S7 E04: Repression

Maquis crew members start dropping like flies - not dead, just unconscious. Tuvok's investigation reveals that he is the guilty party - and his strange acticities are traced back to a subliminal message he received in the last data transfer from Starfleet. A renegade Bajoran vedek, Teero Anaydis, had been a member of the Maquis who experimented with mind control, appears to have orchestrated this event. Tuvok had been planting subliminal signals in the Maquis members of the crew, which he now activates, and they seize control of the ship. However, Tuvok regains control and turns the tables on them again.

On the face of it, this is a mystery that is not very mysterious. Tuvok's acting weird from the beginning, and they just got a transmission from home; putting two and two together wasn't that hard. And, of course, since it is a Tuvok episode, he has to be emotional for reasons outside of his control. When it is a Seven episode, you know she's got to learn about being human, when it's a Kim episode he's got to be in love, and when it's Tuvok's turn, he's got to wig-out. It wasn't always this way for Voyager, but in the later seasons the writers seem to be even less willing to take chances with a story.

On the plus side, we're reminded here that there are all these people in the crew who aren't really part of Starfleet. You know, the Maquis. This episode belongs to the group of season five episodes that would have made more sense if it were aired in the first couple of seasons. It is clear that the writers didn't want to use the crew's division, why would they go back to it now? But I'm definitely looking at this in a way that I am not expected to by the writers; this show was not written as a sequential story. The intent was to be able to pick it up at any point, in any order in reruns, and have it make sense. Kind of like a Fingertips for TV instead of music. For the end-of-series review, this is something I'm definitely going to come back to.

So does it make sense? Well, it gives voice to a genuine concern, even if it happened to be raised by a mind-controlled character: will the Federation be as accepting of the Maquis crew as the Starfleet members of Voyager's crew have been? The two groups have been bound together by necessity, but other than a couple of hiccups they have been a good fit. It's natural though; it is harder to be enemies with good people that you know personally and work with closely. But their superiors at Starfleet don't know them personally and haven't worked with them closely, so will they simply take Janeway's word for it that they're good people? I would love to see this emerge as a theme this season, the way the theme of Seven being afraid of returning surfaced for a while there, but I don't have my hopes up. After all, all of this is just based on an off-hand comment from a mind-controlled person.

And the solution? Well, one of two things happened: either Tuvok just flipped a switch and overcame his programming for no reason, or he was so attached to Janeway that the mere thought of shooting her broke the mental control. I'm not happy with either choice.

Watchability: 2/5

Bottom Line: I mean, I'm happy to see them remember that there are Maquis around, but it does just remind me of how unused they are. It's not taking any real dramatic chances to have their independence emerge only when they're mind controlled. The plot didn't leave much to hold my interest because it was so predictable, and I got nothing really new for Tuvok either.

S6 E06: Riddles

Neelix and Tuvok are on a mission together on the Delta Flyer, and Neelix is annoying Tuvok, as usual. Tuvok retreats to the aft cabin for some peace and quiet, when a hidden assailant strikes him with an energy beam. Upon returning to Voyager the Doctor presents a grave prognosis: Tuvok's mind has been greatly damaged, and he may never recover. Voyager sets off for a nearby planet to try to get some answers, while Neelix tries to pester Tuvok out of his coma. Tuvok wakes, but cannot talk, and seems to instinctively trust Neelix. Voyager meets up with the Kasat, who send Narok, a deputy investigator. He has some theories about a reclusive species that studies people from the shadows, but hasn't been able to get solid evidence and admits that even his colleagues don't take him very seriously. With Seven's help, he sets up Voyager so it can detect the alien ships, but needs Tuvok to recover enough to remember the cloaking frequency that he detected just before he and his tricorder was shot. At first, Tuvok is unable to recall it; his mental capacity is that of a child, and he is emotional and enjoying Neelix's company. He is finally able to depict the frequency in the frosting of a cake he has baked, and Voyager tracks some ships back to a large space station; the aliens (the Ba'neth) at first have no interest in giving Voyager any help with fixing Tuvok, but Naroq offers to give up their scanning technology in exchange so that the Ba'neth annot be found again. The Doctor, with the new technology at hand, finds a cure for Tuvok, but child-Tuvok is reluctant to undergo the procedure. Though Neelix has been enjoying Tuvok's company, he is mature enough to encourage him to accept the treatment.

