# of episodes
episode average
25
3.43
series Top 20
series Flop 20
4 episodes
2 episodes
EPISODE SUMMARY
2.26-3.1 Basics, I-II
3.2 Flashback
3.3 The Chute
3.4 The Swarm
3.5 False Profits
3.6 Remember
3.7 Sacred Ground
3.8-3.9 Future's End, I-II
3.10 Warlord
3.11 The Q and the Grey
3.12 Macrocosm
3.13 Fair Trade
3.14 Alter Ego
3.15 Coda
3.16 Blood Fever
3.17 Unity
3.18 Darkling
3.19 Rise
3.20 Favorite Son
3.21 Before and After
3.22 Real Life
3.23 Distant Origin
3.24 Displaced
3.25 Worst Case Scenario
MUST-SEE
2.26-3.1 basics, I-ii
The Kazon take over Voyager and leave the crew stranded, while Suder and Doc attempt to retake the ship.
The show’s first cliffhanger and first double episode since the pilot is a riotous adventure flick that hits all the right notes. Unlike many other two-parters later in the show’s run, this one does not expect to have deep meaning or advance the main plot significantly. Rather, it aims to tell a fun story, and does that well. The premise, alas, is weak: just how many Kazon traps can this idiotic crew fall for?! Is Chakotay in so deep for Seska that he literally comes running like a targ whenever she comes calling? The fact that the episode rests on the naivete of the crew must have been obvious even to the authors (Kolbe and Piller), as so much of Part I is dedicated to devising contingencies to avoid falling in a Kazon trap... all of which, of course, fail, and it’s a bit annoying that so much time is spent on contrivances (such as the holographic emitters) that turn out to be irrelevant to the final plot. I’d have preferred more time on the Talaxian support connection, which is presented in one line and then turns out to be pivotal.
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Still, the action sequences are top-notch and among the best seen on the show so far. The taking of Voyager is extremely well crafted and exciting, and when Cullah decides to strand the crew it’s a genuinely unexpected move. The titular back-to-basics Part II could have easily devolved into silliness, but is instead very well done and just as thrilling as Part I. The narrative unfolds on parallel scenarios, on the planet as the crew try to survive and on the ship as Suder and Doc attempt to take back Voyager. And when Paris brings in the cavalry we get another excellent space battle the likes of which we hadn’t seen since DS9. Suder’s role is the only part that has dramatic power. In a mere two episodes, Brad Dourif is capable of providing a compelling character arc, from extreme violence to enlightened autonomy and back to perdition made necessary by the circumstances. At every step, Suder is intense, sensible, and realistic, and his death a genuine gut-punch; Tuvok’s final prayer, like Chakotay’s mourning of Seska, deliver a beautiful and heartfelt concluding elegy.
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Seska’s death finally disposes of the Kazon, and most of S3 lacks a main villain before the Borg and the Hirogen show up and (as they say in France) shit gets wild. Overall, this episode is a fitting end to the show’s troubled first two seasons. Typically, first seasons are all about getting your feet wet and include some of the worst episodes, as they do in TNG and DS9. But VOY, much like ENT, started off with great promise in S1 before losing its way in S2. But here in S3, finally, it finds its feet, and it won’t lose them again until the very end.
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Doctor Isn’t #4: “I’m a doctor, not a counterinsurgent!”
SERIES TOP 20
3.2 flashback
An old memory from Tuvok's first mission on the Excelsior resurfaces, forcing him to enter a mind meld with Janeway.
An outstanding writing feat for an introspective character backstory that does everything right. The mystery central to the plot is compelling and its resolution surprising and yet consistent with everything we had seen until that point. Once more, VOY authors (Braga in this case) prove they understand what makes sci-fi compelling. A virus disguised as a repressed traumatic memory that jumps from host to host for hundreds of years... that’s a genius idea! And although VOY has had its share of badly-done genius ideas, thankfully this isn’t one of those. A major source of appeal is the TOS setting, and while personally I never cared much for these (like DS9’s tribble foray), this one is great. The feel of the opening scenes of Star Trek VI, released just a few years prior, is recreated to perfection, and it is a joy to see Sulu back in the captain’s chair. Janeway’s presence as an observer in Tuvok’s memory is a creative way to bring her into the past without having to integrate her into the timeline through some techno-babble narrative gymnastics. The participation of Valtane and Rand tops off the Excelsior scenes as some of the best TOS retrospectives we’ve seen.
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Despite the excellent window-dressing, the episode’s main strength remains its razor-sharp writing tempo. Much of the script is dedicated to Tuvok’s exposition as he recounts his origins in Starfleet and the growth of his character. These are explored in fascinating detail and with great consistency, as he doesn’t just look younger or wear a different uniform, but thinks and behaves consistently with his then-personality. I insist that Tuvok is Star Trek’s most intriguing and complete Vulcan, and episodes like this show why. In this way, the episode is reminiscent of a therapy session, where one searches deepest recesses of their psyche and attempts to contextualize them. This is incredibly difficult to do well without boring the audience, but Braga’s script succeeds. Coincidentally, this also results in further strengthening Janeway and Tuvok’s relationship, which in my view already was and continues to be the best in the show.
SKIPPABLE
3.3 THE CHute
Kim and Paris languish in a brutal alien prison, while Janeway tries to negotiate for their release with an uncooperative government.
I hate prison dramas and I hate buddy dramas, so the deck is stacked against me in this episode. Sure enough, much of the script is a tired rehashing of old tropes: prison is violent, these people are animals, and you can only retain your dignity and humanity by cooperating and playing nice. Booooring. Yet there is a saving grace, as the Kim-Paris relationship had been developed so well in the past two seasons that little work is needed to make their chemistry instantly likable. The final line (“this man is my friend: nobody touches him”) wouldn’t have been as genuine or effective without two seasons’ worth of prior buildup.
