"Barge of the Dead"
comments? pforooghi@compusmart.ab.ca
What a fantastic episode! "Barge of the Dead" was simply brilliant, in every way possible. Great character development, action, scenery, and superb visual effects combined to deliver a superlative episode. Overall, I found the mise-en-scene simply stunning. I will try to touch upon several themes that were addressed during the course of the episode, most notably, B’Ellana’s contempt of her Klingon ancestry, her relationship with her mother and her surrogate mother on Voyager, Janeway, and finally, her perceptions of Voyager and its crew. All of these elements combined to make a very thoughtful, poignant, and richly layered show, perhaps the best B’Ellana episode to date.
The most important issue raised in this show was how B’Ellana feels about her Klingon ancestry, and in turn, herself. I don’t claim to know the character of B’Ellana all that well, since I didn’t start watching the show on a regular basis until Season 5. Though I suspect that given how the writers have consistently neglected this character, I didn’t miss all that much. At any rate, what I’ve gleaned from the character leads me to believe that she despises her Klingon ancestry because she believes the Klingons to be primitive, barbaric, and vicious people with little or no redeeming qualities. These feelings were addressed in B’Ellana’s conversation with Tuvok early on in the episode, though later we discovered that the conversation as well as all the other events that had took place were nothing but a figment of B’Ellana’s unconsciousness brought on by her near death experience in the shuttle craft. However, one cannot overlook what happened during that first near death experience because as we all know, our subconscious is usually trying to bring to the forefront issues which we have repressed and are therefore unwilling to deal with in our conscious life. B’Ellana has certainly been unwilling or unable to come to terms with the Klingon part of who she is. Instead, she has appeared contemptuous and loathsome of her heritage, never missing an opportunity to revile and denounce it. Unfortunately, much of the hatred and rancour she expresses at being part Klingon has been internalized, leading her to self-loathing, not to mention alienation from those around her. This alienation is explored in this episode by examining B’Ellana’s relationship, or lack thereof, with both her mother, Miral, and her surrogate mother Janeway. Towards the end of the show, we see that B’Ellana has isolated herself from most everybody in her life, and has therefore chosen to keep everyone at arm’s length, as Harry points out to her. Of course, all of this has been to her detriment, not to mention having caused feelings of hurt and resentment amongst her crewmembers.
It is interesting to examine why B’Ellana had such a strained, resentful relationship with her birth mother, and as implied throughout the episode, with Janeway to an extent. As noted, B’Ellana has always reviled her Klingon ancestry, adopting a condescending and dismissive attitude towards all of its rituals and beliefs. Perhaps many of the reasons why she feels this way, which were previously noted, are legitimate, valid reasons. Nevertheless, part of her is Klingon, and no matter how much she tries to deny it, that part will not and cannot be eradicated. Simply put, being Klingon is part of what makes up the essence of who she is. To try to deny this is foolish, though B’Ellana has yet to fully realize this fact. So, what role does her mother, Miral, have in all this? As B’Ellana mentions, Miral was always trying to teach her the beliefs and rituals of Klingons, to be proud of these rituals, to embrace her culture, and in turn, embrace herself. Of course, B’Ellana never saw it this way. She interpreted Miral’s actions as forcing her to embrace values and rituals which were anathema to her. As a result, she became estranged from her mother and everything she stood for. The same thing has happened in her relationship with Janeway, more or less. Janeway clings to her Starfleet principles just like her mother steadfastly clung to her Klingon beliefs. B’Ellana herself drew this parallel between the two women. So, Janeway has tried to inculcate B’Ellana with Starfleet beliefs just like her mother tried to do with Klingon ones. In both cases, the result has been B’Ellana becoming resentful of the two women in her life, and her relationship with both of them becoming strained. So now, B’Ellana finds herself estranged from both of her mothers, birth and surrogate, despite the fact that she obviously cares deeply for both women. What B’Ellana has to do is reconcile all of her feelings of anger and resentment, not just at these two women, but at everything else that has occurred in her life, most notably, her current situation of being stranded in the Delta Quadrant.
I thought it was very fascinating, not to mention accurate, that in B’Ellana’s second near death experience, where she ultimately found herself in "hell", that hell was Voyager. I think this is how many people aboard the ship must feel, if they were honest with their feelings, and if these feelings were ever explored by the writers. People seem too content and well-adjusted on this show, and I’ve never found this realistic. Considering the fact that this crew may never see their home and loved ones again, I’m surprised they don’t express more anger and bitterness and that they haven’t become more jaded and cynical in general. Again, this is all the writers’ fault for not exploring these emotions. The only other time besides this episode that I can remember such feelings being addressed was in the season 4 episode "Vis a Vis" with Tom Paris. I’d suspect that anomie surely would have set into this crew by now. Anyhow, back to the Voyager as hell motif. It was not surprising to me, given my understanding of B’Ellana, that she would envision Voyager as hell. Not just because of the claustrophobia that must be associated with living her life aboard a ship every single day, not to mention not knowing if she will ever make it back home. Voyager is hell because B’Ellana has made it so. She has remained aloof and distant from the people aboard the ship, refusing to let anyone into her life, not even her lover Tom. At least, not really. Harry was right, she has chosen to keep everybody at bay, even though people do want to be her friend and reach out to her. Why? As I said, all of that bitterness about her Klingon origins has caused B’Ellana to become a hostile, temperamental, and remote person. She never realized how her behavior hurts those around her, until they all confronted her about it in her vision. That scene was brilliant. All the people in her life, even Seven, whom she perhaps never considered a significant person in her life, go on to vent their hurt feelings and resentment directly to her. She has nowhere to run or hide, and is forced to listen to the litany of gripes presented her. Tom and Tuvok keep shoving the batleth in her face, commanding, "defend yourself". Yet B’Ellana’s attitude and deeds are indefensible, even if she is armed with a weapon. The batleth was very symbolic in this scene, in that it represented her negative, angry feelings about being part Klingon. Once B’Ellana decides to listen to what those around her are telling her, to try to embrace the people she cares about yet hurts so often, she flings the batleth into the sea. In essence, B’Ellana has flung much of her hostile, bitter emotions along with the weapon. After that, her expression is more relaxed, more at peace with what has happened to her on this journey to hell and back. And, once B’Ellana returns from the brink of death, who does she see but her captain. The woman whom she has come to care for as a mother. And, whom I would say cares for her as a daughter. Over the past few years, with the introduction of Seven, TPTB have been trying very hard to convince us that the Seven/Janeway relationship is purely maternal. I have already stated my reasons for not believing this one bit, so I won’t repeat myself here. Yet in this episode, I think we get the best example of how Janeway acts and reacts towards someone whom she only harbours maternal feelings for. The differences between how she interacts with B’Ellana vs. how she generally acts around Seven were clearly demarcated in this show, at least in my view. Anyways, I digressed a bit here, but like I was saying, B’Ellana opens her eyes and sees Janeway. She is relieved to be back, and openly expresses this sentiment by giving a warm, loving hug to the captain. I believe this is the most vulnerable we have ever seen B’Ellana, and it was most becoming. I had hoped that the writers would explore this newly transformed, kinder, gentler B’Ellana in later episodes, but unfortunately, we hardly saw her the rest of the season. Why the writers systematically ignore such a complex, fascinating character is beyond me.
In the final analysis, "Barge of the Dead" was one of the best episodes this year, particularly given the dearth of worthy, thought-provoking shows this season. It was a very moving, insightful, intricate examination of a very complicated character. Which is why I’m giving it a very enthusiastic four comm badges out of four.
Cheers!
