Voyager 7x25/7x26 "Endgame"

rating: ****

the story: The crew faces one last great shortcut home...but it goes through the Borg and...Admiral Janeway?

what it's all about: Like the rest of the series, Voyager's final episode proved controversial, difficult to like among fans.  Some of them merely singled out parallel elements from Next Generation's finale (a new relationship: Chakotay and Seven/Worf and Troi; a degenerative illness: Tuvok/Picard; a time travel element, different time periods), and thought it merely derivative.  Some were actually upset they didn't get to see just a little more, the crew reuniting with family.  Some were, as they'd been since the third season, upset that the series was still pretending it had something to say about the Borg.  And some still just didn't like Janeway, much less two of them.

To which I say: humbug.  It's surprising, really, how many of Star Trek fan complaints amount to so much humbug, a stubborn insistence to be grumpy, a trend that has grown more and more prevalent among fan cultures of any extraction in recent years, and so Voyager ought to celebrate being at the vanguard of such a movement, no matter how dubious the honor.

I say humbug, too, because this is a perfect ending to the series.  It is a parallel, to the first episode of Voyager.  Janeway has to make a difficult decision that will determine when they get home.  In "Caretaker," she makes a principled stand, a correctly Starfleet one, that strands her ship seventy thousand lightyears from home, so that if it took the full length of time none of the crew would be alive to actually reach it, that it would end up being a generational journey.  By the end of the series, two children had been born into the crew, Naomi Wildman and Miral Paris, whose birth actually occurs in "Endgame."  Throughout the series, Janeway had also struggled with that original decision, notably in "The 37s" and "Night." 

"Endgame" is a chance to revisit it, and once and for all determine whether she made the right call.  But she has help this time.  Namely, herself.  Future Janeway, or as she's known Admiral Janeway, has actually once and for decided she made the wrong one.  Ultimately, one of them has to pay the price.  It might seem cheap for it to be Admiral Janeway, since her timeline ends up being erased anyway, but this is a franchise that has long celebrated such sacrifices, most memorably in Deep Space Nine's "The Visitor," and even in Voyager's own "Timeless," which "Endgame" also parallels and serves as a spiritual sequel.  In that one, it's an older Harry Kim who goes back to fix things, and it's the best Harry appearance of the series.  While Janeway can't quite claim that honor with "Endgame," it's still among her strongest episodes, precisely because it does force her to decide, once and for all, if she was right in "Caretaker."  It's a bold call to say she thinks, at least, that she wasn't.  But she also has an opportunity she didn't then, the classic "have your cake and eat it, too," which results in a dramatically memorable trip home in a metaphorical belly of the whale, a Borg cube that the ship quickly emerges from...in home territory at last.

For a series that long chased truly cinematic moments, knowing like Deep Space Nine before it that there were likely no movies in its future, it's a truly achieved objective.  Getting Alice Krige to reprise the Borg Queen one last time, regardless of whether or not it's a final defeat of the Borg, at least gives the series another long-held objective of giving Janeway a defining win over the Collective, building on everything that had come before it. 

All that and more is why I love "Endgame," and the series around it.  It's a strong final episode, arguably the most appropriate one of the whole franchise, accomplishing in grand fashion what might have been inevitable, but never guaranteed to be so memorable. 

criteria analysis:

• franchise - A series finale that completes the story exactly as expected but still manages to surprise.  In that sense, totally unique in Star Trek lore.
• series - Parallels the very first episode in a deliberate fashion.
• character - Allows Janeway to finish an argument she's had with herself since the beginning.
• essential - To see how the crew gets home, especially that spectacular final sequence, really has to be seen to be believed.

notable guest-stars:
Kate Mulgrew (Admiral Janeway)
Ethan Phillips (Neelix)
Manu Intiraymi (Icheb)
Richard Herd (Admiral Paris)
Dwight Schultz (Barclay)
Alice Krige (Borg Queen)
Vaughn Armstrong

Voyager 7x24 "Renaissance Man"

rating: *

the story: The Doctor is forced to work against the crew.

what it's all about: At its heart, "Renaissance Man" is a throwaway screwball adventure, playing fast and loose with Voyager conventions.  And it's not really meant to be anything else, just a fun way to experience the penultimate, final regular episode of the series.  Briefly, you get a sense that it's also intended to take the Doctor down a peg, in a lighthearted manner, one last chance to see him stick his foot in his mouth, as he does when he makes a grand confession in front of the crew when he thinks his program will be lost forever...

