3-15. Coda.

Janeway is visited by her dead father (Len Cariou)

THE PLOT

Janeway and Chakotay are on a shuttlecraft when apparent elecrical interference forces them onto a nearby planet. Janeway is injured, but Chakotay is able to revive her - just in time for them to find themselves evading a large group of Vidiians. Despite their best efforts, they are quickly overwhelmed by the Vidiians...

...Only to find themselves back in the shuttle, just before the accident. As Janeway scans for temporal anomalies to explain this, Chakotay takes the more practical approach of scanning for Vidiians. He picks up an approaching ship and attempts evasive maneuvers. But it takes no time at all for the Vidiians to catch up with them and obliterate the shuttle.

Leading to them once again in the shuttle, at the same point in space and time, with apparently mere minutes to find a way to avoid dying. Again!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Janeway: Coda is a completely Janeway-centered episode. As with all Janeway-heavy episodes, it benefits from Mulgrew's fine performance. This is particularly true in one variant of the loop in which Janeway is infected with the Vidiian phage. Mulgrew makes Janeway's confusion and fear very believable, particularly as that loop reaches its endpoint.   The episode also yet again shows her protectiveness of her crew, searching for any way to help them even when she herself appears to be in a hopeless situation.

Chakotay: Has grown close enough to Janeway that, when she is injured, he gasps, "Kathryn!" instead of "Captain!" A nice bit of character continuity. Taken with their comfort together in Future's End, it indicates that the time he and Janeway shared in Resolutions hasn't actually been forgotten. He is also quick to take charge in a survival situation, after the shuttle crash, nor does Janeway argue at him doing so.

Vice Admiral Janeway: Veteran character actor Len Cariou appears as Janeway's father, who drowned long ago when she was very young. Cariou projects a kindly presence as he chats with Janeway about life and death and about the difficulty of moving on. He also does a good job with a very fast (too fast) transition to a very different portrayal at the end. One could only wish that Jeri Taylor's script was less shallow, so that he had something meatier to work with.

Vidiians: The first Season Three episode to use the Vidiians at all, though this isn't a Vidiian episode. They are simply a plot device, an external threat to push Janeway and Chakotay into the repeating time loop. The Vidiian phage is used to good effect, however, with Janeway becoming infected with the disease in one loop.


THOUGHTS

Coda starts out seeming much more intriguing than it ends up being. The multiple variants of the time loop are the focus of the episode's first half, and this portion of the show is enjoyably off-center. By the end of the episode, however, we find out that these loops are entirely irrelevant to the actual plot.  Aside from the teaser, the entire first half of the episode could be considered padding.  At least the set pieces within the loops are fun.  During this phase of the episode, I was all set for a good, nutty ride. 

Actually, I enjoyed the almost irrelevant first half far more than the second half, when writer Jeri Taylor finally gets to the heart of her story.  For about ten minutes or so, it's enjoyable enough: A Voyager ghost story is a novelty, and Len Cariou, who portrays Janeway's dead father, is a welcome presence in any show that features him. But once he appears and begins chatting with her, the end twist becomes incredibly easy to see coming.  Leaving about 15 minutes of us sitting around, waiting for the plot to catch up with what we know is going to happen.

A big problem with Coda is that these two halves simply don't belong together. The talk-heavy second half seems all the slower for coming after the bizarre, endlessly changing loops of the first half. Meanwhile, the ideas a more ambitious script might have explored during Janeway's conversations with her father are given short shrift, because there's only twenty minutes of show (minus the tag) by the time we get through the time loops. 

It's a shame to see this second half, in particular, fail so badly. The actors are good, and both are capable of doing very fine work with good writing. Unfortunately, there is nothing surprising nor insightful here. We don't get to look at Janeway's character in any different a light, and Mulgrew and Cariou are mostly left to exchange platitudes and cliches. They deliver them well, but that doesn't make the words they're speaking any more interesting.

A character episode that fails to advance the character it spotlights and runs out of gas around the midpoint, Coda ends up being all too representative of Voyager at its worst: Recycled ideas competently presented, but with no real spark behind them. It's acceptable enough time filler, but sadly nothing more.


Overall Rating: 5/10.

Previous Episode: Alter Ego
Next Episode: Blood Fever 

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2-25. Resolutions.

