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| Janeway and Seven clash. Again. |
A visit to a trading colony brings back an assortment of supplies and one passenger: Arturis (Ray Wise), a member of a race of gifted linguists who is described as a "living Universal Translator." When Arturis reveals that computational languages are as easy for him as biological ones, Janeway seizes on the opportunity to decipher the fragmented Starfleet message that was interrupted months ago by the destruction of the Hirogen communications relay.
Arturis quickly deciphers it, revealing coordinates to a nearby star system. Once there,Voyager discovers the Dauntless, an advanced starship with quantum slipstream technology - A mode of travel that will enable them to journey home in months rather than decades! The crew is eager to begin preparations for the journey home, even though it will mean leaving Voyager behind.
Janeway worries that this is a little too easy, and orders Tuvok to carefully and completely investigate this new vessel. But are her fears well-founded, or will her own paranoia disrupt the best hope they have had of returning home?
CHARACTERS
Capt. Janeway: Remains committed to getting her crew home. At the same time, her experiences in the Delta Quadrant have made her wary of anything that looks overly convenient. She remains at odds with Seven, their differing values and personalities resulting in clashes even over something as simple as a game on the holodeck. The hurt is tangible in Janeway's face when Seven tells her that the captain has failed to instill her own value system - But the end of the episode indicates that the two may now be able to work toward mutual respect even with their differing values.
Seven of Nine: Still insists on identifying as Borg. She recognizes Arturis' species by its Borg designation, observing that the Collective has not been able to assimilate them yet, and she insists that she would be fine on her own because, in her words: "I am Borg. I will adapt." But in the previous episode, her hallucinations of the Collective were frightening to her, indicating that she no longer wished to return. Instead of yearning for a return to her former existence, we see instead that she is afraid of how people on Earth would react to her as a former Borg drone.
The Rest of the Crew: Are basically there for Janeway or Seven to interact with. Tuvok gets to be a sounding board for Janeway's doubts about the Dauntless, while Chakotay gets to be a sounding board as she discusses her issues with Seven. B'Elanna and Harry unintentionally make Seven fearful of reaching Earth. The other regulars... Well, they appear around the edges. In short, this is firmly the "Janeway/Seven" show, with everyone else pretty much present so that they will have other characters to react to.
THOUGHTS
Hope and Fear is a rarity: a single-part season finale.
As a season finale, it does its job. It follows up on continuity points from earlier in the season. Seven's clashes with Janeway, the fragmented message from Starfleet, and even the events of Scorpion are all critical to this narrative. Since the story both begins and ends in 45 minutes, it's a lean script, every scene advancing either the plot or the internal and external character conflicts of Janeway and Seven. It's a good episode overall - noticeably better, in my opinion, than the two-part Basics that bridged Seasons Two and Three gap. But there is the sense, probably inevitable, that compared with successful two-parters such as Scorpion or Year of Hell, it feels a bit... small.
As noted above, the focus in this episode is very strictly on Janeway and Seven. This isn't a problem for the episode itself. Putting two of the show's strongest regulars together is a recipe for success, and the Janeway/Seven interaction, with strong emotion and tension on both sides, is terrific to watch. But in a season finale, when none of the other regulars get anything of consequence to do, it underscores the sense that's crept through much of this year: That ever since Seven's introduction, she and Janeway (along with the Doctor) have become the only characters the writers are particularly interested in.
Which doesn't stop this from working as an episode. The script, by Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky, is well-paced, well-acted, and fairly clever. Guest star Ray Wise is quite good, alternating between friendly and sinister often without tangibly doing much of anything to signal the shift. The sense of the "epic" that marks the best Trek season finales is absent... But also absent is the sloppiness and stumbling too often seen in the second parts of weaker two-parters.
In short: Good episode, reasonable enough season ender. But I would have liked a bit more punch to it, and I would definitely have liked some stronger moments for the rest of the cast, who have started to feel more like props than characters.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
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