I'm the only motherfucker on this Earth who thinks about Tuvok/Marayna but I genuinely find both of Tuvok's love interests compelling - Marayna in how she mirrors and deviates from him.
I especially find the mystery of "Marayna" compelling (we're not even certain in the episode if that's her real name, adding to the feeling of tragic separation). The fact that I don't believe she ever says Tuvok loves her or that she loves him - instead using the phrase "be together" is also very very interesting given the fact that Tuvok's Vulcan, the episode is about love, and Tuvok doesn't deny that under different circumstances he would enjoy being with her but none of that enjoyment is explicitly romantic or sexual. "Be with" certainly has those connotations but there is something slightly more nebulous and un-emotional about it.
I'm fascinated by Marayna's desire for Tuvok to "be with her" and (importantly) to WANT to "be with her" - how she thinks of them as birds of a feather and how finding someone she connects with after what seems to be a lifetime of isolation makes her go off the deep end a bit as she knows he's going to leave eventually and she'll be alone again. Despite this and despite her being the episode's antagonist, we can see that she DOES care about Tuvok and isn't an evil person. She lets Tuvok go without being forced to by anything other than her own moral compass and affection for him ("I believe that if you truly care for me, you will not pursue this course of action.") and Tuvok can see this.
In fact I think Marayna's spiral is mirrored (to a lesser extent) by Tuvok getting attached to her at all. He thinks she's a hologram and yet he still forms a bond with her - that isn't logical, especially when he's supposed to be helping Harry disengage from her.
The moment at the end where Tuvok stays back purely to offer Marayna some comfort and a path forward? The look he gives her as he's beamed back aboard? Those parting words where we the audience switch from feeling bad for Marayna to feeling bad for Tuvok who can't call for a replacement and return to his people (and the fact that Tuvok suggests living among her own kind as a remedy for her feelings of isolation tells you a lot about him). The fact he calls it Marayna's Nebula???
I like how this episode writes Tuvok in a potential romance that IS so nebulous. We can feel the affection they have for one another but there's no explicit mention of love - Tuvok can't feel it and Marayna apparently doesn't characterize/verbalize her feelings that way, lending credence to her assertion that they're kindred spirits.
A lot of one-off romance episodes (especially when a male character is our more established one) will just put a pretty lady on screen and call it a day so I like how they have to actually put in a bit of work to show why Tuvok, as a Vulcan, would be interested in Marayna.
Credit: Lovesick Boy Prays by Keaton St James & The Last Scene in the Movie by Eleanor Hsieh
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