SSV daddy issues: gotta love that parent/child angst
With a rumoured remastering of the original Mass Effect (ME) Trilogy on the horizon, and Star Trek: Discovery (DISCO) just around the corner, now is a good time to take a slightly tongue-in-cheek look at one of ME’s recurring trope in a broader context: the SSV Daddy issues. For the uninitiated, this is the premise that the ship on which Shepherd and the ME crew sail is a seething hot bed of parental issues waiting for the player to discover, unpick, and resolve. Drama is the fuel for tension and a good narrative, and parental issues have long been a staple of genre fiction throughout history going back to the Greeks. It is not surprising that science fiction draws upon these tropes for drama, and well executed parent/child drama makes for compelling stories.
Mary Shelley understood this in Frankenstein, with the beating heart being the relationship between creator and monster, and the drama hinges on how that dynamic plays out. Fast forward to the original Star Trek (STOS)and there are plenty of episodes predicated on families and their dynamics, Spock’s relationship to his parents being one that was spun out across STOS, Star Trek: The Next Generation (ST:TNG) and latterly DISCO. Indeed, over the course of Trek’s 50 years it has been explored in every series, providing grist upon which the narrative mill has ground. Data’s entire arc was predicated on finding his humanity based upon his father’s wishes, and this meta narrative allowed him to find a sense of place in an organic world. Janeway and Seven of Nine’s dynamic in Star Trek: Voyager (ST:O) allowed Seven’s humanity to emerge, while also to a degree grounding Janeway as a maternal figure that did not fall overtly into cliché. Virtually all characters in the long running shows had some form of parental issues added into their arc to provide spice, with Deanna Troi’s being the most obvious and outrageous, though the irony is that because was not subtle and nuanced it her mummy issues are almost played for laughs.
While Trek has a legacy of using daddy issues to hang some character drama from time-to-time, ME practically grounded all its characters in parental anxiety. Mirand’a arc is the most flagrant example, as her whole story is based around you helping her escape the clutches of two father figures in ME:2. Garrus rebel’s against his father in ME:1, finds an almost parental figure in Shepherd in ME:2 as you help him recover from his Archangel escapades, and by ME:3 he is able to reconcile his entire culture as one giant daddy issue. Grunt, check. Jack is a living, breathing daddy issue that she only resolves by become a surrogate mother to biotic teens. Wrex overcomes his father and his entire culture to renew his people. Morden is the daddy issue, and works through his previous approach to help resolve a critical issue in ME:3. Tali has to overcome her practically treating Shepherd as a surrogate parent and then deals with her own daddy issues in ME:2 in possibly one of the best scenes on the series. Pick a main character and daddy issues exude out of every narrative pore. Thane, walking daddy issue, check. Samara, walking mommy issue, check. Great drama, great narratives, choc full of daddy issues.
Why is do both Trek and Mass Effect use parental issues in their arcs? Much like Frankenstein, they use them to allow the audience to better empathise with the characters. Trek does it sparingly because of its long form format, and it has evolved how it uses parents within the show. Kirk was very much the frontiers man forging his way into the void, whereas DISCO’s Philippa Georgiou acts as Michael’s surrogate mother leading to her own demise. Modern audiences appreciate nuanced and rounded characters, especially in long running shows, and parent/child relationships (even surrogate ones) enable a shortcut to both drama and empathy. ME works so well because it gets you to care about the characters, explore their personal history and gets you to resolve those narrative arcs in meaningful ways, not all of which have a net positive outcome.
When the parent/child dynamic flows organically it can produce deep and profound moments, such as the scenes in ME:3 between Thane and his son. Other times even the best set-up can fall flat if the groundwork is not effectively set, as in Seven’s Star Trek: Picard (Picard) introduction. The audience must care about the dynamic before the drama sets in, otherwise it comes across as hackneyed and contrived. DISCO and Picard have both suffered from this due to their short seasons, though Spock’s arc across the 50+ years of trek does compensate a little for his DISCO arc. Getting viewers and players to care is a fine balance, and setting up drama needs to be more than simply showing us that here is the child, here is there parent, now let’s at it.
I am a passionate ME fan, I love the series, and I believe it works on part because it has the SSV Daddy Issues at its core. The drama, the resolutions, the journeys we go on as Shepherd with their crew humanise and ground the story. Over the 100 hours of the ME trilogy there are moments of profound sadness and joy that result from this parent/child tension, even moments where you have to simply step away from the keyboard/controller and just simply take it all in. My first play through of the trilogy is still one of my favourite gaming moments, and every time I reply the series I look forward to certain moments.
Trek’s dynamics are more long form, and as an avid Trekkie there is always something interesting seeing a character develop and grow when they interact with their parent figures. While it may not be as all encompassing as ME’s characters, it rounds them out and allows them to be empathic and relatable. Quark’s muggi helps turn him from a Ferrengi bar tender into someone who rebels against his cultural norms. Even Dukat has his parental moment that defines his character for the rest of Deep Space Nine’s arc. It is almost as if the parent/child dynamic grows a character’s beard, enabling to move beyond the archetype set for them. Of course, there are many other narrative stories they journey through, and some characters never reveal that dynamic, but those who do generally tend to develop and grow from them.
Ultimately, both franchise have daddy and mommy issues woven into their narratives. On occasion they bring us joy, other times profound sadness, and the odd moments where it is a clanger are generally off-set by the character development they show. Trek is best when it allows the slow burn, the organic development, and ME excels at allowing the player to explore characters and issues that have meaningful impact. While they may not always soar to heavenly heights, I am more than happy to voyage on the SSV Daddy issues and engage in parent/child shenanigans with all the crews.
