Star Trek: 15 Most Culturally Significant Episodes
12. Extreme Risk
B'Elanna Torres discovered the fate of many of her Maquis friends at the hands of the Dominion in season four, but it was this early fifth season episode of Voyager that showed her attempting to process her loss. While it took a while to get there, Extreme Risk becomes a heavy exercise in examining mental health.
While Torres' skydiving is initially seen as adrenaline chasing, it is actually a depiction of self-harm, one that escalates into fighting Cardassian holograms on the holodeck. She engages in these attacks so that she can find a way to fight back. She feels helpless, stranded so far away from being able to do anything.
Her quest for vengeance spills over into her duties and her colleagues pick up on it. It is not a quick process - she continues to put herself in harms way again and again. Though the outcome is positive, her method in dealing with her trauma is a questionable one.
The conversation on mental health is a minefield, though processing internal pain is a clear step toward healing. It is clear that Torres had not dealt with the feelings she carried within, which allowed them to build and multiply inside her, causing a rift in her relationship as well. In the end, Paris is not the one who can help her.
By episode's end, she is on the way toward normality, though the destruction of the Maquis remains with her going forward.