#commander ro

[spockvarietyhour]

Ro, I...I do see you. Everything. Forgive me. It's only now.

Star Trek Picard "Imposters"

[cannibalspicnic]

I've seen a few different people referring to Ro Laren's death as a "fridging" or saying that she was "fridged" etc. It's been bugging me for a while, so I would like to address it because not only does it misrepresent the concept of women in refrigerators but it does a disservice to Ro's character in my mind.

The concept of women in refrigerators came from Gail Simone who noticed a trend of how female superheroes were treated and subsequently killed in comic books after Katma Tui (a female superhero) was pretty unceremoniously sliced up and stuffed into a refrigerator for Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) to find. The brutalization and lack of agency is a huge aspect of women in refrigerators.

"I can't quite shake the feeling that male characters tend to die differently than female ones. The male characters seem to die nobly, as heroes, most often, whereas it's not uncommon, as in Katma Tui's case, for a male character to just come home and find her butchered in the kitchen." -Gail Simone

Generally, a fridged woman not only doesn't have agency in her own death, but the death itself is meaningless to her character development and storyline.

One of Ro Laren's defining character traits is that she is prepared to sacrifice herself, her career, her relationships, her moral certainty to do what she thinks is right. It makes total sense to me that she would be ready to die so Picard could get away.

Another part of Ro's character is her search and struggle for someone to trust and to believe in. A large part of why she betrayed Picard was the old man who reminded her of her father and who probably held beliefs more common to the ones with which she was raised. Her final act being one of trust brings a certain closure for her character that's just hers.

And I thought there was vindication for her. Picard is so far up his own ass about Starfleet, and she's the one who had to bonk him on his head about complete faith in any institution. She was the one bringing one of the major themes of the whole season into clarity because she has always understood the moral complications of war and knows that no side comes out unchanged or untainted.

Anyway, I'm not saying anyone has to like her death or not have a problem with her being brought back just to be killed off, but I very strongly disagree with calling her a fridged woman. Yes, the storyline and Picard's character were advanced because of her death, but that was not the only purpose her death serves.

Thanks for your time!

I will now go back to simping for Vadic.

*climbs off soapbox*