Of course that doesn't happen!  But it's also a kind of cheap way to say goodbye to arguably Voyager's best character, in total humiliation.  I realize the series gave him plenty of opportunities to grow, and they were among the best episodes the show ever produced, and you don't need to take this particular one seriously, that it's designed not to be, but...

Anyway, the episode also features the "Potatoheads," as some fans affectionately named them, aliens otherwise known as the Hierarchy, of all the memorable species to appear in Voyager perhaps the ones only the true fans are going to appreciate.  So it's also fitting that they enjoy a final spotlight here.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - This is the kind of episode that won't necessarily convert someone into a fan of Voyager.
• series - Although it might almost be considered a classic romp.  Or pure nonsense.
• character - The most definitive thing that can be said about it is that it's a Doctor spotlight, and it doesn't, like all his episodes, make light of the opportunity.
• essential - Although it doesn't necessarily take him seriously, either.  Which again, is something that's open to interpretation.

notable guest-stars:
Alexander Enberg (Vorik)

Voyager 7x23 "Homestead"

rating: ***

the story: Neelix finds a colony of Talaxians.

what it's all about: For a character few fans admitted to liking, Neelix was always one of the best parts of the series, and he deserved a happy ending, which exactly what he gets in "Homestead."  The Neelix we first meet seems almost insufferably cheerful, but then his story becomes darker when the series reveals that his people the Talaxians suffered a devastating war that sent many of them, including Neelix, into permanent exile.  In other words, he was a refugee when we meet him.  His whole backstory was part of the intricate explanation for why the Delta Quadrant didn't have an organization similar to the Federation (the Alpha and Beta Quadrants) or the Dominion (the Gamma Quadrant), unless you count the Borg; again and again there were encounters with worlds that had been devastated by regional conflicts, and the survivors just trying to get by (even the villainous Kazon were part of this trend).  As a result, the crew often encountered nomads, famously as late as the Hirogen in the fourth season.  So it wasn't surprising if some of these nomadic peoples ended up appearing again later, after the crew had theoretically left them behind on the journey homeward.

Such is the happy development of finding a group of Talaxians, and what that means for Neelix.  Volunteering to assist the crew gave it an enduring link to the Delta Quadrant itself, a native who for a time knew the area when that kind of thing was at a premium.  Even if that knowledge eventually dried up in the third season, by that time Neelix had so thoroughly integrated himself into the crew, he was truly a part of the family.  And yet...ultimately he was being asked to go somewhere he'd be the fish out of water.  Certainly, there were never going to be other Talaxians in Federation space.

The logic and payoff of "Homestead" is sound, and it even gives Neelix a chance to show some of the newfound inner strength he'd gained over the years, something he'd lacked despite appearances to the contrary. 

But best of all?  His goodbye to Tuvok.  Here was a relationship that harkened back to another Vulcan with an associate his temperamental opposite, and yet Neelix and Tuvok had always had a unique rivalry and even grudging friendship.  If Tuvok actually had a smaller role than Neelix during the course of the series, it can easily be argued that if their scenes together were Tuvok's lasting legacy, it would still be a strong one, especially as he at last admits his affection for Neelix with just a little shake of the leg, one of the most effective in-character expressions of the whole franchise.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - This is a purely Voyager moment.
• series - A character who helped define Voyager says goodbye.
• character - For Neelix, a truly fond farewell.
• essential - A remarkable chance to see Voyager celebrate one of its own.

