Synopsis: Dr. Phlox is abducted by the Klingons to help them deal with a dangerous virus.
This episode can be seen as another illustration of what is possible when the Logos-driven rational conscious ego acknowledges bits of material from the Eros-driven irrational unconscious and integrates them into itself.
In “Divergence” Commander Charles (Trip) Tucker III takes a perilous route from Columbia to Enterprise, to help purge the sabotaged subroutines from Enterprise’s systems. He is successful and Enterprise heads toward Qu’Vat Colony where Phlox is being held. On Qu’Vat, Antaak comes to see the now confined Phlox and convinces him not to create better augments, but to find a cure for the virus that has afflicted so many Klingons. However, General K’Vagh believes that they are working on a method to perfect Klingon Augments, and Antaak and Phlox let him believe that. Enterprise reaches Qu’Vat Colony before Phlox finishes the cure and just before the Klingon Fleet arrives to wipe out the colony. In order for Phlox to speed up the process of creating the cure, Captain Jonathan Archer offers to be infected with the virus. After the cure is completed, Phlox sends a sample of the highly contagious virus to the ship commanded by Klingon Fleet Admiral Krell and tells him that if he destroys the colony he will also destroy the cure to the virus. The attack is called off and the threat to the Klingon Empire comes under control.
In this episode, when Phlox finds a way to work around his rational medical ethics, he is able to both come up with the cure to the deadly virus as well as stabilize the Klingon Empire. Phlox holds his medical ethics very dear, so this is not an easy choice for him. This can be compared to how the conscious ego likes to think that it is in control of the psyche. However when Phlox is able to rationalize some of his actions which are not exactly in line with the Hippocratic oath, but which will save the lives of millions of Klingons, this can be analogized to when the conscious ego acknowledges and integrates bits of unconscious material into itself, to make it stronger and the psyche more whole.
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