The drama itself is extremely procedural and brings very little to the table. The prison sucks, the Akritirians are space fascists, the rebels are slippery idealists with questionable morals, etc. etc. All been seen and done before. So besides the Kim-Paris chemistry, the only thing that works in this episode is the rescue scenes. How incredibly badass it is to see Janeway cannon down the chute with a big-ass rifle! This makes for a very entertaining last few minutes. Alas, that’s not good enough for an enjoyable episode.
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Ensign Kim Disappears #7: in trouble more than disappears, and with Paris and not by himself, but as usual he’s in need of rescue, so it totally counts!
WATCH FOR CONTINUITY
3.4 THE SWARM
Voyager run into thousands of tiny alien ships that seem to coalesce into a subspace lattice. Meanwhile, Doc's matrix destabilizes from excessive use.
A pleasant, if banal, throwback to the kinds of episodes that VOY used to do in S1, where the script was evenly divided among a primary and secondary plot that had little or nothing to do with each other. The titular swarm is yet another great sci-fi concept, and I wish that we were given the chance to know so much more about it: why do they live like this? what does their society look like? etc. Instead, they’re your garden-variety aliens-of-the-week with nothing to say. The struggle to get past them is mired in procedural drama that we’ve seen before, and Tuvok’s dissenting attitude brings nothing to the table.
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The other half with Doc and Kes fares much better. Many VOY episodes focus on a holographic technical glitch, and some are quite bad, but those that deal with Doc’s sense of personal identity are usually valid, and this one is too. The introduction of Lewis Zimmerman is cool, and he will be central to some of the better episodes in later seasons. But it’s Kes who steals the show, advocating tirelessly for her friend and demonstrating an increasingly mature cognizance of life on Voyager. I love this character, and she excels whenever the authors give her the room she deserves. Too bad that she’d be written off so hastily.
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Doctor Isn’t 5: “It wasn’t programmed to be a tenor: it was programmed to be a physician.” Not quite the usual format, but close enough.
SERIES FLOP 20
3.5 FALSE PROFITS
Voyager run into two Ferengi who had been stranded on a planet for years, cheating the local population out of all their gold.
It’s no secret that I despise nearly all Ferengi stories. What little allegorical anti-capitalist meaning they have, which really only comes through in DS9’s terrific “Bar Association,” is overshadowed by a swarth of bad comedy and disgusting anti-Semitic tones. I’d be happy if no Ferengi character was ever part of any ST episode ever again, and Quark is one of the reasons why I have such a difficult time rewatching DS9. The playing-god plot in this episode is trite, although I do enjoy the continuation of TNG’s iconic “The Price.” It doesn’t help that every single Voyager crewmember is woefully out of character in this tired charade that fails to thrill, intrigue, or entertain. The episode’s only redeeming quality, if it be a quality at all, is that it is consistent with previous portrayals of Ferengi society and that it doesn’t reinvent the wheel. This retcon-free lore-friendliness is nice and makes for good continuity; but, again, I’m not sure that consistency with mediocrity is such a plus in the first place.
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Despite the annoying Ferengi, my biggest gripe with this waste of film is that the Barzan wormhole does reappear and that Voyager are a few kilometers away from returning home!... until they’re outgunned and outconned by two idiotic merchants and a technobabble-heavy explanation that defies even the most suspended of disbeliefs. Of all the they-could-have-gone-home tropes in the show, this is by far the worst, an insult to the emotional labor that the viewers invest in watching the show. It’s also infuriating to waste the Barzan story like this. VOY viewers always anticipate the re-occurrence of the two instances that the Delta Quadrant is mentioned in TNG. One is as the home of the Borg, and boy do we get our money’s worth for that one! The other is the Barzan wormhole... and this piece of crap is what we get?! It’s an insult that goes beyond the (yet ample) demerits of the script and that places this episode firmly among the worst in the show.
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They Could Get Home #5: the whole episode, but especially the ending... it is really quite unbelievable.
SERIES TOP 20
3.6 REMEMBER
Torres relives the memories of a telepathic alien who, in her youth, participated in genocide on her home planet.
A riveting masterpiece of sociologically-informed drama garnished by inspired storytelling, outstanding acting, and sensitive directing. Like S2’s “Resistance,” this episode also emphasizes the importance of ethnographic testimony to intercultural exchange. It posits that historiographical “truth,” if any exists at all, is achieved only by (re)living and not by witnessing or studying. It argues that the sole key to truly understanding one another is to be one another, an ordinarily impossible achievement that science-fiction of this caliber is in a unique position to explore. In “Resistance,” Janeway suffers the oppression of a people on her own skin thanks to an emotional attachment; here, instead, Torres relives the memories of an old alien with such deep identification that it becomes impossible to separate herself from Korenna. Both are valid means of ensuring testimony of the highest degree and of delivering “truth.”
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What is more (and what really makes this episode shine), the script presents a lucid and nuanced picture of proto-fascist societies that is rarely seen in any TV media, and let alone in adventure-driven sci-fi. Every characteristic of cultural (not political) fascism is picked apart in great detail: the fetishistic obsession with a nonexistent purity, the dehumanization of the Other as a preamble to extermination, the denial of intergenerational trauma, the victim-blaming in the form of self-destruction narratives, the juxtaposition of love and violence... it’s literally all here. And while some observers may not make much of all this, to some scholars and academics they are a delight that brings to life centuries of studies. I don’t know if Braga, Menosky, and Klink studied Umberto Eco, but if they didn’t, they sure could have fooled me.
