THE PLOT
Neelix directs Voyager to the Banean homeworld, a planet capable of repairing some damaged equipment. Because the Baneans are in the midst of war with the neighboring Numiri, Janeway elects not to put Voyager into direct orbit. Instead, she sends Tom and Harry Kim in a shuttlecraft, so that they can zip in and out without detection.
A few days later, Harry returns to Voyager alone, bringing dire news: Tom has been convicted of the murder of Tolen Ren (Ray Reinhardt), the Banean scientist repairing the equipment. It seems Tom had gotten a little too close to Tolen's pretty young wife, Lidell (Robin McKee). Banean science allows the memory N-grams of the dead to be read as evidence. The sentence for murder is the implantation of those N-grams in the killer's mind - leaving Tom to relive the final moments of Ren's life, over and over again!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Janeway: Is steadfast in believing in Tom's innocence. Which actually is a consistent character beat for her. Even in the pilot's opening minutes, she showed a belief in Tom's potential, and has shown a continuing inclination to invest trust in him - something he's probably not used to people doing. She deals with the Numiri very bluntly, rigging a trap to blow them up if they persist in interfering with her. Those dealings are effective, though I found it a bit convenient that the Numiri make no further attempts against Voyager in the show's closing Act.
Chakotay: Janeway's right - Playing helpless and then attacking is a very, very old trick. Justifying it with "every old trick's new again" in the Delta Quadrant is thin justification, as pretending weakness to lure in an enemy isn't so much Tactics 101 as Remedial Tactics, and the only reason the Numiri fall for it so easily is that the plot requires them to. If this is the height of Maquis ingenuity, then the Cardassians and Starfleet collectively have nothing to worry about from them.
Tom Paris: The one way this episode might have been good is if Tom's innocence was in question in the viewer's mind. Theoretically, this could have worked - After all, Tom was established as an untrustworthy rogue with a criminal past. Unfortunately, he never really had much edge or darkness, even in the pilot. What little edge there might have been was completely blunted by the following episodes, which have progressively made Tom a rogue only if you use Harry Kim as your baseline. As Tom has never really been allowed to display any dark side beyond a healthy libido and an occasional wisecrack, there is never any question about his innocence. So we just spend the episode waiting for his inevitable vindication.
Doctor: After having announced to Kes that he wants a name, he is now having difficulty deciding on one. He is far more decisive when it comes to medical matters. He works well with Tuvok in monitoring Tom's responses, determining that Tom is telling the truth so far as he knows it. He also gets a strong scene in which he tries to argue Tuvok out of mind-melding with Tom, insisting that, "believe it or not, (he knows) more about mind-melds than (Tuvok)," and even with knowledge of everything ever written on the subject, he has no idea what impact Tom's implant will have on Tuvok during a meld. As ever, Robert Picardo makes the most of everything he's given.
Tuvok: Investigating the murder, Tuvok will not simply take Paris' innocence on faith. He insists that it is his job to examine all possibilities. "Clearly, someone is lying," and he needs to be sure that someone is not Tom. He has a wife back on Vulcan, with whom he has been married for 67 years. He also deliberately avoids socializing with the crew, preferring to read along while eating rather than making "short talk."
THOUGHTS
Ex Post Facto is to Voyager's first season what A Matter of Perspective was to TNG's third, right down to the very similar plot: a murdered scientist, his bored young wife, and the Starfleet officer (Tom playing the Riker role this time) who gets involved with the young woman. It's perfectly watchable, even if some of the dialogue between Tom and the professor's young wife is downright risible. It's just so very, completely, utterly predictable.
The one interesting element of the story is the punishment, with the convicted killer having to relive his victim's death repeatedly. But this idea ends up taking a backseat to a thinly-plotted murder mystery in which Tuvok plays a sort of Hercule Poirot figure, right down to assembling the suspects to reveal the solution, and does this in the midst of a deliberately stylized 1940's film noir setting. The potential of the punishment itself is lost in a generic murder story, one whose "twists," such as they are, are not at all difficult to anticipate.
On the other hand, it's a pleasant diversion, one that moves along at a decent pace. It's a very good episode for Tim Russ' Tuvok, highlighting his intelligence and persistence in pursuing a problem. Russ does a good job of keeping us with Tuvok throughout the investigation without actually having Tuvok betray even the slightest emotion. With a strong role for Tom Paris, and some decent supporting scenes for Janeway, the Doctor, and Neelix, it just about works as an ensemble piece. It's just a shame the actual story is almost painfully well-worn.
Overall Rating: 5/10.