notable guest-stars:
Scarlett Pomers (Naomi)

Voyager 7x22 "Natural Law"

rating: **

the story: Chakotay and Seven end up marooned together.

what it's all about: The plot of "Natural Law" is itself interesting.  As with episodes from throughout the original series and Next Generation, there's an alien culture that has been protected by some ancient force from the outside world.  This is pertinent to Voyager, too, in a way that probably needs to be pointed out.  Of course, had Kes still been around, it wouldn't be necessary, but she isn't, so here it is: this is the exact setup of the Ocampa in the pilot, too.  I don't think this was coincidence.  In a way, it's a chance for the crew to atone for one of its original sins.

More significantly, it's the second of three times this season Chakotay and Seven are associated with each other.  In "Human Error," earlier, Seven considers Chakotay to be a potential romantic partner.  The final episode ("Endgame") reveals that this does in fact happen.  How?  Well, it's not hard to guess that "Natural Law" plays a big part.  Fans have been reluctant to acknowledge this because the episode itself doesn't admit any such connection, and so they consider it irrelevant and a missed opportunity.  But in a lot of ways, it's exactly as it should be.  For the series itself, it makes sense.  Voyager, after considerable serialization in the first two seasons, backed off the approach and became more episodic, although retaining the ability to build on developments from episode to episode, whether in Seven's overall arc or also beginning in the fourth season, contact with home, how it happened and eventually expanded.  This is really no different.  It fits for both characters, too.  Chakotay and Seven were atypically introverted for Star Trek characters.  Picard, and to a slightly lesser extent Worf, in Next Generation was, too, and yet as captain and a proudly intellectual individual it seemed easier to accept in him.  Odo in Deep Space Nine was as well, and yet he had a long association with Kira that allowed a constant window into his psyche.  Chakotay had had romantic tension with Janeway, and a tragic relationship with Seska, until he retreated almost completely inward.  Seven's journey was always a personal one, even if she had guidance along the way.  In the end there was no one she trusted more than herself.  It's not hard to see the attraction of someone as calm as Chakotay, especially once she spent time with him on a mission like this one.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Plot harkens back to storytelling from multiple series.
• series - Unless you see the Ocampa analogy, it's easy to miss.
• character - Chakotay and Seven have a chance to bond.
• essential - It weakens the episode not to overtly make connections, but it doesn't completely diminish it.

Voyager 7x21 "Friendship One"

rating: **

the story: The crew receives its first official mission in seven years.

what it's all about: What on the surface looks like a generic episode actually has a good amount going for it.  The first is right there in that brief summary above: the crew has a Starfleet mission!  This is a pretty big deal.  Context is everything.  These episodes, previously, were things the crew chose to do, or stumbled into.  Normal Starfleet operations are, of course, a matter of assignment, which this crew couldn't do, being cut off from Starfleet entirely and then Starfleet's ability to provide any useful intel.  The mission turns out to be fairly routine, until the crew discovers there are complications.  Enterprise, later, would have a similar episode, "Terra Nova," and this actually works in favor of both.  Both are series with crews in relative isolation, facing situations where they're following up on prior events with unexpected results.

Anyway, fans didn't much appreciate any of that, some quite obviously, as Enterprise didn't exist at the time.  They were pretty miffed that Lieutenant Carey, a somewhat defining supporting character of the early episodes, reappeared only to be unceremoniously killed off.  I never really got that.  That he appeared again at all was surely a nice little gift.  This wouldn't even have been the first time the series got rid of a supporting character like that, Hogan at the start of the third season.  Both of them fairly generic Starfleet officers who put in a few appearances but otherwise didn't hugely distinguish themselves except by circumstances.  It'd be like fans getting upset at a similar recurring character from Deep Space Nine's first season, a Starfleet officer who appeared a few times but unless you do the research you wouldn't be able to identity them, even though they were a recurring character in a series known for its recurring characters.  Carey's legacy, in about the same amount of episodes, was still familiar enough with fans for them to react this way.  Sometimes initial reactions ought to be reconsidered.  The facts will speak for themselves. 

