Risa

I see what you mean, and I wish we could have had more Neelix, as I really do like him as a character, more than even Tuvix (why couldn't Janeway just transporter clone Tuvix and then disassemble one?). I just personally think it'd be having our cake and eating it too in order to both put his character arc at a conclusion or resting point, and get to see him with Voyager to the last moment.

Neelix was always a wanderer, and since his planet was assaulted and his people genocidally attacked to the point of a thin diaspora, he was really adrift. Kes's kindness and love (as weird as it is) cracked his shell enough for him to be able to try trusting Voyager when he first meets it. Voyager teaches him to open up. Kes leaving teaches him to let go. Learning to let go let's him process the tragedy of the loss of his family. Through the strength of self he's gained on Voyager, through learning to love and nurture Naomi Wildman and to serve as part of the crew, Neelix has become a whole person again, but not without scars. When he met a holdout group of Talaxians with no real leadership, he saw an echo of the family and culture he'd lost before Voyager. It wasn't that he felt Voyager no longer needed him, he was still very worried about that and as you said, they needed their chef, and morale officer. But those Talaxians would probably die without his help.

That's what Starfleet taught Neelix; that in order to save his new friends, he has to make them his family. In order to save his new family, he has to say goodbye to family one who helped heal him. The crew's reaction wasn't one of indifference to his departure. It was one of acceptance, and letting Neelix know it was okay to accept this new responsibility to his new family. That despite their love for him, the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few. Or the one.

Well I love your combination of humor with deeper lore appreciation. It makes it fun for newbies like myself.

Ah, OK. So I was a bit off ( been a while). I did remember kadiskot but mixed up the episode and who he was playing it with.

Edit: What is your insistence on downvoting me, within seconds of responding, for simply disagreeing with you?

Let me start here since this is important: I don't get push notifications and only see your comments much later, in this case 40min. I don't know you downvotes you and I see how you think it's me, but it's not me. I didn't downvote a single comment or post from you and I'm happy to agree to disagree and learn a lot from you. I hope you believe me.

That out of the way, let me go on disagreeing with you in a productive way, hopefully =)

Nekrit Expanse

Yes, that's what I meant. It's been years and it's not my native language so sorry for the confusion.

as a Neelix lover

I would also consider myself a Neelix fan but I have a different reading of him: He starts as the sneaky deal maker who tries very hard to give back to the crew because he thinks they will send him away the moment they don't need him anymore. Janeway reacts to this by giving him tasks and purpose even tho star fleet is way advanced. That's why he tries to get a map of the Nekrit Expanse. He was the guy who knew around and now they get into territory that's even new for him. That's when it clicks for him that he's valuable just for existing and doesn't have to justify his presence, still he gets a new meaningless title (ambassador) but he's not afraid of losing everything anymore. That's my interpretation. I totally get yours.

I thought you wanted him to play a role in the final but now that I think about it, you are right, he should have been mentioned at least. Communication to the gamma quadrant is still not straight forward, but some kind of honoring should have happened.

And to the guy who keeps downloading you: stop it. You aren't siting with me by doing that.