Voyager 1x14 "Faces"

rating: ****

the story: B'Elanna Torres is split by the Vidiians into her Klingon and human halves.

what it's all about: "Faces" ought to be remembered in the same league as Deep Space Nine's "Duet," at the very least, an unexpectedly deep first season episode.  It's another of Voyager's first season knockouts, at any rate, proof that the series started out as boldly as it could, in a lot of ways setting a mark that would be difficult to reach in later seasons.  If fans want to question any of that, it's their own problem.

In the vein of "The Enemy Within" from the original series, "Faces" finds an excuse to split a character into two individuals, but this time it's an intense character study featuring Voyager's most fascinating conundrum, the half-Klingon who seemingly retread ground covered by Spock and Worf before her but who somehow continually made the results fascinating.  Torres had already reconciled her Maquis allegiances to her new Starfleet status in "Parallax," the first regular episode of the series, and then somehow does a good turn one better. 

While Spock (half Vulcan, half human) and Worf (all Klingon, raised by humans) had struggled with finding their place in society, Torres struggled first and foremost with accepting herself.  The Vidiians, who might've been a one-off wonder in "Phage," provide a handy excuse for Torres to confront her anxieties in the most literal way possible.

Apparently there were quibbles with the ending, with how the crew approaches the reunited Torres, but any other choice than the quiet one where she has to try and figure it out for herself would've robbed Torres of everything she'd gained and would continue to tackle ("Lineage," for instance), with an equally classic mirror in the later Doctor spotlight "Latent Image," which features an equally ambiguous conclusion.

Brian Markinson has one of the most unique guest-spots in franchise history, playing both a fellow Starfleet captive and the Vidiian scientist holding them prisoner (with a grim twist explaining why).  The producers were clever enough to insert Markinson into the prior episode ("Cathexis") to help set it up.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Giving the Star Trek theme of mixed identity a bold new spin.
• series - Officially dubbing the Vidiians a Voyager classic species.
• character - B'Elanna Torres sets the bar very, very high.
• essential - See above.

notable guest-stars:
Brian Markinson

Voyager 1x13 "Cathexis"

rating: **

the story: Chakotay's disembodied mind helps the crew thwart a takeover.

what it's all about: The alien possession trope is, well, a well-established trope in the franchise, so there's really not much to be said about that.  It's one of those odd sci-fi plots thrown into the first season to try and satisfy general viewers, which only infuriated fans joining the emerging serialization bandwagon, and fans who just didn't want another Star Trek.

Fans of Voyager, can rejoice to a tiny extent, because "Cathexis" is an excuse to explore the crew a little, with the odd central premise of being a Chakotay episode without Chakotay, which is a unique franchise experience (Deep Space Nine's "Who Mourns for Morn?" is the only other example that comes to mind, but that one's a different story entirely, as the title character famously never spoke).  So there's more of his Native American elements, which for some viewers always felt forced, but then, why have a Native American if there's nothing particularly Native American about him?  This was one of the most unique celebrations of diversity in the whole franchise (where Deep Space Nine did pretty much nothing to indicate Bashir's ethnic background, which in hindsight was a huge, huge missed opportunity), so anytime there was a spotlight on it, I say, all's the better.  And of course like Chakotay in general it was most likely to happen in the first two seasons.

Also of note is Janeway's "holo-novel" based loosely on Jane Eyre, which makes its debut here.  Holo-novels were intended to be a signature element of the series, but Janeway's didn't turn out to be one of them.  Instead, it was Tom Paris who came up with all the memorable ones, including the one he helped develop with Tuvok ("Worst Case Scenario") and the one he based on vintage sci-fi serials ("Bride of Chaotica!"), the latter of which is...surely one of Voyager's great ironies...

Finally, the most grim aspect of the episode is actually the appearance of Lieutenant Durst, who in "Faces" one episode later finds a whole new definition of facelift.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - A classic trope revisited.
• series - Not much of true relevance here.
• character - Chakotay without Chakotay! 
• essential - How much better would this have been if it'd taken place before "State of Flux" and actually featured Chakotay, being guided by Seska?

notable guest-stars:
Brian Markinson (Durst)
Carolyn Seymour

Deep Space Nine 5x25 "In the Cards"

rating: ****

the story: Jake and Nog in their last and greatest business scheme.

what it's all about: A staple of the first couple seasons of the series was the young duo of Jake Sisko and Nog getting into all sorts of juvenile trouble.  The more they, and the series around them, grew and came into their own, the less time they spent together.  "In the Cards" is a big reminder of how much Jake and Nog, as originally conceived, contributed to Deep Space Nine.  Although Nog eventually joined Starfleet, they were both strong elements of the series that reflected life outside of service (even a bar, Quark), the all-important civilian experience that always proved so difficult to regularly depict even in Next Generation with families aboard a starship (Wesley Crusher was an unofficial and then official member of the crew virtually from the start, and never even considered until the very end of that series any other life for himself). 