criteria analysis:

• franchise - An interesting way to recalibrate a typical episodic adventure.
• series - And an interesting way to recalibrate a typical Voyager episodic adventure.
• character - Not designed as a spotlight for any particular character.
• essential - To the fans' point, if someone had decided to shape the whole story around Carey, it would certainly have improved the episode.

notable guest-stars:
Josh Clark (Carey)

Voyager 7x20 "Author, Author"

rating: ****

the story: The Doctor writes a holonovel, but trying to get it published ends up putting his legal rights on trial.

what it's all about: For most fans, Next Generation's "The Measure of a Man" was the definitive look at the rights of artificial lifeforms.  It movingly explores Data's fight against a Starfleet engineer who wants to dismantle and study him, culminating in a trial in which Riker is forced to argue against and Picard has an unexpected uphill battle arguing for him.  A lot of its impact comes from the fact that it's perceived as an outlier of the show's first two seasons, the first time fans saw dramatic worth in the series.  Whatever else can be said about it, "Measure" cast a long shadow, and created an entirely different challenge for the third series of this era, Voyager, when it included in its cast an artificial lifeform, too, the holographic Doctor.

Where Data's primary motivation throughout Next Generation was to better evoke the trappings of humanity, throughout Voyager the Doctor had to struggle for basic recognition and freedom, things Data in his series had always taken for granted, outside of experiences like "Measure" and "The Offspring."  Data's challenges always came from outside the crew around him, whereas the Doctor, whose crew was necessarily cut off from the rest of Starfleet for the majority of the series, most frequently struggled against his own crew.  "Author, Author" is actually an exception, the first and only time he experienced something directly comparable to Data's struggles, which is why "Measure of a Man" is so relevant to it.  If "Measure" had already scored a landmark victory for artificial lifeforms...what was the point of another such story?

Well, aside from the matter of self-determination, which was at the heart of "Measure," the nature of Data's victory and how it contrasts with the Doctor's trial are worth examining.  Data was for all intents and purposes the only one of his kind.  His trial was exclusively about him, and what it created for other artificial lifeforms was a precedent.  By the time we meet the Doctor in Voyager, we already know there are other medical holograms serving in Starfleet, all of them subjected to direct activation upon request, which the Doctor uniquely circumvents due to circumstances.  As the series progresses, and even as we see in Deep Space Nine, Starfleet continues advancing the medical hologram initiative with new models.  Apparently models from the Doctor's initial generation of medical holograms aren't merely deleted and replaced, but repurposed.  That they aren't outright deleted is a small victory.  They're still considered, as a class, completely subservient, as Picard feared in "Measure" in effect slaves within the system.  They have not been granted self-determination. 

And why?  Well, that's what the episode is all about.  It's also about the Doctor's rights aboard the ship, too, his ability to voice himself creatively, and what that means to the rest of the crew, and how he's capable of acknowledging that.  These are all considerable developments for him, too.  After "Latent Image," "Author" is the most significant episode to feature his progress as a member of the crew and an individual.

It's also an episode that fans ought to keep in mind in relation to the final episode.  Like "Human Error" before it, "Author" is classic Voyager in that it's episodic and serialized storytelling at the same time, meaning you can watch it and see a complete story, but it also works within the greater framework of the series, so that it builds and comments on developments from other episodes.  The crew had gained the ability to have limited interaction with home all the way back in the fourth season, but "Author" lets us see them enjoy actual conversations with family.  Fans critical of the final episode, where the crew reaches home but fans don't get to see home, should appreciate what "Author" does, letting us overhear some of the very conversations the full reunions later would entail.

