Recently started a rewatch of Voyager that feels more like a first watch because I think the last time I watched the episodes was when they were airing originally.
So, going along, skipped an episode somewhere, and currently on S1E14, Jetrel.
And the titular character of the episode seems familiar, so I go look him up on IMDb. There is promptly screeching, and not good screeching. Jetrel is played by James Sloyan. Who also plays Doctor Mora on DS9. And so far is 2 out of 2 in “I would like to string this character up by his entrails”.
Neelix, however, is a delightful little shit who tells stories with a pointed moral to them while dealing with Jetrel, and deliberately needling him. Since he was cajoled into having to deal with said asswipe.
I remain unconvinced this character isn’t lying about something somewhere.
Ah! That’s probably the lie. He’s showing signs of something being wrong, and I’m laying bets it’s exactly what he says he’s searching for a cure to. Which, even if he does want to help the others who have been effected by his damned weapon, he should have been honest with someone on the crew that he’s not just doing this for others, but for himself. If not immediately, than at this point, where he stumbles and almost falls and it’s clear something is wrong.
All he does is brush it off as tired and excited. Hrumph.
(I can understand that people do that in real life, and for so many different reasons. It still makes me glare at the screen when it’s part of a plot line.)
… Just because he’s angry at himself for what he percieves as cowerdice (whatever anyone else thinks of it) does not mean he can’t also be jusitfiably angry with the man who developed the weapon which wiped out a city and his family along with it.
*thumps head on desk for a moment* Hello, I have certain things that frustrate the fuck me when they show up in my fiction, whether they’re realistic or not.
Sometimes, for all that it is a good and useful ideal, the level of forgiveness for wrongs done on Star Trek bothers me. A lot of times because there is forgiveness without those who have done wrong having made a concerted effort to change their behavior. Or, sometimes, any effort.
And for me, there is a limit to forgiveness. That limit is when those who have actively done harm have not made an effort to change those behaviors which have done that harm.
When someone continues to emotionally abuse their victim, and their victim forgives them for it. Repeatedly, even. (DS9: Odo. Julian.)
When someone who has caused the deaths of millions justifies themselves by saying it is all for science, claims to have no regrets, and instead of trying to provide assistance for the living, has the unmitigated arrogance to attempt to ressurect their victims to put them through the pain and trauma of learning that their people are subjugated, their world is destroyed, and it has been fifteen long years since thier death. (Voyager: see also this entire reblog chain)
Just.
Everything is forgiven, because one must forgive the unforgiveable. It doesn’t matter how much harm has been done, what harm continues to be done, forgiveness is all important. Because you can’t move on without forgiving those who have harmed and continue to harm you.
And. NO. No.
One can move on without forgiving those who have done one harm. One can grow and heal without having to forgive. FORGIVENESS IS NOT MANDATORY FOR RECOVERY. And I will yell this at my screen while rewatching various Star Trek for a while.
There's a Mirror on the Wall 