6-09. The Voyager Conspiracy.

Seven becomes convinced of a conspiracy theory.

Original Air Date: Nov. 24, 1999. Written by: Joe Menosky. Directed by: Terry Windell.


THE PLOT:

In the interests of increased efficiency, Seven of Nine has installed a cortical processing subunit in her alcove. This will allow her to download Voyager's data as she regenerates, effectively letting her "learn while sleeping." This initially seems to work out, with Seven able to pinpoint a minor insect infestation by drawing conclusions from related pieces of information.

At the same time, Voyager encounters Tash (Albie Selznick), an alien who was also displaced by the Caretaker. Tash has built a space catapult to send him home - technology that Voyager can use to cut time off its voyage as well. Janeway agrees to assist with final repairs, with the understanding that she can use it after Tash takes his journey.

Seven's next regeneration allows her to identify the catapult as using a tetryon reactor, the same type of technology used by the Caretaker. Tash reluctantly admits to this. The revelation doesn't really change anything, and the alien makes his test flight the next day.

Seven, however, becomes fixated on the idea that Tash's reactor is not just the same type of technology, but the same reactor that was used by the Caretaker. She contacts Chakotay and asks to speak with him privately. While regenerating, she has analyzed "over thirty million teraquads of data," leading her to one inescapable conclusion. Voyager isn't in the Delta Quadrant by accident. Janeway stranded the ship here on purpose, as a prelude to a large-scale invasion by Starfleet!


CHARACTERS:

Capt. Janeway: Though she's eager at the prospect of shaving years off the voyage home, she doesn't ignore Seven's warnings that Tash's catapult uses Caretaker technology. She's ready to pull out of her deal with Tash if he doesn't provide details - but once he's given reasonable explanations both for the technology and for why he lied about it, she is satisfied and continues assisting him. She's supportive of Seven's alcove alterations, particularly after Seven is able to demonstrate the advantages of processing data so quickly.

Chakotay: The episode is bookended by scenes of him having dinner with Janeway, which shows how relaxed they've become around each other over the past five years. He's initially dismissive of Seven's claims about Janeway. When Seven continues bringing up the captain's stranger past decisions, however, he decides it's worth investigating. Even then, he limits himself to sharing the suspicions with B'Elanna, his most trusted former crew member. Oh, and being blatantly obvious in his wariness of Janeway until the misunderstanding is cleared up.

Seven of Nine: Jeri Ryan has some fun playing Seven the bonkers conspiracy theorist. As she lays out her "evidence" to Chakotay, she paces back and forth, agitated, shouting out dates and incidents as if each is a smoking gun rather than just a stray bit of data that she's selected to fit her pattern. By the point she's accusing young Naomi Wildman of being in on it - even asking who the child is working for - she's reached the stage of full paranoid delusion. I half expected her to start ranting about fluoride in the ship's drinking water.


THOUGHTS:

The Voyager Conspiracy is the series' X Files style "conspiracy" episode, with Seven of Nine thrust into the Fox Mulder role. Obviously, there's no chance that the viewer will ever buy into her increasingly convoluted theory, but it does allow writer Joe Menosky to play with some of the bizarre decisions Janeway and her crew have made over the years. I'm surprised Seven didn't fold in Janeway's botching of a path home in False Profits, though, as that would practically qualify as a smoking gun.

Menosky structures his story well. Seven's new alcove is introduced in the teaser, as she explains its workings to Naomi Wildman. This scene also emphasizes how Seven has changed since her introduction by reminding us of the bonds she's made with the people on Voyager. Can you imagine early Season Four Seven making time for a weekly board game with a child?

Her first use of the alcove sets up the rest of the episode. She wakes up from her regenerative cycle and urgently contacts someone to speak to them - in this case, B'Elanna; in later cases, Janeway and Chakotay. She believes there is an insect infestation inside the ship's sensor network, and she quickly relates the many individual pieces of data that led her to that conclusion. The crew checks the sensor node, and the insects are indeed there. Both viewer and crew sees that the alcove works, and that Seven draws conclusions from multiple individual pieces of information.

Her second use alerts Janeway to Tash's use of a tetryon reactor in his catapult. Seven is again correct. At the same time, the viewer sees her fixating on the idea that this is the same reactor the Caretaker used. We recognize that she's starting to behave irrationally, but the crew has mostly just seen that her alcove has twice delivered correct conclusions. This helps to sell Chakotay taking her seriously when she accuses Janeway in the second half.

Structurally, this is all sound, but I think the episode takes a little too long to reach the accusation. There's dramatic potential in making Janeway and Chakotay suspicious of each other. I appreciated that Chakotay confided in B'Elanna, his most trusted former crew member, but I'd have liked to see this taken further than just B'Elanna snapping at Harry (who's probably so used to that sort of thing by now that it likely didn't even register).

I think the episode makes a fundamental error in making its main character Seven instead of focusing more on Janeway and Chakotay. The real interest isn't in watching Seven turn into a ranting conspiracy theorist, but in seeing Janeway and Chakotay take her seriously. I'd love to see that amount to more than a few sideways looks. Chakotay confides in B'Elanna; maybe go further, with the crew starting to take sides. As it stands, the whole thing is reduced to a sitcom-level misunderstanding that's resolved far too quickly and easily.

I will say that I like the climax, with Janeway attempting to talk Seven down from her mania. Janeway appeals to Seven by mimicking her own "evidence" of rattling off stardates and events that happened on those dates. Unlike Seven, she draws on key emotional moments, milestones in the ex-Borg's evolving humanity and in their personal relationship, and there's a decent emotional tug there.


OVERALL:

Despite my issues with it, The Voyager Conspiracy is well-structured and highly watchable. For the second episode in a row, I think dramatic potential is left untapped by a decision to focus on Seven when there was more interest in seeing the other characters' reactions. Still, judged on its own merits, this is enjoyable, even if I think it had the potential to be a lot more.


Overall Rating: 6/10.

Previous Episode: One Small Step
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6-07. Dragon's Teeth.

Voyager is forced to land on a planet that
turns out to be less dead than it first appears.

Original Air Date: Nov. 10, 1999. Teleplay by: Michael Taylor, Brannon Braga, Joe Menosky. Story by: Michael Taylor. Directed by: Winrich Kolbe.


