Synopsis: After the Hirogen take over Voyager and use neural interfaces to keep them in holodeck programs, Ensign Kim and The Doctor have a plan to retake the vessel.
This episode can be seen a cautionary tale, as both the positive side and darker side of James Hillman’s acorn theory, the idea that just as an acorn has all the information contained in it to become a tree, we all have information in our inner daimons of who we were meant to be, if we listen to them.
Part I of “The Killing Game” begins with Hirogen aliens already having been in control of Voyager for 19 days, and using neural interfaces in the crew to keep them participating in violent holodeck programs, so that the Hirogen can study them. The Hirogen leader believes that he can learn from the programs about human adaptability, and also take holodeck technology to his people, who are in danger of hunting themselves into extinction. This is what he tells Captain Katheryn Janeway after she escapes the holodeck. Voyager is in needs repair because of the damage due to expanded holodeck programs and the Hirogen leader needs Janeway’s help to restore the vessel. Instead, Janeway offers a different solution, if he ceases-fire she will give him the technology he needs to create the holo-programs that he believes will save his civilization. However, in a holodeck program of World War II, a Nazi officer persuades one of the Hirogen to not follow the leader’s cease fire and continue the battle. This Hirogen hunter not only continues the war on the holodeck, but when the program is disrupted, he kills his leader in real life, and then is killed by Janeway. Janeway is then able to broker a new cease fire by honoring her agreement with the late Hirogen leader, giving holodeck technology to the Hirogen hunters in return for them leaving the ship.
If we look at this episode through the lens of Hillman’s acorn theory. The Hirogen leader, who wants to save his civilization from extinction, can be seen as him fulfilling his destiny to take care of his people. Also, Janeway and the Voyager crew in their adaptability, which the Hirogen leader admired, led to the ship being saved from destruction. Unfortunately, the dark side is that the Nazi officer, believing in the superiority of the German race and the need to hunt down and kill his enemies, showed the dark side of being true to our daimon. This is not discussed much, and may be why this episode was so difficult for me to watch and write about.
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