Retrospect

I agree that this episode has a weak handling of Seven's complaint of treatment by Kovin, it should be noted that she is taken seriously by the Doctor and the Captian. But that the idea of there being no female viewpoint in the story on the part of the writers, one should notice that both Jeri Taylor and Lisa Klink have writing credits on this episode.

When the show begins, an arms merchant and Janeway are conducting business. However, out of the blue, Seven of Nine sees the man and attacks him--claiming he had assaulted her. No one witnessed anything like this but with the disjointed story she gave, the Doctor very quickly concludes she'd been violated. His belief in this was so intense that his objectivity did seem very questionable. So what really happened?

Back in the 1990s, a major hot button in psychology was the notion of repressed memories. Many folks had recently undergone therapy and recovered memories involving sexual abuse and as a result several well-publicized prosecutions occurred. However, many psychotherapists believed that these memories were either implanted by bad therapists or were simply a witch hunt--while others felt that these memories were ALWAYS true and should not be ignored. I was very aware of this debate, as I was a therapist during this time and had investigated the phenomenon as part of a graduate school project. This time period and debate is the context for "Retrospect". Back in the 90s, the debate was very much ongoing, though today most in the field would hold such memories having little value.

So is this any good? Well, I did love that the film discussed the phenomenon but too many times the writing was poor. An important debate was occasionally one-dimensional in its discussion. But, overall it's not a bad episode...just one that has some flaws.

Enjoyable escapism? No, it's far too sincere.

Particularly well written? Not really, the characterisation is all over the place.

A satisfying resolution? Quite the opposite, it's very frustrating.

But that's why I enjoyed this episode a lot more than I thought I would from the bare premise. Because it tackles the issue of "my truth" head on, neither confirming nor denying that we should #BelieveHer.

And that's exactly the problem with any accusation of any unwitnessed crime based on two people's conflicting stories. There is no magical solution, no mind meld, no see-the-past machine.

Just flip the coin, and destroy at least one reputation, or at least one life, if not two.

Don't wander off alone with a stranger, and don't close the door. What a curiously mature and unexpected conclusion.

I have read the other reviews and agree that it is unclear, for better or worse, what actually happened to Seven of Nine. The writers tried to trick the viewer at the end, in a way, by introducing doubt about the evidence collected. But it was only doubt and not a conclusion one way or the other.

What I would have liked to know is: did they get that super weapon from the arms dealer? There have been many episodes where the Voyager crew seem to acquire advanced tech from their contacts along the way but rarely do they seem to keep any of it. It's frustrating, like when you see people running under fire who leave behind perfectly useful weapons and ammo dropped by the enemy.

This was one of the details I appreciated about the Enterprise series; they upgraded as they went on their journey and used it.

The exception to this up to now in Voyager is the integration of Borg technology provided by Seven of Nine.

This episode explores the unintended consequences of overactivism and over enthusiasm in any cause, even a seemingly just one, where a person's actions in defense of a phantom "cause" have real social consequences for bystanders. As much as we want to sympathize with 7 of 9 in the beginning, we are given clues early on that something is amiss. I picked this up with Tuvok's comments in the briefing room. The doctor early on identified with a victim mentality in the patient and let that cloud his judgment until the end. The result was disastrous, with the loss of life and the stain of remorse upon both the doctor and 7 of 9.

In real life, the consequences may not be as dramatic. Someone could lose their reputation, their standing in the community, or their liberty, all over someone's vague memory recollection. This could be true of any case that comes before a court today.

We know that human memory is flawed, even eye-witness testimony can prove to be inaccurate, and this episode reminds us that no matter how much we want justice, or retribution, for a victim, we had better make plain sure that person is actually a victim before we destroy other lives in pursuit of that cause.