THE PLOT:

Voyager is pulled into a subspace corridor, which they escape only thanks to the intervention of the Turei. The Turei are not friendly, however, demanding to board the starship to purge its records. When Janeway refuses, they attack, and Voyager has no choice but to hide on a nearby planet whose radiation will discourage pursuit.

They land in the midst of a ruined city, destroyed in what appears to have been a nuclear war. Surprisingly, there are life signs, which they trace to an underground chamber filled with stasis pods, many of which still function after 900 years. Seven impulsively revives Gedrin (Jeff Allin), the occupant of the first pod they find.

Gedrin reveals that this was once the home of his people, the Vaadwaur. He describes them as a race of merchants who mapped out the subspace corridors to trade with distant planets, including Neelix's ancestors. He agrees to help Janeway navigate the corridors to shave decades off Voyager's trip in return for reviving the rest of his people and helping them find a new home.

Neelix uncovers hints in ancient Talaxian literature that the Vaadwaur may not be the peaceful race they claim to be. That may be a moot point, though, as the Turei have started orbiting the planet in force, determined to either board Voyager or destroy her.


CHARACTERS:

Capt. Janeway: Seven commits a massive breach of protocol by reviving Gedrin without permission. Janeway deals well with this. She shows sympathy for Seven's reasons, but she also makes clear that those reasons are no excuse for what she did. Her interactions with Gedrin show a similar balance. She's empathetic as he stares out at the ruins of the city. However, while she agrees to help his people resettle, she flatly refuses to give them Starfleet weapons, growing steadily frostier when Gedrin's superior, Gaul (Robert Knepper), attempts to insist.

Seven of Nine: As a Borg drone, she participated in the assimilation - and destruction - of many cultures. She sees the revival of Gedrin and his people as an opportunity to rebuild a dead culture. She earns appreciation from the Vaadwaur for her efficiency and even her bluntness, a quality that's often been criticized by her fellow crew members. However, when Neelix approaches her with his findings, she takes him seriously enough to cross check the mentions of the Vaadwaur in Talaxian literature against historical data she retains from being Borg.

Neelix: He only vaguely recognizes the term, "Vaadwaur," when Gedrin first talks to him, connecting it to its most common usage among Talaxians: "foolish." But when Naomi Wildman is uncharacteristically reluctant to socialize with the Vaadwaur children, he is perceptive enough to listen to her reasons. This prompts him to look more closely into the Vaadwaur in his people's literature. He also is intelligent in handling his discoveries. He makes no accusations, tacitly acknowledging that it may be nothing; he just asks Seven to cross-reference against her data before they jointly take their findings to Janeway.


THOUGHTS:

Dragon's Teeth has an arresting opening. Gedrin and his wife, Jisa (Mimi Craven), run to the stasis pods as the city above them is bombarded. Gedrin calms her before the two enter their pods, planning to wake in five years. This teaser immediately establishes him as a sympathetic figure, and it's the single most effective way the script tries to steer our initial impressions of the Vaadwaur.

There are interesting ideas in this episode. Gedrin presents his people as merchants; Neelix's legends indicate that they were conquerors. When confronted about this, Gedrin admits that both versions are true. I like this, because societies don't tend to have one set of values that never changes. It makes perfect sense that the Vaadwaur may have been merchants and eventually developed into conquerors (or vice-versa). I also found the way Neelix and Seven cross-referenced mentions of the Vaadwaur in literature with actual data to be an intriguing idea, even if the tight screentime in the episode leaves this to be heavily simplified.

"Heavily simplified" is the episode's biggest problem. By reviving Gedrin and his people, the Voyager crew effectively bring a race back from extinction. There are a few lines dealing with this, mainly in exchanges between Seven and one of the Vaadwaur or between Seven and Janeway, but it's a concept the script never completely engages with. The Vaadwaur both intellectually and emotionally process being so far out of their time with ridiculous ease. Even Gedrin accepts his new situation very quickly, and he's the only Vaadwaur to be even shown grappling with it.

Dragon's Teeth was initially intended as a double-length episode, like the previous season's Dark Frontier. It really should have remained as such, because 43 minutes just isn't enough time for everything this story is trying to do. I still like this episode, which moves along quickly and is never less than entertaining. At twice the length, though, I think its ideas might have been explored more thoroughly, and I think the story would have had some much-needed time to build. It's a good episode of Star Trek: Voyager - but with that extra time, I think it might have been a genuine highlight.


OVERALL:

Dragon's Teeth suffers from being a single episode. The plot is rushed, and the most interesting ideas are shallowly glossed over. That said, it at least has interesting ideas. It's also well made, with director Winrich Kolbe providing some decent visual moments, such as Voyager sat amidst the ruins of a bombed-out city.

It could have been and should have been more. Even so, I enjoyed watching it, and I'd rate it as an above-average episode.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Riddles
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6-04. Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy.

The Doctor daydreams about being
a romantic hero and saving the ship.

Original Air Date: Oct. 13, 1999. Written by: Joe Menosky. Story by: Bill Vallely. Directed by: John Bruno.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor is daydreaming.

He's suffered twin slights. First, he's snubbed for an Away Mission; then Janeway denies his proposal to make him an "Emergency Command Hologram" with authorization to take command should the crew be incapacited. So he retreats into daydreams in which he does get put in charge, each time saving the ship from an overwhelming threat... and receiving full appreciation from the ship's female officers.

All of this is harmless, even ordinary. But it's happening while Voyager is being observed by an alien ship. Observer Phlox (Jay M. Leggett) has received approval from the Hierarchy to interface with Voyager in order to gather intelligence. He ends up connecting with the Doctor, observing his fantasies - which convinces Phlox and the others that the Doctor's daydreams are reality!

The Hierarchy authorizes an attack. When Voyager realizes what is happening, they're left to scramble to recreate the Doctor's daydreams in order to save the ship - for real!


CHARACTERS:

Capt. Janeway: Though she declines the Doctor's proposal, she tries to be compassionate, telling the rest of the command staff to be more respectful of his feelings. When the Doctor's fantasies are made viewable in the holodeck, Janeway is hesitant about intruding on his privacy. Around all the outlandish fantasies about saving the ship, she catches a glimpse of him talking about living up to his full potential. This moves her, and there's a marked difference in her interactions with him afterward.

