Synopsis: A member of the Q Continuum comes aboard Voyager and asks for asylum.
This episode can be seen as an illustration of the importance of Trickster energy when it comes to spurring on what Carl (C. G.) Jung termed the union of opposites, or transcendent function, the way in which the conscious ego incorporates bits of material from the unconscious into itself, to become stronger and make the psyche more whole.
In “Death Wish” a member of the Q Continuum who had been incarcerated inside a comet for 300 years is inadvertently beamed aboard Voyager. Then Q arrives and once he is aboard, the other Q, hereafter “Q2” petitions for asylum so that he may commit suicide. Captain Kathryn Janeway conducts a hearing in order for him to make his case. The evidence presented includes a visit to the Q Continuum, where Q2 tells Q that he inspired him, because he made him think. Janeway grants Q2 asylum and he takes the name Quinn. Shortly thereafter Janeway is summoned to Sick Bay where Quinn lies dying as he has ingested a rare form of hemlock for which there is no antidote. Quinn dies from the hemlock that Q procured for him.
In this episode, Q can be seen as the Trickster energy that moves forward the story, much as Trickster energy in the psyche spurs on change, through the union of opposites. It is Q acting in the role of opposing counsel that allows for the hearing to take place and to provide witnesses to explain to Janeway how Q2 touched the lives of others and what it is like in the Q Continuum. The exposure to the Q Continuum, something beyond the scope of everyday life, is akin to how the Trickster energy of a complex, allows the rational conscious ego to become aware of bits of material in the unconscious. At the end, Q is also the one who allows Quinn to attain his goal of knowing death. And while this may be an odd analogy, a welcomed death is something that the Q Continuum has never before experienced and is somewhat akin to the psyche becoming more whole by expanding the knowledge of the conscious ego by incorporating bits of unconscious material into it.
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