Line #22 Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS5E16TheDisease


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/voy_disease_289.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Harry Kim and Captain Janeway have it out something ''fierce,'' and just you wait 'til you hear the reason why.]]
3
4	''Voyager'' assists the Varro, a rather paranoid and xenophobic species, in repairing the engines of their GenerationShip, while the crew, Harry included, pursue their own excitements aboard. Unfortunately, he forms a biochemical link with the lovely Tal, which causes [[PowerGlows his skin to glow]] and an insatiable desire in both of them, resulting in... rather strained relations with the Varro.
5	-----
6	!!This episode provides examples of
7	* AllSpeciesAreSexuallyCompatible: Averted with a discussion over the matter.
8	-->'''Kim:''' I've got to be honest, I wasn't expecting something so different.\
9	'''Tal:''' Neither was I. Our species look so similar... well, at least on the surface.\
10	'''Kim:''' I would've never guessed when it came down to the basics. Well, let's just say the birds and bees would be very confused.
11	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Harry asks Janeway if, had she been offered a hypospray that would make her stop loving her fiancé after learning he'd married someone else, she would have taken it. She doesn't seem to have an answer for that (although the conversation is interrupted at this point by the Varro ship starting to break apart).
12	* BittersweetEnding: The Varro's GenerationShip, which has been in operation for hundreds of years, separates, and Harry has a long road to recovery, choosing to tough out the symptoms of his heartbreak rather than dull them with drugs. But, the dissidents get their own system where they can be content.
13	* BoldlyComing: Way to go, Harry! Make that skin glow! Just, um... don't cause an interspecies incident or anything. Ahhh, [[OhCrap oops]]...
14	* BrokenPedestal: Janeway talks about how Harry came fresh out of the Academy and was the most protective of him, but Harry points out this was five years ago and he's changed: maybe he's not the perfect officer anymore. Ultimately this trope is averted, because Janeway claims that while that might be true, he's a better ''man''.
15	* ButtMonkey: Poor Harry. He ''finally'' gets some lovin', and is reprimanded for violating regulations and both Janeway's and Jippeq's direct orders. He also nearly gets suspected of being part of Tal's separatist movement. Oh, and the ''olan'vora'' leaves him feeling literally lovesick.
16	* CallBack: Janeway again recalls Mark when talking about ''love'' with Harry.
17	* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Harry finally has some luck in the romance department... and it results in a diplomatic incident, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything an STD in all but name]] with symptoms that hang around for weeks, a formal reprimand on his record, and a broken heart.
18	* ComeBackToBedHoney: Tal says this to Harry after their first time having sex. Harry, however, is too busy fretting over the fact that he violated Starfleet regulations and Janeway's direct orders. So Tal says ThatsAnOrder and he complies (until the antimatter transfer starts and he realises they're both late for their shift).
19	* ContinuityNod: Janeway mentions that she wouldn't have been surprised if Tom Paris had been the one to have an illicit affair instead of Harry. Understandable, [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS1E7ExPostFacto given his track record]].
20	* CrapsaccharineWorld: According to the stowaway, the GenerationShip is this, enough to foment LaResistance.
21	* CuttingTheElectronicLeash: Tal tears the commbadge off Harry's chest and tosses it aside. His objections stop as soon as she starts kissing him again.
22	* DeadpanSnarker: Tuvok's in fine form! When explaining how he brushes off Tom so fast, "I wait until his own illogic overwhelms him."
23	* DefrostingIceQueen: Seven of Nine clinically dismisses romantic love when first asked, but by the end of the episode she tells Harry, with some grudging respect, that her attitude has changed.
24	* DidYouJustHaveSex: Paris isn't fooled for a second when Harry and Tal make sure to arrive for duty separately, and Harry claims to have been "checking the plasma conduits in segment 22" -- having evidently stopped to take a sonic shower while he was there. He confronts Harry over this as soon as they're out of the room (although he doesn't tell anyone, and even covers for him later).
25	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
26	** Harry having sex and coming down with a condition practically screams "STD."
