re-enforces a very unbiased point of view to support the writer(s) personal stance. There's a lot going on in this episode
prejudice, moral/ethic medical practices, war-crimes, victims' rights, even Torres being forced to have the surgery against her will
etc. Lots of great stuff for effective drama. I think the episode focused too much on the facts of covered up war crimes, unethical experimenting for medical purposes AND relied too much on the huge plot hole that the hologram "looked" like the actual Cardassian mass murderer. Other s have pointed out the obvious plot hole in the show .. "a slight rewrite in his "personality subroutines" (and perhaps changing his appearance too - - so he didn't appear Cardassian) " I am sure having a doctor/surgeon who looks like Dr. Mengele standing over a patient in an O.R. would be a red flag situation for the best HR department in any hospital. All this stuff is great for drama BUT they did not put forth the one element that would have put more balance to all the arguments presented in the episode that favoured heavily on the side of NOT using the information to help Torres
using the information gained by "evil or immoral" actions to do some good in the end DOES NOT validate the horrific experiment as some characters even stated in the show. I will use real life analogies since the writers used real life events when writing this script. Clearly this was a Dr. Josef Mengele inspired story- line. I understand, as most normal people would, that the Nazi state was build on evil principles. No denying that. No denying that many normal people were sucked into the regimes influence that might not have done so had they been born on the other side of the world and in a different time period of history. Now my main objection to this episode was this
.there was the strong point being made NOT to use the "treatment" on Torres based on the unethical/immoral way it was obtained in the past. Fine. Perfect dramatic hook in writing and structure. BUT there was not the counter argument made
If Dr. Mengele had done inhuman experiments on say, myself, back in Auschwitz and I died because of it
I would be furious if some person in the future totally removed from the event and my own death experience, even if it were my own son or granddaughter, decided that the information gathered from my death should not be used at all simply to honour my death. It would make my death in vain and NOT honour it. I would WANT my death to mean something and have the information used to save others after me regardless how it was obtained. What is done is done. I am dead. Obviously no one is advocating to do it in the present moment..that was NOT the argument of the show. Even Tuvok should have put forth that logic but he was given the opposite stance by the writers. Logic would dictate to provide all points of view and come to a conclusion based on that yet he jumped aboard the" by using it we validate the horror" bandwagon. The writers take a moral stance that has the Voyager Doctor erasing the Cardassian program at the end of show. This sends the message they will NOT use the medical information so as to NOT validate the information on how it was obtained. A better ending would to have left it as an unanswered dilemma. The current ending is now just a biased soap-box moment with plot holes left in by lazy writing.