Synopsis: Dr. Bashir is attacked by an alien that has the ability put him in a telepathic coma and must find his way back to consciousness.
This episode can be interpreted as an analogy of archetypal psychology, which maintains that we all have various archetypal energies within our psyches. But it can also be seen as an illustration of the mercurial energy of a Trickster character, here embodied by the alien Altovar, a member of the Lethean species. But both of those interpretations seem a bit unsatisfying to me.
In “Distant Voices” Dr. Julian Bashir is attacked by Altovar, a Lethean, who puts Bashir in a telepathic coma and then tries to kill him by showing Bashir different bits of his psychic innerworkings and then taking them away.
While Bashir is in a telepathic coma, we can see his conscious ego confronting different aspects of his unconscious, embodied in different individuals from his real world, although not necessarily as they normally present themselves. Chief of Operations Miles O’Brien is here pessimistic, Major Kira Nerys is aggressive, Security Chief Odo is suspicious and fearful, Lt. Jadzia Dax is confident and adventurous, and Commander Benjamin Sisko is professional and skillful. One by one Bashir interacts with them and then Altovar makes them disappear. Lethe, in ancient Greek mythology is one of five rivers in Hades and those that drink from it experience complete forgetfulness or oblivion.
Altovar, in Trickster mode, is also appearing to Bashir while he is in the coma. At first Altovar embodies the character of Garak, the Cardassian spy that has remained aboard Deep Space Nine; fitting as no one trusts Garak, or can trust a Trickster. In ancient Greek mythology the Trickster was manifested in Mercury, the messenger of the gods. Mercury was able to travel from Mt. Olympus to the realm of the mortals, and then as a psychopomp, to the underworld of Hades. In this episode Altovar, with the power that can be likened to that of an Olympic god, caused the telepathic coma and then accompanied Bashir into the underworld of his unconscious, where he alters his appearance when he engages Bashir and then tries to trick him into loosing himself forever. This is a very dark imagining of mercurial energy. Perhaps it is this dark side of the Trickster archetype, as well as the darker interpretations of some of the individuals from Bashir’s life on the station that make me unsatisfied with this episode. If that is the case, then I should check my own bias at the door. I can’t really do that. All I can do is acknowledge it and admit it exists to those who read this.
mydailysoultrek 