For some reason, the writers really like to pair up Neelix and Tuvok. I'll admit, based on their exchanges in Caretaker, I thought they showed promise, perhaps with a similar dynamic as that of Odo and Quark. However, when the stories seemed to be intent on taking Neelix's side, like in Rise, I decided I'd be happy if the two were never paired again. While the scripts have nothing but compassion for poor Neelix, constantly spurned by mean, icy Tuvok, I always saw it a different way. To me, Neelix's constant needling, despite Tuvok's repeated attempts to shoo him, showed a complete lack of respect for Tuvok's way of life. Neelix doesn't just pester Tuvok, he's constantly trying to get him to admit that logic is flawed, and that he should give up over a century of training and smile. There's no character on this show with as much contempt for another.

Fortunately, the pair hasn't had much time together of late, and this is their first story together since season four's (literal) resurrection of the Neelix character. The opening scene shows the obnoxious Neelix again, but this is just the usual Voyager character back-pedaling, and he quickly drops it once Tuvok is incapacitated. After that, he is back to being nouveau-Neelix - still irrepressible, but also respectful and mature. He at first tries to ensconce Tuvok in his old life to help restore him, but then follows Seven's advice and helps him explore what it is to be child-Tuvok. He is kind and accepting, but also selfless in his willingness to encourage Tuvok to undergo the treatment. I'll give Neelix half a pass for the first scene, largely because I've come to expect that sort of behavior from the writers. I am still a little annoyed by the last scene, wherein Tuvok comes up with another joke answer to a joke riddle of Neelix's from the first scene, and Neelix knowingly chides Tuvok for giving an illogical response. What the hell is illogical about puns, Voyager writers? I'm not sure you guys actually know what logic is.

So, Neelix is still good, but I wasn't entirely happy with Tim Russ' performance as child-Tuvok. He acts like a pretty stereotypical adult-playing-a-child, but also adds in some weird halting speech thing. My wife disagrees with me on this point (and, actually, on the whole old-Neelix being contemptuous of Tuvok part too), and was impressed with the way he carried himself through these scenes, so we'll call this one a wash.

If Innocence, The Swarm, Before and After, and The Fight are Alzheimer's-themed episodes, then this one is a stroke-themed episode. The sudden neurological deficits, personality changes, and slow, agonizing, and uncertain recovery are all very evocative of the plight of the victims and the families of the victims of strokes. If this episode has one major drawback, it is that we only focus on Neelix's response to Tuvok's change. My wife speculates that's because Neelix is the only one who is strong/brave enough to open up to him, but I don't think I agree. Janeway should be greatly affected by this change, but probably the biggest problem with Tuvok's absence from season 5 is that what little he had formed in terms of relationships with the crew do feel like they have wilted away. Especially after the departure of Kes, he does feel kind of disconnected from the crew, since his early scenes with Seven have not seen any sort of follow through.

Watchability: 4/5

Bottom Line: A stroke-themed episode is a great idea, and they picked the right victim, but after that this episode suffers somewhat from a narrowness of scope.

S5 E13: Gravity

Paris and Tuvok crash land yet another shuttle, and befriend a female alien after Tuvok saves her life. The universal translators aren't working, except the one built in to the Doctor's program, so as a decent amount of time passes, she learns english - and falls in love with Tuvok. Meanwhile, Voyager finds the gravity well that sucked the shuttle into a different layer of subspace, a place in which time moves much faster. Voyager also encounters aliens who intend to shut down this giant OSHA violation, and have to hurry to beam the away team out through a probe relay. Tuvok has to disappoint Noss, but mindmelds with her before returning her to her home, and she understands him.

What I don't mention in the recap are a pair of scenes interspersed in the story that show us some of Tuvok's rebellious childhood. You see, he had an unrequited romantic interest with a non-Vulcan, and his parents forced him to go to a Vulcan master in order to regain control of his emotions. The first scene is reasonably non-painful, since the master is calm and unflappable in the face of young Tuvok's outbursts, doesn't force his views on Tuvok, and establishes a rapport with him in a realistic manner. The second scene is of more dubious merit. It is revealed there that the reason for Tuvok's loss of control is all about his love interest, rather than a honest dispute with the precepts of emotional suppression, and it reads like an angsty teen fan-fic story.

But here's where it gets crazy: after we're done watching this episode, my wife turns to me and says something to the effect of "Doesn't Tuvok's boyhood situation feel just like the parents of a gay kid sending them to one of those gay-deprogramming camps?" And yeah, it does. The writers of Star Trek (and I'm not just talking Voyager here) have gradually, over many episodes in many seasons, boxed themselves into an odd place with the Vulcans. Even as early as TOS it is established that the Vulcans were not always unemotional, and had quite a barbarous history. But over time, through TOS, TNG, and Voyager, it became clear that Vulcans are still emotional (even when they're not undergoing Pon Farr), they just learn, in each individual's lifetime, to repress their emotions. That puts us in the situation where Vulcans must go through some sort of social programming at a very young age in order to conform to their social norms.

