Repentance (Voyager episode)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Star Trek: VOY episode | |
| "Repentance" | |
 Iko holds Seven hostage in sickbay |
|
| Episode no. | 159 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 259 |
| Airdate | January 31, 2001 |
| Writer(s) | Mike Sussman Robert Doherty |
| Director | Mike Vejar |
| Guest star(s) | Jeff Kober as Iko Tim deZarn as Yediq F. J. Rio as Joleg |
| Year | 2377 |
| Stardate | ? |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "Lineage" |
| Next | "Prophecy" |
Repentance is an episode of the TV series Star Trek: Voyager, the thirteenth episode of the seventh season.
[edit] Plot summary
Voyager responds to a distress call, beaming all the people off a Nygean ship that's about to explode. Most are sent to Voyager's cargo bay, but two of them are sent to sickbay, where one takes Seven of Nine hostage.
It turns out that the ship Voyager rescued was carrying prisoners to a facility where they are scheduled to be executed. Since there is no capital punishment in the Federation, the crew are uncomfortable with the situation, but the Prime Directive forbids them from interfering. They provide cages for the prisoners, who are treated brutally by the Nygean guards. Neelix insists that the prisoners must be fed and the Doctor insists they must receive proper medical care. Seven considers this a waste of resources, since the prisoners are going to be killed anyway, but the guards agree to allow the prisoners to have meals.
After a particularly brutal beating by a guard, one of the prisoners, Iko, is seriously wounded. He undergoes a medical procedure in which Borg nanoprobes are injected into his system; not only do the probes repair his injuries, they also seem to have restored the parts of his brain responsible for empathy, and he begins to feel remorse for his crime. At first, Iko wants to be executed for all he has done, but he becomes close to Seven, who sees in him a reflection of her own struggles for atonement for all she did as a Borg. Since under Nygean law, the victim's family decides the punishment for all crimes, Iko eventually appeals to his own victim's family for leniency. He tells them that he is cured, is sorry for what he has done, and that he is hoping to start a new life on Voyager. The family denies his request.
Meanwhile, Neelix becomes friendly with a prisoner named Joleg, who explains that his people are subjected to racial profiling. Joleg persuades Neelix to get a letter through to his brother, but this turns out to be a ruse - Joleg has hidden Voyager's coordinates inside the letter, and the ship is attacked by others of Joleg's race. Joleg has organized a prison break so that his co-conspirators can free him, but the plot is foiled by the Voyager crew. Neelix, who understands that he was being manipulated, turns his back on Joleg.
[edit] Notes
- This episode's allegorical look at the American prison system was somewhat controversial with Trek fans, with some accusing it of being too liberal and some accusing it of being too conservative: on the one hand, the Iko plotline establishes that Iko was a sick man, and with treatment he could have been a productive member of society. On the other hand, while Joleg's stories of racial profiling may be true, Joleg himself is revealed as a manipulative creature, unworthy of Neelix's trust. (See http://scifi.about.com/blrepentance.htm for more about the episode's take of the prison system.)
[edit] External links
- "Repentance" article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
- Episode summary from Startrek.com
