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| Marayna (Sandra Nelson): More than just a holodeck program. |
THE PLOT
Harry Kim is depressed. No, it isn't that he's finally realized that he's Harry Kim - It's that he's fallen utterly in love with Marayna (Sandra Nelson), a character in Neelix's beachside holodeck program. Harry goes to Tuvok for help, asking the Vulcan to help him shut down his emotions.
When Tuvok meets Marayna, he finds himself surprisingly intrigued by her. She is far more perceptive than the average holodeck character, providing a concise analysis of Tuvok's own behavior when he reluctantly attends a luau. Harry reacts badly to Tuvok's interest in Marayna, though, prompting the Vulcan to "delete the Marayna subroutine."
Which should be the end of it, but isn't. When Tuvok returns to his quarters, he finds a visitor waiting for him: Marayna, in a Starfleet uniform!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Janeway: Shows irratation with Harry's inattentiveness on the bridge, though she stops short of actually snapping at him. She does make attendance at Neelix's luau sound mandatory, in a way that seems specifically directed at Tuvok. This hardly seems like the best way to treat her most loyal officer and most trusted friend when she knows full well how uncomfortable he is with such gatherings. Once Marayna is revealed as more than just a holodeck program, she is grim and straightforward in dealing with her, effectively granting her officers permission to kill Marayna if that's what's needed to end the situation.
Tuvok: Studies Harry's reactions to Marayna and fits them neatly into a basic, simple pattern of responses. His analysis is correct, as far as it goes - but as he later admits, he does not show the respect to Harry's feelings that is due, despite his claim to enjoying his working relationship with the younger man. Tuvok admits that he finds his conversations with Marayna stimulating, but will not even contemplate a relationship. He already has a wife, and has a duty to his colleagues. As far as he's concerned, that is the end of it.
Harry Kim: Though The Thaw and, to a lesser extent, The Chute prove that Harry Kim can work as a character, in this episode he turns out to be the weakest single element. The episode's saving grace is that, about ten minutes in, the story shifts its focus from Harry to Tuvok. The Harry scenes continue to be irritating and/or embarrassing throughout. When he gets into a jealous snit over Tuvok talking with Marayna and snaps that he should have dealt with his feelings himself, I couldn't help but yell out, "Yes, you should have!" Is this an adult professional, or a teenager?
Hot Holographic Space Babe of the Week: Soap opera and TV movie veteran Sandra Nelson plays Marayna, the object of Harry's affections. Nelson is a good choice for the role, bringing enough intelligence to the part to make it convincing when Marayna attracts Tuvok's attention as well, and she has the acting ability needed to make all the character shifts necessary for the episode: an appealing and outgoing siren for Harry, a thoughtful and observant young woman who can intellectually spar with Tuvok, and finally an increasingly menacing foe forVoyager.
THOUGHTS
Alter Ego starts out looking like a truly horrible episode. Its starting point is Harry Kim in love with a holodeck character, going to Tuvok for advice about suppressing his emotions. In short: Cringe and brace for impact!
About ten or so minutes in, however, the episode shifts its focus. What started as a story about Harry dealing with a hopeless (if not outright pathetic) crush pivots into an examination of Tuvok and his self-imposed isolation. Tuvok engages in a genuinely smart and interesting conversation with Marayna about the ways the Vulcan isolates himself even within a crowd. Like Marayna herself, the episode gradually reveals that it is more than it first appeared.
The script is by Joe Menosky, who wrote The Thaw, the standout episode of Voyager's run to date. The show definitely needs to hold onto him. The kind of bait-and-switch he pulls here, presenting us with a dull Harry Kim episode only to reveal that he's actually writing a rather probing Tuvok episode, is exactly the sort of thing Voyager needs to do more often.
Alter Ego isn't on the level of The Thaw, nor is trying to be. However, the story makes good use of Voyager's own internal continuity, something this series often struggles with. It also uses the characters well, throwing in some amusing character bits for Torres, Paris, and the Doctor despite this episode not being about them. Only Chakotay is left with nothing to do - which, frankly, I'm okay by, as he's become a character I actually like less than Harry Kim. Robert Picardo has only a fleeting appearance, but that's probably to allow for him taking over directing duties for the episode.
The resolution to the story isn't as good as the rest of it, but it works well enough as an explanation for both Marayna and the strange nebula Voyager has been observing, and Tuvok and Marayna's final conversation has much of the same intelligence that made their luau dialogue so interesting.
On the whole, a solid episode with enough good moments to make this above-average for the series. Definitely worth watching.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
Previous Episode: Fair Trade
Next Episode: Coda
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