All that means that this is basically a slice-of-life episode that has a look at the ordinary experiences of the station.  As Jake and Nog navigate circumstances in order to obtain a baseball card for Jake's dad (y'know, Sisko), we get to see how things operate on a routine basis.  Nothing major seems to be at stake, but that's in fact the episode's biggest strength, because that couldn't be further from the truth: the whole story is about a state of grace everyone knows is occurring before war breaks out.  Kai Winn makes perhaps her only sympathetic appearance of the series as she frets about Bajor's future.  Weyoun appears in the last friendly (only?) Dominion appearance at the station.

But really, it's just a fun episode, without anything outright comedic about it.  This was a series known for going dark, but it was also a series capable of plumbing every kind of storytelling, with remarkable aplomb.  "Cards" has such a light touch it might seem easy to dismiss as inconsequential, but it is very deliberate in what it sets out to do, which is give the series once last chance to breathe.  Because a war is about to break loose.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - In the best Star Trek tradition it lightens the mood nicely.
• series - It's the last episode before the war, and knows it.
• character - It's Jake and Nog's last caper.
• essential - Subtle storytelling and a thorough delight.

notable guest-stars:
Aron Eisenberg (Nog)
Louise Fletcher (Kai Winn)
Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun)
Chase Masterson (Leeta)
Brian Markinson

The Next Generation 7x13 "Homeward"

rating: ***

the story: Worf's foster brother forces everyone into a difficult position when he takes it on himself to relocate an entire alien race about to lose its home.

what it's all about: A lot of fans kind of never could tell the difference between "Homeward" and Star Trek: Insurrection.  So let me clarify: they basically two completely different stories.

Insurrection is about Starfleet being manipulated into trying to relocate an entire alien race because of a blood feud with another alien race that turns out to be the same one.  "Homeward" is about, well, what I said above.  You'd have to make pretty broad generalizations to confuse the two, and I just don't see the point, except as a matter of convenience for fans who have little time for nuance and are really just trying really hard to be dismissive.

No, "Homeward" doesn't need to be thought of in association with Insurrection at all.  Instead, it's a trademark episode of the seventh season, in which matters of family become disentangled from the past...and tangled in the present.

This time we get to meet Worf's foster brother, the son of the humans who took him in after the Khitomer disaster he experienced as a boy.  This is always a tricky thing to accomplish, because fans don't like to have someone brought up they spent...six seasons having nothing to do with.  But Star Trek, especially episodic Star Trek, which Next Generation most assuredly is, is uniquely suited to overlook such quibbles, if you have the mind to, and just let you worry about how Worf and his brother just don't get along, because although they grew up in the same house, they became totally different people.

Because we spend so much time with Starfleet officers in Star Trek (that was always one of the key advantages of Deep Space Nine, in that there were plenty of individuals who had nothing to do with it), it can sometimes be hard to imagine that there are people who matter in the future who aren't in Starfleet.  Worf's brother is one of them.  When we met his Klingon brother previously, that kicked off a whole Klingon opera in the series.  Here, it's less complicated but no less emotionally taxing.  Because Worf's human brother also has different ideas about how to conduct himself, and how he might contribute to galactic affairs, like Worf.

There's the whole matter of the Prime Directive to be considered.  Worf's brother doesn't take it as seriously as Worf and the rest of the crew.  If this had been the original series, Kirk probably would cheerily have done the very same thing, with some intense debates with Spock and McCoy, no doubt.  But this is another instance where Next Generation gets to explore the greater complexities of such situations, not just with words but actions, not by interfering in wars but the basic process of living.  This is a matter of deciding whether or not it's right to condemn an alien race to extinction.  Enterprise made a more direct pitch with "Dear Doctor," and ultimately, fans are better off thinking of "Homeward" in relation to that than Insurrection. 

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Speaks very well to classic Star Trek dilemmas.
• series - Relevant to the whole season.
• character - Certainly relevant to Worf!
• essential - But you don't have to think too much about how important it is.

notable guest-stars:
Paul Sorvino
Penny Johnson
Brian Markinson