Star Trek: 10 Times You Asked 'WHAT Were They Thinking?!'

The arc that Kes went through in Star Trek: Voyager was a cautionary tale. Effectively, it was a sign that the writers had come up with an interesting premise - this 'Mayfly' alien - but had no idea where to go with it. Her final episode Fury exemplifies this as, though Jennifer Lien is excellent in her return, the character named Kes was a new invention with very little to do with the one who had evolved in season four's The Gift.

A race of aliens who live and die in a comparatively tiny amount of time was fascinating. Surely, everything that the Ocampa do must, by their nature, be filled with an urgency that other races - Human, Vulcan, Talaxian - would find staggering. 

Kes was introduced in the pilot, barely more than a year old, though presenting as adult. The character almost immediately became 'one of the crew,' with nothing particularly highlighting her Ocampan heritage. So, the audience was left with a child being treated as an adult, while grown men squabbled over her heart. 

What could have been one of the most intriguing and exciting arcs in Star Trek history becomes a deeply uncomfortable exercise in trying to decide if Neelix or Tom Paris are the creepier, and Lien was saddled with almost nothing to do.

The episode that breaks this trend is Before And After. Through time travel, it finally explored the idea of Kes aging at a much faster rate than the rest of the crew. It is an excellent outing, even if that serves to damn the rest of the show's treatment of her.