27	** This episode could've also been called "Addiction". After Harry gets his first dose of something that makes him feel good, he becomes increasingly desperate for his next fix to the point of breaking the rules. Janeway essentially has to stage an intervention to bring him back to his senses, and he ends up with severe withdrawal when he has to quit cold turkey.
28	* DoubleStandard: At the end, Janeway admits that she held Harry to a different standard than the rest of the senior staff because he had always been "by the book" before having relations with Tal.
29	* ExtremeDoormat: Harry considers himself to be this and ''rules'' are the feet that walk all over him; he can't break one without feeling incredibly guilty, but he knows being with Tal feels great...
30	* FakeStatic: Not in the most general sense, but Tom cuts off [[IntimateTelecommunications Harry's communication with Tal]] before he can be discovered.
31	* FatalAttractor: Harry's finally hooked up with a girl who's hot and willing and shares his interests! WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong
32	* GeekyTurnOn: Harry and Tal bond over the qualities of a class 3 nebula.
33	* GoodLuckGesture: Janeway introduces the Varro to the concept of crossing fingers. Unfortunately, it doesn't help matters.
34	* HumanAliens: Played with -- the Varro ''look'' human enough, aside from some markings on their backs, but physiologically they turn out to be ''very'' different, a fact which is lampshaded by Tal.
35	* {{Hypocrite}}: Harry Kim gets reprimanded for intimate relations with a new alien species. Even if you discount [[GRatedSex Kirk]] and Riker's many conquests, [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E20Unforgettable Chakotay]] and ''possibly'' [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS5E10Counterpoint Janeway herself]] have exchanged fluids with first contact aliens to varying degrees.
36	* LaymansTerms: Inverted by Seven:
37	--> '''Seven''': You're glowing.
38	--> '''Kim''': Beg pardon?
39	--> '''Seven''': Your epidermis luminesced.
40	* LikeASonToMe: Janeway doesn't say it literally, but she does admit she's more [[MamaBear protective]] of Kim than other crewmembers, which is why she was so angry at his indiscretion.
41	* LoveIsAWeakness: Seven argues that this is the case, outright comparing it to a [[TitleDrop disease]] due to the physiological changes it causes. [[DefrostingIceQueen She reconsiders this by the end]], though, noting that Harry's experiences have actually made him stronger in some respects, as he is determined to face the consequences head-on.
42	* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Aaaaand how.
43	* MileLongShip: The opening shot has Voyager dwarfed by the huge generation ship it's docked to.
44	* ModestyBedsheet: A more justified example than most; Tal wakes up naked but wrapped in a bedsheet, to see Harry standing dressed in his underclothes and angsting over how he's breaking Starfleet regulations with his SecretRelationship. Tal of course urges him to ComeBackToBedHoney.
45	* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: Tal doesn't share her species' xenophobia, and it turns out that she's not the only one.
46	* NotBrainwashed: The episode seems to be heading toward the explanation that Kim disobeyed orders because he was biologically compromised by his and Tal's bond, but in the end he's responsible for his own actions.
47	* OhCrap: Those parasites do their job well, ripping the GenerationShip apart before our eyes... with ''Voyager'' still docked!
48	* TheOner: This episode is, in fact, practically composed of them; though none of them constitute the longest shot in ''Trek'' history - no individual shot in "''The Disease''" is more than two-and-a-half minutes in length - this episode overall arguably represented the most ambitious direction in the franchise up to this point. It's as if DavidLivingston went far out of his way to avoid using ShotReverseShot whenever practical:
49	** To open the episode, a rather spectacular one from the outside of the gigantic GenerationShip forms the entire Teaser, scrolling across the lengthy vessel, zooming into and through the windows of an apartment, before twisting around to... Harry and Tal entering and making out.
50	** Jippeq and Janeway's argument about the level of access ''Voyager'' has been given to the Varro ship, and their subsequent conversation about the similarities between their two species, are each a single shot. In fact, if it weren't for an insert shot of a display panel, it's possible that the surrounding Oners were, in fact, an even longer shot put together.
