Synopsis: Lt. Torres discovers a holo-novel left behind on Voyager by Seska.
This episode illustrates how projections are one way in which bits of material from the Eros-driven irrational unconscious can come to the awareness of the Logos-driven rational conscious ego.
In “Worst Case Scenario” Lt. B’Elanna Torres discovers a new holo-novel that tells the story of a Maquis mutiny led by Commander Chakotay. Because it is something new, and because the characters in the holo-novel are the crew aboard Voyager, crewmembers are anxious to take part in it, even though they do not know who it was written by. When it is discovered that Seska, the late former Maquis member who betrayed Voyager by joining the Kazons, altered an unfinished training program to become a deadly trap, the crew members in the holodeck must be rescued before they are killed.
In this episode, Captain Kathryn Janeway, when she says that communities need entertainment is realizing that one way to work with difficult emotions is through play. The holo-novel that the crew has been using as escapist recreation, can be compared to how the conscious ego projects bits of unconscious material from the psyche onto others. This is one way that the conscious ego may become aware of such traits in itself, if the individual involved is willing to do so. What is interesting here, is that in this holo-novel the crew is interacting with projections of themselves. Even more interesting, was that initially the holo-novel was created as a training program for potential saboteurs aboard Voyager. The discomfort of seeing oneself as one’s enemy is apparent to at least one crew member, Chakotay. This is illustrated when he asks that if someone creates another holo-novel involving the crew that he is not made out to be the villain. Although Janeway’s use of the literary device of Deus ex machina to extradite the crew from jeopardy may also have stolen an opportunity to know themselves better. This action can be analogized to how the rational ego tries to suppress bits of unconscious material; although those bits of material will reappear eventually and the pain of facing them will be related to how long they are suppressed.
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