Repentance

Voyager is forced to evaluate their ethical beliefs, as well as those of an alien criminal justice system, when they rescue a Nygean prison warden, and his prisoners scheduled to be executed.

This episode is a clear response to the modern-day societal debates regarding capital punishment, rehabilitation of criminals, and racial profiling within the justice system.

I didn't like this episode at first, but it grew on me as I watched it.

One of the prisoners is quite violent. A guard nearly beats him to death. The Doctor asks Seven for some of her nano probes to save him. He lives, and then it is discovered that the nano probes have cured him of a condition that had made him prone to violent behavior.

A request for leniency is made to the family of the man he murdered before he was cured, but they deny his plea.

Seven feels badly afterwards. She had grown close to the man, and freeing him would have been as though she were absolved of her own crimes while a Borg.

Janeway tells her that she had lost 20 years of her life while she was Borg, and that was punishment enough.

It was a very good episode, and one that I had not seen before.

"I offer you a Vulcan prayer, Mr Suder. May your

death bring you the peace you never found in

life." - Tuvok.