Recap / Star Trek Voyager S 3 E 17 "Darkling"

I was born of the hidden, the suppressed. I am the dark threads from many personalities.

Kes, rebounding fairly hard from her recent breakup with Neelix, finds a "friend" in Mikhal Traveler Zahir, a Lovable Rogue whose love of adventure and bravery enthralls her. But the rapidity of her relationship with this interesting new man isn't the only concern, when The Doctor tries to improve himself...

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Contains examples of:

• Above Good and Evil: The amalgamated subroutines in The Doctor's form believe themselves to be this.
• Absence of Evidence: Tuvok finds no skin fragments from Zahir's attacker.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The Doctor's personality improvement program looks good at a glance, but he didn't consider the negative aspects of all those characters he incorporated.
• Always a Bigger Fish: Zahir warns Voyager against trespassing through Tarken territory. "They'll remove your entire crew, settle you on a moon somewhere, and your ship will become their latest trophy."
• Badass Boast: When Nakahn draws a pistol, Zahir faces him down by coldly stating; "I've journeyed to the corners of known space and beyond. I've earned the right to come and go as I please, where and when and how I please. Do you challenge that right?"
• Badass Creed: The Hippocratic Oath by its very nature, required by every doctor to make the core of his being; the Doctor reaffirms it at the end.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment
  B'Elanna: Research is one thing, putting it into practice is something else. Behavioural subroutines have a way of interacting with each other which isn't always predictable. You've got to be careful... (Badass Armfold) Or someone might hurt you.
  (Reveal Shot of the Doctor's hand fondling B'Elanna's knee. He quickly removes it.)
• Berserk Button: For the duration of this episode, turning the Doctor off is enough to turn his unstable amalgam of subroutines on, until they start up on their own...
• Birds of a Feather: Kes and Janeway share similar feelings of confusion and dissatisfaction with simply staying in one spot.
• But Now I Must Go: The first manifestation of Kes' wanderlust, jump-started by the appearance of Zahir. Too bad she's not traveling in any way she'll appreciate... Thankfully, this is subverted, for now.
• Call-Back: After being injected with a hypospray that paralyses her, B'Elanna sounds a lot like her Klingon self in "Faces", another episode where she was at the mercy of a Mad Doctor.
• Card-Carrying Villain: The amalgamated subroutines say as much in their Motive Rant after kidnapping Kes.
• Character Development: The Doctor tries to force this by implementing subroutines based on many people throughout history. Hilarity Ensues (and almost a Megaton Punch from a very freaked-out half-Klingon engineer), but what happens next is anything but funny.
• Chewing the Scenery: Because Evil Is Hammy.
• Continuity Nod: T'Pau and Socrates play kal-toh.
• Creepy Physical: The Doctor and B'Elanna. Played for Laughs at first, then Played for Drama with Evil Doc.
• Cut Phone Lines: Evil Doc removes Kes and B'Elanna's commbadges.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": The amalgamated subroutines don't like it when Kes calls them 'Doctor'.
• Evil Is Hammy: And has a Hair-Trigger Temper!
• Evil Sounds Deep: The amalgamated subroutines distort the Doctor's voice.
• Evil Twin: A different character does seem to be implied, but it's really a Jekyll & Hyde situation, with the Doctor unaware of anything the amalgamated subroutines get up to.
• False Reassurance: Evil Doc says he just wants a place by the fire. He then drags Nakahn over to the fire and burns his hand in it, as first step in some Aggressive Negotiations.
• Fanservice: Kes dons a snug catsuit very reminiscent of what Seven of Nine will wear once she joins the crew.
• Foreshadowing:
  • The Doctor notes that Kes is becoming "increasingly unpredictable, given to swings of mood and emotion." Surgeon, heal thyself first.
  • Maybe — Kes appreciates that the Doctor cares for her, and she won't forget it... How could she be in a position wherein she'd forget it?
• Funny Background Event: Gandhi chatting up a holodeck babe, after telling off Lord Byron for being Distracted by the Sexy.
• A Glitch in the Matrix: When the amalgamated subroutines degrade, the Doctor flickers. Brought up to eleven with Body Horror when the subroutines perform horrific experiments on the characters from which they're derived to find how to kill the Doctor.
• Historical Domain Character: Including Mahatma Gandhi, Lord Byron and T'Pau of Vulcan.
• Hologram Projection Imperfection:
  • Due to the new personality created from combining the traits from the holographic representations of historical characters not being compatible with his base program, the Doctor glitches out in a manner resembling vertical static whenever the other personality surfaces.
  • This also applies to the holograms of the historical characters when the other personality hacks their programming in a desperate attempt to figure out a way to make himself more stable: the Gandhi hologram is standing still and undergoing a Demonic Head Shake, the Socrates hologram is lying on the ground with his lower half missing and empty insides visible while looking around in confusion, the T'Pau hologram is stuck repeating a kal-toh move and reseting back to her original position and the Lord Byron hologram is lying on a table with his head swelling and bulging unnaturally.
