Summary
I loveStar Trek: Voyager, but I’ve always hated that the show brought Kes (Jennifer Lien) back in season 6 after her departure. Kes was a series regular onVoyagerfor the show’s first three seasons, butto me, it always felt likeVoyagerdidn’t quite know what to do with her. Perhaps because of this, and her diminishing popularity,Kes leftVoyagerat the beginning of season 4to make way for Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), a character that the show overall had more success with.
However, Kes made one final appearance after her official departure, this time as the villain inVoyagerseason 6, episode 23, “Fury.” The episode began with an astonishing premise,seeing a vengeful and angry Kes return to the USS Voyager only to travel back in time to try and rescue her younger self from her former crew. With some help from Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and other members ofVoyager’s cast of characters, Kes was able to remember herself and her love for her friends, but despite an uplifting ending, bringing the character back was a mistake.
Every Voyager Character Who Has Returned In Star Trek (& How)
Star Trek: Voyager’s beloved characters have returned in Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and especially Star Trek: Prodigy.
Star Trek: Voyager Season 7 Ruined Kes’s Ending By Bringing Her Back
Kes’s original ending was just fine without another cameo
To me, “Fury” ruined Kes’s original departure fromStar Trek: Voyager, mainly because there was no reason to bring her back in the first place. I’ve always felt that Kes’s official exit was, in many ways, beautifully handled.Voyagerdid not go the traditional route and simply kill Kes, but rather gave her a heartfelt exitthat allowed her some genuine goodbyes with the characters she was closest to before she evolved into a higher plane of existence. Kes’s final scenes onVoyagerwere a dignified closure of her storyline.
In a season of generally strong episodes, “Fury” stood out like a bad seed, and further tarnished Kes’s reputation as a character.
However, “Fury” reintroduced Kes as an out-and-out villain, something that came entirely out of left field and was, in my opinion, unwarranted. Likewise,the episode suffered from a convoluted storyline and lackluster climax, making the whole thing feel rushed and the more genuinely emotional scenes unearned. In a season of generally strong episodes, “Fury” stood out like a bad seed, and further tarnished Kes’s reputation as a character. This is too bad since I’m not sure Kes needed any more help to be thought of as controversial.
Why Kes Is Such A Controversial Star Trek: Voyager Character
Kes never reached a desirable level of popularity
There is no doubt thatVoyagerlargely failed Kes, both in terms of the character’s setup and subsequent storylines. In my opinion, Jennifer Lien did her best given what she had to work with, but Kes suffered from a too-vague set of telepathic powers and a badly conceivedromantic relationship with Neelix (Ethan Phillips). It’s clear throughoutVoyagerseason 1-3 that the creative team tried to find a way to make Kes work, but their efforts were either bizarre or fizzled out every time.
Likewise, Kes’s ridiculous return and the fact that Seven of Nine was exponentially more popular as a character have continued to hurt her reputation long afterVoyagerended.This mishandling of a character who should have been given a better shot is disappointing from an otherwise great show likeVoyager, but I suppose on some level it was inevitable. Not all characters always work out, and despite her terrible last appearance,Star Trek: Voyagerdid do its best by Kes in terms of her initial departure.
Star Trek: Voyager
Cast
The fifth entry in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Voyager, is a sci-fi series that sees the crew of the USS Voyager on a long journey back to their home after finding themselves stranded at the far ends of the Milky Way Galaxy. Led by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the series follows the crew as they embark through truly uncharted areas of space, with new species, friends, foes, and mysteries to solve as they wrestle with the politics of a crew in a situation they’ve never faced before.