The Doctor: The episode's a showcase for Robert Picardo's comedic abilities. It opens with him singing opera, only to improvise lyrics when Fantasy Tuvok begins going through pon'farr. His "save the ship" fantasies see him channeling square jawed action heroes. When he's tasked with playing that role for real, however, he's anxious and nervous. Picardo hits every note perfectly, elevating an already good script.

Seven of Nine: Though the Doctor's imagination finds time to muse about both Torres and Janeway, Seven is the principle object of his fantasy affections. This is actually a nice bit of continuity with Someone to Watch Over Me, in which he ultimately kept his attraction to Seven unspoken. The holodeck allows Seven to see his attraction directly. She doesn't respond with anger, instead being mostly bemused and a bit sarcastic - particularly when she delivers her final line of the episode.

Phlox: The main alien character, whose situation parallels the Doctor's. Like the Doctor, he feels disrespected... though given his sneering and officious Overlooker, Phlox has a better case for the disrespect being genuine. Like the Doctor, he wants to prove his abilities, which leads to him monitoring the Doctor and Voyager. He laments that his species' thinking is "confined," and he admires the Doctor for being able to conceive of other possibilities.


THOUGHTS:

Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy is Voyager's "Walter Mitty" episode, with the Doctor fantasizing heroic and romantic situations for himself. It would be a fun trifle even if that was all there was to this. The scenarios are genuinely amusing, and Picardo performs with comic gusto. But if there was nothing more to it, then I suspect it would start to feel a bit stretched by the end.

Thankfully, the final script is by Joe Menosky, one of 1990's Trek's best writers for both theme and characterization. Menosky hits the comic beats that are expected from the concept, but he also captures the characters. Janeway, the Doctor, and Seven get the bulk of the material, but there are well-scripted moments for everyone, making this a rare Voyager to make good use of the full ensemble.

Chakotay plays devil's advocate when Janeway considers the Doctor's proposal, pointing out how crucial his primary responsibilities are and wondering how comfortable she would be putting a computer in command. Torres is slightly impatient in her interactions with the Doctor, but she shows concern when his daydreams take over and put him in danger. Tom opines that the Doctor's manner creates many of the problems he's complaining about. Neelix and Harry both speak up for the value of daydreams, something that Janeway ultimately echoes. Tom and Harry are greatly amused when they observe the Doctor's fantasies. Everyone gets at least something to do.

There's also a theme that emerges, seen with both the Doctor and Phlox, about how it can be unhealthy to box someone into a confined set of duties indefinitely. Variations are voiced throughout the second half, but the Doctor says it best:

"All I ever wanted was to live up to my full potential, to hone all my skills, expand my abilities, to help the people I love."

Janeway, the good commander (in this episode at least), is moved to immediately begin searching for reasonable ways to let the Doctor expand his responsibilities. Phlox's Overlooker, the bad commander, just wants his people to know and stay in their place, declaring anything that deviates from the norm to be an "unacceptable risk."

The episode encourages us to identify with Phlox as much as the Doctor, and their converging threads advance the theme alongside the comedy. This lends just enough substance to make a superficially silly bit of fluff into something more.


OVERALL:

Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy is a fine episode: Funny, well-structured, and well-paced. With strong character work, good thematic unity, and an excellent performance by Robert Picardo, this is a highly enjoyable outing.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: Barge of the Dead
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Thoughts on Season Five.

Janeway wrestles with her past choices in Night.

THOUGHTS ON SEASON FIVE:

This is a tricky overview for me to write, given that I burned out on writing reviews and took an extended break about three quarters of the way through Season Five. I rewatched a handful of episodes before moving forward (not all, because life is far, far too short for me to ever rewatch The Disease or The Fight). Even so, some of this is going to be based on memory and on re-reading my years-old reviews from the first part of the season.

That disclaimer out of the way, what follows are my general impressions of Season Five of Star Trek: Voyager.


SEASON FOUR, CONTINUED:

As the season opens, Voyager feels the most confident it has ever been. And why not? Season Four was generally well-received. The addition of Seven of Nine to the cast worked well; and though the odd clunker is baked in with a 26-episode season, overall episode quality was higher than had previously been the case.

For its first two thirds, I'd say that the best description of Season Five is "Season Four, Continued." Seven of Nine remains prominent, with major episodes centered around her backstory. Other episodes follow up on the Borg and Species 8472. Most importantly, up through Dark Frontier, the overall quality remains high. Extreme Risk is pretty bad, and Gravity is rather middling, but most installments are well-made and entertaining. There are even a few standouts, notably Timeless and Latent Image.

Unfortunately, the season doesn't manage to sustain that level to the end...

The Borg Queen tempts Seven in Dark Frontier. It feels like
a season finale - and it probably should have been...

AN UNEVEN FINAL THIRD:

Dark Frontier is to Season Five of Voyager what Q Who? was to Season Two of TNG. It's a strong episode (involving the Borg, no less), and everything about the production indicates that it was the season's big spectacle. But once it's done, there are still several episodes to go - and, as was true of Season Two of TNG, the writers don't seem to know what to do with those episodes.

There are bright spots throughout this final stretch. I enjoyed Course: Oblivion and Think Tank, even if the latter suffers from a weak ending. 11:59 shows off Kate Mulgrew's acting range, and Relativity is a lot of fun.

But this marks the point at which there's a bad (or at least mediocre) episode for every good one. In rapid succession, we get a few dire offerings: In The Disease, Harry Kim has sex... without permission! (From Janeway, I mean. He had permission from his partner). The Fight combines boxing with one of Chakotay's Vision Quests. Juggernaut focuses on a very grumpy B'Elanna Torres...grumpy, I'm assuming, because she read the script first. All we need is a planet of Irish stereotypes and a clip show, and it would basically be late Season Two of TNG!

It's a pity. As of Dark Frontier, I was ready to label this as Voyager's best season thus far. But that last batch of episodes moves it well below Season Four in my rankings (though still above Season Two and Three).

Torres grapples with trauma in Extreme Risk. Believe it
or not, this is the better of her two Season Five episodes.

TWO TIERS OF CHARACTERS:

It's been evident for a while that Voyager has separated its regular cast into two tiers. Janeway, the Doctor, Seven, and Tuvok regularly get the best material. This makes sense, given that Kate Mulgrew, Robert Picardo, Jeri Ryan, and Tim Russ are the show's most consistently strong actors. But the remaining characters... mostly get to fight over scraps.

Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres are the oddest characters to have been shunted to the lower tier, given that they actually got a lot of focus early in the series. Despite the characters being interesting on the page, and despite solid performances from Robert Duncan McNeill and Roxann Dawson, Seasons Four and Five have seen both increasingly relegated to "scraps."

At least Tom gets one good spotlight episode, along with some decent material in other episodes. Bride of Chaotica is a particularly entertaining show, one that I included in my partial season rewatch for no reason other than wanting to see it again. But the writers don't seem to have any clue what to do with B'Elanna - which is strange, since she was one of the better characters in the early seasons.

There were two Torres-centric Season Five episodes, and both were... well, bad. Extreme Risk had an interesting idea, as B'Elanna suffered survivor's guilt after learning about the deaths of her friends in the Maquis. Unfortunately, it dealt with the subject in a painfully superficial manner, with her cured of all problems by having a chat with Chakotay. I'd make a crack about '80s After School Specials, but most of those were frankly better written.

Juggernaut saves time by not even bothering with an interesting idea. Instead, the bad TV writer's trick is employed of regressing B'Elanna into the walking personification of anger. Why is she angry? Don't ask questions that might lead to anything interesting. She's just angry and foul tempered because that way, it feels like progress when she starts behaving like herself again at the end. The episode itself is bad; its treatment of B'Elanna as a character is awful.

Though at least, unlike Harry, she doesn't have an episode that sees her getting into trouble for having sex with another consenting adult...

Neelix argues with Janeway in Once Upon a Time.

THE MOST IMPROVED CHARACTER - NEELIX:

The last few seasons, the writers seem to have made a habit of taking one failed character and putting some real focus on them to prove that the character can work. Chakotay got good material in late Season Three and early Season Four. Harry Kim was made actively compelling in Timeless, my pick as Season Five's best episode (and yes, my favorite episode this season was a Harry Kim episode. Hell has frozen over).

For the bulk of this season, though, the designated "improved" character has been Neelix. Yes, the usually insufferable Talaxian is transformed into someone sympathetic and even likable. I began to consciously notice this while watching the late Season Five episodes. When putting this overview together, I reviewed my Season Five posts in which I used the tag, "Neelix," just to make sure. And yes, in every case, I have remarked that Season Five Neelix has been well-portrayed as a character.

This includes episodes that show his faults. Once Upon a Time carries forward Neelix's friendship with young Naomi Wildman (Scarlett Pomers), first seen in Season Four's Mortal Coil. The plot revolves around Neelix trying to distract Naomi while her mother is in mortal danger. It reaches a point where it's obvious to all that the girl needs to be told that her mother might not come home; but Neelix digs in, desperate to shield Naomi for as long as possible, even shouting at Janeway at one point. He's in the wrong, completely in the wrong... but given the situation and given his backstory, we can fully empathize with him even as we see that he's wrong. And, good writing for Neelix aside, that one's not even that great an episode!

Other episodes use him sparingly, but to good effect. In Drone, he's the one crew member who is open in his interactions with the Borg drone. In Counterpoint, his good cheer helps to keep the telepathic children calm and quiet during the Devore inspections. In 11:59, he provides a sympathetic ear to Janeway's story about her ancestor and spends his free time digging up additional information. These are all good uses of the character, as opposed to the annoying comic relief that's so often been his default mode in the past.

But, if past "improved characters" are any indication, Season Six will likely return Neelix to his previous state of bad comedy relief, just like Chakotay returned to being cardboard and Harry returned to being... well, Harry. It's as if the writers have some sort of cap on how many well-written characters can exist at any one time.

The Doctor uncovers a past decision that he can't live with
in Latent Image, one of the season's best episodes.

SEASON SIX WISHLIST:

A couple of the items from my earlier "Season Five Wishlist" actually came to pass. Seven of Nine has remained one of the show's most prominent characters, but she has been pared back. As good as she was in Season Four, it felt as if other characters suffered for her success. In Season Five, she fits within the ensemble.

That leads me to my primary wish list item for Season Six... and really, for the remainder of the series. I would really like to see the show balance its cast better. I already mentioned that Voyager's regulars are divided into two tiers. And yes, Janeway and Seven and Tuvok and the Doctor are fine characters well-portrayed by fine actors. But the "B" tier characters can also work, as has been proved in past episodes. B'Elanna used to be one of the most interesting members of the cast, and I'm confident that she could be again if anyone bothered to actually write for her.

Past that... Well, I've long since given up on Voyager ever being a show that's consistently interesting to me. That said, Season Four, and at least the first two thirds of Season Five, show that it's capable of being a pretty good version of itself. I'd like to see more of that: more compelling episodes like Latent Image and Timeless, more bonkers fun like Bride of Chaotica! and Relativity, more decent character pieces like Counterpoint... and far, far fewer piles of sludge like Juggernaut that seem to exist solely to burn off an episode slot.

Right now, Voyager is my least favorite Star Trek series. But it has a pretty good cast; and for all the wasted potential, it has a capable team of writers. There's still 51 episodes left, which is longer than full runs of several series. That's more than enough time for Voyager to make me change my opinion of it. I'd love to see that happen... though at the same time, I'm not holding my breath.

Janeway plays an Evil Overlord. It seems to come naturally to her.

IN CONCLUSION:

Voyager is not, and has never been, a bad show on an episode-by-episode basis. The best episodes of Voyager are as good as those of any Trek series, and the worst episodes are no worse than the dregs of TNG and Deep Space 9, both of which I like much better as series.

Its big problem is that, unlike those shows, there doesn't seem to be any real focus. It's set in a new section of space, but it doesn't expand the Trek universe the way TNG did. The crew is confined to one ship and has no support, but there's precious little in the way of developing plot and character arcs like DS9 had.

In the end, it's mostly a collection of episodes: some good, some bad, and a lot that fall in between. More than anything else, I think that's what keeps me at arm's length. There are individual episodes that I love... but even when I watch a great one, I can't summon up any excitement for the next one.


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5-26, 6-01. Equinox.

Capt. Ransom (John Savage), another Starfleet captain trapped
in the Delta Quadrant, hides a secret from the Voyager crew.

