Voyager's Two
The People-Pleaser
"It will be my job to anticipate your needs before you even know you have them. And I anticipate your first need will be me."
-- Neelix in The Caretaker
Like Threes and Fours, Twos have a problem with image confusion - they confuse seeming with being. In the case of Twos, they subconsciously believe that if they seem like loving, helpful people, they will be able to earn love in return.
At their best, Twos are selfless, nurturing and altruistic. However, you can see the problem that stems from the Two's idea of earning love by giving it. Love should be free, but when Twos are less healthy, love can come with a price tag: Notice me, appreciate me, love me, let me have my way because "Look at all I've done for you." Unhealthy Twos deny that they have any needs of their own, while believing that their help is indispensable to others.
Neelix is the ultimate "people-pleaser," sociable, overly friendly, talkative, unflaggingly positive and supportive, a busybody. Whether it's cooking meals, throwing parties, offering to be B'Elanna's verbal punching bag, or pushing Tuvok to open up, Neelix lives to serve.
"It will be my job to anticipate your needs before you even know you have them," Neelix has said. That's a Two way of life.
Like most Star Trek characters - and most of us - Neelix is a mix of the good and bad of his personality style. On the unhealthy side of Two, he shares the tendency to force his help on others whether it is wanted or not. Nowhere is this more obvious than in his relationship with Tuvok. From the day Neelix first beamed aboard Voyager and clapped the Vulcan into a hug (Twos are very tactile people), Neelix has been determined to make Tuvok his friend. Not, it should be noted, a friend on Tuvok's terms, but a friend on Neelix's terms - he has wanted Tuvok to be as cheery, emotional and enthusiastic as himself.
Because Twos seem to be equipped with a need-seeking radar, they often find themselves drawn to people who are wounded, distant, dysfunctional - unfortunately, the sort of people who will be least likely to give the Two the kind of appreciative response he craves. And so it goes with Neelix - distant, stand-offish Tuvok is the hardest nut to crack, so Neelix feels compelled to help him become what Neelix wants him to become.
The episode Riddles marked a sea change in Neelix's relationship with Tuvok. Neelix finally got what he wanted - Tuvok became the exact kind of friend to play to all of Neelix's Two instincts. Not only was Tuvok as emotional and friendly as Neelix always wanted him to be, but he was also totally dependent on Neelix's help. Twos want nothing more than to feel needed. When you can imagine how much Tuvok's dependency would feed into a Two's pride, it makes Neelix's selflessness - letting Tuvok return to his old self and not resenting it - all the more remarkable and admirable.
Reaching back earlier, before Neelix had grown this much, we find that Neelix brought a bundle of unhealthy Two behaviors to his relationship with Kes. He could be overprotective of her, and at the same time resistant to letting her help him. We saw this most dramatically in Phage, when a physically incapacitated Neelix found himself forced to accept help from Kes, and others, and he swung between hysteria and martyrdom. (Okay, his lungs were missing, I'll cut him some slack, but my point is that other types would react differently. Just as badly, maybe, but in a different way.)
His spates of jealousy and possessiveness of Kes are right in keeping with the Two style. In Warlord, Kes accuses Neelix of monopolizing her time, resenting her friendships with others, prying into every corner of her life - in short, smothering her. I know - she was possessed by an alien at the time, but I suspect there is more than a grain of truth there.
But when she left in The Gift, Neelix let her go with as much grace as he let Tuvok go in Riddles. He can rise to the occasion at times.
Neelix's dominant wing is 3, which gives him an extra dose of sociability, expansiveness and the desire to show off his talents by sharing them with others. Twos with a 3-wing are less intellectual and self-critical than Twos with a 1-wing. The 3-wing also feeds into Neelix's seemingly endless career ambitions: cook, morale officer, ambassador "and can't I be a security officer, Mr. Tuvok?"
Neelix is a social subtype Two, which causes him to seek out important, visible roles. Social Twos focus their service on the group or community in which they find themselves, and tend to operate on a large scale. At their best, social Twos are able to move within different stratas of society, act appropriately and make connections with people - skills that serve Neelix well first in his role as guide, then ambassador.
--Teresa Malcolm