Synopsis: Lt. Paris is demoted to the rank of ensign after disobeying Captain Janeway’s direct order.
This episode can be seen as yet another illustration of how the Logos-driven rational conscious ego incorporates bits of material from the Eros-driven irrational unconscious into itself, in what Carl (C. G.) Jung called individuation, the process by which a psyche becomes more whole.
“Thirty Days” begins with Thomas Eugene Paris being demoted to the rank of ensign and sentenced to thirty days in solitary confinement. The rest of the episode, told mainly in flashbacks, is framed as Paris writing a letter to his father the admiral, telling him how he once again ended up in the brig. The letter tells his father that this story began when Voyager and her crew came upon a planet that’s surface was one big ocean. When two Moneans, the species currently inhabiting the planet, are invited to beam up to Voyager, one of them, Riga, mentions that the planet’s ocean is losing containment. Paris speaks with Captain Kathryn Janeway about his love of the sea and it is decided that he will take an away team and Riga to the planet to ascertain what was causing the destabilization of the containment. Six hundred kilometers under the surface, they find a reactor 100,000 years old that is holding the water on the planet. Paris surmises that the Monean oxygen refineries are causing the malfunction of the reactor and in turn causing the containment to destabilize. Janeway invites Riga and Deputy Consul Burkas back to Voyager to inform them of the team’s findings. Burkas tells Janeway that he will bring the information to his government, but Riga and Paris believe that nothing will come of this. Instead, they take the Delta Flyer and fire upon one of the oxygen refineries. This is in violation of both the Prime Directive and Janeway’s direct order, and is what caused Paris’s demotion and confinement.
In this episode the process of individuation can be analogized to the time Paris spent in confinement, working through the causes of his punishment by writing a letter to his father. Janeway’s direct order and Starfleet’s Prime Directive can be seen as edicts from the conscious ego. Paris’s actions in going against them can be seen as being motivated by the unconscious, in that Paris followed his instincts and his feelings, not what the ego told him to do. This can also be seen as an instant of inflation, identifying with the god-like power of an unconscious archetype. But, the result of his actions, the confinement, can be seen as deflation, which is also a normal follower to inflation. The time spent in confinement can be seen as a time to equalize the two opposites so that Paris can continue on in the future, albeit, slightly changed. That this is a normal turn of events is illustrated here by Lt. Commander Tuvok releasing Paris without incident after the thirty days and Lt. B’Elanna Torres welcoming him back to his life aboard Voyager with dinner.
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