Synopsis: When convicted killers are transported to Voyager, Seven of Nine sees something in one of them that reminds her of herself.
This episode illustrates Carl (C. G.) Jung’s concept of projection. Projection being one way that the Logos-driven rational conscious ego becomes aware of bits of material from the Eros-driven irrational unconscious.
In “Repentance” Voyager receives a distress call from an alien ship and Captain Kathryn Janeway orders that the passengers aboard the vessel in distress be beamed aboard Voyager to save their lives. Once they arrive, Janeway and the crew learn that the individuals that they brought aboard the ship are convicted murderers on their way to the execution and their Nygean guards. Now that they are aboard Voyager, the Prime Directive prohibits the crew from interfering with the fate of the prisoners even though capital punishment is forbidden in the Federation. One prisoner, Iko, is particularly aggressive and is beaten down by one of the guards which requires him to be taken to Sick Bay. Once there, The Doctor treats his brain injury with some of Seven of Nine’s Borg nanoprobes. But the nanoprobes have an unexpected effect in changing his personality from brutal to gentle. The Doctor then discovers that the nanoprobes not only healed his injury but a birth defect in his brain which was the cause of his criminal behavior. Seven, who has been involved in Iko’s recovery, sees the change in him and wants him to exercise his rights under Nygean law to appeal his death sentence. The sentence is upheld and Seven is upset. Seven tells Janeway that Iko killed one individual and put him to death, while she killed thousands while she was a Borg and has never been punished. Janeway asks Seven if she is upset because she sees something of herself in Iko?
In this episode, when Janeway asks Seven if she sees something of herself in Iko, it is because she does. Since she arrived on Voyager, Seven has done a lot of work on trying to regain her humanity, which can be compared to Jungian analysis. And one of the methods of Jungian analysis uses is to make the conscious ego more aware of bits of material from the unconscious. One way is through projection, which is when an individual recognizes bits of material from one’s own unconscious projected onto another. If they are bits of material from our anima or animus, then we feel friendship or empathy, or even love toward that individual. If the bits of material are from one’s shadow, one is repelled by that individual. And sometimes like here, there seems to be a mixture of feelings. Mixed feelings may even be the most human way for the ego to assimilate these bits of unconscious material.
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