Favorite Son
Stardate: 50732.4
Original Airdate: March 19, 1997
By Christina Luckings
The Story
Voyager is mapping the sector, when Kim experiences ‘deja-vu’ over
a trinary star, and a ship hails them, welcoming them to Nasari
space. Everything seems fine and friendly, but Kim insists they
are hostile and takes over weapons, firing on the other vessel.
In the ensuing battle, Torres is badly injured before Voyager
inflicts enough damage to drive the Nasari away. Kim insists
that he detected them charging weapons, that he knew the whole
welcome was a trick, but cannot explain how. Janeway suspends
him from duty while Tuvok studies the sensor logs, just in case.
Down in Sickbay, Torres has stopped breathing. Kes and the EMH
are working to snatch her from the jaws of death when Harry comes
in to have a cut treated. He blames himself for her injuries,
and is losing the certainty he had had up on the bridge. His
dreams are full of images, including his mother taking care of
him while he was ill, but he wakes up when she tells him that
she is suspending him from duty. He goes to bathe his face and
discovers some freckles on his forehead. The EMH cannot find
a cause, but knows that it isn’t contagious. Scans reveal
that Harry’s blood chemistry is changing too, and he worries
that his recent behaviour might be being caused by the same thing
that has caused the spots. Torres awakes and thinks that they
make him look cute, like a targ. She doesn’t blame him
for her injuries, which makes him feel a little better.
In Captain Janeway’s ready room, Ensign Kim takes full
responsibility for his actions of the previous day, and the Captain
tells him that he was right, the Nasari had been charging weapons.
Now all they need to do is work out how he knew, and if it is
connected to what is happening to him. Tuvok interrupts their
discussion to announce three more Nasari ships headed towards
them. Kim and the Captain go to the bridge, and the Ensign looks
at a star chart, then suggests that they head towards one particular
star system. As he has been right so far, they set a course.
Kim recognises the planet as Taresia, an image from his dream.
A ship comes from there and disables all three Nasari ships before
hailing Voyager and welcoming Harry home.
‘Captain's log 50732.4. The Taresians have escorted us
back to their homeworld so we can continue to investigate their
claim that Ensign Kim is a member of their race.’
Lyris, the leader of the group, welcomes Harry back formally,
and explains that he was conceived on Taresia, then the embryo
was taken to Earth by his father and secretly implanted in his
human mother. His genes were programmed to bring him back one
way or another, along with various racial traits – customs,
appearance, language. He is quickly surrounded by a bevy of beautiful
women, all competing for his attention. Paris talks to the only
male Taresian present – Taymon, another recent returnee – and
learns that the population is 90% female. Meanwhile, Lyris continues
to explain about Harry’s inheritance to Janeway and Tuvok,
including an instinctive distrust of the Nasari. She recommends
that they stay until the three ships get fed up waiting and go
away again.
Janeway and Tuvok take a sample of Taresian genes to Voyager
to compare with Kim’s, and the EMH confirms the match.
Programming them with specific knowledge is an amazing feat of
genetic engineering, but possible. As the Nasari only seem to
be hostile to Kim, the Captain decides to see if she can negotiate
some kind of truce while Harry is on Taresia. Down on the planet,
Harry is talking with Taymon, exchanging stories of how they
found their way home. He is introduced to Malia, Taymon’s
first wife. He will be marrying three women that night, and encourages
Harry to indulge himself while he is there. Eliann, a brunette,
begins massaging Harry’s shoulders and telling him that
he could be happy with them. She suggests that he change into
something more comfortable, and he strokes her cheek with the
back of his hand – the Taresian way of saying ‘thank
you’.
Talks are going well with Captain Alben, and he tells Janeway
that he doubts Kim will be returning to Voyager. No one who comes
home to Taresia ever leaves, and he will fire on any ship carrying
a Taresian. Voyager returns to the planet to discover a network
of satellites has been activated, generating an impenetrable
polaron grid. Their communications are also being blocked.
It is evening on Taresia, and in the middle of a circle of women,
and Harry, Taymon and his three wives are going through the joining
ceremony. They paint circles on his temples and throat before
blindfolding him and tying his hands behind his back and leading
him away. After the ceremony, Harry tries contacting Voyager,
but Lyris suggests that they are still talking with the Nasari,
and tells him that he is welcome to stay the night.
