Janeway goes through a religious ritual to save Kes’s life.
Janeway the empiricist learns that the mystical has value. I actually kind of hated this episode, with its predictability and didactic approach, for 95% of the duration. A lot of it could be seen coming a mile off, such as the ‘make your own ritual’ point, or the actual point of the ‘three people waiting in a room’.
But then there’s a scene right at the end (yes, one of those tag scenes I’ve criticised in the past) that gives the episode a new tone. We’re told throughout the episode that explaining mystical or religious events in terms of science undermines them. And then in the final scene they actually prove it. It’s clever writing.
(All the same, I imagine that a lot of people still hated this episode).
439 down, 298 to go.