S7 E24: Renaissance Man

Janeway returns to Voyager after an away mission with the Doctor on the Flyer, and informs Chakotay of a threat from a nearby group called the R'Kaal. The only hope for Voyager's survival, she says, is to abandon ship and settle on a nearby planet. Janeway turns out to be the Doctor in disguise, and he continues impersonating crew members (and incapacitating them as necessary) for an unknown purpose. He eventually steals the Delta Flyer, along with Voyager's warp core, and rendezvous with a Hierarchy ship upon which Janeway is being held hostage. Soon the Doctor is also a hostage, but Paris and Tuvok arrive in a shuttle to save the day.

Well, this episode was fun and all, but I was hoping for something besides fluff for the second to last episode of Voyager. It's fun fluff. Everyone gets to take their turn playing the Doctor playing them, but...

I guess that after Homestead, my expectations were a bit high. When Janeway came back on board Voyager with this talk of the R'Kaal, I was interested. A truly massive civilization that we haven't met yet. They're big, powerful, something to whet our appetites for more Trek even though the show is ending. They could have played into the way home, given the extent of their empire; I wouldn't have been disappointed if Voyager'd gotten home now, since there's so much ground to cover when they do.

The thing is, the R'Kaal aren't real. The Hierarchy just made them up. Instead of an interesting, new antagonist, we get the frumpy potato guys. It was cool when they showed up as a footnote in The Void, but now they're just a killjoy.

The Doctor's over-dramatic death scene, with his confessions to the crew could have been interesting too. He did confess his love for Seven, after all. But I doubt we'll hear any more about that, given what's happening next time.

Watchability: 3/5

Bottom Line: I tried giving this episode a 2/5, but when I looked back at what other episodes have received that score I felt I just couldn't do it. This is good for a 3/5 easily in any other slot besides the second to last episode of the series. This isn't a The Dogs of War, nor a For All Our Yesterdays, nor even a Preemptive Strike. But I guess it isn't bad, so a 3/5 it is.