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Of course, to be a winner of this magnitude an episode also needs to work on a cinematic level, otherwise it’s just a lecture and thus, likely, a snoozefest. And this one does, thanks in no small part to Dawson’s performance. While most of her roles so far had been a variation on the theme of the angsty Klingon (with the exception of S1’s yet-awful charade “Faces”), here she displays the acting range that would make her one of the most-beloved and versatile characters in VOY’s later seasons. Her gradual descent into Korenna’s shoes is astounding, beginning with a Romeo and Juliet-esque frolic and culminating in a deep and nuanced exploration of guilt. It’s difficult to play essentially two characters at once, but Dawson does, and both are extremely effective.
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So while this episode is generally well received and held in high regard, I think it is one of VOY’s top five and among the very best of all Star Trek.
WORTH WATCHING
3.7 SACRED GROUND
When Kes is gravely injured during a visit to an alien shrine, Janeway undergoes a ritual to petition the "Spirits" to save her.
ST is usually spot-on when dealing with science vs. religion, having to walk the fine line between declaring all religion to be superstitious nonsense (and thus alienating half their audience) and reflecting on the true and useful insight that even superstitious nonsense may have moral, cultural, and spiritual significance. VOY has been especially sensitive to this sort of intellectual conflict, as evidenced by S1’s valid “Emanations” and S4’s excellent “The Omega Directive.” But while there are traces of brilliance in this episode, it falls short of the ideal due to a poor use of its dramatic resources and a brazen oversimplification of spirituality.
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For one, why not give this episode to Chakotay? His spirituality has been well-established, as has the fact that he is a man of science, so he would have been ideal to analyze this conflict. I don’t think it was a bad idea per se to emphasize Janeway, a hard-headed scientist, but at the very least Chakotay shouldn’t be made to play dumb quite like this. More apropos, Janeway’s pseudo-spiritual journey is indeed very pseudo. It contains a lot of cliched tropes about “really believing” and “if you know you know,” a trite Orientalist westernization of the more Eastern schools of philosophy that is neither here nor there.
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Still, I give the episode three pips because although the lows are low, the highs are indeed very high. For one, it is verbose and analytical, and definitely does not mince words or dodge the more philosophical debates. Also, it presents all sides with respect, without talking down to anyone and avoiding some of the common tropes (although it does equate scientific trust with religious faith, which is always annoying). Finally, it benefits from all-around excellent acting, from Mulgrew’s usual talent to valid performances by Groenen and especially Baker as the spiritual guide. So while it is definitely a missed opportunity for what could have been a milestone episode to show in one of my philosophy classes, it could have been worse and has several redeeming qualities.
WATCH FOR CONTINUITY
3.8-3.9 future's end, i-ii
The crew travel back to 1996 Earth to prevent a 29th
century Starfleet captain from altering the timeline.
VOY’s first fully-developed time-travel story is a convoluted and often laughable mess, although some parts are funny and the premise is great. Few episodes scream “wasted potential” more than this one. First, the good. I really love the premise of a disaster in the 29th century and the resulting consequences in the 24th and 20th centuries, all connected by Captain Braxton’s time ship. It’s a fun mind-twister of temporal mechanics, and it’d be a genuinely exciting plot...
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...if it weren’t plagued by so many problems. First, why should we care about the 29th-century disaster? All we know of it is a deranged captain who is more comic relief than anything. This deprives the plot of any of the investment that it needs to stay afloat. Second, so much of the script is swashbuckling nonsense whose only appeal is “Starfleet people looking funny in L.A.” That gag works for two minutes, but surely not for 90, yet it is the majority of the episode; plus, we’ve seen it done to much better effect in Star Trek IV. This is where the most ridiculous parts come in. I’m not sure which is worse: Sarah Silverman (a great comedian and terrible actress) as a love interest for Paris, or the Arizona desert doomsday preppers who speak in a Southern accent. It’s like a catalogue of turn-of-the-century Americana stereotypes, so it has a shelf life of about five seconds and looks really, really, really stupid in 2023.
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Finally, I am salty about the wasted potential with the Starling storyline. He is every Steve Jobs or Elon Musk-type asshole, which is fine, but it’s so ludicrous that he’d be able to harness and use 29th century technology to *that* extent. Most of his scenes are predictable and tedious, if not blatantly inconsistent. As a villain, he just doesn’t worry or scare anyone at all, which further undermines the episode’s hold on the audience. Too bad, because Ed Begley Jr. is a great actor and his potential is wasted on this caricature of a supervillain.
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At the end of the day, the only two good things to come out of this episode do not happen in this episode. One is the acquisition of the Doctor’s mobile holo-emitter, which was sorely needed and that will be a fantastic plot device for the next four seasons. The other is that these events will be picked up again in S6’s exceptional time-drama “Relativity,” where Captain Braxton’s character finally becomes three-dimensional, thanks also to an actor change (the lovely Bruce McGill replacing a bland and uninspired Allan G. Royal).
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Doctor Isn’t #6: “I’m a doctor, not a database.”
WORTH WATCHING
3.10 WARLORD
Kes is possessed by the consciousness of an alien revolutionary planning a coup d'etat, but she resists him from within thanks to her telepathic powers.
I love this episode so much, and yet, objectively, I realize it gets more wrong than right. While the alien possession trope is overdone, there’s a fascinating twist as Kes and Tieran engaged in a mental struggle of wills to control his body. This conflict, against the backdrop of royal palace intrigue, gives the episode a distinctly Shakespearean feel, and surely the script does attempt to play “space Hamlet.” The problem is that it’s not even close to that level of dramatic sophistication, and is (at the very most) an intellectually stimulating theatre piece with strong central characters and a very basic plot.