526 - 601. Equinox

Original Air Date: May 26, 1999, Sept. 22, 1999. Teleplay by: Brannon Braga, Joe Menosky. Story by: Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, Joe Menosky. Directed by: David Livingston.


THE PLOT:

Voyager intercepts a distress signal from an impossible source: another Federation starship, the USS Equinox, under the command of Capt. Ransom (John Savage)! There's no time to question the situation. The Equinox is under attack by mysterious lifeforms, and it's at risk of being destroyed.

Janeway is able to stop the attack by extending Voyager's shields around the other ship. But by the time she arrives, the Equinox is in bad shape. Janeway's crew manages to rescue the survivors, and the united crews begin work on repairing the vessel while celebrating finding another Starfleet crew in the Delta Quadrant.

The celebration is short lived. Ransom and his crew have a secret that they're hiding from Janeway. By the time she discovers the truth, the Equinox crew have prepared a double-cross - a way to get themselves home while leaving Voyager at the creatures' mercy!


CHARACTERS:

Capt. Janeway: She's always wanted to meet Ransom. As a scientist, she admires him for having made contact with a species that had been previously believed extinct. I guess she missed the old adage about never meeting your heroes. When she uncovers the secret Ransom's been keeping, she is appalled. But that's nothing to the cold fury she displays after his betrayal. It turns out that making Janeway truly, deeply angry is not a good idea.

Chakotay: His best material comes in the second half. Janeway becomes fixated on capturing the Equinox, but Chakotay believes they should prioritize communicating with the creatures to stop the attacks. At first, he confines his disagreements to private conversations. But when he believes Janeway is crossing a fundamental line, he acts to stop her. These scenes see Robert Beltran waking up from his nap and doing some actual acting for the first time in about half a season.

The Doctor: Robert Picardo gets another chance to play evil as the Equinox EMH, who was transformed into a sadist after his ethical subroutines were deleted. This much is fine, and it even allows Picardo to show his range as he differentiates between the two Doctors with slight changes in vocal pitch and body language. Then Part Two sees Ransom disabling our Doctor's ethical subroutines, leading to a subplot that... just doesn't add up. I fully expected the Doctor to be just playing along with Ransom, particularly since his "evil" actions never yield anything more than some bad singing. But - nope, everything really is exactly as it seems, though a quick tag assures us that there will be no pesky consequences.

Seven of Nine: Tries to awkwardly comfort survivor Noah Lessing (Rick Worthy) while Harry Kim cuts him free from the rubble. When Seven tells him not to be frightened, Noah tells her that it's already two days too late for that. She is looking forward to getting to know the Equinox crew so that she can expand her knowledge of humanity. Though one crew member later apologizes for being such a bad example, Seven frostily replies that she actually learned quite a lot from them.

Torres: Her former lover is Max (Titus Welliver), the Equinox's first officer. This should give her a strong role in the episode... but somehow, it doesn't. Torres ends up being unable to counter Max's expertise, even though we're specifically told that he was always a bit lazy and that most of what he knows, she taught him. Beyond that and a brief bit with Tom expressing jealousy, she doesn't do much outside of reciting Technobabble.

Max Burke: In the first episode, he seems slightly conflicted after reuniting with Torres. That doesn't last long, though. Once he learns that B'Elanna has moved on with her life, he is downright eager to betray her. Titus Welliver is reliable as ever, but by Part Two the character has been flattened out to just being evil. Mind you, if you're going to cast someone to be "the really evil guy" among the villains, then Welliver is a solid go-to for that role.

Marla Gilmore: Seems the most torn about double-crossing Voyager. She actually tries to talk to Chakotay about permanently transferring to Janeway's ship, an idea that he shoots down given that Ransom already is working with a skeleton crew. She goes along with Max and Ransom, but she clearly feels guilty. Olivia Birkelund does reasonably well with what she's given, though it keeps feeling as if the character needs something more to do, and that "something more" never quite materializes.

Capt. Ransom: I actually like how his backstory is revealed in Part One. His vessel is less advanced than Voyager, and therefore has been less able to defend itself against hostile species. Given a chance to save what was left of his crew, Ransom took it. This doesn't make him less of a villain, and Seven rightly mocks his insistence that he had "no choice" in his actions. But at least his actions are understandable. Unfortunately, actor John Savage is in full "twitchy" mode. He's so busy playing "furtive" and "evil" in Part One that it flattens out the character, which further undercuts his role in the second half.


THOUGHTS:

Equinox opens well. The teaser is short and attention-grabbing, as Ransom's ship comes under what is the latest of obviously many attacks by an unknown force. The first Act then follows Voyager finding the ship, which by then is little more than a derelict.

David Livingston, almost certainly Voyager's best director, makes effective use of the lighting. The Equinox is dark, with the main light sources being the rescue crew's lights and the sparks from damaged systems. There's a fair bit of suspense throughout this sequence, even though the closest it comes to actual action is a rattled crew member holding a weapon on his rescuers. Best still is that it's dark enough to create atmosphere, but never so dark that I had to strain to see. That's a balance I wish more recent shows and films were able to strike. Yes, you can create atmosphere without simulating a sensory deprivation chamber, thank you.

This sequence raises mysteries, particularly the question of what these creatures are and why they are attacking. To the episode's credit, the answers come during Part One, with more plot complications spinning off from that reveal.

The cliffhanger is effective, though the resolution to it is rather limp (Janeway presses a button. No, really). After that, however, the second episode remains mostly pretty good. There's some decent tension in Voyager's pursuit of the Equinox, and even more in the escalating conflict between Janeway and Chakotay.

I liked the way the epilogue addresses their personal disagreement. They are back on the same side, but they aren't entirely comfortable with each other even as the episode ends. I'm sure everything will be back to normal in the next episode, because Voyager doesn't believe in consequences, but I'm also glad that it isn't completely airbrushed away within the confines of the actual episode.

The ending is weaker than the rest of the two parter, with the resolution seeming rushed and downright easy for the Voyager crew. It doesn't go so far as falling apart - what happens makes sense in context - but it feels like it needs about five more minutes to breathe, and maybe one more complication for the characters to overcome.


