Cathexis (VOY)

Sometimes I feel like we're just kind of running through a checklist of overdone Star Trek plots, with a few truly original gems in the middle, and it makes me wonder why I love these shows so much. But then I realize that sitcoms and procedural reuse lots to exactly the same degree, and what it's about, when faced with an episode that seems totally unoriginal, is the characters. "Cathexis" gives us some fun interactions, and manages to put a little bit of a twist ending on the whole "brain-posessing alien" plot that makes the whole thing a little less predictable. The result is an episode that, while no one would call it strong, at least keeps us feeling like we're not wasting our time with the show.

In the teaser, Tuvok returns to the ship with a comatose Chakotay. Apparently they were attacked, and some kind of energy weapon was used to knock him out. The Doctor thinks he can restore Chakotay if he can find the weapon that did this, so they head for the nebula where the attack took place.

Unfortunately, Tuvok and Chakotay brought a stowaway along, an alien being that can possess crew members for short spans of time, and it seems determined to keep them from reaching the nebula. The crew battles the alien's sabotage, as well as the paranoia of knowing it could be in anyone at any time, until it is skillfully revealed that the consciousness possessing everyone isn't evil or alien - its Chakotay, and the actual alien has been possessing Tuvok all along.

The twist works, we see it coming but its not too obvious, and the climax is pretty exciting, but the episode on the whole doesn't offer a lot in the way of characterization or explanation of any deeper part of humanity. The idea of the alien making the crew turn against each other is cool, but not explored in enough detail, and other episodes have taken that tactic far more effectively. The most novel and interesting part is Chakotay's disembodiment, and how it interacts with his religious beliefs, but the show is too scared to delve particularly deeply into that part of his character, so it remains a tantalizing possibility.

There are some lovely moments between B'Elanna and Chakotay in this episode, even though Chakotay is unconscious for them, we get a great sense of how much she cares for him as a friend and mentor. The other relationship that really gets built up here is Janeway and the Doctor, as she makes the decision to entrust him with Voyager's command codes, showing a kind of trust that seems abrupt for someone she just weeks ago was still thinking of as hardware.

Random Observations:

The teaser scene with Janeway's Gothic Holonovel has no connection to the plot even thematically (I guess there is kind of a ghost theme in Gothic novels, but its a weak connection.) It seems like an attempt to feminize Janeway but it doesn't really work.

Kes's telepathy becomes relevant again, but the Tuvok alien is smart enough to shut her down before she can be helpful.

Tuvok is a pretty good choice for an alien to possess - its much easier to impersonate someone who shows very little emotion. It's sad that even Janeway can't tell her best friend is possessed until its too late.

They ejected the warp core, but we didn't see them have to go through the process of reinstalling it.

If phasers with wide beam dispersal are a thing, why don't they ever use them again?

Minor Character Watch: Lt. Durst plays a major role in one other episode, coming up very soon.

State of Flux (VOY)

            Star Trek and The Next Generation were both extremely episodic, designed for the casual viewer who watched maybe one or two episodes, maybe not in order. Deep Space Nine, on the other hand, is highly serial – episodes build on the events of previous ones, and its best watched as a complete project. Voyager tries to strike a balance between the two, and “State of Flux” is an episode where this experiment is in full effect. As such, it kind of has to be two different episodes, and it makes some sacrifices to achieve that end. I’m not sure it’s a complete success, but it’s certainly not a complete failure – it’s watchable, and exciting, and it introduces us to one of Voyager’s most memorable recurring villains.

            From an episodic standpoint, “State of Flux” falls a little bit flat. It’s trying to be a mystery story, but there’s no twist. Well, there is a twist, but it comes at the wrong point in the story to be effective. A good mystery story leaves you wondering who’s guilty until the end. I think even if I hadn’t been spoiled, I would never have suspected anyone but Seska. The scene where they interrogate Carey falls extremely flat, like the interrogators are talking to the audience and saying "look, it really could be this guy, see!"

Chakotay makes Carey squirm.

            There’s also some wonderful set up of Chakotay and Tuvok as partners – kind of the classic buddy-cop-movie pairing of the by-the-book cop and the loose cannon who doesn’t play by the rules. There’s even a little acknowledgement of the history between the two characters – Tuvok did gain Chakotay’s trust with the intention of betraying him, and that’s not something you forgive easily. These two needed an episode to get into this stuff, and I can’t help but feel they got shortchanged.