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What’s left is a series of several individually great scenes that feel disjointed in the big picture. I truly, truly, truly love this role for Lien. While she occasionally overacts here, I feel that she was a gifted interpreter and that this role gave her an opportunity to spread her creative wings. Some of her interactions as Tieran as with Tieran are blood-curlingly good in bringing to life their inner battle of wills. It’s also great for the character of Kes that she doesn’t get rescued, but rather frees herself by casting Tieran out. The concluding scene with Tuvok, where he mentors her into accepting this newfound mental strength, is excellent and lays the foundation for this character’s upcoming growth.
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So it’s too bad that so many scenes are contrived, that the intrigue on the Ilari homeworld is painfully generic and cardboard-thin (it has absolutely none of the grandeur it deserved), and that no other series regulars have a worthy role, save perhaps for Tuvok. It’s all about Kes and Tieran, and as good as they are, unfortunately it’s not enough to sustain an entire episode.
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Fun fact: even though Kes dumps Neelix while under the influence of Tieran, their break-up stands in later episodes, so this is the last that the two of them are together. Honestly, good riddance: he was holding her back anyway.
WATCH FOR CONTINUITY
3.11 THE Q AND THE GREY
Q asks for Janeway's help in stopping a civil war that's ravaging the Q Continuum.
While not as stimulating or thought-provoking as S2’s “Death Wish,” this is its natural continuation and presents good plot continuity. The concept of a Q civil war is interesting, although the representative parallel with the American Civil War is so random and underdeveloped that it makes me think its only purpose was to justify the wordplay in the title. Still, the emphasis of the script remains firmly on Q’s and Janeway’s debate over the philosophical underpinnings of a social upheaval, and those conversations are often successful. Even all the Q antics, which typically become trite after a minute, hold their water better than usual, thanks to Plakson’s hilarious female Q and her chemistry with de Lancie.
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It’s questionable whether this is really a Voyager episode, by which I mean that almost no development happens for any of the series regular. Even Janeway, who risks her life for the sake of Q peace, comes out with little to show for it... except for the damn kid, whose return as a teen-aged Q in S7’s “Q2” will be a snooze-fest. At the end of the day, this is a good char-dev episode for Q himself, whose story arc finally culminates with the end of his bachelor years and the attainment of maturity, so to speak... although the more memorable parts are the tattoo joke (“not big enough”) and the Q sex scene (“that was it?!”)
MUST-SEE
3.12 MACROCOSM
Janeway battles a macrovirus that has infested Voyager
and infected every single crew member in her absence.
No VOY episode is more badass than this one, nor a more obvious love letter to the sci-fi splatter cinema of the 1980s and early 1990s. Just like a 24th-century Ellen Ripley (an obvious inspiration for the rugged backpack-and-rifle look), the captain is no stranger to slaying bugs with phasers, knives, and even her bare hands if necessary. That alone would win the day even if the plot were stupid or inconsequential, but it’s not. As preposterous as the premise may sound that a virus could ever “leave the microscopic world,” as the Doctor puts it, it results in a tight and extremely well-paced story. The flashbacks of the outbreak are as convincing as the present-time action, and together they make a great tale.
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Unlike many other VOY episodes, this one has little to say by way of science, philosophy, or character development. But that’s okay. Sometimes it’s fun to just watch G.I. Janeway kick ass! This was the goal, and it was accomplished perfectly, so although it may not be as “deep” as some other installments, it does what it set out to do to perfection, and few episodes can say that.
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Fun fact: when Janeway scans Neelix and says “you have fluid in your lungs,” he corrects her with “lung,” a reference to S1’s “Phage,” when Kes donated one of her lungs to Neelix after his were stolen by Vidiian organ traffickers.
SKIPPABLE
3.13 FAIR TRADE
Desperate to contribute more to Voyager, Neelix lets an old running buddy to draw him into an illicit trading scheme on an alien outpost.
The premise of this episode is by far its weakest link, as it’s quite a stretch that Neelix would genuinely believe that he has outlived his usefulness... especially right after Janeway all but made him an ambassador in the previous episode! Has this guy paid any attention in the last two years, as Janeway reminds him in the stern talking-to at the end? This shaky foundation yet evolves into a fairly intriguing descent-into-crime plot that shows each small, seemingly innocuous step toward perdition. There’s also decent commentary on why petty criminals like Wix are often trying to make the best of a bad hand and are not bad or evil; this is contrasted with career criminals like the Kolaati, who seemingly have no such excuse or rationalization. The downside is that they are cardboard-thin as villains, but eh, can’t have everything, I suppose.
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Although the plot is entertaining and the final resolution clever, the script is a little moralistic for my taste. When Chakotay and Paris turn their nose at the drug dealer, it feels like watching one of those cringeworthy just-say-no videos from the 1980s. Janeway’s own lecture is holier-than-thou and full of Starfleet talking points. Nonetheless, the sum is a bit larger than its individual parts, as the episode is enjoyable to watch. And although the premise was shaky, Neelix does come out of this with a renewed sense of purpose.
WORTH WATCHING
3.14 ALTER EGO
Kim and Tuvok become involved with Marayna, a character from the luau holodeck program who has seemingly become sentient.
Kim falls for a hologram. But wait: *Tuvok* falls for a hologram! VOY episode premises don’t get much less captivating, and I’m surprised that this wasn’t laughed out of the writers’ room. Surprised, but pleased, because the resulting script has some highs and fewer lows. There’s some of the awkwardness of the upcoming “Favorite Son” or S5’s “The Disease,” but Kim’s silly infatuation is briskly set aside as we focus on Tuvok’s. Here the author (Menosky) walks the fine line of engaging him with an intellectually stimulating partner but without breaking character, and nowhere does Tuvok appear the least bit interested in Marayna romantically. It’d have been easy to screw this up, but they didn’t.