A GOOD EPISODE THAT COULD HAVE BEEN MORE:

Though it's a good two-parter overall, the most frustrating thing about Equinox is the glimpse it offers of the Voyager that might have been. The Equinox's desperate journey, in an increasingly run-down vessel with more than half the crew dead? That sounds like a much more interesting show.

It's also a Voyager episode, so it goes without saying that potentially thorny ethical questions are mostly handwaved away. For instance: Yes, what Ransom did was unquestionably wrong. Very wrong. And if he hadn't done it, the rest of his crew would almost certainly have ended up dead. Can the end justify the means? Would Janeway be at least tempted to do the same in the same situation? These are questions that the script has no real interest in asking. Which is a shame, because exploring that might have made a good action episode into something legitimately memorable.

Still, Equinox isn't really trying to be much more than a good action/suspense story. Judged on that basis, it's a good episode. Save for a rushed final Act, it's well-paced; it's very well acted, particularly by Kate Mulgrew and - surprisingly - Robert Beltran; and it is extremely well-directed.

It certainly could have been more. But Equinox does its job, which is more than can be said of a lot of other episodes. Most of all, it closes out the fifth season and opens the sixth on solid footing. I don't know that I'll even particularly remember it a month from now - but I had a good time watching it, and in the end that's good enough.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Warhead
Next Episode: Survival Instinct

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5-24. Relativity.

Seven meets a future version of herself
who is on a mission to save Voyager!

Original Air Date: May 12, 1999. Teleplay by: Bryan Fuller, Nick Sagan, Michael Taylor. Story by: Nick Sagan. Directed by: Allan Eastman.


THE PLOT:

The USS Voyager is undergoing its final round of maintenance at the Starfleet dry dock in Utopia Planitia before its launch. Admiral Patterson (Dakin Matthews) is giving the young Captain Janeway a tour of her new command... while Seven of Nine runs scans, searching for something while attempting to avoid Janeway's attention.

Seven is actually working with the crew of the Relativity, a Federation timeship from the distant future under the command of Captain Braxton (Bruce McGill). A time traveling saboteur has planted a device on Voyager that will result in the ship's explosion five years into its mission. The bomb is invisible to the naked eye, but it can be detected by Borg implants - which is why they have recruited Seven.

The Utopia Planitia jump has allowed them to identify where the bomb was planted. Now they need to find out when it was placed, so that they can catch the saboteur in the act and remove all disruption to the timeline. The most likely time period comes when Voyager was in the midst of a Kazon attack, with the criminal using the chaos to mask the infiltration.

This time, Seven is able to intercept the saboteur - only to be shocked by the villain's true identity!


CHARACTERS:

Capt. Janeway: We see three versions of Janeway: pre-Caretaker and fresh to her new command; in late Season Two, on edge over constant conflict with the Kazon; and the current version, the veteran captain. Fresh-faced young Janeway is eager to get out into space, to test what her new ship can do, and (unspoken) to prove herself. Season Two Janeway is adjusting to the reality of losing people during an ongoing situation that has to have her doubting her own choices and whether she'll be able to get the ship through the crisis. It's the current, more experienced Janeway who is the most relaxed. Even when she learns of time distortion affecting her ship, she seems calmer than the Kazon-era version in dealing with the situation.

Seven of Nine: I should be annoyed that this makes three Seven-centric episodes out of the past five... except I'm not, because Jeri Ryan's Seven is one of the best-written and best-acted characters on the show! She holds the focus of this very busy episode, treating the story with suitable seriousness while making the most out of her character moments: brushing off Lt Carey's awkward attempts at flirting, for instance, or pleading with Kazon-era Janeway to trust her even though doing so isn't logical. Her most prominent trait is her refusal to give up. As she tracks the saboteur across three different time streams, she is advised that each shift puts a greater physical strain on her. She curtly replies that she's aware of the risks, and she still insists on continuing even when she can barely manage to stand.

The Doctor: The middle part of the episode settles on the present-day Voyager. This portion shifts focus from Seven to the Doctor, who is the first crew member to discover that things aren't as calm as they seem. It starts small, as several crew members come down with bouts of "space sickness." As crew members continue appearing with complaints, he realizes that something is wrong - and after he's called to a medical emergency only to find that it hasn't happened yet, he realizes that time distortion is involved. This is all well executed, and Robert Picardo seems to enjoy the chance to play detective.

Capt. Braxton: Has dealt with Janeway before, and he ended up stranded on 20th century Earth as a result. After years of "rehabilitation," he's been recast as a bigger name actor and given a new command. Despite his past issues with Janeway, he seems dedicated to stopping Voyager's destruction. When his second-in-command points out how much danger he's putting Seven in, he responds that doing nothing will result in the deaths of Seven and her entire crew, and he's as crisp and efficient as Seven while administering the mission. He does let his resentment toward Janeway show when Seven asks about involving her, however. "That woman has been responsible for three major temporal incursions... She's reckless. She has no regard for the integrity of the time frame... Avoid contact!"


THOUGHTS:

I actually feel a bit sorry for the villain of the piece - or at least, the earliest version of the villain. Like Janeway and Seven, we see multiple versions from the present and the future. The thing is, it's the present version who is first arrested... and this individual has done absolutely nothing wrong and has no intention of doing anything! The arrest is made for "crimes you're going to commit" - meaning that, very likely, this person's entire life is ruined because of a timeline that hasn't happened and that, by the episode's end, has been averted. Nice that Voyager is saved; I guess it just sucks to be the entirely innocent version of the person arrested for the troubles!

Outside of that, I really enjoyed this episode. Relativity juggles multiple versions of multiple characters across multiple time frames, and it does so without getting bogged down in exposition or technobabble. It's fast, fun, and exciting - and actually rather well-structured.

It opens in the past, rapidly establishing multiple mysteries: Why is Seven present before Voyager's launch? What is she investigating, and who are the people she's communicating with? A few answers are quickly given when the Relativity and its far-future crew are introduced. Only then, close to fifteen minutes in, do we move to the present Voyager as Janeway and the Doctor grapple with the time distortion mystery.

This middle act, which is in many ways the true beginning of the story, is well placed. It's the slowest portion of the episode - but by this point, the mysteries of the first Act propel us along. It's also the one part of the episode not focused on Seven. Spotlighting Janeway and the Doctor for a ten-minute stretch keeps this from feeling like "The Seven of Nine Show," which has become an intermittent pitfall. The time distortions themselves create some engaging scenes: a ping-pong ball that hangs in midair, Chakotay phasing into three versions of himself for a second while expositing to Janeway, and the moment with the Doctor being called for an emergency before it actually happens. The action rises until the ship finally seems doomed...

