7x12 Lineage

I find it impossible to have sympathy for B'Elanna. Even knowing where all this is coming from. Granted, I've never been much of a fan. Her "volatile behavior" is what makes her hard to like.
The Federation outruled genetic engineering after Khan and only by the 24th century Doctor's were allowed limited use to correct medical condition. A bend spine would qualify for that. B'Elanna tried to argue on medical grounds but it really shouldn't even been a discussion once it was clear what she wanted to achieve. It should have been a non-starter and her trying to manipulate the Doctor into doing it should be grounds for formal charges against her.

Yeah, I know I am taking this too serious. Sue me.

Great... a story about an emotional snowflake...

So a half Klingon grows up okay despite her Klingon Gene's, but a quarter Klingon needs genetic resequencing to survive? WTF? That makes absolutely no sense.

And why aren't there safeguards to prevent the Doctor's programming from being tampered with without his permission? That seems pretty fundamental.

A rare Voyager episode that not only focuses on characters, but also has good writing for them! The result is rather fantastic. This is proper dive into B'Elanna's past and an exploration of what makes her the way she is. Add to that the massive change brought on by the news that she and Tom are expecting (something that the notorious reset button can't ignore from now on) and we end up with a really emotional story.

Roxann Dawson gives a very strong performance, and the ever reliable Robert Picardo matches her beat for beat. I also enjoyed the very frank discussions between B'Elanna and Tom which came across as far more natural than the usual depiction of relationships on Star Trek. One small moment that really worked for me was Tom awkwardly asking Tuvok for parenting advice, and his very honest answer which still managed to be Vulcan-esque.

I also have to give credit to the episode for managing to surprise me: B'Elanna modifying the Doctor so he will perform the operation was a genuinely shocking development, while also not being so out-of-character that it was unbelievable.

A quiet episode about Paris and B'Elanna. For once she isn't the fiery hothead (for the most part) and he isn't the irresponsible man-child. And for once there's a believable story about their relationship (other than maybe the kitschy love confession in space suits from a few seasons back). This episode ain't totally bad; there's even a small portion of ethics to be discussed. Overall it's a mediocre episode though. It's not really exciting, nor witty. And I don't think that experience will contribute to any behavioral change of both B'Elanna or Tom. Next week they will be the same old characters.

PS: I thought that kind of manipulation of genes was banned. Wasn't that something we learned from Dr. Bashir's story?

Fantastic episode that dives into the morals and ethics one has when using their own past to justify actions in the present. The episode really makes you think about family, relationships, and ones own past.

Completely out of character for Janeway not to demote B’Elanna from chief engineer for her to perform forbidden genetic modification of her baby. She would, at least, have given her the school marm punishment discussion, “you’ve let me down, you’ve let the ship down, most of all you’ve let yourself down”.

A very emotional episode, and as all good Trek poses some interesting ethical questions.

I enjoyed seeing an emotionally vulnerable belanna. She’s not my favorite member of voyager but that’s because we only recently started seeing this side of her. I will say falling back on her not trusting Tom makes all that work in that race episode seem irrelevant.

Daddy issues all day long. Darn it I miss good old sci-fi episodes.