• I'll Kill You!: Nakahn reveals that Voyager is preventing all ships from taking off until Kes is returned, but insists on being paid anyway.
  Evil EMH: (striking him) I'll kill you!
  Nakahn: If someone's going to die today, it won't be me.
• In the Hood: Until Evil Doc throws off his cloak for a Dramatic Unmask.
• Jekyll & Hyde: Complete with animalistic traits in the amalgamated subroutines: cold stare, hunched walk and slightly pooched lower lip.
• Just a Kid: Kes says without any irony that the Doctor should stop treating her like a child because she's three years old now (a third of the Ocampan lifespan).
• Make It Look Like an Accident: Evil Doc makes it look like B'Elanna has collapsed from anaphylactic shock over a meal she ate earlier.
• Meaningful Look:
  • B'Elanna warns the Doctor against fiddling with his program because "someone might hurt you". She then pointedly looks down at the Doctor's hand on her thigh. Doc promptly erases his Lord Byron subroutine.
  • The female transporter ensign gives a knowing smile when Kes beams back to Voyager.
• Milking the Giant Cow: Albeit with a phaser in one hand.
• Not Big Enough for the Two of Us
  Kes: The mobile emitter contains both your programs. If you damage it you could both be destroyed.
  Evil EMH: There's not enough room inside for both of us. One must die. I deserve to exist more than your Doctor does.
• Not Himself: The Doctor uses a phaser on the transporter operator.
• Other Me Annoys Me: Evil Doc rants about his good self. "He's as weak as the rest of you. He fails to understand the power of his own holographic nature. He is detestable." He wants B'Elanna to help him destroy the Doctor part of himself.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Holy crap, Doctor!
• Patrick Stewart Speech: Kes points out to Evil Doc the benefits of cooperation.
• Pet the Dog: In-Universe; Kes points out to Evil Doc that his actions are motivated by concern for her, no matter what he might claim.
• Pun: The Doctor says his improvement program will help him develop "more patience with my patients".
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!
  Kes: What you're doing is wrong.
  Evil EMH: (adjusting tricorder) Not at all. It's working perfectly.
  Kes: That's not what I meant.
  Evil EMH: (slamming Kes against the bulkhead) I know...what you meant.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Evil Doc follows a female ensign into a turbolift, eyeing her with a suggestive leer. Fortunately Tom Paris enters the turbolift before anything happens.
• Reaction Shot: The Doctor's first on-screen change into his evil self is shown only by B'Elanna's horrified expression.
• Replacement Goldfish: The Doctor thinks that Kes is rushing into her relationship with Zahir because of her recent breakup with Neelix.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: After snogging Zahir, Kes is shown beaming up to Voyager at three in the morning, with her hair tousled and a sore back, grinning like she just got laid.
• Shadow Archetype: The alternate EMH even goes into describing himself in such terms.
• Sinister Surveillance: While Kes and Zahir snog, a hooded figure watches them from the shadows.
• Slow-Motion Fall / Slow "NO!": ZAHIR!!!
• Species of Hats: The Mikhal Travelers are a race of loosely-governed Bold Explorers.
• Split-Personality Makeover: Evil Doc's appearance is subtly different to his good counterpart; his eyes are beadier and his teeth are somewhat crooked, giving him a more animalistic look.^note  Robert Picardo actually wore the same dental prosthetic he wore as evil werewolf Eddie Quist in The Howling; he apparently keeps old prosthetics as souvenirs.
• Strapped to an Operating Table: Done with drugs that paralyse B'Elanna.
• Teleportation Rescue: When Evil Doc grabs Kes and jumps off the cliff, they're transported in mid-fall.
• Tempting Fate: Kes says she wants complication in her life.
• That's No Moon: Nakahn talks about a forest-covered planetoid he claimed to have once discovered: during an "earthquake", it turned out to really be a gigantic alien creature with its own ecosystem growing on it. Of course, the whole story turns out to be a Tall Tale.
• Twerp Sweating: Tuvok grills Zahir on whether he is responsible enough to be trusted with Kes. He reassures him as to his genuine concern for her.
• Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: The nameless ensign has no idea how uncomfortable it could've been.
• What You Are in the Dark: The dark sides of all the characters the Doctor studies for his improvement bite him hard when he develops a homicidal, possessive personality in reaction to Kes' considering leaving the ship, though the malevolent personality denies this, claiming that he simply wants to live.
• Yandere: The Doctor, of all people, caused by his forced Character Development.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Evil Doc tells Kes his phaser is set to kill.
  Kes: You won't fire.
  Evil EMH: (Psychotic Smirk) Are you so certain?

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