The Vidiians are a very unique concept that, so far, have been presented in very non-unique ways. The Kazon, on the other hand, feel very similar to the Klingons, even down to the makeup, but I'm generally pleased with their presentation. The Kazon are kind of like what you'd expect the Klingons would be if they weren't bordered by the hippie-peace-loving-but-also-powerful Federation, constantly tempering their aggressive, expansionistic impulses. Actually, it must be really emasculating for the Klingons to have the Federation right next to them, a faction which is both peaceful AND possessing of a comparable military. No wonder they turned inward with political infighting and a civil war during TNG and freaked out and attacked everything that moved in DS9.
Chakotay is meditating alone on a shuttle when he is attacked by a Kazon shuttle - piloted by a kid (Kar). Chakotay does his calm-under-fire thing, easily outmaneuvers Kar, and takes him prisoner. Kar is less than grateful, but I don't really expect him to be. Chakotay preaches at him a lot about "don't kill me," "I don't want to kill you," "you know, you really shouldn't kill me, especially since I don't want to kill you," you get the idea. Chakotay gets captured by the Kazon with Kar on board, and now the tables are turned.
So we've got the following major elements in this episode: (A) Chakotay being a perfect example of starfleet pacifism, and (B) insight into Kazon society through Kar. The first one doesn't work very well for me because Chakotay just isn't starfleet. The writers try to play it off as his native american heritage a bit, and I think that if they played that up more, that part of the episode would have worked better. The Kazon backstory is just hinted at enough to pique my curiosity, without having too much exposition. The Kazon are currently a tribal, presumably largely nomadic spacefaring race whose internal borders move daily based on the relative power of the sects. At some point in the past, the Kazon used to be opressed by another race, until they violently overthrew them. With little detail, they've managed to explain a lot of the idiosyncracies of the Kazon; the distrust, the aggression, it has worked for them, it has saved them in the past. I like it, a lot. Kind of a look at what would have happened if the more agressive native americans had started winning against the colonists - which is why playing up that part of Chakotay would have worked better.
Not that I don't enjoy Federation pacifism - I do. And even though Chakotay is probably the wrong guy for the job of starfleet spokesperson, that part of the show isn't bad, just a bit awkward. Chakotay manages to befriend Kar despite their differences (awwwww) in what is a pretty natural progression throughout the episode. Kar is returned to his people with his honor restored (without killing Chakotay) in a reasonably clever way, so I'm happy.
As an aside, Aron Eisenberg, who portrays Kar, also plays Nog on DS9. If you've watched both, you'll notice it right away. He does a good job with the role (especially considering that he hasn't gotten into the meatier Nog episodes yet), but it is a bit distracting for him to be so recognizable.
Watchability: 4/5
Bottom Line: Even though I'm pretty sure one of the Kazon had a curly telephone cord knotted into his hair, I still like them.
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