| Voyager is taking a break at a planet of telepaths, trading and relaxing, when they have their first violent crime in years. The crime is traced back to a thought of Torres', from when one of the Mari accidentally bumped into her, so they arrest her and prepare for the dangerous procedure of extracting and wiping that specific memory. Tuvok begins an investigation that uncovers (after another crime is committed while Torres was in custody) a black market for violent thoughts. With the marketeers apprehended, Torres is exonerated. |
So this is the "violence in TV/movies/videogames" episode, where the aliens of the week condemn the originators of violent ideas as much as they do the people who actually commit the crime. They do a good job about not being too heavy-handed, although part of that is using Tuvok as the character who approves of the Mari's methods. Tuvok's been big on restraint and control being a large part of Vulcan life; he even said to Kes "Without the darkness how would we recognize the light? ... Do not fear your negative thoughts. They are part of you. They are a part of every living being. To pretend it does not exist is to create an opportunity for it to escape." I would think that he would be more cautious about supporting a species who seeks Vulcan enlightenment through thought removal, as opposed to control.
I'm also a little uncomfortable with this episode's characterization of Vulcans as "telepaths." When Vulcan mental powers go awry, as in Sarek (TNG Season 3), they can influence other minds from afar, but I can't think of a time when Vulcans have been able to directly influence another mind without tactile contact. In this episode Tuvok doesn't do much out of the ordinary other than communicate telepathically with other telepaths - which I don't find to be that much of a stretch since I could easily believe that Vulcan mental discipline would allow them to focus sentences for the other telepath to read back. This boils down to more of a nomenclature complaint - nothing terribly serious, just annoyed.
Where I get sold on this episode is the inclusion of the prohibition metaphor. That's an addition to the "violent media" argument that I don't think I've ever seen before. The idea here is that outlawing violent thought in the mainstream has created a more dangerous underground market for it - which gives this episode the nice sci-fi twist that I'm always looking for. Another selling point is the lack of outright moralizing; as much as the attempt to police thought comes out as pretty fruitless and dangerous, no one gets preachy and it Tuvok's endorsement, while mildly out of character, isn't a strawman one.
I could have done with out the audience-conscious scene at the end between Janeway and Seven, where Seven says that they are being very inefficient on their trip home due to all these stops. Now, I certainly have sarcastically commented on Voyager's proclivity for detour-taking on occasion, but only when I've felt that an episode has been particularly worthless. I'm sure the writers received similar comments as bullet points in various irate fan letters, but seriously, this is not the appropriate response. If you make entertaining, compelling episodes, like the last record-setting string has been, then you won't get those comments.
Watchability: 4/5
Bottom Line: If it were just the "violence in media" episode, I'd stop at 3/5. However, the inclusion of a new point in what is a very old debate at this point is worth a bump.
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