Janeway lets go of her responsibilities.

THE PLOT

A bug bite on an Earth-like planet has left Janeway and Chakotay with a terminal disease. The Doctor is unable to cure it, but the planet itself has a Plot Filter which eliminates the disease for as long as the two stay on its surface. The Doctor advises contacting the Vidiians, whose medical knowledge could probably cure this, but Janeway refuses to expose the ship to such a risk. Instead, she and Chakotay are left on the planet with supplies and shelter. She puts Tuvok in command, orders him to avoid contact with the Vidiians, and orders Voyager to continue on its journey.

In the weeks that follow, Janeway and Chakotay adjust to life on the planet. Chakotay does so fairly quickly, while Janeway's acceptance of this new life is more gradual. But as time passes, the two become increasingly comfortable with the idea of living the rest of their lives on this single world.

Until Voyager accidentally comes into the proximity of a Vidiian ship, leading to pressure from the crew for Tuvok to violate orders and ask for help finding a cure...


CHARACTERS

Capt. Janeway: Another good performance by Kate Mulgrew. Her Janeway gradually softens through the course of the episode. It happens at a steady enough pace that it's not always noticeable, but by the time she and Chakotay are "rescued," she has stopped being "The Captain." Which makes the contrast of the final scene all the more striking and even poignant, as the brittle captain returns. Enough time passes for Janeway to accept and even begin to embrace the change in her life, which makes the ending not an entirely happy one for her.

Chakotay: For Janeway, he becomes quite literally the only man left on Earth. No wonder a tear runs down her face as the seemingly inevitable asserts itself - She's stuck with a man who can't have anything approximating a serious discussion without telling (or inventing) an "ancient legend of my people." I do think Robert Beltran's trying here, but he still comes across like an animated block of wood. More unfortunate still, he just doesn't have the chemistry with Kate Mulgrew that he had with Martha Hackett's Seska.

Tuvok: His version of The Galileo Seven, as he's put in command and can't quite bridge the gap between his logic and the crew's emotion. Unlike in the classic TOS episode, Tuvok is largely proved right in his initial refusal to contact the Vidiians.  It's largely a matter of luck that they escape the trap with anything positive to show for it. Tim Russ, who is probably Season Two's most improved regular, does well with the role, and a nicely-written scene with Kes takes a moment to remember that Tuvok is not truly emotionless, and that Janeway is his friend.

Harry Kim: When Tuvok refuses to violate Janeway's orders and hail the Vidiians, Harry basically throws a tantrum in the middle of the bridge. This would be the same Harry who comes from the version of Voyager that was destroyed while under attack from the Vidiians, the same Harry who witnessed the Vidiians stalking through the ship's corridors zapping and extracting the organs of everyone in their path. I know character continuity isn't this show's strong suit - but this happened all of four episodes ago, and the events (minus any impact on Harry) are even referenced in the script! At least Harry's emotional reactions to Tuvok make him seem human this episode, and make a nice follow-through on the loyalty to Janeway that defined him in The Thaw.

Kes: Unlike Harry, she knows how to approach Tuvok in a way that will at least make him think about his decisions. By approaching him as a sort of daughter figure, she softens him up. When she does address the issue of the Vidiians, she doesn't try to argue with his decison-making. Instead, she points out the need for him to think about the morale of the crew. She gets him to see that the feelings of the crew are important and lets him know that people are waiting for him to speak, but she does not try to tell him what he should say.


THOUGHTS

Resolutions has a lot going for it. Kate Mulgrew is in wonderful form, and seeing Janeway gradually relax away from her command responsibilities is refreshing. I enjoyed the way the ending was played, with Janeway and Chakotay clearly less than enthusiastic to be returned to a world they had already emotionally let go of.

I also have hopes that the Janeway/Chakotay relationship of this episode will be remembered in Season Three. I have no desire to see a relationship subplot between the two (the actors have no romantic chemistry) - but I think there could be some interesting changes to the character dynamic, and would love to see the show explore that at least.

It is also another episode in which things happen because the plot needs them to. For all of Harry's loyalty to Janeway, he is literally the only member of the crew who has seen the ship devastated by the Vidiians. It would be more convincing, and more dramatically interesting, if he was arguing passionately against contacting them. Let B'Elanna or Tom - both of whom also have strong loyalty to Janeway - be the first to push Tuvok, and this would be a more interesting story.