            So a little more time could have made this episode a much better mystery and a better Tuvok/ Chakotay story. Where did that time go instead? It went to developing Seska as a character and making us care about her betrayal. It went to establishing her relationship with other characters like B’Elanna and Chakotay. All of this is extremely important when we realize that Seska is going to be Voyager’s nemesis for the next two seasons. The fact that she lived and worked with these people, that she and Chakotay were lovers, makes her a much more interesting villain. But all of this could have been built up slowly over several episodes.

            Or State of Flux could have been Voyager’s first two-parter. It had enough going on to justify one, and the stakes were high enough. But I understand the writer’s not wanting to take the risk. Two-parters tend to be heavy on the action, which this episode was not. But I can’t help but feel there were a lot of missed opportunities.

But Seska makes Chakotay squirm even more.

            The serial aspect of the episode is more of a success. I especially like how much it draws on not only Voyager’s past, but Star Trek’s as well. On the one hand, we have the most recent past – in the previous episode, both Seska and Joe Carey showed they were willing to bend the Prime Directive to get Voyager home. Now that a more serious breach is committed, making them the primary suspects is excellent payoff for that episode. Going back to the pilot, we see the Kazon make good on their promise to “make Voyager rue the day”, and we see the horrible effect of ignoring the prime directive and giving them technology.

            But what really works for me is the reveal that Lt. Seska is a Cardassian sleeper agent. A Cardassian is the perfect villain not only from a plot standpoint (it makes perfect sense for them to have put a spy on a maquis ship) but also from a psychological standpoint. The Cardassians work as villains on Deep Space Nine because of the stark contrast that their militaristic, collectivist culture poses to the Federation. When you think about what we know about Cardassian psychology, Seska’s actions up until this point make sense. She wants to get home. She’s willing to break rules and make back-handed deals to do it. She also has the Cardassian penchant for speechifying, which helps immensely.

            Seska is not often mentioned when the great villains of Star Trek are recounted – if Janeway has an iconic nemesis, it’s probably Susanna Thompson’s borg queen. But at this point, she has all the hallmarks of being truly memorable, and she really never stops being a thorn in the Captain’s side, even seasons after her death. I’m looking forward to seeing her reign of terror continue to develop, and seeing how Chakotay takes this ever-increasing tide of betrayal.

Random observations:

Seska and Chakotay’s banter is nice. The whole “Mushroom soup” scene did an excellent job of showing how awkward Chakotay’s position is as first officer and Maquis liason.

I hope the gross leola root becomes a running gag. Incidentally, it looks like someone shellacked a piece of ginger.

B’Elanna doesn’t use Scotty’s patented Chief Engineer exaggeration technique. If she says it will be done tomorrow, it will be done tomorrow.

The scene with Tuvok and Chakotay playing gin during the stake-out was amazing. I want to see more little slice-of-life-on-Voyager moments.

Tom Paris hasn’t been involved in a plotline in a while.

Maj Cullah just makes hairdressers squirm.

Maj Cullah is probably even less memorable as a recurring villain than Seska, but I should probably note that we meet him for the first time in this episode.

Despite all the bluffing back and forth, no shots are actually fired in space (no torpedoes expended)

No fatalities, but we can definitely count Seska as a lost crew member.

The Cloud (VOY)

       Most Star Trek episodes (post-TOS) have an A plot and a B plot – usually the A plot is something that the crew has to face, like a space anomaly or a race of aliens, and the B plot is something a particular character to contend with. In other words, the A plots consist of external conflict, while the B plots are all about internal conflict. Every so often, though, the internal, character-based conflict takes center stage, and the space anomaly feels like an afterthought. This is the case with “The Cloud”, and it turns it into a nice slice-of-life look at how everyone is handling being stranded in the Delta Quadrant.

Just a stroll.

      We open with a Captain’s log, and a wonderful sequence wherein we see the isolation Captain Janeway feels from her crew. Paris and Kim respond awkwardly to her attempts to make small talk, and when she comes to Engineering to “check in”, B’Elanna insists on treating the visit like a surprise inspection. Only Neelix seems willing to talk to her on a person-to-person level, and she’s annoyed with him for trying to talk her into giving up her beloved coffee – power is tight, and replicator use has to be strictly rationed.