Now, I love Vulcans. I love their even temper, their sometimes pragmatic-to-the-point-of-cynicism approach to life, and their resilience in the faces of innumerable jerk-wad co-workers who feel the need to brag about their "unique" emotions on a seemingly daily basis. And that's why I'm uncomfortable with the picture that this episode is painting of Vulcan society. It's not really this episode's fault though: the writers just took an honest look at the implications of what we know about Vulcans by now, and this is what they got. I guess I just would have been happier if they'd try to fix the problem, rather than just depressing me with an illustration of the problem.

However, it is this episode's fault that it is primarily a trite love story, and a continued collision of characters who don't have any chemistry together. There are a lot of love stories out there. In my book, if you're going to write a new one, you've got to have something really clever up your sleeve. One of my favorite things about Star Trek, and sci-fi in general, is that these shows tend to avoid the general cliche that every story has to have an element of romance. But here we got a teen angst story with Tuvok being regretful that he has to make someone else feel the emotion that broke his own emotional control when he was young. Bleh. The passage of time is not very well conveyed on the planet scenes, leaving the viewer to guess that the reason people are acting funny is that months have passed (until it is established later on in a Voyager-based scene). Also, the writers seem to like to combine Tuvok and Paris a lot in their stories, and I can't tell why. Nothing about the duo works for me. Paris' jabs about logic just come off as pathetic, and Tuvok's wit is completely lost on a character as aloof as Tom. Tuvok works much better with the Doctor, or Seven, or Chakotay, or Torres, or Kim, or Janeway, or Neelix.

Watchability: 2/5

Bottom Line: When I asked for a Tuvok story in my last review, this is by no stretch of the imagination what I meant. So Tim Russ isn't feeling challenged; that doesn't mean you have to give him a boring love story. It isn't even like he had much actual emotion to show here anyways.

S4 E10: Random Thoughts

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.

S3 E19: Rise

Voyager is helping a planet defend itself from an onslaught of a series of asteroids when it gets the message that a scientist on the surface has found that this may not be a completely naturally occurring phenomenon. Tuvok, Neelix, and a representative from the planet's government arrive in a shuttle to pick him up, but the shuttle is damaged on the way down and the team must attempt to repair a space elevator in order to get back into transporter range. The motley crew begins to fall apart though; the scientist is poisoned, a squatter and a miner don't trust anyone, and Neelix has an emotional outburst at Tuvok. The government agent turns out to be a bad guy, and tries to kill Tuvok when he, at Neelix's behest, tries to recover the scientist's findings from the roof. Upon their return to Voyager, it is revealed that the findings prove something that Voyager already knew: that the asteroids were being used by a faction that attempts to simulate natural disasters in order to get the population of the planet they're trying to invade to evacuate first. Voyager disables the enemy ship with codes from the new intelligence, and the invaders are foiled.

Wooo! Science fiction in Voyager! Go space elevators! Sure, it's only a backdrop to the story, but I'm happy that the writers found a sciencey idea and included it. Also cool: the aliens that invade by faking natural disasters. It is a pretty neat tactic that would work well with all the less technologically inclined places littering the delta quadrant.

The central conflict of Neelix versus Tuvok though, that's frustrating. It's another example of the writers making a character more obnoxious at the start of the episode so that he or she has more room to grow. Now, Tuvok has always been pretty dismissive and intolerant of Neelix, but he has shifted into high gear for this episode. And let's be completely honest, Neelix is pretty dismissive and intolerant of Tuvok, in his own way. Dismissive in that he is constantly assuming the centuries-long personal commitment (to say nothing of the species-wide commitment) to logic and emotional control is just something he needs to tell the right joke to break. He is constantly underestimating Tuvok's resolve to adhere to his ideals in the most infantile of ways. It is little wonder why Tuvok does not want to spend time with Neelix, ever, under any circumstances. But Neelix is so willfully disgusted with Tuvok's way of life that he tries, with Borg-like relentlessness, to insinuate himself into Tuvok's daily routine, and rob him of the precious hours that he can spend without his inane prattle. Yet, for some reason, he's supposed to be the protagonist here.

Jeri Taylor, one of the producers (but not the author), has this to say: "'Rise' just never quite came together in the way we saw it. It had a wonderful high concept idea, but it had to be anchored by what was going on between Neelix and Tuvok, and I just don't think that came to the forefront in the way that it should have." Really? Almost all of the screen time went to pretending that Neelix was in some way worthwhile. The problem isn't that it wasn't at the forefront, the problem is that you spent any time on it at all. I'm should be thrilled that you actually talked to a guy who heard of a science thing ever. But no, you ruined it.