Neelix directs Voyager to the Banean homeworld, a planet capable of repairing some damaged equipment. Because the Baneans are in the midst of war with the neighboring Numiri, Janeway elects not to put Voyager into direct orbit. Instead, she sends Tom and Harry Kim in a shuttlecraft, so that they can zip in and out without detection.
A few days later, Harry returns to Voyager alone, bringing dire news: Tom has been convicted of the murder of Tolen Ren (Ray Reinhardt), the Banean scientist repairing the equipment. It seems Tom had gotten a little too close to Tolen's pretty young wife, Lidell (Robin McKee). Banean science allows the memory N-grams of the dead to be read as evidence. The sentence for murder is the implantation of those N-grams in the killer's mind - leaving Tom to relive the final moments of Ren's life, over and over again!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Janeway: Is steadfast in believing in Tom's innocence. Which actually is a consistent character beat for her. Even in the pilot's opening minutes, she showed a belief in Tom's potential, and has shown a continuing inclination to invest trust in him - something he's probably not used to people doing. She deals with the Numiri very bluntly, rigging a trap to blow them up if they persist in interfering with her. Those dealings are effective, though I found it a bit convenient that the Numiri make no further attempts against Voyager in the show's closing Act.
Chakotay: Janeway's right - Playing helpless and then attacking is a very, very old trick. Justifying it with "every old trick's new again" in the Delta Quadrant is thin justification, as pretending weakness to lure in an enemy isn't so much Tactics 101 as Remedial Tactics, and the only reason the Numiri fall for it so easily is that the plot requires them to. If this is the height of Maquis ingenuity, then the Cardassians and Starfleet collectively have nothing to worry about from them.
Tom Paris: The one way this episode might have been good is if Tom's innocence was in question in the viewer's mind. Theoretically, this could have worked - After all, Tom was established as an untrustworthy rogue with a criminal past. Unfortunately, he never really had much edge or darkness, even in the pilot. What little edge there might have been was completely blunted by the following episodes, which have progressively made Tom a rogue only if you use Harry Kim as your baseline. As Tom has never really been allowed to display any dark side beyond a healthy libido and an occasional wisecrack, there is never any question about his innocence. So we just spend the episode waiting for his inevitable vindication.
Doctor: After having announced to Kes that he wants a name, he is now having difficulty deciding on one. He is far more decisive when it comes to medical matters. He works well with Tuvok in monitoring Tom's responses, determining that Tom is telling the truth so far as he knows it. He also gets a strong scene in which he tries to argue Tuvok out of mind-melding with Tom, insisting that, "believe it or not, (he knows) more about mind-melds than (Tuvok)," and even with knowledge of everything ever written on the subject, he has no idea what impact Tom's implant will have on Tuvok during a meld. As ever, Robert Picardo makes the most of everything he's given.
Tuvok: Investigating the murder, Tuvok will not simply take Paris' innocence on faith. He insists that it is his job to examine all possibilities. "Clearly, someone is lying," and he needs to be sure that someone is not Tom. He has a wife back on Vulcan, with whom he has been married for 67 years. He also deliberately avoids socializing with the crew, preferring to read along while eating rather than making "short talk."
THOUGHTS
Ex Post Facto is to Voyager's first season what A Matter of Perspective was to TNG's third, right down to the very similar plot: a murdered scientist, his bored young wife, and the Starfleet officer (Tom playing the Riker role this time) who gets involved with the young woman. It's perfectly watchable, even if some of the dialogue between Tom and the professor's young wife is downright risible. It's just so very, completely, utterly predictable.
The one interesting element of the story is the punishment, with the convicted killer having to relive his victim's death repeatedly. But this idea ends up taking a backseat to a thinly-plotted murder mystery in which Tuvok plays a sort of Hercule Poirot figure, right down to assembling the suspects to reveal the solution, and does this in the midst of a deliberately stylized 1940's film noir setting. The potential of the punishment itself is lost in a generic murder story, one whose "twists," such as they are, are not at all difficult to anticipate.
On the other hand, it's a pleasant diversion, one that moves along at a decent pace. It's a very good episode for Tim Russ' Tuvok, highlighting his intelligence and persistence in pursuing a problem. Russ does a good job of keeping us with Tuvok throughout the investigation without actually having Tuvok betray even the slightest emotion. With a strong role for Tom Paris, and some decent supporting scenes for Janeway, the Doctor, and Neelix, it just about works as an ensemble piece. It's just a shame the actual story is almost painfully well-worn.
Overall Rating: 5/10.
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