That's not even mentioning the planet's never-explained Disease Immunity. Or the mysterious plasma storm, which hits exactly once in order to force Janeway to let go of her experiments and is barely referenced thereafter. If the plasma storms are a feature of the planet, let there be two or three such storms making life less idyllic and more unpredictable.

Still, this is a Voyager episode, a Jeri Taylor-scripted one at that. One could wish for more nuanced conflict, with some of the crew siding with Tuvok instead of everyone being against him. One could wish for the planet to be less "Garden of Eden" like. But within the confines of what's there, it does work. Performances are good, and there are some strong character scenes involving Janeway, Tuvok, and Kes. We even get a few welcome continuity nods.

It's another episode that could easily have been better and more interesting than it is. But it's still a pretty good show, and continues the improved quality of the last part of the season. It may be just "popcorn entertainment," but at least it is entertaining and absorbing.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

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2-21. Deadlock.

Captain Janeway meets... Captain Janeway.

THE PLOT

Voyager's course has taken the ship to the edge of a Vidiian system. Not wanting to risk attack, Janeway orders a detour through a plasma drift, to disguise them from Vidiian sensors. The detour works - they are not detected. Howevever, as the ship emerges from the drift, there's turbulence, followed by a loss of power. And when Torres prepares to deal with that situation by using proton bursts to keep the engines going, there's a sudden series of explosions!

As wounded flood sickbay, Torres determines the explosions are the result of proton bursts. "But I never initiated the procedure!" she protests. As the bursts continue, the ship becomes more and more destabilized. There are casualties and hull breaches. Then, when Kes leaves sickbay to retrieve a wounded crew member, she disappears into a spatial rift...

...and reappears - on a completely undamaged, fully functioning Voyager!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Janeway: Her background as a science officer plays a big part in the way this episode unfolds. Whereas other captains would have to rely on their engineers almost entirely in a situation like this, Janeway plays an active part in trying to find a solution. The interplay between Janeway and Torres is almost that of a professor and her star pupil. Both Janeways express willingness to sacrifice their versions of Voyager to save the other, if only one variant of the ship ends up being viable. She also gets a wonderful moment facing down the Vidiians near the end. "Welcome to the bridge," indeed!

Doctor/Kes: Kes' compassion is as evident as ever in her interactions with Wildman. The Doctor actually shows a surprising level of compassion, too, promising Wildman that he will do everything in his power to make sure of her baby's survival, even as he handles an increasing medical emergency, with wounded flooding both sickbay and the holodeck. Though their interactions with each other are minor in this episode, they do get a couple nice moments: one in which the Doctor reassures the Kes from the damaged [I}Voyager,[/I] both about the health of this version of Wildman's baby and that "her" Doctor is doubtless able to keep up with any emergency; and a second when that Kes returns, and the Doctor immediately asks if the other Doctor has a name.

Harry Kim: Dies - and as expected, that makes no difference. Of course, through the magic of spatial anomalies, he's back to life long before the episode ends.  OK, it's a Harry from a slightly different reality, but it's a difference that makes no difference (the divergence accounting for all of a few hours' different experiences), so Harry's musing about how "weird" that is will be the sum total impact this will likely ever have. Much like the swapped O'Briens on Deep Space 9, come to think of it.


THOUGHTS

A Brannon Braga script that opens with the ship suffering a catastrophe, before showing us a version of the ship that's perfectly intact and running smoothly? Yes, Braga is mining TNG's excellent Cause and Effect. Still, I suppose if you're going to steal from your own past work, it at least makes sense to steal from arguably your best past work.

Deadlock is techno-babble heavy, with a script full of "proton bursts" and "osmotic pressure" and spatial scissions and phase variance. It's not up there with Time and Again for technobabble overload, but there's definitely more than is strictly needed to make the episode work, while some potential character opportunities are all but ignored. Shouldn't Kes be affected by seeing a second Kes, one who has obviously undergone a traumatic experience? Shouldn't Harry be disturbed at learning that the other Harry died, and died rather pointlessly? There isn't even time for the two Janeways to have any interesting interplay. Character takes a back seat to technobabble - which is itself one of the biggest ongoing problems with Voyager as a show.