51	** Though it's relatively short, at least compared to two later Oners, a scene in the cargo bay where Tom grills Harry about his continuing to contact Tal, practically ignoring Chakotay's instructions to the gathered crew in the process, also plays out as a single shot.
52	** Another one, over two minutes long, full of tension in which Harry tries to convince Janeway that his and Tal's biochemical bond is not a danger as long as they're together, moves from the briefing room, through the bridge where Harry yells at his Captain in full view of everyone, and into the ready room where the entirety of the conversation plays out. There is only, finally, a cut when the GenerationShip begins to decompress.
53	** Harry's goodbye to Tal, while only just under a minute long, is filmed as a continuous shot.
54	** The entire scene in Sickbay immediately after, where Harry refuses to take the EMH's medication, and has a gentle conversation with Janeway about his history and growth on ''Voyager'', is also filmed as one shot, and runs for roughly the same amount of time as the earlier argument Oner.
55	** The very final scene in the mess hall is split into two shots: the first, a dynamic and flowing shot that follows Neelix through and out of the mess hall, shifting its' focus to Seven of Nine at the end: the second, a static medium shot of both Seven and Harry.
56	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Harry disobeying regulations? And the captain's orders? And then ''yelling'' at her on the bridge? {{Lampshaded}} by Janeway herself, who points out that Harry isn't behaving like himself -- and he's actually glad that she noticed.
57	* PlotParallel: The solution to the technobabble problem of the week is for Voyager to extend its shields around the Varro ship to save the Varro's people, which uh, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything mimics the other theme of the episode]].
58	* ThePowerOfLove [[PowerGlows Glows]]: The olan'vora!
59	* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: The revolutionaries have taken to creating parasites to eat their GenerationShip to force a change in the Varro way of life. Too bad the parasites migrate to ''Voyager''...
60	* RomanticWingman: Tom Paris, for all his teasing, helps cover Harry's illicit courtship as best he can.
61	* RunningGag: Harry keeps going after impossible women, with [[CallBack call backs]] conveniently provided by Tom.
62	* SeriesContinuityError: The episode introduces a (sensible) regulation that Starfleet personnel must have clearance from the CMO and TheCaptain before the "BoldlyComing" variant of FirstContact, due to pitfalls both biological and political. Fans complained how we'd never heard of this regulation before, especially given Captain Kirk's reputation. Of course, the regulation could have been enacted after him (or [[NeverLiveItDown because of him]]). And who's to say that other main characters haven't been making discreet visits to the Doctor before engaging in an InterspeciesRomance with the [[GirlOfTheWeek Guest Star Of The Week]]? Whatever the case, the fact that the rule was retroactively {{Hand Wave}}d for as much as 15 years of television made some viewers sour.
63	* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: ''Voyager'' has, at most, 50,000 light years to go, 40-50 years left if they don't get help, hardly multiple generations' worth. Maybe Janeway was trying to talk Jippeq up and play up their similar aspects.
64	* SpaceNomads: But what happens if some of you are tired of traveling?
65	* StandardFemaleGrabArea: As further evidence of poor Harry's chew toy status, ''Seven'' does this to him while marching him to Sickbay.
66	* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Harry has to face the Captain after the Doctor tells her of his...indiscretion.
67	* ToplessnessFromTheBack: Done with this trope's version of RubberForeheadAliens. Tal post coitus and wrapped in a bedsheet, shows her back marked by some kind of alien skin pattern.
68	* TranquilFury: After Harry disobeys orders the first time he has sex with Tal, Janeway quietly expresses her [[DisappointedInYou disappointment in him]]. After he does it a second time, however, and follows it up by yelling at her on TheBridge, she looks like she's on the verge of throwing him out an airlock.
69	* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: Seven again doesn't understand romantic love, equating it to "an attraction based on sexual desire; one that facilitates procreation." Most likely due to the Borgs' very clinical analyses of the attachment rituals of the various species they've assimilated.
70	* WhatTheHellHero: Janeway chews Harry out twice for his indiscretions.

Context Recap / StarTrekVoyagerS5E16TheDisease