VOY: Revulsion

[bronnt]

http://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/v873.php

This episode is buoyed up by a few elements. The first is that there's a guest star giving a fantastic and memorable performance. The second is that's continuing to address the Seven of Nine character arc, and Jeri Ryan's acting is also excellent. The third is that it acknowledges several other ongoing story arcs, such as the Doctor's continued growth and also the Torres/Paris relationship. But there's a ton of stuff dragging it down.

I seriously wonder how much of the Harry Kim = sexually frightening dynamic was intentional by the writers, and how much of that I've absorbed from Chuck's reviews. THIS episode actually made me feel squicky. Seven of Nine, at this point, has the emotional age of a child and the social awareness to match. Intellectually she is, of course, a genius, but she's also still recovering from being assimilated, which is like coming out of the most sadistically abusive relationship you can imagine. I would argue that, at this point, Seven is too damaged and lacking in emotional maturity to enter a consensual relationship.

And it's not just that Harry finds her attractive and interesting-that's just admiring her as an individual, which might be healthy for someone still learning to be an individual. It's that he's actively going to pursue a relationship with her in this episode. I find it absolutely off-putting. Of course, I think even Harry realized this when she just said, "Okay, let's bone," without demonstrating any sense of self-regard. It's telling that he stops pursuing when, a few weeks later, she's stepped forward into her more-typical characterization of being bold, assertive, and full of self-confidence.

That scene in sickbay where he's talking to Tom felt like a drastic case of missing the point. Harry was right in that Seven was feeling vulnerable and Tom's blasé comments were insensitive (of course, Tom lacking bedside manner shouldn't really be a surprise, since he never studied medicine). Harry says, "Hey, she's an actual woman," instead of accurately pointing out, "Hey, she's basically a kid because she's just learning about herself and how to deal with individuality." It makes me wonder if Harry Kim isn't suffering from some manner of Oedipal complex and just wants a nice pair of boobs to comfort him.

[CharlesPhipps]

Honestly, even Garrett Wang goes with the idea Harry is (for some reason) a closeted gay man or at least bisexual and secretly in love with Tom Paris.

I'm also inclined to think Seven is perfectly capable of making decisions for herself sexually. It's just she doesn't have the same boundaries or attachment to sexuality that humans do.

[SlackerinDeNile]

I hated this episode, I don't personally consider the guest actor to be 'fantastic and memorable' but that's probably more to do with me hating the character he was playing. The actor playing him was trying his best to make the material work, but the fact that this ship has a sapient hologram that can just go off the rails, turn psychotic, kill its humanoid masters and just do whatever it feels like is really stupid, even at this point 'AI is a crapshoot' stories had gotten really tired.

As for your points about Seven and Harry in this episode, I don't think there's really anything I can add that you or Chuck haven't said already.
As for Harry's character in general and how he was handled by different writers over the course of the show, I have no idea what went on behind the scenes but I know that from the beginning the lead writers wanted Tom and Harry to be this shows O'brien and Bashir and to quickly develop a bromance but I have no idea where Harry's social and sexual awkwardness came from or how it even started in the first place. I know Chuck likes to joke about Harry's sexual awkwardness and his closeted love\lust (I seriously can't tell which one he's feeling) for Tom, but I find it hard to disagree with Chuck that it is there in the show, why did the writers do this? Was it an accident? Was it a potential character arc they wanted to explore but weren't allowed to? It's a mystery that most of us, including myself, don't really want to think about.

Given Garrett Wang's rumored doormat personality and odd relationship with Kate Mulgrew, as well as how he was regularly disrespected by the writers and some other show staff, I wonder how much of this was done just to irritate or embarrass him as well as how much of Garrett's personality made it into Harry.

[FaxModem1]

Well, the thing about Kim and Paris's bromance, in comparison to Obrien and Bashir's, is that O'Brien really didn't evolve a lot from season 1 to season 7, while Bashir was all about growing up and maturing, namely by he stopped being such an entitled brat and evolving. But I credit that more to his interactions with Garak than with O'Brien.

In contrast, Paris was originally meant to be a rogue, who grew out of it, and matured as time went on, while Harry just sort of stayed the same person. You can tell that initially he was supposed to be wet behind the ears and eventually become his own person, but without that, he really isn't a character. Much in the same way that Pavel Chekov is the ship's kid, and without that, he's just someone who references Russia constantly. Harry Kim is just someone who is 'the inexperienced young ensign', and they didn't have a plan for him.

[CharlesPhipps]

I agree. I think a lot of Harry Kim's personality can be summarized as the fact they tried to use him as the "naive newcomer" of the series who, invariably, got railroaded or shafted. I recall Will Wheaton's Episode Guide to TNG where he said even at age 14 he was seriously annoyed he was supposed to be completely awkward around girls to the point of incapacitation in the "Justice" episode. Since Tom was supposed to be the dashing ladies man, they always wrote Harry to any plot where he's expected to be the Butt Monkey.

They never really evolved his character or gave him something to do so he was an Ensign for seven years.

[bronnt]

I'm also inclined to think Seven is perfectly capable of making decisions for herself sexually. It's just she doesn't have the same boundaries or attachment to sexuality that humans do.

I think that's questionable. Most people her age have grown through adolescence where they have the beginning stages of forming attachments, friendships, and relationships. She, instead, was strapped to her parents with no other meaningful relationships until she was assimilated as a girl. She doesn't have any social skills because she was stripped of her individuality at the time in her life she'd have been developing those skills.

I have a tough time viewing her as anything but a victim of serial abuse, at least through her first several episodes. She's still traumatized through it. I do believe that, as she gains experience working with others as an individual, she develops that proper sense of self which allows her to form attachments. And I'm not sure I buy the blasé attitude about sex here-as Chuck points out, in the following episode she expresses extreme trepidation over such a routine task as eating. I think she'd have had similar misgivings about sexual contact at this point. Perhaps later on she might view it with a more detached lens, the same attitude she expressed toward many other experiences.

[Madner Kami]

Just a little detail: Unimatrix Zero. She has been in a 6 years long relationship already, even though it's technically kinda imaginary and debateable how much it formed her subconious.

[GandALF]

It's fairly obvious that Harry doesn't lust after a 3D borg waifu like some sort of normie. He clearly has more enlightened tastes.

[J!!]

if i recall correctly, the stated reason for the silver catsuit is to help her skin grow back, meaning that harry wants to have sex with a girl with no skin from the neck down.


i will say two things in defense of the indefensible costume though:

first is that the rigid structures visible through the material make it immediately clear that she's supposed to be some sort of cyborg or robot or something. without that, a viewer unfamiliar with the show or the character could be forgiven for assuming that she's just got some sort of prosthetic on her face, like the one geordie wears.

second is that, at lease in my opinion, it seems fully in character at this point for her to be walking around essentially naked. after all, nudity taboos are a cultural attitude from weak, inferior, individualistic cultures; so why should she comply with them? and if she's making some of the people around her uncomfortable, well so much the better, because fuck them for taking her out of the collective. they can just learn to adapt.

i have no explanation for the high heels.

[J!!]

incidentally, regarding the reviewer chuck cited who assumed the episode had been written by 'adolescent men' because of 7of9's portrayal, i came across this bit on wikipedia:

Ryan said that she had several favourite Seven of Nine episodes, including "The Gift", "The Raven", "Revulsion", "Hunters", "Prey" and the two-part "The Killing Game".

which i think just goes to show just how subjective such things really are.