It's a landmark episode all around, the last great episode of the series before the finale.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Starfleet's view on artificial lifeforms as it exists after "The Measure of a Man."
• series - The crew enjoys conversations with family back home.
• character - This is exactly where the Doctor stands both with the crew and Starfleet.
• essential - It's highly enlightening.

notable guest-stars:
Richard Herd (Admiral Paris)
Dwight Schultz (Barclay)

Voyager 7x19 "Q2"

rating: ***

the story: Q's son proves every bit as out-of-control as his old man.

what it's all about: "Death Wish" was a Q episode every fan seemed to agree on as worthy of continuing the legacy.  "The Q and the Grey" less so.  "Q2" ended up being known, if at all, as yet another example of Voyager being somewhat pointless to the overall franchise legacy.  And yet, popular opinion isn't always right.  "Q and the Grey" was an episode that Next Generation never quite got around to, despite ample evidence that Q had represented the Continuum as less than a well-functioning machine, many times over.  It presented these being as collectively identifiable, continuing the work of "Death Wish" in more ways than one.  A lot of fans were just angry that Q cared at all about Janeway and her crew, that if he had anything to resolve, it really ought to have been done with Picard, his most famous rival.  And yet, any cursory examination of Q and Picard's encounters will admit their intellectual nature, whereas Janeway, as she had with her crew as a whole, presented a familial quality.  Long story short: Janeway stuck her neck out for Seven, the most obvious single example.  Q figured, he could trust his problems with someone like that.  And yeah, it made for a totally different storytelling dynamic, if he could have sexual tension with his sparring partner.  (Sisko took sparring quite literally, you'll recall.)

Anyway, "Q2" is a revisit of the basic Q template, removing all the heavy implications of the two previous Voyager episodes and seeing what it looked like...from his son's point of view.  This son was conceived in "Q and the Grey," remember, four seasons earlier.  In typically sped-up Star Trek childhood fashion (and also, because he's a Q), he's a teenager now.  So this is actually an Icheb episode, the last real opportunity, and really, the first time Icheb just gets to be a teenager, as Q's son bonds with him (odd couple syndrome), and they become entangled in Q's efforts to get his kid to...be less like him. 

And that's really the strength of the episode.  Q certainly could never admit that kind of vulnerability to Picard.  Yet, all three Voyager appearances have him on the defensive, which arguably was Q at his best (see Next Generation's "Deja Q," the template for this one).  But getting him to admit vulnerability?  That was kind of the whole point of his Voyager arc, and why this culmination was actually necessary, as it gives him that chance, and being able to save face, too.  Because it's, y'know, his son who has to admit it.  Technically.

It can seem a little disappointing, that the last Q episode actually features someone other than John de Lancie as the featured Q.  At least it's de Lancie's son, too.  That counts for something!

criteria analysis:

• franchise - It's the last Q episode!
• series - The final of three Voyager Q episodes completes the arc nicely.
• character - It's actually an Icheb spotlight, and a welcome one at that.
• essential - Of course, it's hard not to admit that in the best of all possible worlds, John de Lancie's final appearance in the role might have been a spotlight for, y'know, John de Lancie.

notable guest-stars:
John de Lancie (Q)
Manu Intiraymi (Icheb)
Keegan de Lancie (Q2)

Discovery 1x15 "Will You Take My Hand?"

rating: ****

the story: Burnham races to stop Mirror Georgiou's genocide against the Klingons.

what it's all about: The first season finale ends happily for Michael Burnham.  She finally earns her way back into Starfleet's good graces.  All it requires is for her to end the Klingon war, a war she started in the first place.  Not a bad bit of work, really.

Once she realizes Mirror Georgiou's plan against the Klingons involves a weapon of mass destruction (this is kind of the first time I can think of where a Hiroshima/Nagasaki analogy is not only made but thwarted by the good guys; it's much more common for bad guys to deploy these things, or attempt to), Burnham finally decides to act against her, despite a reluctance tied to her guilt over what happened to her Georgiou.  That just about wraps up everything the season was about, right there, in a thoroughly Discovery fashion.  The logic of the storytelling all season has been contingent not so much on individual beats but how they work in concert.  If you've bought into the majority of it, it's kind of impossible to say this wasn't the only way the season could end.  Particularly, the Klingon arc itself ends perfectly, L'Rell essentially being given the ultimate bargaining chip to end the conflict and the Empire's internal strife.