Watchability: 2/5

Bottom Line: Okay, the Tuvok/Neelix stuff isn't the entire episode, and there was some pretty cool sci-fi stuff.

S3 E14: Alter Ego

Kim approaches Tuvok with a pressing concern: he has fallen in love with a holodeck character (Marayna), so he wants Tuvok's help with repressing his emotions. Tuvok counsels avoidance, which is made difficult by Neelix throwing a luau in the same program in which the character in question resides. Intending only to make an appearance for Janeway's sake, Tuvok shows up to the party, and is singled out by Marayna immediately. She shows a great deal of interest in him, having done an unhologramly (can you believe spellcheck doesn't think that's a word?) amount of research into Vulcans in general - and Tuvok specifically.

Meanwhile, Voyager has entered a magical space phenomena an inversion nebula that is unusually stable, but finds that system malfunctions are preventing it from leaving. After an unfortunate scene in which Kim confronts Tuvok for spending so much time with Marayna, she takes a decidely sinister turn. Though Tuvok attempted to delete her to prove his intentions to Kim, she overrides the Doctor's mobile emitter and confronts him in his quarters. It becomes clear that she is being transmitted to Voyager from a nearby, cloaked vessel; once the beam is traced back to its source, Tuvok is transported there in the hopes of limiting further jeopardy for Voyager. Marayna is the lone caretaker for the nebula, extending its life and beauty for others to enjoy, and becoming increasingly forlorn herself. She saw in Tuvok a kindred spirit, alone even in a crowded starship, and only out of compassion for him could she bring herself to ultimately let him go.

The first half of this episode is completely unwatchable. How old is Kim, sixteen? He's a bright kid, I'd expect him to have a little bit more insight into his own behavior at this point. The "Tuvok, tell me how to suppress my emotions because I'm so sad!" bit is so incredibly tween emo that I simply could not believe what I was watching. Worse, after Chakotay's unbearably patronizing line in the beginning of the show, the one about emotions being the point of life, I became increasingly concerned that that would be the show's message - that Tuvok would be taught an important lesson about emotion by bonding with the hologram and that Logic Isn't Everything.

Instead, for the second half, we get a poignant story about the lonesome caretaker, who admires Tuvok and his approach to life. They bond, certainly, but there is no moralizing about how great emotion is. The message isn't that logic is bad, or that rationality should take a back seat to passion, but that passion and gregariousness are not prerequisites for fellowship. In fact, I'd say that is is Tuvok's emotional control that even allows him to retain his compassion for Marayna after she acts violently towards the crew. The last parts of this episode are subtle and touching, ending with Tuvok and Kim reconciling over a game of Vulcan chess.

It has been around for several episodes, so I guess I should also talk about Neelix's resort program, since it plays a reasonably big role here. I don't really mind it; they seem to have abandoned replicator rations at this point, but the use of a holodeck as a relaxation area for multiple people at a time seems much more efficient than previous uses.

Robert Picardo (the Doctor) directed this episode, and his only appearance is on the holodeck, flanked by two lovely women, pontificating on the life of a leisure-hologram. A quote from him: "Since I started directing, I've had the chance to use myself the way I prefer to be used, which is strictly as a sex object. I'm hoping some of the other directors will take note!"

Watchability: 3/5

Bottom Line: Great ending, but I really can't justify only rating the ending when the lead in is unbearable.

S3 E02: Flashback

Tuvok experiences flashes of a memory from his childhood that he cannot fully recall of being unable to prevent a young girl from falling in a chasm. These flashes are quite debilitating, and the Doctor recognizes it as a Vulcan condition that can only be cured by mind-melding with a trusted friend and searching for the full memory. Tuvok melds with Janeway, and they find themselves on the bridge of the USS Excelsior, under the command of captain Sulu. It remains unclear why he has brought them to that memory, until the Doctor discovers that this repressed memory is actually a virus that masquerades as a memory.

Tuvok is old. It's odd that he doesn't also look old, given prior examples of Vulcan aging. There's Spock, who looks quite aged in the most recent movie, where he is still just in his hundreds, but that can be explained by him being half-human. Sarek, on the other hand, is gray-haired and a bit wrinkly even in his 130s (classic trek movies), and downright old when he died at just over 200 in TNG. I guess I'm not really complaining, because I'm happy for Tim Russ to play the part, but he is maybe a bit sprightly for someone in his 110s.

