1.14 — “Faces”
Plot: Calamity strikes when Torres, Paris, and a third crewperson are captured on an away mission by the Vidiians, the scalawag genius vivisectionists who were last seen thieving Neelix’s lungs in VOY 1.5, “Phage.” This time they have sucked the Klingon DNA out of Torres and used it to create two separate B’Elanna Torreses; one wholly human, one wholly Klingon. Hot damn! Those Vidiians.
Thoughts: I feel like I’ve been writing a lot of criticism that deconstructs Trek episodes from the perspective of gender or race, and I’m getting a little tired of it. Still. Seriously, Star Trek? There’s a distinctly eugenics flavor to this split personality story.
Let’s state the obvious–Klingons and humans can interbreed. Doesn’t that, by definition, make them the same species? While there are cultural differences, the civilizations have attained equivalent heights of artistic and technological achievement.
Ah, but B’Elanna’s human blood is at war with her Klingon blood! The softness and intelligence she inherited from her father, you see, is basically incompatible with the animalistic, aggressive nature inherited from her mother. While there is an obvious need for reconciliation, it’s an uphill battle. It’s just so unnatural!
This premise is an insult to biracial people. All people, actually. Remember how the original Klingons, Kor, Kang, and Kolos, were so cultured and urbane? Now that Michael Dorn is the face of the Klingons, Klingons are being written as if they were gorillas. Funny that. Worf’s relationship with Alexander was a much better representation of the conflict between human and Klingon heritage than this episode’s fantasy of distilled racial purity. Sulan actually calls the Klingon B’Elanna a “purified Klingon specimen.” I think this episode must have been produced by refugees from the Eugenics Wars.
If I am super generous and overlook this, what’s left? A makeup show, in which they have fun applying different creature makeup to regular cast members. TOS did this, but waited until third season in “The Enterprise Incident,” which had a real story justification and was used to humanize the Romulans. We’ve seen Kira Nerys transformed into a Cardassian and Deanna Troi into a Romulan, all in espionage stories patterned off “The Enterprise Incdient.” I think we can explore Torres’ troubled past without scapegoating her ancestry.
1 out of 5 gratuitously gory facemasks.
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