Deadlock does work extremely well as a piece of action entertainment. The opening twenty minutes are the best, as the crew grapples with the rising devastation within the ship, explosions wracking the hull with no apparent cause. David Livingston, probably Voyager's best director, milks these scenes for atmosphere.  The battered and darkened corridors are so effective that it's actually a disappointment to cut back to the normal, flood-lit Voyager bridge. The Vidiians' attack at the end is also one of the strongest action pieces yet of the series, not least of which because of how easily the Vidiians seem to be winning and how utterly emotionless they are about it.

That said, the Vidiian attack is one reason why this episode is getting a "7" instead of an "8." The episode sets up a dilemma, in that one version of Voyager has to be destroyed for the other to survive. Then, instead of having to let the two Janeways work that out and/or try to act against that, we get the easiest of all possible solutions - an implacable enemy who both outnumbers and outguns the crew attacks one version of the ship (but not the other), making the entire thing a moot point. An external force decides the fates of the two crews for them, making Janeway's decision an easy one instead of a hard one.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Investigations
Next Episode: Innocence

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2-19. Lifesigns.

The Doctor enjoys an unlikely romance.

THE PLOT

A distress signal leads Voyager to a one-man ship. They receive no response to hails, but detect a single life sign aboard - a Vidiian female who is obviously dying. Janeway orders the woman beamed to sickbay. Discovering a brain implant that stores the woman's higher functions to supplement their interaction with her desperately ill body, the Doctor puts her into stasis and transfers her consciousness into a healthy holographic version of her.

"Cured" of the Phage in holographic form, the Vidiian introduces herself as Denara Pel (Susan Diol). Denara is a hematologist who had been helping to treat a Phage outbreak when her own condition suddenly worsened. She and the Doctor are drawn to each other. But when the Doctor's treatment reaches the point at which he is ready to transfer her consciousness back to her body, she is faced with the prospect of a return to a life of illness and resists - even if that resistance leads to her own death!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Janeway: Though she has been protective of Tom Paris in the past, when Chakotay comes to her with Tom's increasingly erratic behavior, she gives him discretion to handle the problem as he sees fit. She backs that up, too, refusing to intercede on Tom's behalf when Chakotay disciplines him, then ordering him taken to the brig when he strikes Chakotay.

Doctor: Though a "Doctor in love" episode could have been painful, this turns out surprisingly well. Robert Picardo is terrific. I love the multitude of tiny half-expressions that cross his face as he looks toward Denara, then away from her and back again, even in the midst of talking about medical matters or pointing out features of the Mars sky in the holodeck. Kenneth Biller's script is well-judged, too, structuring the Doctor's emotional awakening. He at first tries to focus on his role as Denara's doctor, rerouting every conversational tangent to her treatment. He doesn't know how to approach the idea of a relationship. When Kes finally prods him to do so, he just blurts it out while in the midst of treatment, asking if she feels the same in the exact same tone of voice he would use to ask a patient to describe symptoms. Good writing and good acting, working in concert - You can hardly ask better than that!

Kes: Her medical competence continues to progress.  She acts in concert with the Doctor in the teaser and makes several correct diagnostic calls, for which he compliments her. She remains a good friend and support to the Doctor. When she realizes that he's attracted to Denara, she urges him to tell her. After Denara's initial rejection of the Doctor, Kes recognizes that she actually does have feelings for him. She prods Denara much the way she prodded the Doctor and, with a little help from Tom Paris, is able to make something happen between the two of them.

Tom Paris: Continues to make a big show of displaying a bad attitude. I retain my certainty that this is an act. We again see in the teaser that he draws as much attention to himself as possible when arriving late to the bridge. But once a situation presents itself, he is totally focused on his job. Even if the overall disposition is a put-on, I wonder if some of his resentment toward Chakotay isn't genuine. When he complains about Chakotay not letting him truly do his job, and adds that he is far from the only person complaining about the ex-Maquis First Officer, there's a ring of truth to his accusations. That would be interesting to see followed up, once this particular subplot gets wrapped up at least.