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After some effective misdirection to sell this as another Moriarty-like situation, a fresh twist reveals Marayna as a loner seeking a friend and becoming too caught-up. It’d be easy to deride this as “the one where Tuvok gets catfished by a basement-dweller in a nebula”... but just like the script does not oversimplify his complex sentimentality, it also treats her character with proper nuance and respect. And even though Marayna’s overtake of the ship is so clichéd (“I want Tuvok!”), the final confrontation is mature and much better-written, and speaks particularly loudly to people who have suffered from depression and loneliness.
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There is genuine empathy between the two, as Tuvok understands Marayna’s predicament and counsels her with a clear and open mind. This is an important step in his development, because as he tells Kim in the finale, he is quite prone to underestimating the complexity of non-Vulcan humanoids’ emotional states. In this sense, despite the occasional pitfalls and the sophomoric framing in the first 15 minutes, this episode continues VOY’s worthy project of adding a third dimension to Vulcan characters that Spock and Sarek never quite had.
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Kim Falls for The Wrong Woman #1: This time it’s a hologram. More will follow...
MUST-SEE
3.15 coda
After a near-death experience, Janeway appears to encounter her long-dead father, who tells her that she is dead and must let go to cross over.
A lucid and mature reflection on the finality of death enriched by an eerie psychological thriller. The episode at first presents as a time-travel mystery, as Janeway relives the circumstances of her death several times. But soon this is revealed to represent the slow acceptance of the inevitable, and she witnesses her crew attempting to locate her “presence” and bring her back. And when the character of her father shows up, toward the halfway mark, we know that none of this is really happening and that there’s something more that we haven’t yet seen. Indeed, this is the episode’s only weak spot: that it takes 20 minutes to get to the point, and that in light of what the point turns out to be, the first 10 minutes immediately become irrelevant to the eventual plot.
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But the superior quality of what follows more than makes up for this misstep. Janeway’s gradual acceptance of her death is incredibly detailed, as one by one each mental barrier, counterfactual hypothesis, and emotional attachment are severed. And after all this, Janeway reveals just how amazing she is as a character and as a captain. By this point she’s convinced that she did die, and what that has taught her is that she would rather spend an eternity of suffering in limbo than to let go... not selfishly, but because her presence may somehow offer any measure of solace to her crew. I don’t think I have ever seen a more fulgid example of selflessness, truly the last measure of dedication.
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Of course, this forces the hand of the alien posing as Admiral Janeway. I love the subtlety here. While we know that he can’t possibly be real, that knowledge only exists behind the fourth wall, with no indication in the script. He says all the right things to assuage our suspicions: doesn’t pressure her, acquiesces if she tells him to back off, etc. He’s not threatening and does not appear to want anything. This makes it all the scarier when he does eventually push her, and that in turn suffices to arouse her suspicion. “My father never tried to shield me from life. Why would he shield me from death?” This, combined with the final zinger “go back to hell, coward” ranks this as one of the top Badass Janeway moments, a pure joy to see, especially thanks to Mulgrew. Overall, one of the better installments of the season and one of the best of the show overall.
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Fun fact: when Janeway dies on the planet, Chakotay breaks down in tears; and when Doc pronounces Janeway, he leaves sickbay, seemingly too upset to speak. Even though none of this really happens, it is a creative way to describe the depth of their relationship (same with Tuvok’s heartbreaking log entry).
WATCH FOR CONTINUITY
3.16 BLOOD FEVER
Ensign Vorik goes through the seven-year Pon Farr and attempts to mate with Torres, which has unforeseen consequences.
This is a complex episode that tries to do several things and doesn’t do any of them quite right, but also not totally wrong. The showrunners wanted to do a Pon-Farr episode for a while, but as it seemed inappropriate to do it with Tuvok, they made up the character of Vorik and introduced him slowly over the course of several episodes, which was a good idea that makes us care about him a bit more. And the actual Pon-Farr is interesting, and as usual for VOY we get some interesting conversations that go much deeper into Vulcan culture than in any previous canon episodes. However, the episode has two major problems.
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The first is that the first act is disconnected from the second. After so much investment into Vorik’s story, we switch cold-turkey to Torres’... and if the Pon-Farr in a Vulcan is interesting, its Klingon counterpart is a horny caricature. I’m not a fan of episodes where characters are not themselves, because nothing that happens in them will be relevant later. Or, at least, it shouldn’t. Deep down, the main purpose of this episode is to introduce the Torres-Paris relationship, and I’m not sure that this was the best way to do so; in fact, I’m sure it wasn’t.
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The other problem is that I hate that so much attention is given toward feeling bad for a man who commits sexual assault. Yes, it’s a sickness, yes, it has no parallel in the real world, blah blah blah; and there’s little of the victim-blaming that characterizes a disgusting episode like S4’s “Retrospect.” But it’s a bad look, and I wish that the script would have done better. Thankfully, this is a bit balanced by Paris’ repeated refusal to give in to Torres’ advances since she is clearly not herself. That is a good look, instead, so this too is a mixed bag.
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Fun fact: despite the sex-crazed plot, this episode’s most important contribution to the show is the introduction of the Borg at the very end. What a clever, eerie, and completely-out-of-the-blue way to drop in ST’s scariest villain! Not a cube in space, but the skeletal remains of a single Borg in the middle of a forest. A great choice.
MUST-SEE
3.17 unity
Chakotay is rescued after a crash by a multi-species colony of ex-Borg. Meanwhile, Voyager attempt to board a derelict Borg cube in space.
