"Fair Haven"
Okay, I'll start off by saying that this episode left me with
a lot of
complicated and mixed feelings. For this reason alone, I found it to be
one of the more interesting shows of this season.
First off, I thought that more than anything else, it was
very, very sad.
To the point that I was left with tears in my eyes at the end. The
sadness stems from Janeway's dilemma, and her plight in general- being
alone, stuck light years away from home, isolated, etc... It was all very
pathetic, Janeway's loneliness and desperation I mean. I'm not sure I
like how the writers are portraying her, especially in this episode, but
perhaps it was inevitable. Perhaps someone in her predicament, with her
very unique position as a captain and leader, was bound to get caught up
in a situation like the one we got to witness. Though I'm still very
opposed to this holo-romance, its not for the reasons you might think.
I know realistically that she will never be paired with her
true soulmate,
Seven, but I oppose this new relationship for psychological reasons.
Janeway's mental stability, or in this case, lack thereof, is becoming
increasingly more disturbing to me. Since I am a psychology person, that
aspect of my personality colors much of my views of the world/people. To
that end, I find that Janeway's mental health has been increasingly
deteriorating in the past year, culminating in her now pursuing a relationship
with a non-entity. Let's review, shall we. We see glimpses of her
distress last year in "night", where she is wracked with despair and
guilt over being lost in the delta quadrant. Then we see her reckless,
irrational behavior in Dark Frontier, and this year, we see her practically come
undone in Equinox. Now, she is having an affair with a hologram. See
what I mean, our beloved Captain is emotionally and psychologically in peril.
I can't say that its all that surprising, given the
situation she is in, and given her extreme sense of loneliness and isolation.
Hence, why I found tonight's show more sad than repulsive, which is what I kept
saying I felt about the premise- repulsed. I don't know why, but its really
affected me in a way I certainly didn't expect. It left me feeling both
very sorry for the captain, and at the same time, very worried and concerned for
her mental well being. Once again, I don't know if I like how they are
depicting Janeway- as
unbalanced and irrational- but alas this seems to be how the writers are
envisioning her recently. Like it or hate it, I must say that it
certainly isn't dull! Janeway has always been a very complex and
fascinating character to me, and now, even more so.
Finally, I thought it was very interesting that all the
characteristics
she programmed into the hologram were qualities that Seven possesses in spades.
Coincidence? I think not. I think our captain is either in
denial about her true desires, or else is denying herself true happiness
with a real person because she is a member of her crew, not to mention
rather naive and vulnerable in terms of romantic entanglements. I thought
this scene was rather interesting, though as Janeway was programming the
hologram to her specifications, I felt chills go down my spine. That was
very scary and disturbing, and it certainly left me with a great sense of
unease.
For all the thought and discussion, not to mention conflicting
emotions
this episode generated in me, I can't give it any less than three comm
badges out of four. Cheers! Pooneh
