S6 E10: Pathfinder

Reginald Barclay has called Deanna Troi over to chat, but also to beg her to call up an admiral and tell him that Barclay's clear for duty. You see, Barclay's become obsessed with the Voyager crew, even to the point of creating a holographic version of them for him to pal around with. This obsession came about through his involvement in a project to communicate with Voyager. He's thought of what might be a breakthrough, but he's had misfires in the past so no one will hear him out. Instead of waiting a day to see if the admiral (admiral Paris, to be exact) will make good on his promise to try out his technique, Barclay breaks into the office, fires up the machine, and leads Starfleet security on a chase through his holoprogram. Everything is forgiven when Voyager returns Barclay's call, so now Barclay's impatience and insubordination makes him a hero one day earlier than being a reasonable human being would have.

The first scene of this episode, between Troi and Barclay, is intensely uncomfortable. Remember back during the Timeless review, when I said that I'd only made it through two episodes when I tried to watch the best of the best? I said that because I'd completely blocked this one out. It all came rushing back to me during that first awful scene, where the two of them are awkwardly name-dropping everything they possibly can from The Next Generation, as if it were pathetically begging "Please, TNG viewers who are watching this because they heard Troi would be in it, come back to us. We loved you. See, we even remembered that Troi looooves chocolate!"

I didn't even make it through this whole episode the first time. The pacing is, in a word, wretched. I mean, watching it, you know that Barclay is going to succeed by the end. That's not a surprise. So the reason why the writers thought it would be a good idea to draw out all the "Barclay is awkward" parts is completely lost on me. This isn't even new development for Barclay. He's had, at best, four, five episodes? And they still couldn't come up with anything new for him other than bringing him back to square one? Even TNG, renowned for its episodic, restore the status quo before the end of the hour format didn't just have the same holo-addiction episode four times. Each time Barclay showed up, he was still awkward, but he was a little more competent, a little more different. It wasn't just the first scene, it is the whole episode prostrating itself, trying to lure viewers back with a gambit that never works: "Come back and you'll get more of the same!"

At least the last five minutes are relatively cathartic, with Voyager finally able to speak directly with home. It's a big moment, and it is played well, I can't take that away from this episode. But since the rest of the episode was so bad, I didn't even get to that part on my first time through this episode.

Watchability: 2/5

Bottom Line: I guess five minutes of good content really can save the other thirty eight minutes of meaningless fan-pandering from a one out of five rating.