After introducing the Borg at the end of the previous episode, the show wastes no time and jumps right in by introducing the plot device that would turn out to be crucial to all of S4: that it is possible for someone to leave the collective and regain at least part of their pre-assimilation individuality. While TNG had toyed with this idea (e.g., through Picard and Hugh), here we see it analyzed in detail for the first time. The detail is indeed very good, exploring slowly and lucidly what it means to be a part of a collective consciousness vs. an individual mind. And while these conversations pale in comparison to the depth that Seven of Nine would soon bring, they are perfectly fine for the moment and make for exciting, intelligent, and introspective storytelling.
Chakotay’s experience with Riley is original and well-written, too, and he is the perfect character for this story, as he’s uniquely able to appreciate both the bonds of community and the uniqueness of self-reliance. A downside is that the script doesn’t emphasize clearly enough how morally shady the ex-Borg really are. They lie to Chakotay from the beginning, they reveal their plans to him only when they can’t avoid it (when he’s connected to the consciousness) and when they need Voyager, and they override his will as soon as they have a chance to. And while this latter fact does get acknowledged at the end, the moral terrain of these people is a lot greyer than it is made out to be. I guess that Chakotay’s neuroelectric-enhanced sex with Riley was just too good...
I like also that although the episode delves immediately into Borg lore, it still maintains an eerie sense of doom. We knew all along that this moment would come, and when Riley is revealed to be ex-Borg there’s a concern that the show would go too deeply too quickly. Yet, nothing really happens here as far as the collective is concerned, so the Sword of Damocles of the eventual reckoning with the Borg is still hanging over the crew’s heads.
SKIPPABLE
3.18 DARKLING
Kes considers leaving the ship when she falls for a handsome alien traveler, while Doc struggles with the latest personality additions to his program.
I wish ST showrunners understood how difficult, nigh on impossible, it is to tell a convincing story where a main character “goes bad.” Inevitably, nearly all of them turn out to be grossly out-of-character cringe-fests. This is no exception. The premise is credible: adding personality subroutines may destabilize Doc’s delicate holo-matrix. That is fair enough. But: (1) this is exactly what led to his paranoia in S2’s disastrous “Projections,” so you’d think he’d have learned his lesson; and (2) the metaphysics of what ends up happening are ludicruous.
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What the hell is a personality dark streak?! It sounds like an underwear problem. The metaphysical division of good vs. bad thoughts, or enlightened vs. disturbed personalities, is 18th-century psychobabble with little scientific grounding, and surely enough it results in sophomoric philosophizing that would make college students laugh. Doc is acting evil because the titular newly-emerged darkling was generated accidentally and now wants to live. That’s too ridiculous to even entertain seriously, and yet the episode asks us to. That’s too bad, because the other parts of the script are much better. Kes’ growth and desire to seek new horizons are sensible, and of course they begin to prepare the groundwork for Lien’s upcoming departure. And the setting of the trading post is original and clever. Too bad that so much attention is given to the worst parts of the plot.
WORTH WATCHING
3.19 RISE
Tuvok, Neelix, and a group of aliens attempt to leave a planet bombarded by asteroids, using an orbital tether that may get them to the ionosphere.
The second episode of S3’s “terrible trilogy” is actually a fun flick with a highly creative setting, even as the character development has nowhere to go. I love the backdrop: a rickety space elevator on a planet bombarded by asteroids! The first TNG fan-fiction I wrote, at 14, was about a natural disaster of this kind, so clearly this episode brings back fond memories... don't @ me. The action is entertaining and the visual effects more than acceptable for the late-1990s, so it’s a pleasant watching experience that always entertains and seldom bores.
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However, the psychology holds up less well. The Tuvok-Neelix relationship, which had showed much promise in the first two seasons, has thoroughly run its course by now. Yes, Neelix needs to get serious and Tuvok needs to loosen up; we get it. The script presents more and more variations on this theme, which alas is already overdone. The result is that both characters, but especially Tuvok, are caricatured, as the defining characteristic of each, such as exuberance and temperance, are overexaggerated for dramatic effect. That’s not very fun, although the resolution (“do it for Alixia”) is good. Also, nearly all the scenes aboard Voyager are a waste of time, as they end up being inconsequential to both the rescue main plot and the alien intrigue sub-plot. Overall, an episode that has little to say but that says it well, and, perhaps more importantly, that is just plain fun to watch.
SERIES FLOP 20
3.20 FAVORITE SON
Kim undergoes a genetic mutation that seemingly reveals that he is not human, but belonging to a matriarchal species called the Taresians.
Let’s add this to the long list of “great plot premises that somehow became bad episodes,” which is one of VOY’s most frequent house specials. A species who breed by implanting unsuspecting aliens with their DNA and waiting for them to come home. Fascinating, and the sentient equivalent of a virus. Surely, realizing that one belongs to a different species has dramatic and lasting repercussions on one’s psyche and personality. That’d be fun to play around with, and an intriguing new direction for Kim’s character, which has been stalled lately. Indeed, at one point in the production stage, this was the intent.
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Nah, on second thought, let’s conclude that he was human all along, and let’s spend most of this episode with scantily-clad women running their hands all over his body because they want to marry and fuck and kill him! It’s as if the author (Klink) hasn’t seen TNG’s disastrous “Angel One,” where Riker’s away mission is to teach a species of female aliens that they too, deep down, need some dick in their lives. I wish I was making this up, but alas, I am not.
