2-06. Twisted.

"One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small..."

THE PLOT

It's Kes' birthday. The sweet and pretty Ocampan girl has just turned two, and the crew has thrown her a surprise party in the holodeck. Tom gives her a gift that's a little too nice for just friendship, prompting barely-suppressed jealousy from Neelix. Neelix gives her a cake and won't shut up about it. And the writers? Well, this is a Voyager episode, so what else would you expect: A spatial anomaly!

Yes, another one.

Soon, the Voyager crew are wandering the ship's corridors, desperately searching for the bridge and engineering. But the corridors are reshaping themselves around them. Rooms are in the wrong place, and all halls lead straight back to the holodeck. And the distortion is getting worse, threatening to crush the ship in an implosion wave!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Janeway: Appreciates Harry's enthusiasm for his job, and calls the ensign one of "the bright spots of this mission." I'm going to guess the anomaly is already affecting her brain when she says this, as I can honestly come up with no other explanation - at least, none that doesn't involve the captain hitting on a young crewmember. Janeway displays genuine fondness for Kes, almost maternal as she embraces the Ocampa at her birthday party.

Chakotay: Manages to keep his cool throughout the crisis. When Tuvok attempts to deal with the shifting corridors in a rigidly logical fashion, Chakotay points out the flaw in the Vulcan's plan: Namely, that the "right hand rule" doesn't work too well in a labyrinth that is constantly changing shape. He does show some resentment toward Tuvok, and his calm frays when he cuts off Tuvok's arguing at one point. I'd say he hasn't really forgiven the Vulcan for what he still doubtless sees as a betrayal. But the two acknowledge each other's merits at the episode's end, which presumably means that even this potentially interesting ember of character tension has been firmly stamped out.

Torres: Her Klingon nature shows itself in her determination to fight the anomaly. When Tuvok points out that her plan to counter the implosion with an explosion might destroy them all, her counter is that if she's going to die anyway, she'd rather die fighting. Even when it becomes clear that there is no way to fight off the effect, Torres is the last to surrender. She does show consistent trust and loyalty toward Chakotay, though. Nice to see Kenneth Biller, at least, remembering that these two were part of the same crew long before joining Voyager.

Tuvok: Attempts to approach the inexplicable with rigid logic, which doesn't work very well. He comes as close as he ever could to admitting a sort of resentment at Janeway's choice of Chakotay as first officer, and apologizes for any difficulties he may have created for Chakotay. A nice nonverbal beat shows his closeness for Janeway, when he reaches for her - stopping just short of making physical contact - just as the distortion hits.

Kes: Another good nonverbal beat sees the Doctor pulling Kes into a comforting embrace just before the anomaly hits, taking onto himself a paternal role toward her (not for the first time). Kes clearly loves Tom's gift and tries hard to ignore Neelix's evident jealousy. She comes up with a good solution at the end, accepting the gift but literally integrating Neelix into it.

Neelix: Continues to feel jealousy at Tom Paris' friendliness toward Kes. Honestly, given the gift Tom gives, I'm not sure this bit of jealousy is entirely unreasonable.  It's also clear enough that Neelix feels guilty at his inability to control his jealousy. But he's just so irritating that it's impossible to empathize with him for long. Particularly when he expands his jealousy of Tom to include random crew members, or when he gets smug about Kes' sense of direction. This episode also sees both Chakotay and the doctor express annoyance with him (Chakotay nonverbally, the doctor aloud) - meaning that the writers know that he's irritating. So if they can bring themselves to acknowledge this by having the other characters express it, why don't they do something to address the problem?


THOUGHTS

As a character episode, Twisted has some merit. Kenneth Biller's script does a good job of dividing the regulars into pairs, drawing on the character relationships established in previous episodes. So we see Tom and Harry's friendship, with Tom placing a comforting hand on the younger man's shoulder; Kes and Neelix, made even more firmly a couple as Kes asks for a photo of him to keep with her; Kes and the Doctor, as a sort of surrogate father/daughter; Janeway and Tuvok; and Chakotay and Torres. Several good character beats are sprinkled through the story, particularly Chakotay's talk to Neelix about the risks of love and Torres' refusal to stop fighting until the very end. It really is one of the better attempts at an ensemble piece, with every regular getting a page.