I wasn't particularly happy, previously, with Lorca's fate.  Tellingly, Mirror Georgiou receives a far different one, and that's one of the intriguing twists of the episode.  Burnham arranges a kind of Starfleet pardon for her if she agrees to walk away.  Some will argue that this was another wildly reckless move on the part of Burnham and/or Starfleet, and yet Mirror Georgiou is now entirely on her own.  Even Khan needed lackeys.  Alone, the former Empress is far more vulnerable, as she had been in the Mirror Universe before Burnham made the decision to bring her back to hers.  It's hugely likely we'll see Mirror Georgiou again, which will be a can't-miss Discovery event when it happens, sort of like if we ever see Mirror Lorca's counterpart, now that we know the Lorca we followed came from the Mirror Universe all along.  This is a series that has already shown a remarkable propensity for exploiting every juicy plot twist available to it.  These are inevitabilities, really.

What wasn't inevitable?  The biggest twist of the episode, at the end, when the crew is asked to respond to a distress call...from Pike's Enterprise.  Aside from a handful of original series appearances (officially, the two-part "Menagerie," which cannibalized the first pilot "The Cage") and the Kelvin timeline movies, which never showed anyone past Pike himself, this will be a truly historic opportunity to revisit the franchise's origins.  And Spock?  Burnham's adoptive brother, after all.  And a member of Pike's crew, as we all know.  Needless to say, but any such prospects immediately became more enticing than Mirror Georgiou's future or the prospect of seeing a different version of Lorca. 

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Ends a major conflict with the Klingons.
• series - Wraps up a season's worth of serialized storytelling.
• character - Burnham truly comes full circle as we see how events have hinged on her decisions at every turn.
• essential - Burnham's argument about Starfleet's ideals is illustrative of everything the franchise has always been about, regardless of the contents of the storytelling.

notable guest-stars:
Michelle Yeoh (Mirror Georgiou)
James Frain (Sarek)
Mia Kirshner (Amanda)

Voyager 7x18 "Human Error"

rating: ****

the story: Seven simulates a romance with Chakotay.

what it's all about: The idea of the holodeck was a staple throughout Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager.  It was such a staple of this era that fans actually grew to hate it.  If "Ferengi episodes" was a distinctly Deep Space Nine epitaph, then "holograph episode" surely was one across all three series.  But I think most of them justify their existence thematically, even when concepts overlap.  One of the early distinctive holodeck adventures was Reg Barclay's introduction in Next Generation's "Hollow Pursuits," in which he tries to compensate poor social skills with a lively holodeck life.  Voyager later saw The Doctor create a whole holodeck family in "Real Life."  Both were about creating a fake existence outside of the real world that only damaged ability to judge experiences with objective clarity.  "Human Error" is that same kind of experience.

However, it's not particularly an episode that has stood out for fans.  One of the reasons is that the idea of Seven and Chakotay in a relationship seems to be dropped at the end of the episode, only to be picked up again, randomly, in "Endgame," the series finale.  This was likely viewed as one of Voyager's many creative sins.  Fans thought the series did this all the time.  Very few of them seemed willing to give Voyager the benefit of the doubt in how it reached decisions like this.  It looked like Worf and Troi, finally, in a romantic relationship in Next Generation's series finale, "All Good Things...," and because there had been an episode where Seven considered the possibility but rejected it, this one, it just felt all the more random, barely justified.