Michael Jonas: Has reached the point of no return as a double-agent for Seska. Asked to go beyond simply passing along information and to actually sabotage the ship, he balks. Then he finally gets what he's been pushing for - direct communication with Seska. She plays him as skillfully as she's been playing the Kazon.  By the end of her scene, she seems to have convinced Jonas to assist her in taking over Voyager!


THOUGHTS

Another strong episode, though putting the spotlight onto Robert Picardo is usually a safe bet for good results. Picardo and guest star Susan Diol turn in top-notch performances. They work well together, too, making for a convincing screen couple. Wisely, Kenneth Biller doesn't impose any outside alien threat on the situation. Beyond the developing Michael Jonas subplot, the story is allowed to exist on its own pleasantly low-key terms.

Good character beats are not restricted to just the Doctor and Denara. There's a particularly good scene involving Torres, who endured a nightmarish experience at the hands of the Vidiians. In a series where internal continuity has not been a strength, it's encouraging to see this addressed. Torres retains resentment against her previous captivity, and refuses to allow the Doctor to use her Phage-resistant Klingon DNA to assist Denara. Only when Denara comes in, apologizing for Torres' treatment at the hands of her people and letting her know that she accepts whatever decision the engineer chooses to make, does Torres change her mind and agree to the procedure.

Denara is the only Vidiian seen here, but the episode does actually expand what we know of them. By showing us Denara as she would be without the Phage, we put a human face on a race that has previously existed only as a horror. We also learn that not all Vidiians are infected, and that the healthy shun the sick out of fear for contracting the disease. Vidiian culture has evolved around the illness, with laws restricting public gatherings as a health hazard. We see Denara flinching away from touches by Neelix and a holographic gigolo - though I suppose one could find reasons other than fear of disease for not wanting to be touched by either of them. In any case, all of this makes the Vidiians more sympathetic than they were before, particularly after Faces.

Hopefully, we see more of the Vidiians - a race I find a lot more interesting than the Kazon, both as villains and as victims. In any event, this is a solid outing, a nice change of pace and an all-around good episode.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: Death Wish
Next Episode: Investigations

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1-14. Faces.

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall..."

THE PLOT

Tom Paris, B'Elanna, and Crewman Durst (guess what happens to him?) fail to return from an Away Mission. When Chakotay and Tuvok investigate, they discover signs of the Vidiians - the disease-plagued organ harvesters that stole Neelix's lungs and nearly killed him on the ship's first encounter with them.

These Vidiians are running a work camp, using prisoners to perform forced labor they aren't strong enough to do themselves. When the prisoners become too weak to work, they are taken for organ harvesting. As Tom tries to keep his team alive in the caves, B'Elanna finds herself the subject of a Vidiian experiment by the twisted scientist, Sulan (Brian Markinson). She is made fully Klingon, in order to test possible Klingon resistance to the phage. Meanwhile, the leftover human genes are transformed into another B'Elanna - a fully human one!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Janeway: In the background in this episode. She is determined to help her kidnapped people if she can, but is also conscious of the risks of putting further crew members at risk.

Chakotay: Takes the lead in working to recover the kidnapped crew members. When Harry and Tuvok are able to come up with a risky way to potentially beam one person into the Vidiian compound without alerting them, Chakotay insists on being the one to go. All of this shows courage, and continues to demonstrate why Chakotay is a competent leader - but sadly, none of it makes him any more interesting.

Torres: A big spotlight episode for B'Elanna here, as the two sides of her nature are literally split apart. Roxann Biggs-Dawson does well as both the Klingon and the human B'Elanna, though it's as the human version that she shows real complexity. As she has to react to being truly human, suddenly bereft of the Klingon aggressiveness and strength and having to deal with real fear for the first time, Biggs-Dawson gets to play emotions usually denied her. She's terrific, particularly as the human B'Elanna gradually adjusts to the fear and begins to act in spite of it. In the end, she is forced to admit that she feels "incomplete" without the Klingon side of herself, though she still doesn't truly welcome the need for that side to be reintegrated.

Tom Paris: Shows courage and competence as a leader on an Away mission. When they are taken captive, he urges Durst to be cautious and not to take unnecessary risks, but also urges vigilance so that they might spot an opportunity when it comes. When the Vidiians come to take Durst, Tom tries to protect the crewman. He also does his best to protect the human B'Elanna, while at the same time listening to her worries at being diminished and providing what encouragement he can. Given that he's basically helpless in this situation - unable to save Durst, unable to protect B'Elanna, and having to be rescued by Chakotay - he conducts himself very well in spite of all that.

