A new appreciation for Neelix

I just finished a rewatch of Voyager and I really appreciated Neelix’s character this time around.

I’ve always been cool with Neelix but thought he was sort of comic relief, and the relationship with Kes at the beginning of the show will always be weird. But in the later seasons I think they develop him really well and I also think the actor kind of nailed it.

The episode that really shook me was the one where he is killed and then revived. The episode is all about his faith suddenly being challenged when he awakens not remembering an afterlife. He tries to confront his insecurity by going on a vision quest, and it is pretty brutal. Bad trip bigtime. He gets no concrete answers, and almost kills himself, but decides to continue living because the people in his life depend on him. I found that to be an unusually dark and candid exploration of faith for Star Trek. I kind of couldn’t look at him the same anymore… he just carries that with him from then on, and it really contextualizes his decisions in the show afterwards. I found it to be a powerful statement on how atheism doesn’t necessitate apathy or pointlessness in life, while also exporing the deep existential dread that comes with abandoning your faith.

I may have read too much into this / projected a bit lol, but I just came out of this rewatch respecting his character so much more.