Episode cast overview: | |||
Kate Mulgrew | ... | Capt. Kathryn Janeway | |
Robert Beltran | ... | Cmdr. Chakotay | |
Roxann Dawson | ... | Lt. B'Elanna Torres | |
Robert Duncan McNeill | ... | Lt. Tom Paris | |
Ethan Phillips | ... | Neelix | |
Robert Picardo | ... | The Doctor | |
Tim Russ | ... | Lt. Tuvok | |
Jeri Ryan | ... | Seven of Nine | |
Garrett Wang | ... | Ensign Harry Kim | |
Jeff Kober | ... | Iko | |
Tim DeZarn | ... | Warden Yediq (as Tim deZarn) | |
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F.J. Rio | ... | Joleg |
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Greg Poland | ... | Voyager Security Officer |
Responding to a ship in trouble, Voyager acquires a Nygean warden and his eight prisoners stated for execution. Federation medical treatment of one particularly incorrigible prisoner (injured by the guards) inadvertently cures him of his violent sociopathic tendencies. Now newly wracked with guilt - a punishment in itself - he welcomes his coming execution for his crimes, for which Captain Janeway argues leniency and reconsideration to his captors. Meanwhile, Neelix, through a second prisoner, learns of the partiality of the Nygean justice system. Written by statmanjeff
...was actually the most predictable -- the number of reviewers upset that the episode chose to approach the issue from multiple tangents rather than just present it in the way the reviewers wanted.
Make no mistake (though, of course, angry narrowly-focused viewers will inevitably do so), this episode included a variety of perceptions and a variety of reasonable (if occasionally conflicting) arguments. From Seven's analytic counterpoint to the Doctor's programmed lack of objectivity, from Neelix's embracing of the issue of social inequality to the prisoner's behavior showing that sometimes people are guilty regardless of social problems, from the Neelix's argument for absolute objectivity to his concession to the logic of the prisoner's argument for subjective punishments (which he doesn't actually agree with, just concedes that the argument can be made), from the question of mental illness relative to the question of the safety of society, from the difficulty in imposing one's own system in cases of divergent justice systems, this episode brings them all to bear, and never settles resolutely on one side of any of these debates. The only real absolute is that the Federation opposes capital punishment in its own jurisdiction, and if that upsets a viewer, that viewer should probably have done more research on the history of Star Trek and the world-building that has been done since the original series. If you were surprised by *that*, you haven't been watching closely.
While this episode wasn't particularly profound, it definitely took great pains not to be preachy, making sure most of the conflicting opinions were allowed to go straight to the viewer without an attempt to compel one opinion or another. It's clear that most people getting upset are upset that the alternative views were presented as lucidly and free of excessive preachyness as the ones they themselves held. Like everyone else, I have my views on all the issues presented, and when the episode was over, I didn't feel in the least like the show confirmed or dismissed my own perspective, which is a nice accomplishment on such loaded issues.
Too many echo chambers atrophy our ability to see things clearly, and that's a real shame.