Favorite Son (Star Trek: Voyager)

"Favorite Son" focused on Harry Kim, a character played by Garrett Wang (pictured in 2013).

In her original script, Lisa Klink intended for "Favorite Son" to reveal Harry Kim was really an alien, a storyline that would have continued throughout the series.[3][4] The character would have remained part of Voyager's crew after struggling with the news.[5] Kim's actor Garrett Wang explained in a 1998 The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine interview that this would have included him keeping the alien prosthetics in future episodes.[4] The series' writing team thought it would be ironic to have Kim be an alien since he was the crew member most eager to return to the Alpha Quadrant.[5]

According to the director, Marvin V. Rush, "Favorite Son" underwent more rewrites than an average episode.[6] The writers found Kim's alien identity "just too wild a turn",[5] and revised the script so he remained human.[3][5] As a result, "Favorite Son" was one of several Star Trek: Voyager episodes to focus on alien possession and the manipulation of a crew member's memories of their home.[7][8] When discussing these changes, Klink said the focus remained on Kim's identity crisis, explaining: "He gets to take a walk on the wild side, and then of course discovers that he is who he thought he was all along."[9]

Wang preferred the initial concept, saying it provided Kim with more depth and story opportunities; he explained: "I had always said that it was easier to write for the non-Human characters on Voyager than the Human characters."[4] Rush and Wang believed the script's changes had muddied the story unnecessarily.[4][6] According to Wang, the episode was developed and revised through a collaborative approach; he explained: "You have three or four different opinions of how this episode should be written, and all of a sudden you have no clear delineation of where this episode should go." Wang thought this method weakened the story and viewed "Favorite Son" as disappointing compared to "The Chute", an earlier season three episode.[3] With the addition of the Taresians, he said "everything got flipped around" from the original script.[3] He attributed the inclusion of these "vampire-like, blood-sucking women" to the studio executives' insistence that the episode have more action and sex appeal.[4]

According to Rush, the cast and crew further developed the story to be "a male fantasy piece with a dark twist" while filming. Rush wanted to portray the Taresians with a "sense of tastefulness", but said he had difficulty doing so; he explained: "These guest actors had to come in and play very non-'90s women. I had to do a little convincing, but we got there." While describing the characters, he likened them to geishas, and explained the purpose of both was "to be completely captivating to men" with their beauty and intelligence.[6] The Taresians' costumes disappointed Wang, who said they were "these matronly women with no sex appeal instead of babes dressed like I Dream of Jeannie".[4]

Cari Shayne, Kelli Kirkland, and Star Trek: Voyager stunt performer Patricia Tallman played three of the Taresians.[10] Two of the episode's guest stars—Deborah May and Christopher Carroll—had appeared previously in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes "Sanctuary" and "Second Skin", respectively.[11][12] Irene Tsu, who appeared as Kim's mother, would reprise her role in the season seven episode "Author, Author".[10]

"Favorite Son" was filmed before and after the show's Christmas break, a scheduling decision that Rush said made it difficult to maintain focus on set.[6] For the scene in which the Taresians confront Kim, Rush had the set's ceiling removed to provide room for a camera mounted on a rig. He chose an overhead shot to better represent the tension that Kim experiences while being surrounded by the women and barely escaping from them.[6] "Favorite Son" had reshoots, like removing kissing from the marriage scene and dimming the lighting to evoke a "ceremonial, ritual wedding".[4]

The episode reused props from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The Nasari Ship was a Romulan scout ship from "The Defector", and the Taresian star ship was a model used in "Gambit" and "Vortex".[13] During filming, the prop department forgot to inscribe Taresian symbols on their weapons. Art supervisor Michael Okuda and producer Merri Howard went on set and used black markers to correct this.[14]

"Favorite Son" received a mixed response from the cast and crew. Executive producer Jeri Taylor said the episode, along with "Rise", was one of the worst moments in the third season; she summarized it as an "interesting idea that in the making of it just came off as looking a little silly".[32] Garrett Wang criticized "Favorite Son" for not living up to the original script, but still thought it turned out to be an "OK episode".[4] Marvin V. Rush identified "Favorite Son" as weaker than the past Star Trek episodes he had directed—"The Host" and "The Thaw". Despite this, Rush praised Wang's performance, and believed the story was enjoyable enough to maintain the audience's attention. When discussing the episode's meaning, he pointed to the scene where Harry Kim rejects the drugs offered by the Taresians, and explained: "If there's a message to that show, that's the scene with the message."[6]

Reviews of "Favorite Son" were negative. Fans have referred to it, along with "Darkling" and "Rise", as the "trilogy of terror".[33] According to a 2020 Screen Rant article, IMDb registered users ranked "Favorite Son" as one of the top ten worst Star Trek: Voyager episodes.[34] As part of an overview of the series, Den of Geek!'s Juliette Harrisson considered the episode to be the worst instance of Kim's "doomed romances", a storyline repeated in "The Disease" and "Ashes to Ashes".[35] Keith DeCandido, writing for Tor.com, preferred the original concept, and criticized the twist ending as resulting in multiple plot holes.[10]

Reviewers were critical of the Taresians for being sexist caricature and lacking character development.[10][34][36] Screen Rant's Kristy Ambrose disliked the episode's reliance on the "planet of lusty women" trope, writing that the Taresians are portrayed as "shallow, sexist stereotypes that would alienate any female viewer".[36] Although she appreciated the episode's focus on Kim,[34][36] Ambrose dismissed the story as the equivalent of "incel fan fiction".[34] DeCandido felt the Taresians were generic, and wrote that the episode treats them like "superficial arm candy and not much beyond that".[10]

The Taresians' method of reproduction was also criticized.[10][35] Harrison found it unrealistic for Kim to believe such an obvious trap; she unfavorably compared the plot to the Red Dwarf episode "Psirens", writing that Kim acts as foolishly as Cat who fell for a similar ploy.[35] DeCandido questioned why the Taresians used this method when they could have used their expertise in genetic engineering to more easily alter their own species to produce more male offspring instead. While discussing the episode's twist, he said answers were not provided for how the Taresians knew enough about Kim's home to convincingly trick him.[10]