"Good Shepherd"
comments? pforooghi@compusmart.ab.ca
I must say that I did not find "Good Shepherd" terribly interesting nor did it reveal anything new about our beloved Captain. The series has already established Janeway as the matriarch who takes her crewmembers under her wing and tries to help them flourish aboard her ship. Obviously, the best example of this trait has been illustrated to excellent effect in her relationship with Seven. So, to see her once again in mother hen mode was nothing surprising or particularly enlightening to me. At the same time, the show did serve to reiterate what a sweet, generous, and utterly classy woman Janeway is. But again, I already knew this, as did anyone who is a fan of the show. Perhaps they just wanted to remind us of Janeway’s virtues, since she has not been portrayed as terribly compassionate or empathetic this year. I will add that of the crewmembers she was trying to reach out to, I found the cosmologist, Harrad(?), the most obnoxious. I kept thinking that he was one sheep she should have allowed to stray from the flock. Honestly, at several points during the course of the episode, I had an urge to smack the jerk! I don’t know how Janeway was able to restrain herself from doing just that. She is a much better woman than I am! LOL I couldn’t believe how patient and tolerant Janeway was of his insufferable, very off-putting attitude. The guy had a chip on his shoulder the size of Voyager itself. I also couldn’t believe how Janeway allowed him to get away with such insolent, condescending, and downright rude behavior towards her. I suppose she was so willing to take whatever abuse he was dishing out because she wanted him to ultimately feel like he belonged on the ship. But fitting in should not include insulting the captain every chance one gets, so I found it difficult to excuse or justify his behavior. The other two "misfits" were sweet and endearing in their neurotic, insecure, and awkward manner, so I found them much more sympathetic and likable than the very arrogant Harrod. I suppose he did try to redeem himself at the end, but even then I was not convinced. His gesture seemed more forced and contrived than genuine.
Overall, the episode didn’t offer much in the way of character development or excitement for that matter, but I will not bestow it one comm badge for the simple reason that I love Janeway. I’ve always said that she is the perfect combination of masculine and feminine characteristics- Tough, fearless, strong, forceful, yet gentle, kind, sensitive, and loving. As usual, all of these traits were strongly present in our good shepherd. Therefore, I couldn’t bring myself to give a Janeway episode a low rating because I enjoy watching her in action tremendously, even if the episode she is involved in is rather mundane and lackluster. So, for my love and loyalty of the Janeway character, I will award this episode two comm badges, though it is grudgingly given. They could have come up with something much better than this for our favorite Captain, especially on the heels of last week’s brilliant show. That’s one of the biggest problems with Voyager- inconsistent writing. One week, we are treated to a great show, the next, a dud. Unfortunately, "Good Shepherd" falls under the latter category. Its only saving grace was the incandescent presence of Kathryn Janeway.
Cheers!
