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| Part Tuvok, Part Neelix: Tuvix (Tom Wright) |
THE PLOT
Tuvok and Neelix are on a planet, collecting flower specimens. Though Neelix can't help but get on Tuvok's nerves, the actual mission proceeds smoothly. Until they beam up, that is, when an apparent transporter malfunction results in the two being merged into a single being - Tuvix (Tom Wright)!
Tuvix has all of the memories of both men, and his personality is a combination of them as well. He has Tuvok's reserve and logic, but also Neelix's embrace of emotion. He also carries Neelix's love of Kes - which proves awkward for the young Ocampan, as his very presence is a reminder of what she has lost. Still, Tuvix proves to be a useful member of the crew and is rapidly accepted.
Then the Doctor finds a way to separate him back into Tuvok and Neelix, restoring the two lost officers. There's just one problem: Tuvix does not wish to die!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Janeway: She gets a wonderful character scene a little over halfway through the episode, as Janeway discusses loss with Kes. Kate Mulgrew does a fine job, bringing a lot of emotion to Janeway's reflections at her separation from Mark. She does agonize over the decision to restore Tuvok and Neelix at the cost of Tuvix's life. Once she reaches her decision, she executes it with absolute, ruthless efficiency - though her expression at the final fade out shows that this comes at a steep personal cost.
Kes: The hardest-hit by the transporter accident. In an instant, she loses both the man she loves and her spiritual mentor. On top of that, a man who is a composite of both walks the corridors of the ship, a constant living reminder of what she has lost. Kes has been pushed very much to the background in Season Two, given little to do since Cold Fire. This episode is a reminder of just how well the character works when she's given some decent material. Jennifer Lien was one of the first actors to really find her footing on the show, and she's terrific here.
Doctor: When he sees no ready way to restore Tuvok and Neelix, he expresses his sympathies. "I feel as if I've lost two patients," he tells Janeway, Kes, and Tuvix. Even after this pronouncement, he continues to work on a solution, drawing on the centuries of medical knowledge available to him. While the final solution is a result of his work, however, he refuses to participate in it. "I am a physician, and a physician must do no harm. I will not take Mr. Tuvix's life against his will."
Tuvix: The Doctor sums up Tuvix as a combination of "Tuvok's irritating sense of intellectual superiority and Neelix's annoying ebulliance." Tom Wright does a fine job of showing sides of both Tuvok and Neelix in his performance, alternately demonstrating Tuvok's reserve and Neelix's propensity for rampant emotions. Wright is strongest in the episode's final Act, as Tuvix refuses to submit to the separation and begs for his own right to live.
THOUGHTS
Tuvix is a worthy episode, one of a handful of shows that have saved this last stretch of Voyager's second season from the mediocrity that plagued the first half of the year. There are a lot of ideas in this episode: Characters dealing with loss, characters adjusting to change, questions of identity, questions about an individual's right to life when balanced against the rights of others. A lot of rich, thought-provoking material.
Maybe too much for one episode. Tuvix is a good episode, and a thought-provoking one. But it never hits home the way writer Kenneth Biller surely intended, and I think it's because there's too much going on to be adequately explored in 45 minutes.
The most dramatic idea here is the one of killing Tuvix to restore the two lost officers. But we don't even reach this point in the story until the 30 minute mark, leaving almost no time for the writers to properly explore it or for the characters to truly grapple with it. Credit where it's due: Biller's teleplay does show Janeway struggling with the decision, and does show its emotional impact on both Janeway and Kes (the two central regulars in this episode). But surely this is an idea that deserves more than 15 minutes?
I think Tuvix needed to be a 2-parter. Part One could have focused on the ideas of loss and adjustment to change, concentrating on Tuvix beginning to create a life on Voyager and Kes beginning to move on. The extra time could have been used to actually show members of the crew befriending Tuvix, rather than just having Chakotay and Janeway tell us this has happened. The cliffhanger could have come at the point at which the Doctor finds the "cure," with Tuvix responds that he does not want to die.
This would have given one full episode to focus on loss and change. With this done, Part Two could have fully focused on "The Execution of Mr. Tuvix." Likely this would have meant some sort of proceeding to weigh Tuvix's rights versus those of Tuvok and Neelix. Perhaps we could also have seen members of the command crew disagreeing with Janeway's choice. It might have provided a golden opportunity to have Chakotay and Janeway be on opposite sides, perhaps with Chakotay acting as Tuvix's advocate.
I think the result might have delivered the emotional impact that's missing here. Because while Tuvix is an interesting episode, the only strong emotional moments are the two Kes/Janeway scenes and Janeway's reaction at the end. The rest is interesting on an intellectual level... but it never fully engages viscerally, in my opinion. I like what the episode is trying to do. But by trying to tell so much story in so short a time, it never gets the opportunity to fully develop its ideas or to focus on the individual ideas. The whole becomes less than the sum of its parts.
All of this likely is coming across as far too critical of one of the season's few truly challenging stories. This is an intriguing show, a well-made show, and a particularly well-acted show. Kate Mulgrew continues to impress as Janeway, Jennifer Lien emerges from the background for the first time in far too long to remind us how good she really is, and Tom Wright convincingly makes Tuvix both an individual and a composite of two characters we already know.
Tuvix is good, and this is a positive review, make no mistake. But Tuvix also had the potential to be great - hence a review that may be coming across as a bit more critical than my final score might indicate.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
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