      I love Janeway’s caffeine addiction, by the way. It fits her into the stereotype of the all-business business woman, but somehow it connects her to our age and our culture and makes her feel more human anyway. In this case, it also makes for one of the more quotable Voyager lines when she orders the ship into a mysterious Nebula which seems to have the particles Voyager needs to solve its power problems and get back the use of the replicators.

      The Nebula behaves strangely and turns out to be a living creature, which makes up the episode’s largely uninspired A plot. But how Voyager deals with the Nebula-creature takes up maybe 15 minutes of the episode total, and the rest is occupied by Janeway’s struggle to find a new way to relate to her crew, with a handful of scenes that seem a bit disconnected but lay the groundwork for future plotlines.

       In one such scene, Neelix and Kes argue about the value of exploration – Neelix thinks it’s crazy to risk your life and the life of your crew just to see what’s out there, and Kes thinks it’s crazy not to. It sort of reminds me of the famous “Root Beer” scene between Garak and Quark – two aliens giving their perspectives on the Federation. Later Neelix tries to abandon ship and Janeway talks him out of it.

Chakotay's medicine bundle.

       By far the most interesting diversion is Chakotay’s attempt to share his religion with the Captain. First off, Chakotay is to my knowledge the first Starfleet officer to observe any sort of spiritual practice or acknowledge a belief in a higher power at all (yes, tell me all about the Bajorans, but the ones we see in Starfleet, like Ro Laren and Sit Jaxa, are not the most devout of the bunch.)

       Chakotay doesn’t identify with any real life tribe (probably for fear of screwing up their research and offending said tribe) and I have no idea what his animal guide belief is based on, but it’s interesting the Janeway and B’Elanna don’t seem to regard it as a religion, even though that’s clearly what it is. They seem to consider it more of a meditation practice, like Yoga, and Chakotay himself is unphazed by this.

In the final vignette, Paris shows Kim the Holodeck program he’s written simulating a pool hall in Marseille where he used to spend a lot of time. This scene feels jarringly disconnected from everything in the episode, but the payoff comes in the final scene when Janeway joins them in the Pool hall and proceeds to hustle Tom. She ends her Captain’s log, saying that the distance between Captain and crew is important, but out here it might be necessary to relax these restrictions.

It’s an interesting choice – it took Picard seven years to join his senior staff for a game of poker. The message we’re getting is that this is a Captain who’s going to get much more attached to her crew. Perhaps it’s fitting for our first female Captain to be a little more nurturing, but I think it will behoove us to remember another stereotype – the female bear is much scarier than the male if you get between her and her cubs. Janeway will get her crew home, and she might have to break some rules Picard would never break in the process.

Solids.

Random Observations: 

 The camera work in the opening scene in Engineering really captures Janeway's sense of isolation. It's a very long shot for a Star Trek episode, and must have been tough to film, but it gives a beautiful effect.

 

The dialogue in the brief Neelix/Kes scene is really nice. My favorite bit is Kes's line:

"If I were Captain, I'd open every crack in the universe and peek inside, just like Captain Janeway does."

As I've said before, she embodies the spirit of Starfleet more than anyone else in the crew.

At one point, Chakotay says the ship only has 38 photon torpedos. You better believe we’re starting a photon torpedo count.

B’Elanna suggest the idea of giving the Doctor access to his own program – some serious foreshadowing, as she later does just that, and many plot hooks are created.

Speaking of the Doctor, the lack of respect with which the crew treats him is disgusting (Janeway muting him in the middle of a staff meeting, etc.) I guess if you’ve grown up with holograms that seem like real people it’s easy to compartmentalize and not treat a Hologram like a person, but by now they must be starting to realize he’s more than a sophisticated tricorder.

This train of thought raises some unfortunate implications with Tom’s treatment of holographic women.

Fatalities: 0

Shuttlecraft lost: 0

Torpedos remaining: 37

Parallax (VOY)

Today we're pulling a little switch because Jonah didn't get his article done. Today's scheduled DS9 review will run Friday and Nathan's Voyager review will run today.