At which point we return to Seven on the Relativity, with us now feeling the urgency of her mission after seeing the consequences if she fails. It's an effective structure, made more so when we return to familiar scenes at the end, and the sturdy overall construction keeps the plot on track even as individual bits happily indulge in time travel nuttiness.


OVERALL:

A part of me can't quite get past the injustice visited upon the episode's villain (well, the innocent version of the villain, at least). Outside of that, though, Relativity is good, fast-paced fun, a rare Voyager episode that didn't bore me for even one second. It's the Star Trek equivalent of a well-made summer blockbuster, and I was happy to go along for the ride.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

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5-23. 11:59.

Shannon O'Donnel (Kate Mulgrew) meets
bookseller Henry Janeway (Kevin Tighe).

Original Air Date: May 5, 1999. Teleplay by: Joe Menosky. Story by: Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky. Directed by: David Livingston.


THE PLOT:

Voyager is enjoying a moment of peace, an uneventful trip through a calm area of space. This leads the crew to reflect on their cultures and ancestors, prompting Janeway to reminisce about the ancestor who most inspired her: Shannon O'Donnel, who helped to create the Millennium Gate.

In December 2000, Shannon (also Kate Mulgrew) was just an unemployed engineer, driving across the country with no real goals in mind. Her car breaks down in the small town of Portage Creek, Indiana. When she takes refuge from the cold in the bookstore of Henry Janeway (Kevin Tighe), he takes pity on her, offering her a job while she waits for the repairs to be finished.

Henry is the town's sole holdout, refusing to sell his shop to allow the construction of the Millennium Gate - something which has not made him popular with the locals. He insists that it would destroy the town's heritage to bulldoze it for what he sees as a "glorified shopping mall." Shannon grows close to both him and his son, Jason - close enough to be noticed by Gerald Moss (John Carroll Lynch), the spokesman for the company that wants to build the gate.

Moss has a deal for Shannon, an escape from her dead-end life. She has the qualifications to work as an engineering consultant. She just has to convince Henry Janeway to sell!


CHARACTERS:

Capt. Janeway: Though most of the episode takes place in the past, with Kate Mulgrew mostly playing Janeway's ancestor, Joe Menosky's script still gives Janeway a decent arc. She idolizes Shannon, even stating that she joined Starfleet in part to live up to her legacy. Within the series, though, it's been centuries since these events, and direct information is scarce. When Neelix is able to find a photograph of Shannon, it pushes Janeway to want to find more - but inevitably, she doesn't like everything that she discovers.

Shannon O'Donnel: Kate Mulgrew gives her normal Janeway performance in the present story, but she also plays Shannon in the bulk of the episode. It's very much to the credit of both Mulgrew and the script that Shannon is a distinct character from Janeway. Life hasn't been kind to Shannon, and there's an undercurrent of desperation in Mulgrew's when she all but begs Henry for a job. In the scene in which Moss makes his offer, we can feel the conflict, eagerness vs. loyalty to Henry. Finally, when she and Henry argue, Shannon's first instinct is to run away and leave the town behind - something very unlike Janeway. Throughout, Mulgrew injects a hint of something tentative in Shannon, helping to create a full sense of a woman who has never quite managed to commit to anything.

Henry Janeway: Kevin Tighe, best known for sleazy politicians and white-collar bad guys, seems to enjoy playing an actual likable person. There's energy and enthusiasm in his voice as he talks about the past, and he's charming when he sets up a "Paris date" with Shannon, propping up books about Paris in his shop as they eat. Henry is a good man, but he's also deeply stubborn. He dismisses the worthy elements of the Millennium Gate project purely because it will also include shop space and is designed to turn a profit. When Jason and Shannon try to point out the useful aspects, he lashes out instantly. His crusade against the company is sincere, but there is a note of self-aggrandizement, with him repeatedly comparing himself to historical and mythological heroes throughout the episode.

Gerald Moss: Decades of movies and television programs have coded us to see him as the bad guy. It becomes clear, however, that he's anything but. The project he represents is beneficial (and since it's seen that way centuries later, I'm going to take that as read). He doesn't attempt to cheat the townspeople, offering to buy well above market value. He never tries to strong-arm Henry into selling. The most morally suspect thing he does, offering Shannon a job if she can persuade Henry, is offset when he eventually offers her a job regardless of the bookseller's decision: "If we didn't think you had something to add to this project, we never would have made the offer in the first place."

Neelix: His interest in Earth's past is sparked by a competition with Tom Paris, as the two attempt to stump each other regarding their respective cultures. Janeway's talk about her ancestor leads him to search for more information, and he shows an understanding of how to investigate the past that outstrips Seven's when he expands her initial search beyond Starfleet databases. Neelix is relaxed and likable throughout, and Ethan Phillips is particularly good opposite Kate Mulgrew. Note to the writers: This Neelix is a joy to watch. Ditch the stupid comedy relief version and write him this way from now on.


THOUGHTS:

"I've gone through dozens of histories written about twenty-first century Earth, all of them biased in one way or another... so I go back to the raw material. Birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, census surveys, voter registration forms, housing records, medical, employment, court records. It's all fragmented and incomplete."
-Janeway discovers the frustrations of historical research.

I love the quote above. It is one of the most accurate descriptions of any historical research that I've encountered in fiction. The past itself may be set. But unless you happen to have Doctor Who's Time Space Visualizer, then your access to the past is limited to historical records and accounts, all of which are filtered through interpretation and bias.

Those records that even survive through time. Across centuries, official documents are lost, while a stray item may survive simply because the right person finds it - such as the Ferengi who retained the photo of Shannon simply because it was marketable "as a nostalgic gift item." I suspect someone who worked on this episode has done some level of historical research to slip in observations like that.

