2-12. Resistance.

Caylem (Joel Grey).

THE PLOT

Voyager's power shortage (remember that? I do... just barely) has finally reached a point which threatens to leave the ship crippled. If they don't replenish their supply of tellerium, they will soon lose warp capability forever. No, this doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but Chakotay and Harry Kim are very, very earnest when they talk about it, so I guess we'll have to believe them.

Fortunately, Neelix has contacts with the resistance movement on the nearby Mokra homeworld. He beams down with Janeway, Tuvok, and Torres to trade for some tellerium. He does manage to get the precious substance - but Tuvok and Torres are captured by the Mokra.  Meanwhile, Janeway is rescued by Caylem (Academy Award Winner Joel Grey), a delusional man who insists that she is his long-lost daughter, returned to help him break his wife out of the Mokra prison.

Since the prison is exactly where her crew members are being held, Janeway eventually indulges Caylem's delusions. She makes use of his knowledge to get into the prison. But once in, can Caylem be trusted not to become a liability?


CHARACTERS

Capt. Janeway: That this episode manages to work as well as it does is in large part a testament to two actors: special guest star Joel Grey and series star Kate Mulgrew. These two screen veterans play quite well off each other, with Mulgrew really selling Janeway's affection for the delusional Caylem. Mulgrew's eyes as she watches Caylem, both when he tells his story to her in fits and starts and when he humiliates himself in front of the Mokra guards, show a lot of emotion and empathy, making this one of her best episodes.

Chakotay: A solid supporting role. He attempts to negotiate with Augris (Alan Scarfe), the Mokra leader, for return of the captured crew members. It's clear that he prefers a nonviolent solution. But after an unpromising meeting, he decides to keep his options open, assigning Harry to find gaps in the Mokra defenses that can potentially be exploited.

Tuvok/Torres: A rare pairing of supporting characters for this episode, and it works very well. Torres' angry defiance is a strong contrast to Tuvok's stoicism. Just when Tuvok seems more machine than man, the Mokra take him away for torture - and his screams remind both Torres and us that he does feel the pain inflicted upon him. Torres' desire to strike back leaves her feeling useless and helpless. Tuvok reminds her that they are fighting back by simply resisting attempts to break them. All of their scenes work, and the episode wisely cuts away to them often enough to keep them alive in the episode but not so often as to slow the pace.


THOUGHTS

Voyager's problem of dwindling power was an intermittent issue during Season One, mainly when the writers were having trouble coming up with a script for the week. In Season Two, it hasn't even been mentioned. But for this episode, all of a sudden and out of nowhere the ship is facing total collapse unless Neelix and the landing party can get some MacGuffinite. Would it kill the writers to at least try to maintain some consistency regarding the ship's status from one episode to the next?

I'll admit, it took me a good ten minutes to get past this opening contrivance. After a shaky First Act, though, Resistance managed to really grab my attention. This is one of Voyager's better episodes - and would be, even without the guest performance by Joel Grey. Though I can't quite forgive the opening contrivance, Lisa Klink's script is very well-structured. It's also a solid ensemble piece. Janeway and Caylem are the focal characters, but there are good supporting turns for Chakotay, Tuvok, Torres, Harry Kim, and even Neelix (who is genuinely useful for a change).

The script also gets some mileage by revisiting a point raised in Cold Fire - that Voyager has garnered a reputation in the Delta Quadrant, and not a good one. Augris tells Chakotay that their ship is considered "disreputable," and that they have "made more enemies than friends" since their arrival. He adds that some in the Delta Quadrant doubt their story of being pulled off course. Of course, one could dismiss Augris' claims as the lies of a villain... except that he's saying almost the exact same thing that Tanis said in the earlier episode. This is a plot thread with a lot of potential, and I sincerely hope that future episodes make use of it.

For all of the episode's virtues, Resistance never quite breaks into the upper level of "great" Trek episodes. It's probably the best episode thus far in Season Two... but it still falls well short of Prime Factors, and a bit short of Faces as well. For all of Joel Grey's obvious talent, I cared little about Caylem, and that did not change at the episode's end. Janeway's emotions makI cared little about Caylem, and that did not change at the episode's end. Janeway's emotions make me feel something when Caylem is sad, or humiliated, or hurt - but that is second-hand empathy. I care about Janeway caring about Caylem, but not about Caylem himself. The script just never made him real to me.

Still, with a tight script (written, for a change, by someone other than the regular writing staff) and some good character material, this is another solid-if-unexceptional episode in a run of solid-if-unexceptional episodes. For Voyager, that feels like a winning streak.

...Which in itself may be the most damning comment about Voyager that I could make.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

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