The meditation/building exercise that Tuvok does to try to regain his focus is pretty cool, especially considering that this scene was only added to lengthen a too-short episode. It seems like a very Vulcan way to go about things: take the symbolic elements of rebuilding one's composure and make them physical. It also gives us some more of the Tuvok/Kes relationship, which I believe I just got done asking for.

Tuvok's back-story, about leaving starfleet (which he had joined at the "urging" of his parents) for fifty years is also a great touch. His reason for returning is soundly Vulcan, and only happened because Russ was dissatisfied with the original (unaired) reason as being un-Vulcan and asked for a new one. Older Vulcans are consistently characterized as being less conservative, which I think is a nice contrast with humans. It's probably a factor of both their society and longer life, but younger Vulcans seem to very often be less tolerant of human emotion/distaste for logic, but with time and wisdom come to see how the two species complement each other well.

Sulu is always great to see, and The Undiscovered Country is my favorite of the Trek movies, so it was a treat to get a tribute to it. This was Voyager's contribution to the thirtieth anniversary year of Trek, and it was tastefully done. Trials and Tribble-ations, DS9's contribution, was certainly more fun, but I'm happy with them both.

One thing that this episode has that its counterpart does not is a cool sci-fi hook. The idea of a virus that disguises itself as a memory is interesting, and the idea that is disguises itself as a painful memory in order to avoid detection is fascinating. Not exactly the way things work in there, but it is still a great idea. The author, Brannon Braga, is often (at least partially) blamed for the downfall of Trek; he'll often be the one to take the very flimsiest of a "science" idea and force it into being the reason for a full-length episode (see: Non Sequitur or Threshold, just follow the links in the "Bottom 5" sidebar). But when he takes the time to make his ideas believable, or at least emotionally compelling, he gets good results.

Watchability: 4/5

Bottom Line: Cool idea, good Tuvok development, and it is fun to see Sulu in action again.

S2 E25: Resolutions

Plot 1: Janeway and Chakotay have contracted an incurable disease, which will only lay dormant if they stay on the planet where they contracted it. Janeway orders Tuvok (who is now in command) to quarantine them there, since the Doctor can't come up with a cure, and continue home without them. She takes enough research equipment to focus on finding a cure day and night, while Chakotay sets about making a life for them there. When a plasma storm destroys all her research, she is forced to come to terms with her new life there, and she and Chakotay discuss what direction their relationship might take. Oh, and she makes friends with a monkey.

It is hard not to look at Janeway and Chakotay in terms of Roslin and Adama (from Battlestar). They're both leaders with difference spheres of influence who followed very different paths to the predicament in which they've found themselves. In both cases, a relationship would be very unprofessional, but they are in situations where standards for professionalism are set by them. I could fill pages (and probably will at some point) about the ways in which Battlestar is "Voyager done right," but now's not the time. Suffice it to say, it takes effort for me to not judge things in Voyager as bad because they did something similar in an awesome way in Battlestar, but as a separate entity.

Janeway and Chakotay, despite being awkward together, show more chemistry than I'd expect they would. Mulgrew gives some of her most natural acting in this episode, aside from the ridiculous pose she keeps taking when approaching the monkey. When she's not being the condescending captain, she's actually kind of likeable. The thing is, if the writers are going to do an episode like this so early on, they've got to have the courage to at least deal with the fallout. While I haven't seen most of the rest of the series directly, I do know that this relationship is simply dropped. It's a shame too, because the start it gets here makes it feel almost normal.

Plot 2: Even though Janeway had ordered Tuvok not to risk the ship and crew by asking the Vidiians for help with their medical problem, many crew members (led by Kim) object to that decision. Kim stops just short of organizing a rebellion against Tuvok, who eventually relents and agrees to meet with the Vidiians. The bad guys act like bad guys, but the Doctor's Vidiian girlfriend sneaks the cure to him, and then escape to go rescue Janeway and Chakotay.

I'm a little disappointed with Kim's behavior here, and also with Tuvok's leadership (he was better with the kids on that planet than he is with the crew), but more so I am disappointed with the Vidiians. This was their last chance. There are no more Vidiian episodes. Here they're just the Romulan stand-ins, springing an obvious trap. I mean, Kim made an excellent point, that Voyager has some very good bargaining chips, and even the gruesome Vidiians from their first appearance would have rather traded for what they want rather than fight for it. Just... disappointing.

Watchability: 3/5

Bottom Line: Even though the "resolutions" of this episode aren't built on later, it's still a decent show. Even though they leave the monkey behind.