Unfortunately, as a story, it feels utterly pointless.

The corridors are rearranging themselves, meaning that the characters wander around aimlessly for a bit before ending up back at the holodeck. For about half the episode, that's enough. It's an intriguing starting point for a story, and there's something appealingly nutty about the corridors rearranging themselves. But by the 20 minute mark, the novelty value is wearing thin. At that point, the story needs to shift in some way.

But no. Other than kick-starting the Artificial Tension Generator by making it seem that the distortion may destroy the ship (spoiler alert: It doesn't), that turns out to be the entire plot. Wander around some corridors until ending up back in the holodeck. Discuss situation. Wander around some corridors before ending up back in the holodeck. Repeat. Some of the distortion effects are nice - I particularly like an effects shot late in the episode, in which the regulars are reduced to something like a cubist painting. But it's just not enough to sustain a one-hour show, and there really isn't anything else here.

I think Twisted would have been a terrific 22-minute TAS episode. But at 45 minutes, it becomes awfully tiresome. It gets a couple points for the character material, and a couple more for the appealing nuttiness of the setup. Ultimately, however, it just ends up as an exercise in pointlessness.


Overall Rating: 4/10.

Previous Episode: Non Sequitur
Next Episode: Parturition

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2-04. Elogium.

Kes and Neelix face a difficult choice.

THE PLOT

Voyager encounters a swarm of protozoa-like creatures, swimming around in space. The ship moves in closer to study the phenomenon... only to find itself pulled into the mass of creatures, which seem to be attracted by the ship.

Meanwhile, through reasons never adequately addressed by the story, the creatures' proximity sparks a premature change in Kes. She enters the Elogium, the Ocampan mating cycle. There's a big catch: the mating cycle only happens once in a lifetime. If Kes doesn't have a child now, she will never be able to have one again!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Janeway: When Chakotay brings the issue of fraternization directly to Janeway, the captain finds herself mulling a thought that's probably been in her mind for a while. With a potential 70-year voyage in front of them, they may need to consider Voyager as a "generation ship." Janeway acknowledges to Chakotay that she fully expects the crew to "pair off" at some point. She exempts herself from that, but she does spare a moment to flirt with her first officer. Her dedication to not harming the space creatures is admirable at first, but passes into directly endangering the ship by the end. Someone really should point out to her that there's a line between respect for other life forms and simple pragmatism. Picard would have pulled the trigger a good twenty minutes before Janeway even starts contemplating doing so. Nevermind Kirk or Sisko, who would have probably blasted the creatures as soon as they presented an inconvenience.

Kes: Though Elogium is not a great episode, it is great to see an episode give some focus to Kes. Jennifer Lien seems to enjoy getting a full role here. Her ability to make the most of small scenes doesn't diminish when carrying a large portion of an episode, and her interactions with Neelix and her expression of doubt to the Doctor are both effectively portrayed.

Neelix: Continues to exhibit an irrational jealousy, which may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If he continues to treat Kes the way he does in the teaser of this episode, how long will it take for him to actually drive her away? When presented with Kes' Elogium, Neelix behaves exactly as expected: He freaks out. In fairness, being told you have to decide whether or not to have a child right now would make any reasonable person do the same. But it's Neelix, so it's still annoying. Particularly after his jealousy at the top of the episode and his hysteria opposite the Doctor and then opposite Janeway right after. The writers really need to stop portraying him as a cartoon. If given a real character to play, Ethan Phillips can deliver the goods, but no one could play this role as written and make Neelix anything but annoying.

The Doctor: Doesn't even attempt to hide his disgust with Neelix when the latter relentlessly interferes with his attempts to treat Kes. It's nice to see one of the regulars able to lose his temper in a believable fashion. It's an irony that the most human character on the show is a hologram. Gets a nice scene with Kes in which she asks him for advice, as a daughter might a father. He is visibly flustered, but listens as she voices her own doubts. The scene gets a terrific end note when, instead of attempting a reply, the Doctor simply gives her a compassionate smile and places a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Tuvok: Has a very good scene opposite Neelix. As Neelix discusses his doubts about fatherhood, Tuvok reveals that he has four children: three sons and one daughter. He tells Neelix that his children "occupy a significant portion of (his) thoughts, now more than ever," and that he wishes he were there to provide guidance to his daughter. Tuvok discusses the rewards of fatherhood, though he cautions that it is "overwhelming" and that if Neelix has serious doubts, then he is probably best advised not to enter into it. Tim Russ backs off his occasionally robotic Tuvok to show a hint of sadness, the separation the Vulcan must endure at this forced break from his family. More performances pitched at this level would be very welcome.