And, no doubt, fans still clung to "Someone to Watch Over Me."  This is a fifth season episode that's been routinely cited as one of Voyager's best.  On the surface it's a similar story to "Human Error."  Seven experiments with social interaction and romance with The Doctor.  It's actually more of a Doctor episode than a Seven episode, as it ends with him realizing that he's probably not winning her heart despite all his efforts to be there for her.  She remains completely oblivious to his feelings.  The effect is heartbreaking.  For me, it's not even one of my favorite Doctor episodes, although it's certainly a worthy character study and a notable bonding experience for someone who often yearned for such things. 

"Human Error" is different, as it is Seven actively exploring social life and romance.  She's reached a point in the series where her personal growth is an inward journey rather than something she's struggling against, which is where it began in the fourth season.  Where The Doctor from the day he was first activated was complaining about his limitations, Seven complained about her newfound possibilities, so that where The Doctor always found room for growth and welcomed it, sometimes with too much enthusiasm, Seven always struggled.  Hers was an internal experience.  Seven was always an introvert, The Doctor an extrovert.  Perception of Seven usually begins and ends with her physical attributes, and yet she was never treated as a mere object of sexual desire.  She was the perfect embodiment of Gene Roddenberry's two greatest interests, humanity and sexuality.  Fans might have soured on sexuality as a defining feature in Star Trek, but humanity remained, and remains, its truest, deepest focus, and Seven was an ideal instrument to explore it.

Putting all that together, Seven's experiments in the holodeck are more akin to Data yearning to be more human, and yet his mechanics constantly getting in the way.  Often when he'd attempt a breakthrough it'd backfire with unexpected consequences.  While Seven's daydreaming in "Human Error" isn't nearly as literal as Data's in "Phantasms," it also feels more organic, and all the more troubling that a creature of habit has allowed her usual extreme professionalism to be compromised.

All of which is to say, "Human Error" is about as important a Seven episode as there ever was, and it speaks to a lot of franchise lore and experience.  It's a classic.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - A deceptively key holodeck experience.
• series - The episodic/serialized nature of Voyager can be unlocked by an experience like this.
• character - Seven's journey of discovery reaches a climax.
• essential - It's the point where she finally rediscovers her humanity.

notable guest-stars:
Manu Intiraymi (Icheb)

Voyager 7x17 "Workforce, Part 2"

rating: ***

the story: The crew struggles to free itself from an alien world that has attempted to draft everyone into its, well, workforce.

what it's all about: The first half of "Workforce" evoked Next Generation's "Conundrum," the classic where Picard's crew's memory is wiped by an alien attempting to draft it into a war.  The second half is reminiscent of another, "Frame of Mind," where Riker's mental state is questioned so that his mission is derailed.  It's all about how exactly the crew breaks free from various efforts to keep them part of the workforce.  Mostly, it's would-be hero Chakotay being sidelined by the aliens' efforts to thwart him.

The funny thing that happens along the way is that the aliens actually take over much of the narrative in this second half, between the ones helping the crew, the ones investigating things, and the ones trying to keep things running as they have been.  Since these are aliens we'll never see again, it dampens some of the impact of the story, as does the possibility of one last great Janeway/Chakotay story, which seemed to have been set up but never happens, much like their relationship in the rest of the series.  Well, maybe the producers were worried about confusing Chakotay's future prospects with Seven.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Reminiscent of "Frame of Mind."
• series - Draws on the possibilities of Voyager's premise.
• character - Seven ends up the one driving the conclusion.
• essential - Despite a solid conclusion, it also makes clear what might have been done differently.

notable guest-stars:
James Read
Jay Harrington

Voyager 7x16 "Workforce, Part 1"

rating: ***

the story: The crew has been pressed into service on an alien world, with their memories wiped.

what it's all about: I actually just realized that "Workforce" is kind of like Next Generation's "Conundrum," a classic where an alien wipes the memories of Picard's crew in order to engineer a diabolical plot against his enemies.  "Workhorse" has a far less negative plot, but the mechanics are similar.  Most of the characters are given a chance to exist free of their usual duties, so that the viewer is able to discover them anew.  Unlike "Conundrum," there isn't a radical departure in relationships or behaviors, which is another way to distinguish them.