On Voyager, the defensive grid is proving difficult to breach,
and the EMH has important information for the Captain and First
Officer. It turns out that an inspection of the transporter logs
have shown that Kim only acquired the Taresian DNA on or shortly
after stardate 50698, on an away mission to collect vorillium.
The conclusion is that his transformation is the result of a
retrovirus, and that the Taresians story is a lie.
Eliann shows Harry to his room, and massages essence of rekka
flowers into his forehead to help him sleep. He dreams of his
shipmates, and his mother tells him that he knows where his true
home is, before Eliann and Rinna begin making love to him. As
Eliann puts the blindfold over his eyes, he wakes up to discover
the two women really are in his room. They insist that he has
a duty to stay and pass on his genes, but he still wants to return
to Voyager. After thinking for a moment, he kisses them both,
then invites Eliann to sit in a chair while he ties her up and
gags her, suggesting that it could be exciting, and they did
say that they want to make him happy. Rinna starts to untie Eliann
so he knocks her out with a candlestick and makes his way to
Taymon’s room. There is no reply so he forces his way in
to discover the young man’s desiccated remains. Malia comes
in and Harry demands the truth from her. It turns out that they
arrange for alien males to be transformed into Taresians, so
that they can extract enough genetic material for conception.
There are no males, because the process kills them. Harry takes
Malia hostage.
Up on Voyager, they have found away through the planetary defence
by reconfiguring the shields, but they’ll only have a few
seconds to find Harry before the patrol ship catches up with
them. Chakotay is at ops, doing the scans, while Kim is fighting
Lyris and a group of women armed with staves. As they surround
him, and Lyris tells him that he has nowhere to go, the transporter
is activated and he is snatched from the middle of the circle.
Harry may be safe, but there are three Nasari ships coming from
one side and the Taresian patrol ship from the other. Fortunately
the Nasari are more interested in getting at their old enemy
than Voyager, and Paris is able to pilot them away from the conflict
safely.
Now fully human again, Kim is telling Neelix the story of Odysseus
and the Sirens as an explanation for what had happened. He had
found the notion of being something more than just Ensign Kim
somewhat exciting, and wishes he could be more confident with
women, like Tom is. Paris doesn’t see what’s so bad
about being himself and claims that Harry is his role model,
reciting his virtues reliability and politeness as they leave
the mess hall together.
Review:
It had to be young Harry as the centre of this story. No other
main character would have had the innocence, the belief that
he was still the Someone Special that his mother had always told
her only child that he was. This time though, he doesn’t
fall for the wrong woman. Despite their near-slavish attention
to him, he never totally succumbs. Baby wants to go home to Mama,
or at least the nearest equivalent – Kathryn Janeway.
It could have been a very sexual episode. There’s lots
of handling, and even a touch of bondage (gasp), but somehow
it never quite gets there. There’s something slightly antiseptic
and false about it. I blame the nice tidy sets and the small
number of people we get to see. If this society is so desperate
for males that they go to all the trouble of booby-trapping distant
planets and altering aliens, I’d have liked to know why,
and how they got into this state in the first place.
Technobabble gripe – just what was the Taresian defence?
One moment it’s a polaron grid whose density is too high
to penetrate, then it’s a tachyon grid that can have holes
smaller than a shuttlecraft punched in it, and finally the whole
ship can push through with just a change to the shields. Please!
All in all, it’s a nice insight into Harry, his attitudes,
his relationship with his mother and now his Captain. The final
scene with Tom tells a lot too. As for the rest, well, average.
I suppose the men may enjoy watching the lovely ladies, but that
doesn’t really do it for me.
Grade: 4/10
Cast:
Kate Mulgrew as Kathryn Janeway
Robert Beltran as Chakotay
Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres
Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris
Ethan Phillips as Neelix
Robert Picardo as The Doctor
Tim Russ as Tuvok
Garrett Wang as Harry Kim
Jennifer Lien as Kes
Guest Cast:
Patrick Fabian as Taymon
Kelli Kirkland as Rinna
Kristanna Loken as Malia
Deborah May as Lyris
Cari Shayne as Eliann
Creative Staff:
Director: Marvin V. Rush
Written By: Lisa Klink
