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| Harry Kim has sex... without permission! |
Harry Kim has sex! Needless to say, disaster follows.
THE PLOT
Voyager is assisting the Varro, a xenophobic species on a generational ship that Janeway says could be a glimpse of Voyager's future (never mind that Voyager's journey has a definitive endpoint that has been accelerated on multiple occasions, and that even with no further boosts much of the current crew should be alive to see that homecoming). With the assistance of the Voyager crew, the work is progressing nicely - and Harry Kim has formed an attachment with Derran Tal (Musetta Vander), a Varro engineer.
Harry chose a bad time to have an affair with a Hot Alien Chick (TM), however - For this week, and this week only, unauthorized sex with aliens is against Starfleet regulations. So when Harry's affair comes to light, Janeway orders him to break it off and puts a career-crippling formal reprimand in his permanent file.
As if that isn't bad enough, Varro mate for life, and once they become intimate they experience olan'vora - "the shared heart" - which causes withdrawal symptoms if the two are separated - and now Harry is infected. This couldn't come at a worse time. There is dissent among the Varro about their isolationist way of life. Many Varro want to escape, and they've found a way: Using technological parasites (another "disease," get it?), they have weakened the generational ship's hull and plan to break it into individual segments, each of which can then determine its own destiny.
And one of the leaders of the group is, inevitably, Harry's new lover...
CHARACTERS
Capt. Janeway: "I know it's a little extreme, but I wanted to leave a lasting impression." When Harry's encounter comes to light, Janeway goes, in a word, nuts. Harry Kim is guilty of having sex without permission (something that hasn't even been a crime in previous episodes), and he receives orders to break off contact with Tal and also a formal reprimand in his permanent record. This is the same captain who limited Tuvok's punishment to a verbal tongue-lashing for attempting to steal alien technology, and who gave Tom a demotion and thirty days in the brig for attempting to launch a terrorist attack! But sex? That's serious business. In this episode. And this episode only.
Tom Paris: Covers up Harry's communications with Tal and warns him that he could easily get caught if he doesn't knock it off - Showing him to be the most identifiably human person in this episode. He also elicits the only good line of the hour, when he pronounces "I give up" after trying to get Tuvok to admit the Varro's environmental systems might be nice to have. When Chakotay inquires how Tuvok got him to give up after only two minutes, Tuvok replies, "I wait until his own illogic overwhelms him." Not exactly a laugh-out-loud moment, but amusing in context and perfectly delivered by Tim Russ.
Harry Kim: Remember the angrily sarcastic Harry who was so much fun to watch in The Killing Game and proved more than up to the task of carrying an episode in Timeless? After the success of that version of Harry's characterization, you'd expect the writers to just steer him in that direction. But here, in our first Harry-centric episode since Timeless... we're back to Harry the earnest puppy dog. Scratch that - I rarely get the urge to kick a puppy, whereas it takes all of about 30 seconds for me to want to kick Harry. In theory, I think Janeway's punishment is punitive and over-the-top - But Harry's so petulant and annoying that I can't dredge up any sympathy even when I think he's being treated unfairly.
Hot Alien Space Babe of the Week: Tal (Musetta Vander) is genuinely surprised that Harry is susceptible to olan'vora - Apparently she doesn't realize that Harry is susceptible to just about everything. Her feelings for Harry appear to be genuine (somehow), and when her sabotage is discovered she emphasizes his innocence.
SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT...
Stupid question for a stupid episode: When did any regulations get put in place that made having sex with aliens something that had to be "authorized"? Was it in response to some incident caused by Kirk's near-weekly conquests? Well... No, because when TNG started, Riker was engaging in the exact same behavior. Indeed, Voyager has had its fair share of officers having or at least considering "unauthorized sex" with aliens, from Tom urging Tuvok to have an affair with an alien woman just a few episodes back to Chakotay actually having an affair late last season. Heck, Janeway herself enjoyed a flirtation with an alien just a little over half a dozen episodes ago!
It would have made a lot more sense if she had a standing order in place to limit personal contact with the Varro due to their xenophobic nature, maybe as a part of the agreement reached to allow the two crews to work together. But no - We're specifically told Harry is violating Starfleet regulations with this affair. So either we're meant to believe this is a rule that no one other than Janeway has ever bothered to enforce - Or Janeway just invented it to torture Harry.
(Come to think of it, that last doesn't seem entirely unlikely.)
THOUGHTS
The opening of The Disease is breathtaking, a genuinely cinematic sustained shot that sees the Varro vessel flying past camera before the camera turns and zooms seamlessly into the ship's corridors. It's the kind of opening that emotionally prepares you for Something Big, maybe even Epic...
Until, seconds later, we see Harry and Tal pawing at each other, and realize that no, this is just a crappy Harry Kim episode.
Director David Livingston, usually the series' best helmer, obviously knows he has a loser on his hands with Kenneth Biller's wretched script. So he engages in Showy Camerawork (TM), with the camera spinning around the table in Janeway's ready room during a meeting, or multiple zooms on Harry and Tuvok during the Technobabble-heavy climax. But this just tips the ridiculous over into the uninentionally funny. Given how good a director Livingston usually is, I wouldn't dismiss the possibility that he was doing this on purpose, given that there was no possible way for him to polish this turd enough for it to pass as... Well, anything.
A subplot involving sabotage does nothing to raise tension in the last Act, and the characters - regulars and guest cast alike - are so unsympathetic that both ships could have blown up without me shedding a tear.
Still, I should focus on the positive: That opening shot really is great. A shame it wasn't bolted onto a better episode.
Overall Rating: 1/10.
Previous Episode: Dark Frontier
Next Episode: Course: Oblivion
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ReplyDeleteWHY do they continue to focus so much on Harry Kim?! Surely they know hardly anyone likes this character. One People magazine article shouldn't be worth this much screen time! Give us more Janeway, more Seven, more Tuvok, more Doctor, more B'Elanna, and much, much less Hary #@$% Kim!
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