S4 E15: Hunters

Though their access to the alien communications network had been disabled by the Hirogen, Voyager continues to seek a new connection, and is rewarded with letters from home. Most people are happy to hear from their loved ones, but some news is bittersweet and some news is tragic; Janeway discovers that her fiancee has moved on and married someone else, while Chakotay discovers that the Maquis have been exterminated by the Dominion. Reactions to the news from home is cut short by the Hirogen, who arrive and capture Seven and Tuvok. Voyager narrowly escapes from the Hirogen ships, but the the relay station is blown up in the process.

The "letters from home" parts of this episode were very much needed, as it gives a sense of progress that has previously been absent. At the same time, it is awkward because such a large chunk of the primary cast (Paris, Torres, Neelix, and Seven) doesn't have much to tie them to their old lives there. The episode handles that awkwardness reasonably well though; Neelix is happy that he has something to do as morale officer, and Paris discovers that his father cares enough to send a letter to him (though it ends up being another wasted Paris opportunity when we don't actually get the letter in the end).

After watching the last episode, I had remarked to my wife that contact with home would probably put the last nail in the Janeway/Chakotay romance coffin - but the moving on of her fiancee opened it right back up. It is really weird, watching all these episodes that gradually set up a relationship between the two, all the while knowing that nothing will come of it. I know that the primary champion of that pairing, Jeri Taylor, leaves the show later on, but for the remaining writers to cast all of this groundwork aside is just strange.

The reactions to the destruction of the Maquis on the parts of Chakotay and Torres could have made a whole standalone episode. Certainly it hits them hard here, but this is big news. The Maquis members of the Voyager crew are probably only alive because they were transported to the delta quadrant, but that isn't mentioned at all. I imagine the survivor guilt must be staggering for them, and deserved some screen time. The whole correspondence story should have had its own episode, with the Hirogen stuff pushed into the next one.

As for the Hirogen, so far they are a decent addition to the Trek canon. The ritualistic hunting/predators for sport angle is relatively unexplored in Trek outside of Captive Pursuit (DS9 season 1), so a recurring villain with those motivations could be interesting. There isn't much exploration here though, so I'll have to wait for later Hirogen episodes to give them a full evaluation. One technical aspect of the species that I am quite pleased with though is their size: it isn't exactly a difficult effect to pull off with camera angles, and it is very rare to see Trek species with an average size that is significantly different from that of humans (I think the closest would be the Ferengi, who are generally pretty small).

Watchability: 4/5

Bottom Line: I'm generally happy with what we've got here, but I also feel like there were a lot of missed opportunities with this one.