SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT SEASON THREE
Season One of Voyager surprised me by being generally engaging and by showing potential. Quality was uneven, and only about half the characters worked, but there was promise there, a foundation that could be built upon to craft a genuinely very good Star Trek series.
Three seasons down now, and that first season remains the best overall year of the show.
BACK TO BASICS: THE VERDICT
In my Season Two overview, I set aside a section for the season-bridging two-parter Basics, whose promising first episode was undermined by a resolution that eliminated all interesting elements. With Michael Piller departing, new head writer Jeri Taylor seemed to insist on a Season Three opener that would close off all arc elements and leave the show safely "back to basics."
Not that this was an inherently wrong-headed approach. As I observed at that time, Piller's attempt at shaping the series around the Kazon arc failed miserably. The Kazon were dull villains, and making them ubiquitous helped to make the show itself dull. In addition, the arc did little to advance the regulars as characters, and may well have made Chakotay (the regular most involved in that arc) even duller than he already was. Contemporary viewership plunged, and it was clear that a new approach was needed.
Having taken a storytelling risk that failed, the new approach has largely been to avoid taking any risks at all. Season Three has no real core to it. Some of the episodes are good; too many of them are not. But there's nothing beneath the surface. As the season progresses the show feels emptier than ever. It remains a watchable series, with only the worst episodes actually a chore to sit through. But even if it isn't hard to watch, there's nothing here that makes me want to watch. If I wasn't writing these reviews, I would have jumped ship on Voyager a very long time ago.
CHARACTERS: CHAKOTAY
The cast continues to work well, and there are some new directions taken this season that show promise for several characters. Chakotay was my least favorite regular in Season Two. He's still well down my personal list, but he shows substantial improvement in particularly the last part of the season. Robert Beltran seems to wake up long enough to actually enjoy some decent material in Displaced and Worst Case Scenario, and both Beltran and the character are wonderfully served by Unity and Scorpion.
Scorpion is definitely Chakotay's best story as a character. This episode's Chakotay considers Janeway a friend, but that doesn't mean he has no opinion of his own - and when circumstances place him in command, he follows his instincts even when they conflict with her wishes. It's dramatic, and the interactions between them during the episode feel authentic. If the series keeps going with this, then Chakotay could be rehabilitated in my eyes. I wouldn't bet on it - but Unity and Scorpion show that it's possible.
CHARACTERS: OTHER NOTES
The series introduces a new dynamic between Tom and B'Elanna Torres, who are clearly moving toward a relationship by the season's end. This is enjoyable so far, with the contrast between the feisty B'Elanna and the laid-back Tom creating obvious potential for humor. The two actors seem to be enjoying their scenes together, and they show a decent amount of chemistry.
Meanwhile, the Doctor's new holo-emitter gets him out of sickbay and allows him to be more of a full member of the crew. Robert Picardo continues to delight, though this season's Doctor-centric episodes were of uneven quality: The Swarm suffers from a poorly-realized "B" plot, Darkling has two plot strands that don't fit together at all, and Real Life is so manipulative that any emotional pull it has is entirely unearned. Still, Picardo is able to partially redeem bad scripts with his pitch-perfect line deliveries, and he brings out the best in good ones. Here's hoping for better Doctor-centric episodes next season.
THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY
Remember those glimpses of potential I saw in Harry after last season's The Thaw? Remember how The Chute, in which Garrett Wang delivered his series-best performance to date, seemed to carry that potential forward?
Okay, you can now forget all that: The Chute was the third episode of the season, and it represents the last time Harry was anything other than wallpaper. His other spotlight episode of the season, Favorite Son, is so pathetically bad that Ed Wood is looking down in envy. The rest of the season keeps him in his box as "guy who recites Technobabble."
They really should have killed him off in Scorpion - It wouldn't redeem a character who only ever worked in two episodes... but at least it would have given him a dramatic exit.
THE REDSHIRTS
I would now like to take a moment to step away from the regulars and focus on the recurring guest cast. That's what I would like to do - but in a major backward step, there is no attempt to maintain recurring crew members. Season One made a decent stab at establishing a crew beyond the command staff. Season Two at least managed to remember they were there. Season Three divides the crew into two categories: Regulars and Extras. The only exception is Vorik, from Blood Fever, and I sincerely doubt that anyone could manage to write anything interesting about him.
WHY ARE WE STILL IN THE DELTA QUADRANT?
The first two seasons of Voyager struggled with the lack of any sense of urgency to the crew's dilemma. Season Three doesn't even struggle. The only episode in which being stranded is a major factor is False Profits - in which Janeway and much of her command staff all but actively sabotage an opportunity to get home!
With the possible exception of Scorpion, almost none of this season's offerings couldn't just as easily take place in the Alpha Quadrant. Given that, what's the point to keeping them stranded? At this point, I genuinely think there are more interesting story possibilities to returning the crew home than to leaving them where they are. Half the crew is Maquis, they now have a Borg on board, and they've come from a place no one in the Federation has seriously dreamed of exploring - A couple season's worth of stories could easily come from the possibilities in that!
But no, we will continue trudging through the Delta Quadrant, even though by this point it must be clear to all that there's nothing uniquely interesting about it...
SEASON FOUR WISHLIST
I'll repeat my first one from the last season overview: That the show gets better. There are episodes that show how good Voyager could be. Scorpion, Before and After, Unity... These did not come from the pens of incompetent writers. These were not brought to life by incompetent directors or incompetent actors. Writers, cast, crew - All are clearly capable of making this into a good show. The main thing holding it back is a lack of... I was about to say ambition, but it's not even that. It's a lack of any direction at all.
Scorpion was an outstanding two-parter, and it has left the show with some possibilities. Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) offers a lot of dramatic potential. I'd like to see her integration into the crew be very slow, with suspicion on all sides. If she's a full member of the crew within 3 - 4 episodes, I'll be very annoyed. People need to distrust her, and she needs to distrust them - not least because the events of Scorpion should reinforce prejudices on both sides.
Speaking of the potential for conflict among regulars, I would like to see the Janeway/Chakotay relationship continue to be a little uncomfortable after Scorpion. Chakotay was a leader in his own right before he came to Voyager. He shouldn't just be Janeway's "Yes" man. Let him continue to be supportive of her publicly - but let them argue behind closed doors.
Finally, much as I hate seeing Kes written out, at least make her departure mean something. Don't just remove the character and then have everything be exactly the same - Have her leave in such a way that something is changed.
If I get even two of my wishes, I'll be pleasantly surprised. If I get three or more, I'll be ecstatic.
IN SUMMATION
Season Three isn't particularly worse than Season Two was, but it isn't particularly better. Chakotay becomes marginally more interesting, while Harry becomes even duller than he was before. A new character is introduced who has potential - but other characters who had potential never got to realize it, which doesn't exactly lead to optimism. Worst of all, there's a lack of anything that feels like direction, or even a unique series identity.
At least Scorpion ends Season Three on a high note, and begins Season Four with possibilities. But the series has had possibilities and potential since it began. We're moving into Season Four now - It's time for to stop simply drifting on the Star Trek name and start actually doing something!
Previous: Season Two
Next: Season Four
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