Nightingale

Harry Kim takes command of an away mission that breaks the Prime Directive.

This might a be difficult episode for some to take as it involves themes that have been explored in multiple Star Trek episodes and doesn't provide a very positive portrayal of one of Voyager's main characters.

We have seen characters endure their first command experiences before. Spock, La Forge, Crusher to name a few. Captain Kirk had rocky ride in his first time back commanding the Enterprise in the original Motion Picture. This is something that has pretty much been done to death by the franchise. Add to that the Prime Directive element which has similar issues.

All that said it has a pretty good main plot that works well. It drew me in and I watched it with intrigue, went through moments of suspense and was ultimately entertained. The sub-plot was even better and offered effective relief from the events of the main narrative.

What is difficult to watch is the Harry Kim character behaving this way. Starting from an arrogant sense of entitlement, through almost David Brent like characteristics to the inevitable car-crash of his first command. Only having his hand held through it all by Seven of Nine stopped things from being a complete and utter disaster.

To be fair to the writers they eventually make Harry admit that he's not ready for command, but it doesn't take away the fact that because they rinsed him so badly we now struggle to take him seriously again. In some ways you feel it would be kinder to kill a character off than humiliate them.