3x20 Favorite Son

[6.0/10] Harry Kim is unexpectedly sympathetic here. Who among us hasn’t secretly wished that we were special at some point in their lives? Who hasn't wanted to be Superman, or Harry Potter, or even if it’s a deconstruction of that very idea, Peter Quill? So when Harry has reason to believe he isn’t merely ordinary, but rather, there’s something unique, almost magical about him, you get why it would be enticing for him. To be a nondescript ensign, and discover that, in line with one of Star Trek’s spiritual cousins, you have a “special destiny,” would be a momentous thing.

Which is all to say that I like the idea here. What if Harry Kim were “king for a day”? When Voyager enters a new region of space, the stalwart ensigns starts having premonitions, instinctual understandings that a random ship is not friend, but foe, and a salmon-like urge to return to a particular planet in the sector. It turns out, ostensibly, that he is the progeny of the T’Karians, a species that sends their embryos out across the galaxy to meld with the species of the universe, but implants them with an urge to return from whence they came. (Hello Constable Odo fans!)

So when this run-of-the-mill junior officer finds himself feted as a veritable god by a cadre of beautiful women on what appears to be his home planet, he’s tempted by it. It fulfills this psychological need for him -- to be the special person that his parents always claimed he would become since he was their “miracle baby.” It’s a compelling throughline for “Favorite Son”, one that strives to humanize Harry, and give him more dimension than just the wide-eyed ensign who occasionally comes up with a way to out-science the latest predicament.

There’s just one problem: this episode is straight up bizarre sometimes.

Harry’s closing monologue gives away the game. This is meant to be a sci-fi rendition of the tale of the sirens from Homer’s Odyssey. And you can see it, with Harry being tempted by a baker’s dozen of beautiful women tempting him with constant tastes, touches, and feels to convince him to stay, with an eye toward luring him to his doom for their nefarious purposes.

But to me, at least, the episode feels more like a peculiar negative image of The Stepford Wives. Because this is a certain type of alluring male gaze fantasy, with scads of beautiful women, telling you you’re important, practically begging to sleep with you. Only, rather than it being a nightmare for the women involved, it’s a nightmare for the man, who’s being tricked into being consumed as a veritable object for a society who effectively sees him that way.

I generally like that kind of story! TV Tropes has a category for “Town with a Dark Secret” and this kinda sorta falls into the same territory. There is something inviting about the T”Karian homeworld, where low on the totem pole Harry is treated like somebody who matters from the minute he sets foot there. But there’s an unnerving vibe from the word go. You can’t put your finger on it, but there’s something unsettling about the vibe, even before the reveals start popping up.

Those reveals are that, true to the salt-vampire from the very first episode of Star Trek, the T’Karians are not out to please Harry, but to consume him. It turns out he isn’t some secret scion of this planet, but just a random schmuck who they trapped via a retrovirus and plied with tales of greatness.

(They also ply Better Call Saul’s Patrick Fabian with the same canard, which is a treat for latecomers. He’s the canary in the coal mine for Harry. And oddly enough, he’s a dead ringer for Anakin Skywalker in Attack of the Clones.)

The catches are two-fold. One is that so much of this episode is downright goofy. When Harry realizes the T’Karians are trying to trap him and tries to escape, they resort to an American Gladiators routine using rainsticks. It’s hard to take this whole setup seriously when you have a veritable harem fawning over Harry, only for them to turn malevolent in the least threatening manner possible.

The other, though, is that much of this episode is uncomfortable because you feel like you’re watching somebody’s fetish video. I don’t want to malign Lisa Klink, the Voyager story editor who penned the episode. I’m less concerned with maligning Rick Berman, the Star Trek producer known for sexist behavior. But the women constantly throwing themselves at Harry, the painting of men with fragrant oils, the bondage elements to this whole thing feel like someone behind the scenes was trying to get their rocks off with this one.

Charitably, you can frame it as the show trying to sell the sensual nature of what would draw Harry into this man-trap. But so much of the tone and energy of this one makes it feel like a porno’s about to break out at any minute. I don’t mind sexuality in my Star Trek (see: the passion of “Blood Fever”, which is a high point, even if the episode eventually goes off the rails), but there’s a peculiar wish-fulfillment element to “Favorite Son” that makes it uncomfortable.

Of course, The Doctor figures it out, Janeway acts to rescue Harry, and Chakotay finds a way past the bad guys’ defenses. It’s all very perfunctory. The premise of this one isn’t bad, but as is true for so much of this stretch of Voyager, the dramatization of the ideas at play leaves a lot to be desired.

But the biggest problem is this -- no matter what the character’s fears may be, Harry is a boring character. He does feel unremarkable. He isn’t even interesting in the ways that even the most expendable characters on the show (Tom, Chakotay, Kes) are on paper. He’s just some guy, without anything to make him stand out or compel the audience to invest in him.

That’s not Garrett Wang’s fault. He doesn’t set the world on fire, but he’s fine here, selling the sense of Harry as drawn to this world and the idea that he has a special destiny, but appropriately hesitant when things feel off.

It’s the fault of the writers who, after three seasons, have left Harry feeling like, more or less the same dull character he was when Voyager started. Character development is not one of Voyager’s specialties, but you can see the changes in The Doctor, Kes, and even Tom, who claims he wants to be more like Harry. And yet, Ensign Kim is the same blank newbie he was when the series started. We all want to be special, Harry. Sometimes the gods, or the writers, simply won’t make it happen.