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| Voyager, in the belly of the beast! |
Seven of Nine returns from a shuttle mission to learn that Voyager has detected a stable wormhole leading straight back to Earth. The entire crew is giddy with excitement, particularly when they start receiving messages from Starfleet - Every message containing good news for every member of the crew. A little too much good news, which makes Seven suspicious.
When she reviews Janeway's logs, she learns that the wormhole was giving off "deceptive readings," though the very next log entry sees Janeway brushing those concerns aside. Seven continues to investigate and manages to make contact with a ship inside the wormhole, whose sole occupant - an alien known as Qatai (W. Morgan Sheppard) - warns to stay away.
Immediately after, Janeway orders astrometrics taken offline, denying Seven the chance to make contact again. The Doctor's program is also shut down, and Seven is ordered into stasis. Realizing that Janeway and the entire crew must be affected by some outside influence, Seven must now work against the people she's come to regard as friends, with only young Naomi Wildman (Scarlett Pomers) as an ally!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Janeway: Essentially cast as the (human) villain of the episode. At first, it seems as if she and the rest of the crew are blinded to inconsistencies by their desire to return home. But as Janeway actively thwarts Seven's attempts to investigate the wormhole, it becomes clear that she's under an alien influence. Kate Mulgrew only shifts her normal performance very slightly, but it's enough to make her effectively sinister as Janeway works against Seven, using all her resources to make sure she's not stopped from steering Voyager into the trap Seven is struggling to avoid.
Seven of Nine: As shown by last season's finale, she has no particular desire to arrive on Earth. This makes her immune to the "wormhole's" effect, as you can't tempt someone with something they don't want. She sees right away that there's something artificial in the flood of good news that the crew is receiving. She initially tries to raise her concerns with Janeway, then Tuvok - But when they are unreachable by reason, she takes action to save the ship.
The Doctor: An early sign that the crew is actively under an outside influence is that the Doctor knows nothing about the supposed wormhole until Seven tells him. Had the crew truly been themselves, someone would have let him know. But as an artificial intelligence, he's entirely immune to the effect, and therefore is a danger. No sooner has Seven talked to him about her suspicions than he is shut down, and Seven isn't able to reactivate him until well past the episode's midpoint - At which point, he becomes critical to the ship's escape.
Naomi Wildman: Scarlett Pomers continues to impress as Naomi, who shows more personality than at least three of the regulars do. This time last season, I'd say the last thing Voyager needed was a spunky child befriending Neelix and Seven - but Naomi works, and makes Neelix and Seven better characters by virtue of her interactions with them. The reason for her immunity to this episode's alien influence makes every bit as much sense as Seven's immunity, and Robert J. Doherty's teleplay balances the story's need to have Naomi be a competent assistant to Seven against her being a vulnerable child.
THOUGHTS
At first glance, the setup for Bliss isn't promising - The crew's hopes are raised by yet another promise of a path home, with us left to wait for those hopes to be dashed by virtue of there still being 2 1/2 seasons left. But the script takes a canny turn into paranoid territory as it becomes clear that the crew members aren't acting mormally, leaving Seven effectively acting alone against the rest of the regular cast.
The pace is terrific. The first part of the episode sees Seven trying to prove that something is not right with the wormhole, to find evidence that will persuade the others. The Second Act then shifts into a riff on Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with Seven trying to outmaneuver the crew in general and Janeway in particular as they act not quite like themselves. Just when you're expecting this to be the core of the episode, it transforms yet again for its second half, with Voyager now having to escape the literal belly of the beast. You'd expect with so many shifts, it would feel fragmented - But each phase of the story flows naturally into the next; despite the changes in story focus, it all feels unified.
Guest actor W. Morgan Sheppard helps raise the fun factor in the second half. Sheppard's not exactly the go-to guy for subtlety... But subtlety isn't what the explicitly Ahab-like Qatai calls for. Sheppard's wild-eyed scenery-chomping adds zest and humor, particularly when playing off the stoic Seven and the dryly sarcastic Doctor.
A final fakeout is easy to see coming, but still allows a last bit of tension that keeps Voyager's escape from feeling too easy, and the episode ends on an effective note. All told, a satisfying episode in what's shaping up to be Voyager's strongest season.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
Previous Episode: Gravity
Next Episode: Dark Frontier
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A great episode, one of my favorites. Not overly full of the usual phaser blasting adrenaline rushes, but enough intrigue to keep you in suspense. A tad too predictable in its outcome. Still the writers are clearly close to the edge of--if not yet totally out of--the box.
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ReplyDeleteI don't get it. Why did Qatai go back into the monster after Voyager was clear?
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