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?
When Harry died in Emanations
Harr Kim can’t catch a break, even early into the series. In just the ninth episode of the series, Kim finds himself dealing with an alien race of lemmings, who literally look forward to death. in an attempt to help one who doesn’t want to die just yet, Kim takes his place and ends up being killed. Luckily, the Doctor is able to revive Kim before there’s any long-term damage. You know, beyond death.
When Harry exploded and died in Timeless
Kim didn’t go out on his own in this one, he took Chakotay, Tessa Omond, and The Doctor with them. Granted, these were future versions who were trying to stop the destruction of Voyager years prior, but still, it counts. Harry Kim, getting blown up in every timeline.
When Harry was erased from history in Endgame
Harry Kim in the future is always a problem. If he’s not active in the past, the writers will find a way to kill him. Like in the series finale when he helps Admiral Kathryne Janeway go back in time to get the Voyager back sooner, and thereby saving Chakotay from death and Tuvok from an illness that affects his brain. In doing so, Kim ends up getting erased after Adrmial Janeway succeeds. The man can’t even die with dignity. He just ceases to exist.
When Harry dies in the Voyager explosion in Relativity
Harry Kim doesn’t die alone in this episode, as The Voyager explodes due to a saboteur in yet another alternate-timeline adventure. This time it’s Seven of Nine, who is pulled to a Starfleet timeship to go back in time and save Voyager. The man can’t even be the main character of his own death at this point.
When Kim was a copy with the rest of the crew in Course Oblivion
This one was a heartbreaker. The entire crew of the Voyager are copies of the original crew and as they start to decompose, the crew has to find a way to save themselves. They figure out the real Voyager may be able to help them but by the time the real Voyager arrives, the crew is already gone. Kim was one of the last ones standing however but then that ending happened…
When Harry dies in an accident and is returned to San Francisco in Non Sequitur
Well, we may be stretching this one a bit, maybe Kim doesn’t die per se, but he does end up in a different timeline, and has to be blown to high heaven to get back to his own timeline. So he kinda dies at the end?
When Harry died by being sucked out into space in Deadlock
This may be the worst Kim-death yet because he dies. There is no saving him this time, Harry Kim outright dies. The episode sees Voyager get split in two, with identical crews and such but only one shared power source. Before this is figured out, the actual Harry Kim from the start of the series gets sucked out into space and dies. He dies folks. Later in the episode, the copy-Kim from the other Voyager is sent over and takes over the other Kim’s life. Here’s the real kicker, no on even mourns the death of the first Kim. They just accept this new Kim in stride. Sure, they have had the exact same life, experiences and memories up until this point but still.
That’s cold.