THOUGHTS

The ship is pulled by a swarm of strange life-forms in outer space, life forms which emit a field that affects one of the regulars. Hmmm... co-writer Jeri Taylor appears to have recycled one of early TNG episodes. In my review of TNG's The Loss, I commented that the episode seemed less like it belonged to that show and more like it belonged to Voyager. I would guess that Ms. Taylor and co-writer Kenneth Biller agreed.

I enjoyed Elogium a lot better than I did The Loss, in part because I find Kes more convincing and sympathetic a character than TNG's Troi. Also, this episode actually does a pretty good job with the character work. Kes' reactions feel convincing in-context, and Jennifer Lien's performance is very good. As is Ethan Phillips'. Neelix is his typical, annoying self, and by this point in the series I would gladly see him thrown out an airlock. But Phillips plays what he's given to the hilt, and both Neelix's doubts about fatherhood and his later enthusiasm are highly believable.

I also appreciated that this episode addresses an issue which frankly should have been addressed much earlier: Namely, that on a voyage of this potential duration, serious thought is going to have to be given to the idea of a future generation on Voyager. This should have happened within the first five episodes (and it is, at the very least, worth noting that this was shot as a Season One episode, where it would have fit much better), but at least it is addressed now. The final scene seems to indicate Janeway accepting the inevitable. Even if she attempted to ban "fraternization," such an order would not (could not) be obeyed long-term by the entire crew. Best not to give such an order to start with.

While the character material mostly works, the episode is dragged down by its recycled "B" plot. The material with the space creatures becoming sexually attracted to Voyager is largely dire, some decent effects notwithstanding. B'Elanna ends up being the only sensible one on the bridge. At the point at which the creatures are endangering the ship, self-defense is not an unreasonable option. By the time Tuvok and Paris are chiming in to agree with B'Elanna with Janeway still resisting, I was half-expecting a full-blown mutiny on the Voyager!

And of course, for no reasons that the writers ever even attempt to Technobabble away, the ending wipes away Kes' Elogium and magically makes it a "false" one, meaning that she can still have children later in life and that this entire story has no consequences. How very... Voyager of the script to do that.

Ultimately, though, it's watchable filler, with some good character scenes for Kes, Tuvok, and even Neelix. It very clearly belongs in Season One and never should have been moved back. That aside, this isn't really bad. Just... very expendable.


Overall Rating: 5/10.

Previous Episode: Projections
Next Episode: Non Sequitur

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2-02. Initiations.

Chakotay and Kar (Aron Eisenberg) escape from the Kazon.

THE PLOT

Chakotay secures the use of a shuttlecraft to perform a Native American Ritual (TM) which, for whatever reason, cannot be performed on the ship by simply shutting himself away in his quarters or engaging the use of the holodeck. Nevermind. Chakotay's shuttle draws the attention of the Kazon, who send an eager boy named Kar (Aron Eisenberg) to earn his name by destroying the shuttle.

Chakotay easily outmaneuvers the Kazon and disables his ship. But discovering that his opponent is little more than a child, he beams the boy to safety. When the Kazon catch up with him, Chakotay and Kar are both made prisoners: Chakotay for violating Kazon space, the boy for failing to either kill or die in battle. When Chakotay is told he must kill the boy to win his release, he instead turns the tables on the Kazon, escaping with Kar in his shuttlecraft, with the Kazon in pursuit!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Janeway: After repeatedly failing to leave Harry Kim to his death, Janeway now gets a chance to leave Chakotay behind. Sadly, she doesn't take it. She also is stupidly hasty about going down to the surface of the moon to search for Chakotay. When B'Elanna tells her that communications are unavailable due to interference, but she should be able to break through that interference within a few hours, Janeway replies, "I don't want to wait that long." Why? The Kazon ship hasn't arrived yet, so there hardly seems to be a great rush. Going down with no communications seems a stupid choice, given the situation at that moment. All it does is create a tiny bit of third act tension when the Kazon arrive with no prior warning for the Away Team (something that could have been prevented, had Janeway simply waited).