S2 E22: Innocence

Tuvok has crash-landed a shuttle on an alien world (I guess they're all alien worlds out here), where he finds three children who cling to him. The children are from another crashed ship (all the adults died in the crash), and cling to Tuvok for protection, telling him they've been brought there to die. Unaware that Tuvok has crashed, Voyager is simultaneously making its first contact with that same species (the Drayans), hoping to get some mining rights. When Tuvok gets word to Voyager that these people may be sending their young to die on this planet, a Cultural Misunderstanding^TM occurs. Fortunately, once everyone converges on Tuvok and the kids, everything is ironed out and happy.

By all rights, the Tuvok & kids scenes should be terrible. It has all the elements: kids in Trek, unsupervised kids in Trek, kids with a guy with no emotions in Trek - put simply, it has kids. But it is actually very cute. Tuvok seems like a good "stern-but-fair" dad, and while the kids don't always receive his lessons in emotional control well, his Vulcanly even temper is up to the task. There are some great insights into Vulcan parenting, and his responses to questions like "If you aren't emotional, do you not love your own children?" are very well thought out, belying an emotional connection without the passion volatility that you find in human emotion. There were a lot of opportunities for the writers to do the "Vulcans are bad because emotions are good" thing that I touched on a couple of reviews ago, but they don't, and I approve.

As for the Cultural Misunderstanding^TM part of the plot: I know they felt they needed it so that the episode has a central conflict, and so that it doesn't just last ten minutes, but I got plenty of eye-rolling done while waiting for the reveal. I presumed that the kids were taking part in some sort of coming of age ritual that of course Tuvok didn't have enough information to piece together, but I was wrong. Well, yes, it was a still a misunderstanding, but actually these aliens age in reverse, so Tuvok's been down on the planet with alzheimer's patients who go there to evaporate as part of their natural life cycle. Usually they have attendants, but because of the crash, they were on their own and confused.

As annoying as the conflict was, the manner of the resolution was very touching. Tuvok's guardianship of these elders had naturally formed a bond, which the leaders of the Drayans recognize and appreciate. Reoriented by more familiar surroundings (also very accurate to alzheimers), the remaining "child" is able to relate something of her long life to Tuvok, and chooses to die with him by her side.

Watchability: 4/5

Bottom Line: I expected to dislike each element that went into this story, and was pleasantly surprised most of the time. Very good Tuvok episode.

S2 E16: Meld

Grima Wormtongue guest stars here as Lon Suder, a non-empathic Betazoid who joined the Maquis because he is a sociopath who just wants to kill. He murders a crewman in cold blood, and when Tuvok confronts him with the evidence, he admits to the crime and (very creepily) details the manner in which he did it. He doesn't give a satisfactory explanation as to why, which haunts Tuvok because he feels that there must be a motive. I don't know why Tuvok hasn't heard of sociopathic serial killers in his "hundred years of studying crime" - but it gives him an excuse to mind-meld with Suder in order to satisfy his curiosity.

The meld imbues Suder with some Vulcan composure, but Tuvok is deeply troubled. In an especially chilling scene, attempting to vent his new violent impulses, Tuvok coldly and brutally strangles Neelix to death for annoying him - in a holodeck simulation of course. What's great about Tuvok is that he has the insight to see when he is out of control and seals himself in his room. The Doctor is just brimming with "I told you so" but everyone else is so upset about Tuvok that they don't give him the chance, which disappoints him to no end. Trek writers love giving the emotionless characters (Spock, Data) a chance to act out, and I'm surprised that it took this long to happen to Tuvok. I'm also pretty surprised that he does it well - not that I don't think Tim Russ does a great job (quite the opposite), but his deliveries are usually so deadpan that I just assumed he was naturally inclined to play the flat-affect part. Tuvok breaks free of his captivity, and goes to kill Suder, citing it as the only logical course of action - but also just wanting to kill. Suder gets to play the calm Vulcan right back at him, and Tuvok tries to work himself up to the act, but ultimately fails and slumps over, spent. He makes his recovery, and apologies, and everything is all right.

It had to happen eventually that we'd really need to explore what Voyager does for people who break the rules. We've had a lot of wrist-slaps so far - but what if someone committed murder? You couldn't very well just keep them in the brig the whole time, that would be akin to a vacation on what is clearly a starship full of hardship. On the other hand, the Federation isn't really part of the death penalty crowd, so I wouldn't see them going that route either. For a crime as sinister as Suder's, I'm personally in favor of dropping him off at the nearest M-class, uninhabited planet with a survival guide (maybe) and saying "good luck!" This episode is a pretty obviously an "issues episode" for the death penalty, and isn't terribly subtle about it. Tuvok, post meld, suggests considering execution to Janeway, and she dismisses him out of hand. Janeway does this a lot; I think it is because she is often the proponent of the answer the writers consider to be obviously correct, and I feel like there's often more middle ground than Janeway is willing to concede.