Vidiians: Given how successful an episode Phage was, it's no surprise the production team decided to bring the Vidiians back for a return appearance. Their introductory episode highlighted the pathetic state they were left in by the phage, ultimately emphasizing them as victims rather than as villains. Faces does the opposite. They are still driven by the ravages done to them by the disease. But now they are purely exploiters, not sympathetic at all. Using slave labor, then murdering the used up slaves for their organs, these Vidiians are pure evil. It does somewhat reduce their complexity as a race of individuals - there are no signs of decency among these Vidiians, as opposed to the decency displayed by the Vidiians at the end of Phage. Still, that is more than made up for by how genuinely creepy they are, particularly when the Dr. Mengele-like Sulan steps into the light wearing the face of a man he's just murdered.


ZAP THE REDSHIRT!

Durst becomes the first member of the Voyager crew since Caretaker to meet his maker (at least, the first to stay dead afterward). Apparently, Sulan really likes his face - because he decides to claim it as his own, in what may be the most effective Star Trek death reveal ever.


THOUGHTS

Faces is an impressive episode. On one level, it is the closest to an all-out horror episode that Voyager has yet attempted. The creepy atmosphere of the asteroid scenes in Phage is further polished here, with several moments seeming straight out of a Hellraiser film (one of the early, good ones). Director Winrich Kolbe squeezes every drop of atmosphere he can out of the situation, not only dimming the lighting but using different colors of light, along with a few tilted camera angles. Particularly in Sulan's laboratory, the effect often borders on the surreal, and this is one Star Trek episode that I could definitely see giving younger viewers nightmares.

The horrific atmosphere alone would have probably made Faces a solid episode. What makes it special, though, is that it's such a good character piece. This episode takes the fundamental split in B'Elanna Torres' nature and literally dissects that separation. We see the aggressive Klingon Torres, the woman who violently loses her temper but who also will stand by those to whom she is loyal no matter what. We also see the human B'Elanna, who is able to think clearly and plan ahead, but who also feels fear far too keenly. This isn't an original situation, with the split more than slightly recalling "Good Kirk" and "Evil Kirk" in TOS' The Enemy Within. But it's given an interesting spin when the two B'Elannas come together and argue over their differences. The human B'Elanna attempts to deny her Klingon half, while the Klingon simply points out that she saved the human's life, and that the human cannot escape without her help. It's a very good scene, splendidly acted by Roxann Biggs-Dawson.

The episode also offers some good character moments for Tom, and it at least attempts to do the same for Chakotay. Still, this is Biggs-Dawson's show, with everyone else decidedly in support this time out. With the actress rising to the challenge, and a script that holds together rather well and is directed with a maximum of atmosphere, the results are highly memorable. Certainly one of the Top 3 or 4 Voyager episodes to date.

...But is it just me, or did Voyager warp off and leave all the Vidiians' other prisoners to their gruesome fates? "We got our crew members back, so... sucks to be you!"


Overall Rating: 8/10.

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1-05. Phage.

THE PLOT

Neelix directs Voyager to a planetoid that shows rich dilithium deposits - something which could go a long way toward solving their power problems. Neelix beams over to the planetoid with Chakotay and Kim, but all of them are surprised to find no actual dilithium structures. Neelix wanders away from the others, following a tunnel. The others lose contact with him... and when they find him again, his lungs have been removed!

The doctor is able to stabilize him temporarily, then works on an untested way to keep him alive indefinitely. Meanwhile, Janeway pursues an alien ship that leaves the planetoid. But when the aliens hide inside an asteroid, Janeway finds that Voyager has been led into a sort of hall of mirrors. And with their power being slowly drained within the asteroid, it won't be long before they're all at the aliens' mercy!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Janeway/Chakotay: When Tuvok tells her the effects of firing a phaser in the reflective chamber, Janeway - the trained scientist, remember - has only one reaction: "Let's not do that." It's Chakotay who picks up on the possibility of using that exact effect to identify the real alien ship. So, to reiterate the series thus far: Janeway has gotten the ship lost in space, has abandoned a sure chance at getting them home, has attempted to uphold policies keeping the Maquis crew members as second-class citizens on board, and has upheld the morality of genocide. Meanwhile, Chakotay has quelled rumblings of mutiny among his old crew members while standing up for them, has worked to integrate the two crews, and now has saved Voyager from a terminal power drain while also enabling them to save Neelix's life (OK, that's one strike against him). Um... If I'm stuck on that ship, I'm already thinking the wrong officer is captain here.

