Story By: Andre Bormanis and Kenneth Biller
Directed By: Allan Kroeker
Rating: ***** (out of 5)
Seven�s character has been through a lot of learning about human experiences and romance has only been explored partly in �Revulsion� and greatly in the wonderful �Someone to Watch Over Me.� �Human Error� continues those issues but brings them to different wavelength, a wavelength that makes Seven realize she�s just not fit for intimate relationships.
There are many great issues for Seven�s character in �Human Error,� the heart of it being her lack of social abilities. It never bothered her before but as Seven�s grown to accept social traditions and realized that she wants to be apart of the relationships she sees around her. However Seven has been ignoring them for so long that now she actually wants to be apart of it but can�t from the fear of it being observed. She�s began to realize her social discomfort, she�s only recently been made aware of these issues so her dilemma takes the form of personal need against personal habits. In �Someone to Watch Over Me� she wasn�t used to the romantic social settings but it didn�t bother that she was different, now it does.
Seven�s attempt to fit in is portrayed wonderfully here in many ways. One is by her very different personality when on the holodeck. Without the constant reminder she is different (her Borg implants and efficient demeanor) she is free to act natural. On the holodeck she is much more comfortable. She�s not like Reg Barclay in being frightened of people though, she�s just not used to social contact and needs a way to try out certain acts because she never had that growth period as a child. What I thought was great was how we see how Seven acts in her �imaginary� version of Tom and B�Elanna�s baby shower and then how she avoids going to the real one later on. It�s a great contrast that shows that Seven needs encouragement to break from her shell. What I enjoyed even more was how Seven later gives B�Elanna a gift for the baby and asks B�Elanna about her hair. It shows that Seven despite her apparent perfect-ness really is quite a tragic character in need of more nurturing from her mentors.
That�s what �Human Error� does right. While �Human Error� is a good episode on it�s own and if you don�t watch the series religiously, it does have some annoying problems if you do follow the series. First of all, the holodeck, I�m sick and tired of its apparent limitless possibilities. In �The Killing Game� B�Elanna had a holographic pregnancy which �even kicks� and that was somewhat harmless. But here we see all of Seven�s implants somehow disappearing and entire outfits being holographically created. We see another �holographic intimacy� plot that just strains credibility on the hologram end of things. How many times do we need to tread on thin ice with the �abilities� of holograms. It was bad enough with �Fair Haven� but even that I tolerated, this is with a holographic member of Voyager�s crew!
Not to mention the fact that it was Chakotay! Talk about a mis-match. There is just no chemistry there and even less probability. We haven�t seen any indications that Seven was interested in Chakotay, it just suddenly popped up. I hope this doesn�t come true with the real characters, their personalities just don�t suite each other. Seven and Chakotay�s contact has been very limited since Seven came along and Chakotay has always mistrusted Seven. I�m disappointed that the Doc and Seven relationship stopped after �Someone to Watch Over Me,� actually it would�ve been good to have gotten a reaction from the Doc here, a disappointed reaction, once he finds out.
I look past these ridiculous plot-points to see the character implications but really there won�t be any long lasting ones, will there? Seven and Chakotay will probably never get together, so there is no drama there. Only the Doc knows, and the writers have unfortunately dropped the Seven-Doc relationship so no drama there. The only real message here is not to be distracted from your work with frivolous romances, something that I would know about being a teenager in high-school. But Seven has never been portrayed in a teen kind of attitude so this message doesn�t get through as it should, although for once I looked at Voyager as the worst place for anti-socials. It�s not all work on Starfleet ships there�s a lot of social contact on board Voyager.
From my teenage perspective I still see this as being a commentary on socializing, fitting-in and being distracted by such things. Romance included. No matter how irrelevant Seven claims these things to be she knows that somehow it is something she needs. Unfortunately Voyager doesn�t do long running issues, otherwise this would�ve made an interesting reoccurring theme in the episodes leading up to the finale. Seven finally realizing she needs human companionship and finally wants it and doesn�t consider it irrelevant would be a good lead up to closing up her character at the end of the season. I think the writers made a mistake by allowing Seven to say she didn�t want to fix her cortical node so she can experience strong emotions. Either that, or it was a mistake that the Doctor didn�t try and reason with Seven why she should have that operation.
Even though I see Seven�s behavior here as a social growth spurt she can�t deny, we are actually given a reason for her actions; Seven wants to feel the ways he felt at Unimatrix Zero. This is something I wish wasn�t mentioned. �Unimatrix Zero� was ages ago and now she decides she wants to feel that way again, after so much time? It would�ve been much better if this was something she goes through as a kind of puberty; it happens without her really being conscious of it happening even though she knows it is happening and she wants to deny it. Besides, that cortical node issue wasn�t a problem in �Unimatrix Zero.�
I enjoyed some other bits and pieces. The piano was a good metaphor to show how Seven has all the right �notes� but no emotion to make her actions accessible to people. The alien testing ground was a simple but effective plot device to act as an obstacle for Seven�s holographic excursions and didn�t at all distract from the main plot. There was some excellent camera work in Engineering there and the acting was quite good. Robert Beltran at least has something to do and he performs adequately. Jeri Ryan is wonderful at being a try-hard without it being obvious.
I guess I enjoyed this more because I vaguely relate to it. �Human Error� was quite enjoyable if you forget how everything happens and just concentrate on the consequences of what happens. I enjoyed this despite its flaws.