I think that it is important, if you're going to do an "issues episode," to be as fair as you can to either side, and explore the middle ground too. Don't have one side of the death penalty argument be represented by a guy who is only suggesting it because he is possessed by the pathology of a bloodthirsty murderer, not only will you alienate part of your audience, but you also start to veer off into the after-school-special-territory. Granted, having a captain who talks to everyone, even her hyper-intelligent, 100+ year old security officer and old friend, with grade A condescension will predispose your show to heading that way, but it would certainly make me happier. Anyways, Suder is confined to quarters (even nicer than the brig!) for the rest of the trip home.

B-Plot: Paris starts a betting pool (using replicator rations) about some daily space scan result, and Chakotay shuts him down. Mostly just some throwaway fun, but it ends with Paris having a melancholy moment where it seems like he's actually a little disappointed in himself for continuing to be the irresponsible one - or maybe it's just for getting caught. It isn't explored much, but maybe that's just because we'll see more of it.

Watchability 4/5

Bottom Line: There are a lot of very potent scenes in this episode, but I feel it is dragged down a bit by being such a blatant "issues episode."

S1 E15: Learning Curve

Janeway's doing her holonovel thing again. It is irrelevant and a bit painful to watch. Oh well, it's over soon enough. I'm just hoping it doesn't become the focus of an entire episode.

There's a problem with the bio-neural gel packs that the ship uses (to do everything it seems) - and a Maquis crewmember decides to just up and fix it! How could he?? Doesn't he know there are appropriate channels for that sort of thing? I just... the Maquis. It feels like an odd choice. The writers seems almost inconvenienced by them most of the time. Every now and then (this episode makes number four out of fifteen) they decided that the Maquis should be a major plot point, and the rest of the time every just acts like they've been starfleet all along (Chakotay is particularly guilty of this). The degree to which everyone has integrated just doesn't feel natural to me.

And it doesn't feel natural to some of the Maquis either. For some reason, Tuvok is tasked with whipping four of the less well integrated ones into shape, perhaps because Janeway wants him to fail. Seriously, giving that job to the least flexible guy on the ship is like saying "just fail them for me so we can give up on them and kick them off the ship." Even Neelix can tell it is a bad idea. But because of that, we get our first real Neelix/Tuvok scene since the premiere, and they work well together again. It could have been a painful "emotion is better than logic, silly Vulcan" moment, the kind that TOS loved to have, but it wasn't.

Back to the B-plot, the bio-neural gel packs, which have been name-dropped but not really explored yet, seem to have an infection. Torres brings one to the Doctor to cure, and he teases her by trying out his improved bedside manner with them. Excellent. The bacteria/virus (they don't seem to make up their minds on that) is resistant to medications, so the solution they pick is to simulate a fever to kill the bug. Fun idea, but that theory of why people have a fever isn't likely to be correct. If the body were to really heat up enough to kill bugs, it would be hot enough to denature the proteins in the good cells too. Nice thought though.

Meanwhile, Tuvok and the Maquis both learn important lessons about flexibility and responsibility and they all integrate beautifully. Just very unsatisfying for me.

Watchability: 2/5

Bottom Line: I can understand the desire for the last episode of the season to have some continuity, but this was no season finale. I would have much rather they had wrapped up the season with Jetrel.

S1 E09: Prime Factors

The first half of this episode was very uncomfortable. The crew makes contact with a race known for its hospitality (essentially Risa 2.0), and spends the first part being lavished with gifts and attention. The crew is made uneasy with all this generosity, and that feeling very easily spread to me. The leader makes very sleazy passes at Janeway, which she seems a bit put off by, but at the same time disgustingly intrigued by as well. Kim also gets some romancery, but it is pulled off in a much geekier puppy-love kind of way - but as soon as he discovers that this species may have a way home for them he politely informs the woman that sex can wait if there's a chance he can get the crew home.

What I found shocking was that the race introduced here was intended to be a recurring villain, because we know how well that worked with the Ferengi. For those who don't: in TNG, the Ferengi were essentially one big metaphor for how ugly greed is. Completely one-dimensional. And their presentation was so goofy that it didn't work at all, and they were eventually adopted in a more natural role as the comic relief in DS9. Here, the Sikarians are instead so obsessed with hedonism and novelty that they won't give Voyager any help to get back home because they want them around for their entertainment. That is apparently what the writers saw as a great concept for a new villain. Fortuantely, they had enough insight to see that it didn't really work here, and we never have to see them again.

