6.23 fury

A small craft approaches with one life-sign – it’s an Ocampan, it’s Kes! But she’s old and angry, and she beams on board, looking mean, stalking through deck 11 while the walls explode behind her. Reaching the ware core, she fires off a beam that kills B’Elanna Torres. Suddenly, she is back on Voyager three years earlier. Her plan is to kidnap her younger self and take her home to Ocampa, as she has had a hard time on her own since leaving Voyager and she blames Janeway. She helps the Vidiians capture Voyager in return for safe passage, but just in time Janeway discovers her plan and foils it, with some help from Chakotay, who figures out a way to shake loose from the Vidiian ship. Janeway and Tuvok convince the real Kes to help them – she records a holographic image. When the older Kes once again attacks Voyager in the future, Janeway uses that image to help convince her that her need for revenge is unfounded.

While it is great to see Kes back again, the plot for this episode is weak, poorly structured and confusing. It is also against the basic philosophy of Trek to have a crew member, especially a loving, dedicated one such as Kes, return hell-bent on revenge and murder. I didn’t believe it and I don’t want to believe it.