Jetrel (VOY)

Double TNG Next Week!

This week, Voyager takes a dark turn. Neelix has always had echoes of the sad clown, but now we discover the tragedy at the heart of his character - his entire family was killed in what was basically Hiroshima, and he was among the first to witness the devastation first-hand. "Jetrel" brings Neelix face to face with the scientist who invented the weapon.

It feels more like a Deep Space Nine story, with Jetrel telling lies upon lies to mask his true intentions, and perhaps the Deep Space Nine writing staff could have handled it better. As it is, the writing lacks the depth it needs to fully explore its premise. It asks some interesting questions that have been percolating in science fiction since the deployment of the A-Bombs - what is the moral responsibility of scientists? Is a blast that kills millions justifiable if it ends a war that would have killed billions? But it doesn't take full advantage of science fiction's ability to explore these questions divorced from their real world contexts.

While it largely fails as an exploration of morality, technology, and war, the piece succeeds as a
character piece for Neelix, revealing his tragic past and really bringing the character's essential conflicts into focus. While Kes has thrown herself wholeheartedly into life on Voyager, Neelix has always held the crew at arms length, ready to strike out on his own at the first sign of trouble. But his reluctance to form a family bond makes total sense from someone who lost his entire family, and his joviality is more believable as a facade he forces on himself to protect his psyche from the terrible darkness of the things he's seen than it is as just sheer optimism.

Ethan Phillips, Jennifer Lien, and Star Trek Veteran James Sloyan all really pull their acting weight, which sort of rescues the episode from the mediocre writing that plagues its more dramatic sequences. I can definitely see that the writers struggled with how best to tell this story. I just don't think they ended up with something totally cohesive. The ending in particular seems like it was thrown in for the sake of having a twist, and puts forth a lot of questions it doesn't even try to answer (using Voyager's transporter's to resurrect an entire dead colony surely must violate the Prime Directive somehow.)

Ultimately, this episode is about survivor guilt - its about Neelix forgiving himself for not dying with his family. The final scene, where he forgives Jetrel, doesn't feel earned at all, because the dramatic scenes haven't done the work of bringing him to that point. It definitely puts me in mind of Deep Space Nine's "Duet", but it doesn't achieve anywhere near the nuance of that episode.

Perhaps I'm being too hard on a first season episode from what is generally considered a weaker series. But mediocre episodes always bother me most when I can see the potential in them, and this may have been the most potential-full Voyager plot to date. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't nearly as good as it might have been.

Random Observations:

The pool scene at the beginning was a nice way of keeping us in the world and quickly reestablishing Neelix - light-hearted, but shrewd.

Nice to keep reminding us of Kes's abbreviated lifespan - conveniently timed with how long a Star Trek show runs. I wonder what their plans were for the character?

Janeway's ready to take a big detour for Neelix's sake. We're never getting home at this rate.

James Sloyer is no stranger to doing heavy drama in heavier make-up. He previously played Odo's "father" Mora Pel on DS9 and K'mpec on TNG's "Firstborn".