Star Trek has gotten us very used to seeing the Federation from one perspective – the inside. But The Federation isn’t paradise to everyone. To B’Elanna Torres it’s a stifling, oppressive system that bogs itself down with unnecessary protocols and regulations. She believes in settling disputes more organically. Unfortunately, she’s also half Klingon, so a small disagreement with acting chief engineer Carey lands the man in sickbay with a broken nose.

It’s a promising way to start a second episode, as news of the altercation reverberates throughout the ship, bringing Chakotay into conflict with Tuvok, B’Elanna, and finally the Captain. And it gets us right to the heart of what this crew is going to have to deal with. The Enterprise was a flagship staffed with the best and the brightest. Voyager can barely keep itself staffed at all.

The A-plot and B-plot are surprisingly well integrated in this episode, which is good because the A- plot, Voyager’s attempt to escape a quantum singularity, is pretty dumb. It’s an escalating series of technobabble that’s eventually solved by more technobabble. But the B-plot, Janeway and Chakotay’s power struggle and Janeway’s search for a Chief Engineer, is compelling enough to keep the episode afloat (The C-plot, a bit of physical humor involving the Doctor shrinking, is merely distracting most of the time.)

So on TNG, Riker would often challenge Picard’s decisions. But Picard knew that Riker always had his safety and the ship’s best interests at heart, and would always back down and follow orders if it came to that. Janeway has no such guarantees from Chakotay. For all she knows at this point, he could still be contemplating a mutiny. This adds a real tension to the scene in Janeway’s office when she calls out her new XO.

Chakotay is remembered in the long canon of Star Trek characters for being always either an obnoxious Native American stereotype or insufferably bland. But early on he’s not like that at all. He’s a rough and tumble Han Solo-type forced into having to adjust to military discipline, a microcosm of all the Maquis on the ship. My guess is the main reason this characterization disappears is that he was too much like Tom (and to some extent, B’Elanna.) The edgy rule-breakers are fun, but too many and the ship becomes total chaos.

As fun as it is to watch him not be boring, Chakotay is somewhat secondary to this episode. Mostly, it’s about B’Elanna and Janeway, and it really takes off when they connect while trying to solve the singularity problem. By the end of the episode, Janeway has decided that the volatile former Maquis has what it takes to be her chief Engineer. But they don’t explicitly trust each other – B’Elanna is still resentful of Janeway for stranding her in the Delta Quadrant, and Janeway is still extremely apprehensive about asking her officers to take orders from a Starfleet academy dropout. And unlike most of the conflicts Voyager sets up, this one won’t have evaporated by season two – B’Elanna remains a deeply conflicted character throughout the series.

I want to take a moment how cool it is for a network show in 1995 to be doing a plotline about two women that doesn’t involve romance at all. The feminism of Voyager is riddled with problems, and believe me, we will get into them, but for now, it’s nice to enjoy an episode that passes the Bechdel test more than just incidentally.

Random Observations:

We will be talking a lot about race, gender, and B’Elanna Torres – another time. Suffice it to say I once wrote a five-page paper on the subject, citing this episode, “Faces” and “Lineage”, and then adapted that paper into a panel I led at Connecticon this year. So it’s something I’ve thought a lot about.

Because she’s half-Klingon, almost no one remembers that B’Elanna’s human father is named Torres, and she’s portrayed by Hispanic actress Roxanne Dawson, making her the first Latina Star Trek regular. Interestingly enough, that honor was supposed to go to Tasha Yar, originally named Macha Hernandez before blonde, blue-eyed Denise Crosby got the part. Just something to mull over.

The C-story does feature a very sweet scene between the EMH and Kes, and they have fantastic chemistry. They’re both kind of naïve in their own ways – Kes is only two years old, after all and technically the EMH is only a few days. He has a lot of preprogrammed knowledge, but not much real experience.

Neelix has a story or an anecdote for everything.

In a rare bit of foresight, Harry Kim mentions that it’s impossible to reroute power from the Holodecks, explaining why they will be able to keep hanging out in French pool halls when they don’t have power to use the replicators.

Recurring character watch: Joe Carey, B’Elanna’s long suffering assistant, will be a familiar face for the next couple seasons. He’s a salt-of-the-Earth type, like O’Brien but less interesting.

Also, is that Seska in a blue uniform?

No new fatalities.

No shuttlecraft lost.