2.16 — ”Meld”

2.16 — ”Meld”

Plot: A senseless murder aboard Voyager leaves Tuvok rattled and desperate to understand the mindset of the killer.

Thoughts: This entry in the recent parade of maddening Voyager episodes pricks me close to home. My work touches on public policy related to criminal defendants, convicted persons, and civil detainees. Depictions that further misconceptions about this population are unhelpful. In “Meld” we have an episode which, instead of honestly examining the human condition, distorts and obfuscates human behavior for a salacious purpose.

Let’s begin with how strange that there isn’t more reaction to crewman Suder’s homicide, when we know that in Star Trek crimes such as murder were eliminated from human society well over 100 years earlier. Nor is there any more criminal insanity, since “Whom Gods Destroy” in the era of Original Trek. The Federation, we know, would no sooner dream of using the death penalty in the 24th century as Canada or Western Europe would dream of using it today. “Meld” ignores this history, and Gene Roddenberry’s premise of depicting a more evolved society, to advance a spurious idea of criminality.

In “Meld,” evil is presented not as a thing done by ordinary people in certain contexts, but as a foreign, unknowable act performed by a person, Suder, whose affect and behavior are so far removed from to normal range of humanity that he might as well be possessed by a demon. This demonic otherness is so infectious that it leaps across the mind meld barrier to possess Tuvok with its malignant, unknowable dark magic.

The more prosaic truth is evil is done by people, and all people are persons. If you “other” evil, and the people accused as perpetrators, you have no chance of understanding it, or having true empathy for others or yourself. It’s the kind of mindset that justifies violence and inhumane retribution; as if furthering justice is akin to fighting a battle against Orcs, instead of looking for root causes of behavior within us, and within society.

This kind of stuff makes me annoyed.

I like Brad Dourif though.

1 out of 5 outer space spanners.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Meld_(episode)