The Doctor: Robert Picardo's holographic doctor continues to be the cast standout. Given that he's playing a hologram, it's ironic that he is one of two characters in the series with whom I can actually form any real identification. Here, we see the full range of his medical competence, which could legitimately be termed "brilliance." We have already been told that he is a composite of the greatest medical minds in Starfleet, and we see that in the determination and creativity with which he handles Neelix's emergency.

Kes: Admittedly, I'm getting full seasons ahead of myself here, but still... At this point in the series, Kes is one of two characters who actually works as a character, and Jennifer Lien's performance puts real heart and strength into the character. So when it came time, after Season Three, to drop one of the original regulars, who did the producers choose? Wooden and painfully useless Harry Kim? Cardboard Chakotay, whose characterization begins and ends with a facial tattoo (and who was played by an actor who actually wanted out of the series!)? No. The producers chose... Kes. Perhaps she was too human and lifelike to fit in with the cast of walking mannequins.

Lien's Kes has impressed me in almost every episode so far, and that remains the case in Phage. Kes refuses to allow the doctor to shut her out while treating Neelix, confronting his gruff demeanor and pushing him to make time to explain what he's doing at each turn. When she grants consent for the procedure on Neelix, she does so thoughtfully, admitting to Tom that she doesn't really know what Neelix would want in this situation. She is then more supportive of Neelix than he probably deserves, but even while supporting him she refuses to indulge his self-pity.

Neelix: Speaking of Neelix, it's in this episode that I finally start to see why everyone finds him so irritating. He worked as a character in Caretaker, because he was an integral part of the story and was serving his own agenda. He was a nonentity in the two following episodes... making this the first "normal" Voyager episode in which he has an actual part. And he's very irritating. The first ten minutes sees him turning the captain's private dining area into a galley without permission, then whining at her when she objects. Then he imposes himself on the mission and ignores Chakotay's orders. It's as if the writers deliberately spent the first ten minutes trying to make us glad when he gets his lungs removed! None of this should be taken as criticism of Ethan Phillips, by the way. Phillips does a terrific job with his material in this episode, particularly when he breaks down at the thought of spending the rest of his life unable to move, staring at the sickbay ceiling. The actor is good - Unfortunately, the character is infuriating.


THOUGHTS

Phage is a good episode. The basic premise is interesting and the explanation for the aliens' actions fits with the actions themselves. It advances the characterizations of Neelix, Kes, and the doctor. It also advances the basic setup of the show, by following up on some of the decisions made in Parallax. Tom is now actually training with the doctor, much to the doctor's annoyance. Kes' hydroponics experiment is beginning to yield results. Kes' interactions with the doctor are starting to push the doctor, at least, to realizing that he may be more than just a computer program, while at the same time their interplay opens up a new character path for Kes. The main characters continue to be less flesh than cardboard, but the side characters continue to emerge nicely, making this probably the show's best character episode to date.

It's also a particularly well-made episode. Winrich Kolbe's direction draws a lot of atmosphere out of the scenes on the planetoid, with the moodily-lit tunnels and corridors making a perfect setting for an episode with stronger horror content than is usual. The aliens themselves are well-designed, with their blackened, peeling flesh making them grotesque and pitiful - though they're noticeably less effective when seen in the well-lit sickbay set, as opposed to the more dimly lit tunnels.

It's all quite well-paced, with effective emotional scenes in sickbay contrasting with the sharp action of Voyager's pursuit of the aliens. Though it all ends in a talky climax, it all holds together quite strongly, making this the best Voyager episode to date. The series actually has a better hit rate so far than I'd recalled - I've liked three of four installments so far. If only the main characters were a bit more lifelike, I'd be hopeful of this series actually developing some real potential. As it stands, it's at least encouraging to know that this series can deliver some good, atmospheric episodes.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

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