10 Most Forgettable Star Trek: Voyager Episodes

Oh, Harry. The forever Ensign. Many fans have joked and criticised the absence of a promotion for Harry Kim in the seven years that Voyager travelled the Delta Quadrant. However, the events of season 7 episode, Nightingale, might just remind said fans as to why Harry didn't receive any more pips.

After responding to a distress call while out in the Delta Flyer, Harry Kim finds himself caught in the middle of a war between the Kraylor and the Annari. Under the illusion that the Kraylor ship is transporting medical supplies, Harry agrees to take temporary command of the vessel and help them return home. Along the way, however, not only does it become clear that the Kraylor have not been entirely truthful, forcing Harry to break the Prime Directive, but Captain Kim also demonstrates extremely poor leadership skills in his first solo command.

Alongside this main thread, there's the rather odd subplot of Icheb wrongly assuming that B'Elanna has developed romantic feelings for him.

So why is this particular episode seldom remembered? Well similar to Alice, this episode is preceded by one with more comedic undertones in the form of the EMH and Seven of Nine sharing a body in Body and Soul and succeeded by the hard-hitting Flesh and Blood.

Beyond that, however, for as much as we all love him, it's a hard truth that Harry Kim is not as exciting a character as the likes of Seven of Nine or the Doctor. By this point in the show, it's a common observation that Voyager had become more focused on Janeway, Seven, and the EMH, while the rest of the characters were given less invigorating storylines.

Nightingale is a perfect example of this. Rather than gracing Harry with a story of triumph and even the achievement of a much anticipated promotion, the writers delivered an episode that once again put Mr. Kim down. While it was a great lesson in learning through failing, viewers would have been far more likely to remember this episode if it had been the one where Harry Kim was finally given a promotion!