Three survivors are beamed off an unidentified, exploding alien (Illari) ship, but one dies in sickbay shortly after arrival - while that would normally disqualify him as a survivor, there are some extenuating circumstances. Kes begins behaving oddly (including brutally dumping Neelix), and reveals that she is now possessed by the consciousness of the third survivor by murdering a crew member and a delegate from the Illari homeworld. Under the influence of this new [male Illari warlord's] mind, Kes' full powers are once again unlocked, and he/she quickly overthrows the Illari government and kills its leader. The first attempt to remove the new guy's identity fails, and Tuvok is captured and Kes/Tieran attempts to torture him - with little success. Kes and Tieran are fighting an internal battle, distracting him from the second attempt (an all-out assault), which is successful.
The possession of a main character with the mind of another person in order to give him or her a chance to act in a different role is a Trek trope as old as time, but it has produced some great results in the past, and I'm reasonably happy with what we've got here, too. In general, I haven't exactly been thrilled with Kes' acting so far (her character, on the other hand, has grown on me a lot), so I was pleased to see that she could handle her part in this episode well. In particular, her conflict with Tuvok was perfectly executed, with good back-and-forth and gripping performances that underscore the subtle but significant relationship between the two. I was also very happy with the illustration of the internal conflict, with Kes and Tieran arguing inside (her? his? their?) mind, Kes with her quarters in the background and Tieran backed by his portrait - until he starts losing and his background is replaced with her quarters.
The break-up of Neelix and Kes, before we know that she is possessed, is also powerful. She gives reasons that would have been perfectly good a season ago, reasons that I was practically shouting to her through the screen at the time, but now that Neelix has calmed down a lot I sorta feel bad for him. No, not just sorta - Kes is his life. As useless as Neelix is, as much of a chump as he can be, he is completely devoted to Kes - and while Kes' reasons are still solid, and Neelix probably couldn't really grow without losing her, I do genuinely feel bad for him. I was really surprised when the denouement of the episode focused only on Kes and Tuvok, without any sort of closure for Neelix. Did she really mean what she said while possessed? I'd like to know. While it is nothing short of a triumph to get me to want to hear more about Neelix and Kes' relationship, the ending feels pretty hollow as a result.
Any time Trek messes with gender roles, or, in this case, puts a male character in a female's body, it is hard not to think of one of the glaring omissions of Trek: the lack of homosexual characters. When, early in the possession, Kes almost (but not quite!) kisses Tieran's wife/girlfriend/whatever, I became very concerned that this was going to be one of those episodes where Trek kind of, but not really, apologizes for that inadequacy. I've gotten the impression from things I've read over the years (sorry, no quotes that I could find) that part of the problem is that Roddenberry himself was not terribly open-minded on the matter. But you know what, after The Original Series, I'm willing to give him a pass on that. It was unfortunate that the absence continued into TNG, but to still - throughout the course of all of TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise - be missing any gay or lesbian crew members is inexcusable. Oh, wait, Brannon Braga has prepared an excuse in an interview on the topic:
"I think it was, not so much a young man’s [issue], it was a syndicated family show, showing at six o’clock, you know, in Salt Lake City, so you had to deal with each separate affiliate rather than one network. And things like that."
Really? Do you even know what show it is that you wrote for? Do you have any idea who it is that you were writing for? You water down your science to the point that it isn't science anymore, and you won't touch on social commentary because it is too controversial? You had a duty as the bearer of the Trek torch. You know what? I'll let Picard tell you about it:
"The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth, whether it's scientific truth or historical truth or personal truth! It is the guiding principle on which Starfleet is based! And if you can't find it within yourself to stand up and tell the truth about what happened, you don't deserve to wear that uniform!"
Watchability: 3/5
Bottom Line: My tangential rant aside, it was fun to see Kes tackle another acting style, and we got some good character scenes which built off of it.
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