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delta-queerdrant · 2 years ago

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mildly objectionable men (Prime Factors, s1 e10)

An (inverted) Prime Directive episode! Hurrah, but also oh dear, I shall be forced to articulate an opinion about the Prime Directive. We'll see how that shakes out.

I see "Prime Factors" as a sister episode to "Eye of the Needle." For the second time, our intrepid voyagers encounter a possible shortcut to the Alpha Quadrant. Here our source material is not Gilligan's Island but The Odyssey, with the Sikarians figuring as Lotos Eaters whose cultural values are anathema to Janeway's Starfleet principles. Unlike "Eye of the Needle," where representatives of two warring societies find common ground but are thwarted by material realities, Voyager and Sikaris clash in fundamental ways, leading to the breakdown of diplomatic and crew relationships. It's a fun little tale of political intrigue that ends with a literal bang.

Before we get into it, I must voice my complaints about the cold open, in which the breakdown of Starfleet v. Maquis distinctions is prefigured by hot goss about the "Delaney Sisters," who can apparently be dated as a pair, because that is extremely normal. As a bonus, Jenny Delaney is slut-shamed for being "voracious" and accidentally pushing Harry out of a gondola (which to be fair is a funny image).

Why is this show so awkward and adolescent in its treatment of romance and dating? I am so embarrassed for the grown men who wrote this script. Like, clearly this is all supposed to be cute and jokey, but it's predicated on the fantasy of sexy twin ladies who could never exist, no one behaves like that. If it is indeed a whole-cloth fantasy, then our heroes are just weirdo creeps who enjoy objectifying women because they happen to be hot twins. Ahhhh it's so bad.

It's also weird because this episode features two fairly compelling male-female relationships. Political philosophy and shore leave - let's talk about it!

Harry get a little frisson of romance in this episode, leading to the discovery of the Sikarian tech that might be their ticket home. It's slight but cute; Harry has strong band kid energy while Eudana exudes theater kid; together they resemble high school seniors who have snuck off after a performance of Into the Woods to talk about poetry and awkwardly make out behind the auditorium. (Alas, their love won't survive graduation - he's got a full ride to the state university while she's off to Wesleyan.)

Meanwhile Janeway has her weird diplomatic two-step with Gath, who brings an apt European perviness to their interactions. When they're hanging out on Sikaris, we get to see Janeway in street clothes for the second time - a very cute nineties-church-lady jumper and softened hairdo with little ear tendrils. It's the first time we've seen her in a casual social situation, and it's extremely winning.

I'm a little perplexed by her interactions with Gath. My read is that, at first, she enjoys pal-ing around with him in a totally nonsexual, captain/planetary official way, as she seems truly put out whenever he gets flirtatious or grabby. It's well-acted on both sides - we've all known that guy - but there's a lack of calculation on Janeway's part that feels a little off. Not to get all captain-blaming, but Janeway seems like someone who would see Gath's boundary-pushing a mile off and be a lot more strategic about their interactions. There's a willingness to trust here that I personally find hard to relate to! Perhaps we can chalk this up to a lack of toxic masculinity on 24th-century Earth, but there is so much toxic masculinity elsewhere in this franchise that I find this a dubious thesis. I dunno. On some level Janeway's behavior is actually very well-adjusted but I gotta wonder if a female writer would have produced this script.

Gath won't give up the tech, so a conspiracy is hatched to trade covertly for it and Tuvok gets involved, reading Janeway's reluctance as an analog to "Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?" It's fun to see a Starfleet-Maquis alliance and a growing political consciousness among the crew (even if it gets shot down hard in this episode).

So, politics. I should say first that I think the Prime Directive is probably a good idea. If Starfleet is going to swan around being Bad Anthropologists, they sure as heck had better not be colonizers. That said, there is some very weird logic baked into the Prime Directive - the idea that civilizations evolve in a linear fashion and that only "lesser" civilizations are susceptible to meaningful interference, which is hot garbage. The Prime Directive works better if formulated as, "Let's stay no-contact unless we are both riding around in starships and can't avoid each other; too much damage has been done in the past."

Of course, this episode is not about the Prime Directive. It is about being a guest and following the rules of your host. That the Sikarians' rule resembles the Prime Directive is interesting - the Federation is happy to hoover up other peoples' cultural and technological knowledge with minimal concern about their own "natural development" being disrupted. Still, it's not really central to the episode; Janeway seems inclined to follow the Sikarians' laws regardless of whether she agrees with them.

Politically, it makes sense to follow other peoples' laws, because it is polite, and helps build relationships, and makes it more likely that they will follow your rules in turn. For Voyager, little of this applies as they are travelers and, in the majority of cases, are not intending to develop lasting relationships.

For her part, Janeway seems to think that the question of following her host's laws is an ethical question, which drives me bonkers. Laws and governments are not inherently good! Why should Voyager side with the "legitimate" government rather than with a citizen who wants to defy its rules? There are pragmatic reasons to do so, but to privilege systems of power that you never consented to is deeply illogical (and not terribly consistent with Voyager's behavior over the next season or two). Either Janeway is more concerned about the report she'll have to write when she gets back to the Alpha Quadrant than the wellbeing of her crew, or she is a lawful neutral nightmare who believes that authority should always be obeyed.

Certainly there are people that do feel that way about authority, and to be clear, it's not as if Jaret Otel, who is willing to covertly trade the tech, is some kind of radical hero - he's just angling for power himself. But as bystanders we super don't care which of these mildly objectionable men has political power on Sikaris, and it's hard to see what Janeway's "principles" add up to.

By contrast, I do like Torres' show of integrity at the end - she does have to maintain relationships on Voyager, and coming clean about her involvement in the conspiracy is meaningful, even if, like Tuvok, she doesn't necessarily regret what she did.

As Tuvok says, "My logic was not in error, but I was." My takeaway from the end is that Janeway is the one who messed up, overriding the will of her crew with her rulebound logic, but I'm not sure if that's what the show wants me to think!

It's a dynamic episode with a lot going on, and I did really enjoy it. 4/5 slices of pecan pie.

#star trek voyager #star trek #prime directive #science fiction political philosophy corner

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