Chakotay: Is it me, or has Robert Beltran's performance actually gotten worse? In the first season, it seemed like the problem with Chakotay was bland character writing. In this episode, the character writing is still bland. It's a Chakotay-centric episode that basically tells us that Chakotay is fundamentally nonviolent and, oh yes, Native American. But Beltran makes weak characterization worse by being wooden on top of it all. Since the episode cuts between Chakotay and Voyager, it's very easy to contrast Beltran's stiff acting with Kate Mulgrew's more dynamic performance, and the difference between the two is palpable.

Neelix: I think the moment in which Neelix faces down the Kazon commander is meant to be a moment of competence for Neelix. Unfortunately, as scripted, Neelix gives away vital information that it's at least possible the Kazon didn't already have, and gains no new information in the process. When he smugs that, "At least we bought (Janeway) some time," I wanted to smack him through the screen. If that's all you got out of that, while giving away so very much, then Tom Paris was probably doing a better job of delaying the Kazon by simply playing dumb. To the credit of actor Robert Duncan McNeill, Tom looks just as unimpressed by Neelix as I was.


THOUGHTS

A dull filler episode that makes the Kazon seem even more ridiculous than they did before. The Kazon culture is basically "like Klingons, only weaker, shallower, and stupider." Given that one of this episode's goals was clearly to give them more depth, it backfires spectacularly. We have more information about them than we did before... and all that does is make them even less interesting. And this was after Michael Piller pushed Ken Biller to completely rewrite his script because the Kazon were too much "like warmed-over Klingons." I can only imagine how tedious they were in the first draft!

Initiations begins with Chakotay performing his Generic Native American Ritual alone on a shuttlecraft. As I noted above - Why? The episode ends with him performing it in his quarters on Voyager. Which means there was no special reason for him to be doing it alone on a shuttlecraft in the first place, other than to serve the needs of the plot. In the process, Chakotay manages to get one of Voyager's shuttlecraft destroyed. Not that I expect the series will make any special note of the ship being down one shuttlecraft, not after completely ignoring it being low on energy. Oh, and it's a Chakotay-centric episode that also stresses how important his Starfleet uniform is to him. Um, do the writers even remember at this point that Chakotay is Maquis?

A bright spot is the casting of Aron Eisenberg - Nog on Deep Space 9 - who invests a lot more credibility in Kar than the character actually deserves. Kar is proud and stubborn. He's annoying as hell, but unlike Neelix, he's annoying for reasons that are culturally clear as the episode goes along. Eisenberg balances the character's nature against a growing bond with Chakotay that is thankfully not overplayed, and his work goes a long way toward keeping this watchable.

Watchable, but far from good. Predictable and dull, the best thing I can say about Initiations is that at least we've had our Chakotay-centric episode for the next third of a season or so. Can he go back to being part of the furniture now?


Overall Rating: 3/10.

Previous Episode: The 37's
Next Episode: Projections

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1-15. Jetrel.

Kes comforts a tormented Neelix.

THE PLOT

Voyager is hailed by an Haakonian ship, whose occupant insists on speaking to Neelix on a matter of life and death. Neelix is confused, telling Janeway that his people had been at war with the Haakonians long ago. Confusion gives way to anger, however, when he comes face to face with this particular Haakoian: Dr. Jetrel (James Sloyan), the scientist responsible for a weapon that devastated the Talaxian colony on Rinax, killing Neelix's family and prompting an unconditional surrender by Neelix's people.

Jetrel tells Janeway that he has been tracking down Talaxians who were involved in rescue operations on Rinax. Many of the rescue workers have developed a fatal illness from the radiation. He needs to test Neelix, to confirm that Neelix has the disease. But Neelix, bitter over the horrors he saw when he went back to Rinax after the bombing, flatly refuses to even speak with him!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Janeway: Comes across as staggeringly gullible in this episode. She never once questions Jetrel's motives. Even though there's no indication of evil intent by the scientist, there should at least be some discussion among Janeway and her command staff about the possibility of him having a less philanthropic agenda, particularly when they make a substantial detour at Jetrel's behest. The episode attempts to bring out Janeway's scientific background by having her bounce off a truly brilliant scientist... but with Janeway seemingly instantly believing every word out of Jetrel's mouth the second it is spoken, she mainly just comes across as naive.

