i wish voyager had spent more time with neelix’s depth because it seems like there’s a lot there from admitting that he made up stories about being in the talaxian military to his experiences as a first responder to the metreon cascade incident and onwards to reconciling his religious beliefs through nurturing naomi wildman.

kes knew that his comedic relief bit was forced as a means to make him more agreeable and i bet it would have a done a lot for his character if we got to see it that way more often too; some of the most outwardly happy people i know irl have gone through some terrible things in their past and their big forced smiles are functional coping mechanisms.