S4 E08: Year of Hell, Part I

Voyager enters Zahl space, but encounters a laughably armed Krenim ship (the species Kes encountered in Before and After). They ignore the Krenim ship's threats, and meet up with the Zahl, who apologize for their inconvenient and rude neighbors. Elsewhere, a larger Krenim ship removes the Zahl homeworld from time and space, sending out a temporal shockwave that remodels the ship that was threatening Voyager into something much more powerful, and removes the Zahl ship and ambassador too. Now outgunned, we follow Voyager through the next couple months, as she is constantly being worn down by Krenim attacks. Many crew members are lost, several decks become uninhabitable, Tuvok is blinded, and morale is wearing thin. Seven develops a special temporal shield that works against the Krenim's torpedos, but it also protects Voyager from the next temporal shockwave: they watch as the warship that was attacking them turns back into a helpless pre-warp ship. Annorax, the captain of the ship that is causing the time disruption, detects Voyager as the cause of a miscalculation in the most recent "temporal incursion," captures Paris and Chakotay, and prepares to remove Voyager from the timeline. Being the faster ship, Janeway decides that discretion is the better part of valor, and runs away. To Be Continued...

This is a finely crafted episode. Unlike many episodes, this is truly an ensemble show. The Doctor needs to cope with the loss of the two crew members he had to shut out when deck five was lost; Paris is overworked with his helm duties and his new duties as a nurse; Janeway is at wit's end trying to get the crew through an impossible situation - to the point where she obviously wounds Chakotay after he tries to give her a well thought out birthday present; Tuvok is blind, and Seven feels guilty that she was partly responsible; Neelix finally gets that promotion to security that he's always been after; Kim and Torres get a great stuck-in-a-turbolift scene and bicker well as usual. Great performances all around.

The villain here, Annorax, we get clear hints that this guy is on a single-minded, very personal mission, but nothing is spelled out clearly yet. Very promising. I also like his weapon, and the puzzle he faces in his attempt to shape the timeline in a way that will please him. Tug at this thread, you unravel the part you're after but also another that is interwoven with it. Keep tugging, and pretty soon you won't have a tapestry anymore. It's a shame that his beam can't also restore things to the timeline, because continually removing people and places will leave him with nothing, and quickly.

And the events in this episode (as enumerated above) weigh heavily upon the crew; things like Janeway's birthday in particular could strongly influence the way these characters develop. However, Tuvok's blindness makes the possibility of a reset button in part II very real, possibly wiping all of this hardship from the timeline. But that doesn't happen here, in this part, so I'll stick with a 5/5.

Watchability: 5/5

Bottom Line: Great adventure/hardship, interesting villain set-up, and cool time-bending that isn't time-travel. This is the first time there have been four episodes with a score of four or more since midway through season two.