Neelix: Yes, it's a Neelix episode. But hey, if Chakotay and Harry Kim can get character-centric episodes, why not Neelix? At least he isn't boring. In fact, Neelix comes across very well in this episode. The writers don't forget all the things that make him annoying most of the time. He's still self-absorbed, he still has a very free relationship with the truth, and he still is very quick to judge others based solely on what is good for him. But those qualities lead to some very convincing reactions when he is brought face-to-face with Jetrel. He isn't fair to Jetrel - but he is convincingly human, in a way that idealized Trek characters all too frequently are not. Ethan Phillips gives an excellent performance, proving that he is capable of being far more than the comedy relief the series usually relegates him to. Phillips' scenes opposite James Sloyan crackle with emotion, and the give and take between the two actors is outstanding.

Kes: Empathy remains the consistent key to her character. She is supportive of Neelix, while at the same time being firm in making him go to Jetrel for the sake of his own health. She remains available to listen to him, and doesn't take offense when Neelix states that he never told her about Rinax because this was one thing that he couldn't share with someone who hadn't actually been there. I'm not sure I actually buy Kes and Neelix as a couple - truthfully, Jennifer Lien is stronger opposite both Robert Picardo and Kate Mulgrew than she is opposite Ethan Phillips - but the character's strength and compassion keeps her one of the series' more consistently impressive creations.

Jetrel: Jetrel (James Sloyan) is obviously directly based on J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who spearheaded the Manhattan Project. He is an obviously brilliant man, and his scientific brilliance instantly impresses Janeway. At the same time, he comes across as cold and aloof - but in scenes with Neelix, deeper feelings emerge, revealing genuine torment at what he had done. When he tells Neelix that he realized what he had become only when looking at the Cascade as it detonated, he essentially echoes Oppenheimer's own words after watching a test of the atomic bomb, and quoting a Hindu script: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."


THOUGHTS

Jetrel is to Voyager what to Duet was to Deep Space 9. It's a serious episode, dealing with serious subjects. It tightly focuses on two characters: one of the regulars (Neelix), and a guest character (James Sloyan's Jetrel) who was responsible for the most painful event in Neelix's past. There is a lot of intelligent dialogue, with both Ethan Phillips and James Sloyan giving their all. The script is layered. Neelix has secrets he's not sharing; Jetrel isn't as unaffected emotionally as he would like to let on. In its handling of this material, even with much of it being a clear allegory for the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II, the episode flirts very seriously with earning Voyager its first "10."

But unfortunately, Voyager is to Jetrel what Deep Space 9 was to Duet. Deep Space 9, a show that quickly developed the confidence to spend full episodes dealing strictly with character and theme, was willing to simply focus on a series of discussions between Nana Visitor's Kira and Harris Yulin's Marritza. It trusted the actors, their characters, and their dialogue to carry the hour, and it trusted the audience to stay with it. As a result, the series delivered a searingly powerful hour of television.

Voyager simply doesn't have the same faith: not in its actors, not in its characters, and - most tellingly of all - not in its audience. Therefore, after 35 minutes of mostly excellent character drama, we get... a climax in which a character pulls an apparent double-cross, followed by a stream of meaningless technobabble.

WHY!?!

I would love to sit the Voyager writing staff of the first season down and ask them what the hell they were thinking of when they decided to veer into melodrama and pseudoscience in the last ten minutes. Any viewer prone to tune out because the show was too "talky" would have already tuned out long before the final Act. Meanwhile, for the rest of us... After being genuinely gripped by the character interactions of Neelix and Jetrel and, to a lesser extent, Neelix and Kes and Janeway and Jetrel, a Voyager episode that comes so close to transcending this series' limitations comes crashing back down to Earth with a reminder that this is Voyager, and that no episode can pass without at least some stupidity.

A part of me almost wants to give a bad score simply because of the badly misjudged climax. But the truth is that the offending scenes occupy less than ten minutes, and that those ten minutes are surrounded by some of the best writing and acting that Voyager has yet provided. Given the strength of what comes before the inanity sets in, I feel I have to award a good score. It's just so frustrating how close this episode came to being so much more than simply an above-average episode of Star Trek: Voyager.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

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