If O’Brien Must Suffer in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, then must Harry Kim Must Die in Voyager?

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine made Chief Miles O’Brien suffer but Star Trek: Voyager made Harry Kim die.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine developed a reputation for making Colm Meaney’s character, Chief Miles O’Brien suffer. In fact, it was a writing room staple; who can we make him suffer this week? And man, they really came up with some terrible and awful concepts. Like making him experience decades in a prison, where he killed his cellmate (who never existed) in the span of minutes. Yet, if we’re giving awards for brutalizing a character, Star Trek: Voyager sure took their shot with Harry Kim.

Kim is among my personal favorite characters from Voyager, yet, the way the show wrote him would make you think they hated him as much as fans loved him. The young ensign spent seven years on Voyager and found a new way to die or nearly die every episode it seemed.

When he wasn’t being brutally murdered by the writers, Kim spent the rest of his time on the ship having absolutely no game whatsoever, and walking around perpetually being rejected by women. So much so that the poor guy had to resort to dating a hologram.

You know, maybe that’s why he was always an ensign, every time he got resurrected or brought back to life, his service record restarted. Something to think about.

So how did Voyager find new ways to kill the young ensign?