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And while this episode is devoid of such subtext, it’s also devoid of any subtext whatsoever. It says literally nothing about anything. It’s obvious from the start that Kim is being used and that the aliens are creepy and evil, so there is no mystery. And each time Kim writes off a huge red flag through some version of “nah, I’m just being paranoid,” the audience sighs ever so deeply. So, at the end, when the sex-crazed aliens surround him with the sci-fi equivalent of Tiki torches, the only possible reaction is to laugh. Laugh deeply. Laugh a lot. The concluding scenes between Kim and Paris, with the cringeworthy Odysseus parallels to make the script sound literate, do little to alleviate the pain of the previous 44 minutes. After all, if the best part is the ending, you know that you just wasted your time...
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Ensigh Kim Disappears #8: I mean, they could have just let him be desiccated by the crazy alien nymphs. Gives a new meaning to “sucking someone dry”...
SERIES TOP 20
3.21 before AND AFTER
Kes travels back in time from the moment of her death to several stages of her life.
A mature episode that exemplifies how time-travel dramas should be written. The secret to its success is in three basic ingredients: a simple plot, a creative but not flowery writing style, and a priority emphasis on human factors. First, this plot’s straightforwardness never fails to amaze me. Kes is displaced in time, apparently traveling backward, and must find a way to rebalance herself. It doesn’t get simpler than that. I also enjoy how it’s introduced via a simple show-don’t-tell. In two quick scenes, we witness Kes inside the bio-temporal chamber and then discussing with Doc whether she should be put in the chamber; thus, we learn what’s going on without anybody saying a word about it. The basic rules are also laid out clearly, like memory loss and pre-displacement temperature drops.
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Second, it’s impressive that with each displacement the script finds new ways to convey the same information to the crew without boring the audience. The first three times, Kes still needs to figure it out herself. The fourth time she explains it fully. The fifth and sixth times she tells someone that she has to talk to them, and we imagine that these conversations happen off-screen. And the last two times someone comments on her situation after having been told, which lets us know that the usual conversation already took place. This is highly creative, minimizes repetition, and frees up much-needed screen time for original plot developments.
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Third, the script is jam-packed and yet never feels rushed. The emphasis is firmly on the trajectory of Kes’ life, which makes sense given that she only lives 9 years, so every day counts. This is presented through her closest relationships, such as with Doc, with Paris, and with their offspring. There are many moments of visual poetry in this episode, like her birth and regression to unicellular stage, that are unique and memorable. Moreover, the Kes-Paris-Kim family unit feels natural and not the least bit contrived, which contributes to the feeling that this is a beautiful future for Kes, one worth exploring and that says a lot about who she is as a person. Of course, the script is careful to point out at several junctures that this is but one possible future, and that once Kes has been brought back in sync with her original timeline, events may well unfold differently.
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I say “original,” although the events that jumpstart this time displacement end up happening later in the show at a time when Kes is no longer part of the crew. So, the Kes that we see from here on out is from a different timeline than the rest of the crew. This is no big deal; after all, so are Harry and Naomi (S2’s “Deadlock”). And I really love the plot continuity between this episode and S4’s “Year of Hell.” Although the showrunners were not in any way committed to that plot line, they decided to go with it, which resulted in one of the best two-parters.
MUST-SEE
3.22 REAL LIFE
Doc programs a holo-family for himself, but Torres advises him that it is unrealistic and that he should randomize their behavior.
It’s difficult to rate episodes with such highs and lows. On the one hand, we have an incredibly boring, procedural, and irrelevant plot arc that takes up half the time and that can be charitably described by “anomaly of the week,” except it’s go to be one of the least interesting anomalies. A fountain of sorts, trapped between space and subspace, that they decide to explore to fill up on plasma... except that after all of Paris’ antics, there is no mention of whether the risk was worth the reward. Did they ever get the plasma? Or did I just watch 20 minutes’ worth of Tom Paris riding subspace eddies in a shuttle? Alas, it is not for us to know.
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On the other hand, we have a rich, layered, and intense story with the Doctor on the holodeck. Having a family is a natural evolution of his character’s quest for development and increased sentience, and as a hologram, it is natural that his ideal family be designed. Despite some hiccups and stereotypes (the kid who listens to loud music, the Klingons as a bad influence, the working-mother trope as a foil for the perfect-housewife trope, etc.), the story proceeds well, and Doc’s conversations about it with Torres and Paris are very well-written... and then we get to the ending. I don’t think I’ve seen a more emotional moment in a Star Trek episode since Lal died in TNG’s “The Offspring.” It’s heartbreaking, not in a second-rate-Hallmark-movie-tearjerker way but in a brutal-medical-drama way that pulls no punches (“its getting darker” always makes me bawl). The goal is for Doc to experience what Torres terms real life, and real life is an abusive gut-punch when your child dies, and so that’s what we get. A careful and intelligent script, Picardo’s trademark nuance, a good guest performance by Haun, and Bell’s best musical score of the season contribute to a positively harrowing experience that has stayed with me for a long, long time. And although the rest of the episode is not perfect, it needn’t be for the ending to be, in fact, flawless.
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Fun fact: Haun also played Beatrice in Janeway’s S2 holo-novel. It makes sense, after all, that the holodeck would base different characters on the same looks.
SERIES TOP 20
3.23 DISTANT ORIGIN
Kes travels back in time from the moment of her death to several stages of her life.
A highly literate retelling of two cautionary tales in the history of science (Galilei’s recanting and Darwin’s crisis of faith), both expertly melded into a cohesive whole that lectures without digressing or patronizing. Since its release, this episode has been a staple of my college classes in epistemology and in philosophy of science.
