There are two major things going on in this episode.
(1) Bad Science
(2) Good Character Development
Let's start with (1), so that I end on a good note, shall we?
Quantum Singularity is typically trekese for a black hole. To give this part of the episode any credit, we're going to be assuming that it actually means "magical space phenomenon that does magical things for no reason." They do use some terms like 'event horizon' that suggest that this magical space phenomenon is similar to a black hole, but do not be fooled. This event horizon is a physical barrier, not simply the point at which light will never reach an outside viewer. In fact, they visually detect an object that is beyond the EH, which starts off the fun.
While a black hole might bend time (we've never actually explored one, so who knows, right?), we don't know. What we do know is that it has strong enough gravity that is can slow the speed of light. That's powerful enough for me! And we can pull off some pretty cool plot tricks, just with that effect, even some of the "seeing yourself in the future" bits that they do here. It's an especially interesting mind-puzzle when you also include a ship that can move faster than light.
Instead, the writers decided that it would be more compelling to let this object magically bend time and space so that ships magically get caught in loops and outside observers can see two copies of ships that aren't moving faster than light. So this Quantum Singularity can do some cool stuff, it's cool, but I think that it would be a lot more awesome if it could do these things for actual science reasons, not just technobabble reasons.
That is not to say that other Treks are exempt from this sort of writing behavior. They're not. But I'm not reviewing them right now. And, in my opinion, the other part of the episode at least sort of excuses it.
As for (2), we get the power struggle regarding the choice of a chief engineer. It's one thing to join the crews, that makes sense that they should work together while they're stranded together. What is kind of weird is expecting the Maquis to integrate and begin following Starfleet rules. Chakotay thinks that that is unreasonable, to an extent, and he is right. He stands up for his crew - and Janeway 'reminds' him that they're not his crew anymore. He thinks she's being ridiculous, and again he's right.
I do not remember Chakotay fondly. So far, I'm not sure why. He's behaved rationally, and has nicely straddled the line between friend and commander with his crew (which one would expect to be blurrier for Maquis). And he's also dealt with Janeway's brand of crazy pretty well.
As for B'Elanna, she reminds me of a lot of people who are annoyed that people who can play the management's games get promoted, while the hard-working and talented (but not exactly socially gifted) people keep getting grunt-work. She's Dilbert, only half-Klingon and attractive. And she does a good job of convincing Janeway through her actions that engineering should be a meritocracy.
Overall, the character part of the episode gives me a lot to like, growing naturally and resolving satisfactorily. It does not, however, do any favors for Janeway, an already strongly unlikeable character, to essentially cast her as the villain.
Watchability: 3/5
Bottom Line: Good, as long as you can get part the magical space stuff. Which you can. You saw how much it bothered me, and I still ended up enjoying the episode. Really, the writers were just using the Singularity as a background for the power struggle. Could the episode have been better if both parts were good? Sure. But that's what happens when you have a trillion different writers. Sometimes the science is the focus, sometimes it isn't.
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