I apologize in advance for the essay I'm about to add to this post, but their relationship and this episode in particular are something I have thought about a lot lol
So it's interesting to me, because they do start off at odds with each other, not trusting each other, but I think it's something deeper than just "who does she think she is"... it comes across that way, but really, I think B'Elanna is apprehensive of Janeway, and Janeway is just completely confused by B'Elanna.
Janeway has read B'Elanna's file from Starfleet. She already knows that this woman is incredibly intelligent, and she's also read the letters from former professors who were impressed by her, and on top of that she's got Chakotay, who is former Starfleet with command experience, telling her how B'Elanna is the best engineer he's ever met. In her mind, I don't think Janeway can even fathom why B'Elanna might have quit the academy, because in Janeway's experience, Starfleet was her ultimate goal, and she too was an overachiever who dedicated her life to it. I think she is truly baffled by B'Elanna because B'Elanna didn't fail, but she quit anyway.
Basically, what she saw on paper, and the woman she met in person, don't seem to match.
From B'Elanna's perspective, she's grappling with a lack of self-confidence. She thought her professors hated her, and she thought she couldn't make it in Starfleet. She is used to losing, and she protects herself by lashing out when she feels threatened, and quitting when she thinks she might lose something. It's easier to quit than to fail.
In the Maquis, she didn't have anything to prove. They were all outcasts, and they played by their own rules, and she fit in. But now that she's on Voyager, in a Starfleet uniform, having to deal with a chain of command and not knowing how the situation is going to play out, she's scared, and she expresses that by lashing out at everyone.
Janeway calls her in to her ready room, and B'Elanna immediately goes on the defensive, before Janeway can even say what she wants to talk to her about. She's expecting to get reprimanded for making a mistake, and she's surprised when Janeway tells her no one blames her for it.
And then Janeway brings up the idea of promoting her, but the moment she expresses even the slightest doubt, B'Elanna lashes out again. She doesn't have the confidence to speak up for herself and say she can do the job, so instead she sabotages herself and (almost) ruins her chances of getting it, because that's the safer option... it's too risky to try to get the job and get denied, and she does not expect the promotion. She expects to fail. And she expects Janeway to dismiss her and shoot her down, just like the professors at the academy did.
But that all changes the first staff meeting she goes to, the one where both she and Lt. Carey are there to represent Engineering. Carey suggests an idea, B'Elanna agrees that she can help, and then she gives the most timid "it won't work". She's expecting to get dismissed, because that's what she's used to, but that's not what happens. You can literally hear the confidence start to rise in her voice as she continues talking, and Janeway agrees with her and says she was thinking the same thing.
I think that's the exact moment the dynamic changes, even before the meeting where B'Elanna talks about temporal mechanics and the frozen pond analogy.
I think that moment where B'Elanna suggests a better idea, Janeway has a moment of "yes, this sounds like the person I read about in that Starfleet academy file", and when she doesn't shoot her down immediately, B'Elanna realizes that she can actually have a voice on this ship, and that the people above her (Janeway in particular) will actually listen to her and want to hear her ideas.
I once said in another post that whenever B'Elanna has a good idea, Janeway is like "this woman is a blessing to me", but I think it goes both ways, and they both recognized it by the end of that episode. Janeway obviously needed someone like B'Elanna who actually knows wtf she's talking about, and can match Janeway in intelligence, and B'Elanna needed someone like Janeway to finally feel appreciated and feel like she could actually measure up to these high expectations. They both give each other something that no one else on the ship can provide... I think that's why I'm so obsessed with the two of them, tbh... there's so many layers to their relationship, right from the very start.
andulkaphoto
janainaart
theartofmadeline
germansingergirl
discoholicmusic
turnnoffyourmind
areudirty
