Seska is back! She has taken up the mantle of "recurring villain" and sided on a more permanent basis with the Kazon, and lured Voyager into a trap in order to steal transporter technology. Sounds about right; if I were to rank the importance of Trek tech, transporters would be right up there with replicators and warp drive. Kazon, being about as science-minded as Klingons, make a lot of sense as technology thieves, without it totally defining them (and being too much like the equipment-minded eqivalent of the Vidiians). As a bad guy, it works pretty well to have them be less advanced than the Federation, but still threatening in this show because they outnumber the one Starfleet ship around.
Seska tips the odds a bit more than I'd like; I feel that the Kazon could be perfectly threatening (without being given the upper hand by her) by constantly wearing Voyager down over time. It's okay though, because she's used to good effect here, taunting the crew quite effectively, which Chakotay (understandably) takes quite personally. So personally, that when the Kazon successfully steal a transporter core (with a cool hull-piercing boarding ship), he runs off on his own in a shuttle to get it back. His rationale - which is explored a bit more at the end of the show - is that he could save lives by only risking his own. It just seems pretty reckless/foolhardy, especially for a character who has been so calm and rational in other episodes, but the show does a decent job of showing how much Seska's taunting has affected him.
The Kazon balance of power is explored some more in this episode; the tribe that Seska has aligned herself with (likely due to them being in the "right" place at the "right" time) seems to be a middle-strength one, and with the new transporter core they are hoping to tip the scales in their favor. Seska herself is clearly a huge asset to them too, but that is tempered by her obvious power-hunger, which Culluh (the guy in charge) is well-advised to be appropriately threatened by.
Chakotay succeeds in his mission (but is captured in the process), giving the Kazon the perfect bait with which to lure Voyager into another trap. This time, with the help of other sects, they hope to capture the whole ship this time - a plan that might have been better executed if it were part of the first plan. Seska attempts to seduce/torture Chakotay into giving up the command codes, but he hates her so much at this point that neither tactic could possibly be successful. What's great is when Culluh tries to torture Chakotay, but all he gets in response are snarky barbs about Seska's manipulations. Chakotay is usually pretty passive, so the guy we see in this episode seems a little out of character, but I think I like this one better.
Voyager waltzes into trap #2, planning to just beam Chakotay off the Kazon ship (their ships have no shields), but Seska has some field set up to stop them. The solution is pretty fun (beam the Kazon leaders off instead and hold them hostage) but will lead to the writers to need to explain why they can't just do that again in later Kazon episodes. Also mildly problematic is that the Voyager was able to transport through their own shields, which is also prohibited, but I suppose the technology may have advanced some since TNG - though I recall the same restriction being present in DS9 (a post-Voyager-departure example).
The episode ends with the soap opera-y ending wherein Seska reveals that she has stolen Chakotay's DNA and impregnated herself with his baby. Now, I like having a recurring villain and all, but Seska's motivation feels... odd. Why does she seem to have this vendetta against Voyager? You'd think that she'd just take off and take her chances with finding her way home herself - or even just satisfy her power-hunger by taking on easier targets. I hope that when we see her again that she will have at least manipulated her way into another Kazon sect (a more powerful one), so that as long as she's going to be crazy, she'll be good at it. It is nice to see her being very competent at treachery and deceit, because that makes it a little more realistic that she would have been able to fool so many people for so long.
On the matter of Chakotay's punishment: the writers put themselves in a real tough spot here. Chakotay really should be put through the ringer for running off on his own and stealing a shuttle without authorization, but given Voyager's predicament it would be really hard to come up with a suitable reprimand without taking a very useful person out of the action for a while. Even putting him in the brig would just waste resources that they can't spare, but the solution of putting him "on report" is very unsatisfying. I would have liked to at least had the threat of making Tuvok acting first officer be mentioned (if not actually enacted for the next episode or two) as that would have mentioned a real possibility for punishment that could be carried out.
Watchability: 4/5
Bottom Line: Once again the Kazon come out with a strong showing. I might be a bit happier if the Seska and Kazon threads weren't woven together so tightly (I doubt at this point I'll get another Seska-less Kazon episode), but better than having neither one.
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