Synopsis: Lt. Worf is confronted not only by the enemy who accused him of dishonor, but the mother of a son he did not know he had.
In “Reunion” Lt. Worf confronts some major archetypal psychic figures, the anima, the shadow, and the child. These are all archetypes as defined by depth psychologist, Carl (C. G.) Jung, and archetypal psychologist, James Hillman. The anima being the inner idealized feminine figure for an individual that identifies as male – the corresponding inner idealized male for an individual that identifies as female is the animus. The shadow is that part of the unconscious in our psyche that is dismissed as negative or not valuable to the conscious ego. And the child archetype is one of the ways to describe the union between the conscious and the unconscious in order to create a united new third thing, a whole is identified.
In this episode, Lt. Worf is confronted not only by Kehleyr, the female that he has projected his inner anima onto, but also Duras, the enemy that he has projected his unconscious shadow onto. In other words, there is a lot of psychic work and healing that is shown in this episode, which ends up with Worf embracing Alexander, his own son, who represents his inner child. Even more striking, the death of Kehleyr, the anima figure, was at the hands of Duras, the enemy Worf projected his shadow onto. However, the healing that occurred because of this strife was the ability to know his child, Alexander, even if only for a short time. This will no doubt have an effect on Worf’s own conscious ego identification as a warrior. He will now have someone even more important to him than himself to fight for.
Original post created 30 August 2021
mydailysoultrek 