Synopsis: Ensign Kim is led to believe that he is not human, but a native of a planet inhabited mainly by women.
Harkening back to the episode “The Lorelei Signal” from Star Trek: The Animated Series, this episode is a lesson in how the anima, the internal feminine ideal that is part of the male unconscious psyche, can affect males negatively; as all unconscious and conscious drives in our psyche have both positive and negative traits. In a male psyche, the anima is considered to contain the unconscious creative and emotional elements, as well as the bodily life force.
In “Favorite Son” Ensign Harry Kim seems to be experiencing multiple episodes of déjà vu when Voyager enters a particular star system. He seems to know when a Nasari vessel is going to fire upon Voyager, and that the ship will be safe in orbit around the planet Taresia. But this knowledge has him acting unusually and seems to be coming to him in his dreams. When Voyager arrives at Taresia, Kim changes physically to resemble the inhabitants of the planet and is led to believe by them that he is one of theirs. When in fact he has been infected with a virus that remained dormant until Voyager entered this star system. Kim learns not only this truth, but that the population of the planet, which is 90% female, lives off of the life force of men that are enticed to come there. As it turns out the vessel that fired upon Voyager did so because the crew perceived Kim as a member of the Taresian race, which is also why a Taresian vessel protected Voyager. Once Kim learns the truth and is safely aboard Voyager, Captain Kathryn Janeway orders the ship to leave the planet at best speed, and lets the Taresians and the Nasari fight among themselves.
As in “The Lorelei Signal” the sapping of the life force is a danger for a male psyche that is possessed by a negative anima, or even when a man goes to extremes to carry out the creative spark of a positive anima. This is much like how the males that come to Taresia are enticed to stay on the planet, until they are imprisoned by them in order to drain them of their life forces. However, in “The Lorelei Signal” after the male crew members are rescued by the female crew members, the women of the Enterprise also devise a way for the Taurean females to be integrated into the population of the Federation without draining males of their powers. This reflects how the ego can integrate the anima into consciousness to create a stronger psyche. Here, the female captain of Voyager leaves the Taresian women and their enemy, the Nasari to fight among themselves, as Voyager takes her leave to head back to the Alpha Quadrant. It could be explained that Janeway behaved this way because there is no Federation in the Delta Quadrant; or it could be that she is identifying with the one-sided rational edicts of Starfleet, that often have no room for the anima, positive or negative.
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