As a Voyager-specific story, it works really well.  In Federation space this would be fair less likely to happen to a Starfleet crew, certainly in this era, which is the whole point of setting a series far away from familiar territory.  In some ways, this is similar to when the Kazon abandoned the crew on an alien world between the second and third seasons (or even when Ferengi board Archer's ship in Enterprise's "Acquisition"), but clearly the story is, again, different.  It's also another excellent sign that even in its seventh season Voyager can still exploit its premise creatively.

Tuvok, Chakotay, and The Doctor all get a chance to shine.  Being a Vulcan, Tuvok has the ability to pierce the fog they've been placed in.  It's an opportunity to see him function in much the way Spock used to, in a way he rarely got to, having to wait for his chances far more often.  Chakotay, meanwhile, who often ends up on more or less solo missions, for a change (like in "Shattered") be in one where he's working to save the crew.  It suits his cool temperament.  The Doctor gets a chance to employ his Emergency Command Hologram mode, something previously teased in "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" the previous season.

All of this adds up to the first half of a two-part episode that may lead to an inevitable conclusion, but it's a nice change of pace from the Voyager tradition of coming up with apocalyptic scenarios for these things.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Nicely evokes Next Generation's classic "Conundrum."
• series - Exploits Voyager's premise nicely.
• character - It's a nice chance to see the crew in a fresh light.
• essential - Fairly low-key stakes.

notable guest-stars:
James Read

Discovery 1x14 "The War Without, the War Within"

rating: ***

the story: The crew strategizes against the Klingons.

what it's all about: For me, this is a considerable rebound from the previous episode, which took some dramatic leaps I wasn't entirely comfortable with.  In a lot of ways, "The War Without, the War Within" is a thesis statement, explaining the overall philosophy of the series.  We'd known all along that lead character Michael Burnham struggled against the perception others had of her, as we followed the exact events that caused her problems.  As the season has progressed, we've seen other characters mirror that journey.  If Lorca seemed to leave without redemption, it now seems all part of that tapestry, the problem of perception and reality, and the need to reconcile them.  Because after seeing what happened to Lorca, the story now pivots to Tyler and Georgiou.  We know why Lorca chose to overlook Burnham's faults.  Can she manage the same with them, and why?

With Tyler, Burnham is experiencing firsthand what she did to Georgiou, and how the rest of Starfleet grew to see her as a result.  She doesn't know how she moves forward with him.  With Mirror Georgiou, she's compromised by her guilt over what happened to her Georgiou; she's incapable of being objective about her.  And yet in both relationships, her reactions and thought process are hugely subjective, and it's hurting everyone involved.  Tyler desperately wants to find himself again, just as Burnham had at the start of the season.  Mirror Georgiou has no such doubts.  She's as eager as Lorca had been to use circumstances to her advantage, and doesn't care who's hurt in the process.  We see a glimpse of Stamets being that cold, to Tyler, but at least with him we can sympathize to an extent.  Every character, every scenario, it's all calculated in this series, reflecting each other.

The greater arc of the Klingon war becomes less important, in all this, even while we see Admiral Cornwell return, totally overwhelmed by things, so that the certainty and even doubt the main characters are experiencing seem infinitely more appealing.  Even Sarek feels ineffectual, too easily manipulated, disconnected from the intricacy of the moving parts in the web the series has been weaving.  It's one thing to be caught up in Mirror Georgiou's machinations.  Lorca operated much the same way.  What sets the main characters apart is that they have an ability to use their doubt against these plans. 

criteria analysis:

• franchise - This one's for Discovery fans. 
• series - It speaks directly to the heart of the arc we've followed all season.
• character - Motivations become clearer, and how Burnham is caught in the middle.
• essential - It's an explanation that's essential to understanding the series.

notable guest-stars:
Michelle Yeoh (Mirror Georgiou)
James Frain (Sarek)