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| The wedding of Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres. |
Things are looking up for Voyager. A recently enchanced warp drive is estimated to have the ship home in just two years, and a celebratory Tom and B'Elanna have held a wedding ceremony in the Mess Hall. Life is good... Which, of course, means disaster is about to strike.
Despite many simulations showing the enhanced drive is perfectly safe, once in use it causes severe and irreversible degradation to the ship. Then B'Elanna falls ill, and the crew realizes that the same decay is spreading to all of them as well. The Doctor confirms that every one of them is affected, and that they will all die if it cannot somehow be reversed.
Then Tuvok, Seven, and Neelix notice that items recently brought onto the ship are not degrading - Leading to a shocking revelation about the nature of this disease...
CHARACTERS
Capt. Janeway: I have to give the writers credit for a consistent character trait in Janeway this season. All season long, we have seen her making decisions that are rash, self-indulgent, even irrational, all out of guilt at not getting the crew home. Here, she insists on carrying on toward Earth even when it's revealed that doing so could doom them all. Even when it's pointed out that her obsession with getting home is now meaningless, she has to be verbally shaken out of it by Chakotay before backing down.
Chakotay: Fulfills his usual role as Voice of Reason, but this time he's doing more than just playing Devil's Advocate. In a refreshing turn from the show's normal formula, Chakotay is genuinely right to argue against Janeway, and he has the confidence of knowing he is right when pushing her to change her mind before the crew's fate becomes irrevocable. Beltran's performance has a ferocity that's been largely unseen since Scorpion, and this aggressive side manifests without compromising Chakotay's obvious respect and affection for his captain.
Tom Paris: This is also a good episode for Tom, whose early joy at marrying B'Elanna turns to ash when she is among the first crew members stricken. Robert Duncan McNeill does some good acting as Tom sits by his new wife's bedside, describing the perfect honeymoon he had prepared with a cheer that grows ever more false. The episode's second half sees him growing bitter, specifically lashing out at Janeway for what he sees as disastrous decision-making.
Harry Kim: And just to confirm that the crew is in serious trouble, by the episode's end Voyager is under the command of Harry Kim! Even Harry is well-scripted in this episode. Around the midpoint, when Tom's faith in Janeway ebbs, Harry insists that he still believes in her - showing that same faith in her that was such a strong component of episodes like The Thaw. When circumstances leave him in charge, he shows strength and competence, doing all he can to keep the ship together long enough to make sure that all of this crew's missions would mean something.
THOUGHTS
As is probably evident, I quite liked Course: Oblivion - which honestly surprised me. I had already been tipped that this episode drew heavily on last season's Demon, which I found to be a largely pathetic bit of late-season filler. So the last thing I expected was a genuinely engaging, well-paced script that makes good use of every member of the ensemble. I wouldn't go so far as to say this episode retroactively redeems Demon... But it does at least use some of that episode's ideas to deliver a good hour of television.
It's difficult to say much more and not flat-out spoil the big reveal... But I will credit writers Bryan Fuller and Nick Sagan for not trying to hold that twist for the very end. Instead, it is delivered about midway through, leaving the characters to absorb and react to it and even work it into their attempts to solve their problem.
The script excels is in its handling of the characters. Every regular gets at least one strong moment, and every character is scripted well. It's not that Harry, Chakotay, or Neelix are particularly different here than in other episodes - These are recognizably the same characters with the same traits. They are just written a little more sharply, and feel like fuller versions of themselves as a result.
The ending might seem to render the entire episode pointless... But I don't really think so. Even if Voyager and its crew are safely "reset" at the end, we get to see all of them forced to grapple with an increasingly hopeless and desperate situation. As with Year of Hell, another episode whose ending more or less "wiped out" the events of the story, there is merit just in seeing who the characters can be when their backs are against the wall.
Overall Rating: 8/10.
Previous Episode: The Disease
Next Episode: The Fight
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This episode depresses me but I keep on rewatching it. I think it is a pretty good story.
ReplyDeleteIn reading a lot on the web about this episode, I don't understand why there seems to be two different titles: Course: Oblivion seems to be the correct title; Deadlock is the other title. Even IMDB lists both titles (along with the exact same story description for each one).
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Sounds like an error - There is a Season Two episode titled Deadlock. I’m not sure how the two episodes could be mixed up, though, as the stories are completely different.
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