The Good: Acting, Moments of character, Themes
The Bad: Murky character moments that make the
The Basics: When Seven Of Nine recalls being assaulted by an alien arms merchant, she and the Doctor must figure out what is real from her memories and what is not in “Retrospect.”
One of the good aspects of the Star Trek franchise is how the series explores important issues both social and psychological. Even Star Trek: Voyager managed to do that from time to time. “Retrospect,” one of the neglected episodes of the series explores recovered memories and how tricky they can be.
Unfortunately, like so many episodes of Star Trek Voyager that muddy up a psychological or social issue with a stellar phenomenon, “Retrospect” takes a complicated psychological issue and makes it into a problematic Doctor episode. Instead of telling the story of Seven Of Nine and her difficulties with getting in touch with her repressed memories, “Retrospect” quickly becomes about how the Doctor encourages Seven Of Nine to become angry at the guilt he assumes applies to an alien.
Janeway purchases a cannon capable of punching through Hirogen armor from an alien, Kovin, and requests Seven Of Nine assist Kovin in integrating the isokinetic cannon. Seven Of Nine and Kovin have a physical altercation, which leaves Kovin shocked and Seven Of Nine asserting that Kovin was responsible for violating her. As an investigation begins, the Doctor becomes convinced that Seven Of Nine is transferring her memories of the trauma of being assimilated to Kovin.
As the Doctor applies his new psychological subroutine, he and Seven Of Nine explore her feelings. She has a memory of Kovin restraining her and performing surgery on her. As the investigation deepens, the Doctor and Janeway have to question the veracity of the uncovered memories.
Jeri Ryan’s performance in “Retrospect” is one of the first that actually allows her to showcase some real talent. Long before it is made explicit through flashbacks and an actual diagnosis, Jeri Ryan’s performance indicates a severe discomfort. Seven Of Nine has an adverse reaction to being scanned by the Doctor. Ryan twitches slightly as the Doctor scans Seven Of Nine and the progression of her uncomfortable expressions is very genuine.
“Retrospect” has some odd character moments, especially for an episode that addresses false memory syndrome. Tuvok appears only at the midpoint of the episode, as the Doctor rallies around Seven Of Nine’s claims. That Tuvok is not the character testing the weapons on the surface of the planet instantly stands out. Furthermore, the fact that Tuvok does not offer to mind meld with either Kovin or Seven Of Nine to try to determine the truth seems odd.
That the Doctor so adamantly fights on behalf of Seven Of Nine’s recovered memories is also odd. Given problems like what the Doctor experienced in “Darkling” (reviewed here!), that neither Janeway nor Torres leaps to the idea that the Doctor’s new programming might be malfunctioning is absolutely ludicrous. The change in focus from Seven Of Nine – who barely appears in the latter half of the episode – to the Doctor takes the focus away from the problems of exploring repressed memories and makes it yet another episode that is essentially a gimmick. This is less a psychological episode, ultimately, and another “problem with the Doctor” story.
In addition to Jeri Ryan’s performance, “Retrospect” succeeds on screen (if not in script) by the performance of Michael Horton. Horton plays Kovin and he makes the arms merchant seem realistic, especially when he plays the character in a completely frustrated way. Horton makes a potentially monolithic character one who is easy to empathize with. Given how the alien race in “Retrospect” is seen only this once, it is much of Horton’s performance that defines the complexities of that culture and they fit the themes of the episode perfectly.
Still, “Retrospect” is more problematic than it is worthwhile; writers Bryan Fuller and Lisa Link should have picked the story they wanted to tell and stuck to it. Even the resolution further muddies up the story and diminishes the use of the episode outside the narrow confines of this series. In other words, “Retrospect” guts itself of telling a useful psychological story because it does not commit to either of the attempted stories it tries to tell.
For other works with Michael Horton, visit my reviews of:
Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek: First Contact
Dances With Wolves
[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Voyager - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the gamechanging middle season here!
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4.5/10
For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!
© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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