| Chakotay seeks help from Janeway and her lover, but she turns him in out of fear once he reveals that she's his captain. An investigator on Quarra becomes suspicious when Chakotay is taken away to the medical facility there, and he gets in touch with Seven; she has been having flashbacks since her meld, and the two work together to uncover the truth with Paris and Janeway. Chakotay is captured and the shadowy medical guy uses him to lure Voyager to their planet, but Kim repels an ambush and the crew on the surface helps deactivate the planetary shields. The planet's officials were unaware of this personnel smuggling ring, and thank Voyager for exposing it. |
The Janeway and Chakotay scenes are a little awkward, because I think they are actively trying to set up their viewer for not pairing the two at the end of the show. Chakotay very carefully has no reaction to Janeway's new romance, which is fine, but feels a little hollow given their relationship for the entire rest of the series. The conflict between the Doctor and Kim is resolved predictably, with Kim proving he can do a tactical thing too - nothing special there, but it took up plenty of screen time. My last disappointment* is that after being impoartant in part I, Tuvok spent this entire episode incapacitated. All I want is for Tuvok to be cool. Is that so much to ask?
One of the things I've been enjoying in the Doctor Who episodes that my wife and I have been watching (we're about halfway through the second season, and have watched no other Whos) is that the Doctor rarely takes all the heroics for himself. Often times, someone from the time period he's visiting gets to not only be involved, but be a critical part of solving the dilemma. There's some of that here; even though Tuvok's down for the count, Seven doesn't get all the credit. The Quarren investigator, Yerid, gets a share of the credit for being Odo-like in his pursuit of order. Something doesn't sit right with him about Chakotay's story and transfer from his facility, so he does his thing: he investigates. There's also the junior doctor at the medical facility who uncovers the plot, but after he reveals his knowledge nothing much happens with him.
Neelix is assigned to helping Torres rediscover her life, and those scenes are touching. Her realization that the nice bartender who looked after her is her husband, the father of her child, is good. Also good is her lament that she now knows all this and he's still trapped on the planet. This part does bring up the troubling element of what's going to happen off-camera, on a ship full of people who are adjusting to being back on Voyager. The Quarra abducted over a hundred people, that's going to be a blast for the Doctor to handle.
Watchability: 4/5
Bottom Line: The first episode in this pair did a lot of the heavy-lifting in terms of setting up the story. That being the case, it felt like there was simply a lot less going on in part two. It's not a bad episode, and it is required viewing for anyone who watches the first part, it's just not quite as excellent.
*I think of this lyric every single time I say or type the word disappointment.
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