I thoroughly enjoyed 11:59. The Shannon/Henry story that occupies the bulk of the episode is lightweight but charming, and it's enjoyable to see the Voyager crew relaxed and engaging in leisure activities. The relationship between Shannon and Henry is, by necessity, quickly sketched, but it basically works. Shannon is an explorer by nature, but she also needs a place to call home; Henry has a love of the past, at least as it exists in books, but he also tends to hide from the present in it. They are different enough for there to be moments of conflict, but each offers something that the other needs - and Mulgrew and Tighe are good enough both individually and together to sell the mutual attraction.

I also appreciated that the present day story wasn't a throwaway. Shannon's story does impact Janeway, as she learns that her ancestor wasn't a perfect match with the woman in her imagination. The script doesn't go over-the-top with her reaction. Janeway is disappointed and frustrated, but no more than that. Still, the full importance of the past is made clear in a well-written ending scene.

Though Janeway and Neelix are the only regulars to get significant attention, the script does a good job of giving everyone a moment. Seven attempts to investigate Janeway's ancestor, but her thinking is too regimented to make much progress. When Janeway is disappointed by what she uncovers, Chakotay points out to her that Shannon was living her own life, not trying to "live up to (Janeway's) expectations." Tom and Neelix have their culture competition. Other crew members talk about their ancestors, including the Doctor, who describes a prize-winning chess program as his "cousin."

Surprisingly, it's Harry Kim of all people who gets the best of the side bits, as he describes an uncle's deep space mission, involving six months of absolute isolation. The descriptions are enough to create an image in the viewer's head as Harry describes them, and Garrett Wang delivers the speech well.


OVERALL:

At first glance, 11:59 seems like a pleasant but inconsequential change of pace. It is a low-stakes story. In the present, Janeway deals with the mild disappointment of an ancestor failing to live up to her imagination. In the past, that same ancestor deals with a nascent romance and a town that desperately wants to sell out to a corporation for a genuinely worthy project. Neither story has any particularly big twists, there is no violence beyond an occasional harsh word, and no lives hang in the balance.

I think it's also going to down as a personal favorite of mine. I enjoyed the story in the past, which was buoyed by fine performances by Mulgrew and Kevin Tighe. I was even more impressed by the present day strand. Many times (see Enterprise's Carbon Creek, which I also enjoyed), these types of episodes throw away the series' present. Here, writer Joe Menosky crafts a full arc for Janeway, while also giving some nice little moments to the supporting cast.

On the whole, I would rate this as a minor triumph - and an episode that left me smiling at the end.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: Someone to Watch Over Me
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5-20. Think Tank.

A nervous ambassador meets a member of the "Think Tank."

THE PLOT

Voyager finds itself the object of a hunt. No, the Hirogen haven't returned... Instead, they have been targeted by the Hazari, a race of relentless bounty hunters. The ship escapes one attack, only to find that there are other Hazari vessels throughout the sector. They are being boxed in, with no clear avenue of escape. Outnumbered, outgunned, and outmaneuvered, Janeway begins to see the situation as hopeless...

Which is when Kurros (Jason Alexander) appears, offering to solve her problem. He informs Janeway that he is a member of a "think tank," a group of exceptional intelligences who work to resolve impossible situations in exchange for unique items. He offers their assistance to Janeway in return for the one thing on Voyager that is utterly unique in the universe:

An independent Borg drone... Seven of Nine!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Janeway: The first Act does an excellent job of pushing Janeway into a situation in which she feels desperate, but she is still wary of Kurros' offer. She agrees to meet with him, and agrees to provide a manifest of Voyager's items for possible payment. But when Kurros names his price, Janeway flatly refuses and uses all the resources at her command to defend her crew from both Hazari and Think Tank.

Seven of Nine: She is intrigued by the Think Tank and their offer of a life that will allow her to meet her potential. She even offers to go with them if Janeway asks her to. But when Janeway tells her the decision is hers, she admits that she prefers to stay with Voyager. As the situation escalates, Seven's Borg enhancements (once again) become the key to the ship's escape.

Neelix: Has a very good scene with Janeway early in the episode. Noticing Janeway's dark mood, Neelix approaches her and offers to act as a sounding board. Janeway resists at first, but soon lets her worries over the Hazari flood out, painting the situation with all the hopelessness Kurros is counting on her feeling. Neelix listens patiently, then calmly affirms his faith in her: "We've faced tough odds before - You'll get us through. Good night." A memo to far too many writers of past Neelix episodes: This is one way to use this character effectively.

Kurros: Jason Alexander is well-cast as the public face of the Think Tank. His Kurros is menacing in large part because Alexander never plays him as such. He is soft-spoken and always reasonable in his interactions. Eternally calm, never rude, showing neither anger nor frustration... All of which makes him that much more terrible when he casually condemns a planet to starvation in the teaser, or when he demands a member of Janeway's crew as payment for helping Voyager. He's particularly good opposite Mulgrew, and I wouldn't mind seeing a rematch between Janeway and Kurros at some point.


THOUGHTS

The teaser for Think Tank is terrific. A nervous alien (Christopher Shea) meets with Kurros just after the Think Tank has saved his planet. The price, however - their supply of an ore needed for their replicators - would result in mass starvation. Kurros holds firm, never losing his calm even as he threatens to reverse their work and doom the planet all over again. The scene is effective, showing the Think Tank as formidable and threatening in just a few minutes of screen time, and our interest is piqued for Voyager's encounter with them.

Nothing else in the episode matches up to this opening. The Hazari fulfill their plot function of convincingly putting Voyager into a hopeless scenario, but they are a bit generic and a bit too reminiscent of last season's Hirogen to ever feel as formidable the script tells us they are. Still, Michael Taylor's teleplay does a solid job of building Voyager's tense situation, with Janeway only narrowly escaping the first encounter with these aliens because of a desperation play - something that makes clear right away that the Starfleet vessel is outmatched. That, and her initial reluctance at Kurros' offer, help to sell her turn to the Think Tank.

There's a Third Act twist that's so obvious and telegraphed that I'm not sure the word "twist" truly applies, and the final stretch is weaker than the rest of the show. Janeway is able to "out-think the Think Tank" a little too easily. Even so, the episode is never less than entertaining, and the performances by Kate Mulgrew, Jeri Ryan, and Jason Alexander are first-rate from start to finish. Not a great episode... But it is an overall pretty good one, showcasing the series' strengths.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: The Fight
Next Episode: Juggernaut


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5-18. Course: Oblivion

The wedding of Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres.

THE PLOT

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
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