So that's the first half of the episode. For the second half we have a reverse-prime directive sequence, with Janeway hoping to barter for the ability to get back home, and the Sikarians refusing for the reasons stated above (but the reason told to the crew was that it would be against their laws to share the technology). Even when offered an under-the-table deal from a Sikarian political hopeful, she opts out. What is cool and character building is we also have four crew members who all take matters into their own hands for different reasons. Seska, getting more lines as a background character than before, plays the quintessential Maquis who doesn't care about crew integration (and therefore Federation rules), and just wants to get home and give Janeway the finger. Joe Carey's (Remember the guy who was the other option for chief engineer up against Torres? He has lines again) first priority is to get home to his family, and is willing to break the rules of Starfleet to do so. Torres is skeptical at first, but is swayed by the arguments of the others that this really isn't a prime directive situation, and even if they get in trouble, the chance is worth it to get home.

What is really compelling to me is that Tuvok is also willing to help break the rules. Again going to Memory Alpha, you see the debate that the actor, Tim Russ, had with the writing staff about Tuvok's reasons for betraying Janeway. The writers wanted it to be a very cliche "logic led me astray!" motivation, but Russ thought that that was dumb and wanted to play the "logic convinced me to save you from a mutiny by taking the action which you were bound by duty not to." The writers thought that made Tuvok too infallible (and thus challenging to write for) - I think it makes him sound like a person who cautiously thinks things through and can sometimes surprise you, which would be very good for later writing. The writers get their way for the most part, and I think the episode is weakened because of it.

Watchability: 2/5

Bottom Line: Uncomfortable episode to watch, without anything else interesting to really distract me.

S1 E07: Ex Post Facto

Murder mysteries are very tricky to produce when you have an audience who knows the outcome. "What, you mean a major Trek character didn't commit the murder he's being accused of?" It's not a big shock, I'm not spoiling anything you didn't already know. What works here is that it doesn't matter. It's not really a murder mystery, it's all about how we get there.

What we have is a story built around an interesting sci-fi premise; that of a civilization that punishes the guilty by transplanting the victim's memories of his or her death into the perpetrator. An elegant solution if you ask me. And you are, just by being here. However, in this case, the memory is clearly a forgery, since it shows Tom Paris killing another man out of lust for his wife; a woman he met two days ago. The story does not try to avoid casting Paris as the womanizer, which we've already seen that he fancies himself as from the holodeck program he conjured previously. He acts foolishly and with all the restraint of a hormone encrusted adolescent, and brings us some truly excruciatingly teen-drama-esque scenes. According to Memory Alpha, Michael Piller was going for noir when he wrote the episode, but here I think he was closer to Twilight.

What really holds the episode together is Tuvok, who plays the investigator trying to find out what really happened. The self-described "dispassionate" Vulcan is the perfect fit in this case for an impartial seeker of truth. It at first seemed odd to have a Vulcan security chief (and must seem odd to the writers too, since they are always having him do odd-ball sciencey stuff when Kim or Torres or someone else isn't available), but now I'm sold. On top of that, being a Vulcan gives him access to the perfect tool for this particular investigation: the Vulcan Mindmeld! I also like that the Doctor is really perturbed about its use, like Vulcans are just reckless cowboys who roam the galaxy trying to mindmeld with everyone they see. Of note, the mindmeld here seems to go back to using its effect from TOS, which is just a temporary melding of minds, rather than the TNG use, where it forms something of a permanent bond. I'm glad, because that means we could potentially see it more often.

We get a nice little space battle (where Neelix continues to wear his uselessness proudly), and some twists to wrap up the investigation and BAM, we have a good episode. Which was the real surprise, because I distinctly remember hating this one. It could be that I just plain miss the Alien-A-Week format. I love DS9 and Firefly and Battlestar and Babylon 5 but I don't see continuity-heavy long-term-plotline as the only way to do sci-fi. One-offs like this allow us to take a quick look at a species that has a cool punishment technique without examining every aspect of their culture. Not that Voyager is really a shining example of everything you can accomplish with Alien-A-Week, or that it couldn't do with stronger internal consistency, but I'm glad that I watched this episode.

Watchability: 4/5

Bottom Line: Okay, that 4/5 does involve kind of grimacing through the Paris-and-random-lady-alien parts, but I had a good time. I should probably make a post about what the numbers mean, since actually laying it out might even help me be more consistent. Maybe.