The narrative core is the discovery of the Distant Origin Theory and the doctrinal resistance to it. Both are analyzed in detail, although some of the minutiae could have been clearer. The conjecture or hypothesis stage of the scientific method is invariably referred to as a theory and juxtaposed with proof as the definitive mark of unshakable fact; a more accurate portrayal of a theory as the highest level of scientific understanding would have been preferable, especially since all that the Voth require is that Gegen “admits that he may be wrong”... any scientist would easily admit that, which is the very point of science. But these are nuances best discussed in the classroom and that do not diminish the quality of the script. On the other hand, the holo-reconstruction of the hadrosaurs’ evolution is a homerun.
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I am especially pleased that the script steers clear of some of the most hyped-up, touristy elements of the Galilei story. The infamous comment eppur si muove (“it moves anyway,” referring to the Earth’s orbit in the heliocentric model), whose historicity is highly dubious, obfuscates a crucial lesson to be learned from the Inquisition’s trial of the astronomer: that science is a social enterprise that must contend with the philosophical worldviews of the people that it affects. And while it’s tempting to write off all resistance as prejudice in the face of fact, such as via Enlightenment-era candle-in-the-dark terminology, the truth is that good science takes centuries... and it should: it’s why I trust it. The script occasionally falls into the same trap with the “eyes open” mantra, although Chakotay’s lecture at the Voth Minister is extremely lucid. She’s not written as a caricature, either, but as a consistent embodiment of dogmatic thinking, bolstered by an outstanding guest performance by Concetta Tomei (“we are not immigrants!”).
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The only other small downside is that I’d have liked to see some more reaction to Gegen’s claims than just the Minister’s. For one, his theory isn’t just revolutionary for the Voth, but for humans as well, yet neither Chakotay nor Janeway seem to take sufficient notice of this fact. Did the hadrosaurs evolve into sentient beings who then left the planet, as suggested by the comments about the evidence of their existence being submerged or underground? Or were they whisked away by some alien midwife, as in the best works of Arthur C. Clarke? Likewise, it would have been interesting if, during Gegen’s or Chakotay’s final speeches, we saw any indication that their words weren’t falling on deaf ears; e.g., some of the guards in the Ministry’s hall looking at them with interest, signaling that Gegen’s ideas have begun to seep into the population and will, one day, have the desired effect. This would have matched the energy of the ending, where Chakotay and Gegen trade hopes that "one day" the truth will be known. But even with these small problems, which are very much nitpicky, this remains one of the show’s hidden gems, and a real pleasure for the brain and the eyes whenever I rewatch it.
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Fun fact: first mention of transwarp! But this isn’t a they-could-get-home moment, since asking the scary lizards to share their technology isn’t exactly on the table...
WORTH WATCHING
3.24 DISPLACED
The Voyager crew slowly disappear into thin air one by one, as the Nyrians, seemingly clueless aliens,replace them aboard the ship.
A fun alien-of-the-week episode that has very little to say, but that says it quite well. Beside the usual Paris-Torres antics that will soon climax into romance, the episode sets out to be an action-adventure, and that’s what it does. The first act, as the crew are replaced one by one, presents an intriguing mystery that honestly keeps you guessing. We’ve seen our fair share of weird anomalies and malicious aliens that it’s hard to tell which one this will end up being, and the script banks on this fact. So when the Nyrians turn out to be devious it’s not quite a shock, but neither does it come as a bolt from the blue.
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The second half of the episode is almost exclusively action-based, as the crew try to escape confinement and return to Voyager. I enjoy that unlike in “Basics,” no one is left on board to sabotage the ship and frustrate the Nyrians’ effort, though the scenes with Chakotay as the last crewmember standing do a good job of that too. The actual escape from the Nyrian prison are fun, but nothing special. What is quite cool and innovative, instead, is the premise of a species that conquers not by violence but by subterfuge, sequestering enemy crews en masse, stealing their property, and locking them up in their habitats. The alien-zoo concept is well done, too, anadds a nice veneer of novelty to an otherwise procedural episode.
WORTH WATCHING
3.24 WORST CASE SCENARIO
Torres and Paris find a holonovel that simulates a Maquis mutiny on Voyager.
For all intents and purposes, this is the last episode of “old” VOY before the show trades its livery for a wiser brand of character-driven science-fiction. Seemingly aware of this, the showrunners deliver a love letter to old-VOY, a deviously fun and funny action-adventure romp that is not afraid to experiment. The concept of the holonovel is underexplored. We rarely see a structured story, and when we do, it is mostly subordinate to plot demands other, which usually turns out to be some variation on the stuck-on-the-holodeck theme. And while this episode also resorts to that trope, it integrates the holo-story with the real story almost seamlessly.
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Clearly, the main point of the story is to show how far the crew has come. While a mutiny may have been a very real possibility as late as S2, the current crew is fully concordant, united, and acting with a unified purpose. Holo-Chakotay’s and holo-Seska’s insurrection attempts appear so stilted and pathetic now that we know that they would never happen, and precisely for this reason they are wildly entertaining to witness. I also like that the resolution is properly choral, requiring the concerted efforts of nearly everybody. Likewise, when Tuvok is discovered as the author of the unfinished Insurrection Alpha, the whole crew wishes to have a say in its continuation. To this end, Janeway’s observation that it’s about time the crew begin creating their own literature is apropos, and I wish that it had been picked up again later on. For all the emphasis on camaraderie and char-dev in S4-S7, there is a fairly low emphasis on Voyager as a culture.
The final scene, as the senior officers dine and laugh around a table, feels like the closure that the showrunners knew they were giving to the first half of the show. Unbeknownst to the audience yet, from S4 on VOY would evolve into an almost entirely different watching experience. Knowing that now, with the benefit of hindsight, makes this episode’s conclusion hit different, and just right.
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Not-so-fun fact: Kes barely appears in the last 2-3 episodes, and is noticeably missing from the dinner. Alas, by this point Lien’s exit was already a done deal.