This article discusses sexual assault.
Star Trek: Voyagerseason 4 is home to some episodes I’d rather not watch again, and usually skip on a rewatch.Voyagerfinally hit its stride starting in season 4, with Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine bringing much-needed conflict to theStar Trek: Voyagercast, particularly in showdowns with Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew).
Because I usually skip these episodes,I rewatched them to see if they were as lackluster as I remembered them beingthe first time through, or if any were actually hidden gems. After all, there’s less consensus among fans about whatStar Trek: Voyager’s best episodesare, compared toStar Trek: The Next GenerationandStar Trek: Deep Space Nine.
5"Unforgettable"
Star Trek: Voyager Season 4, Episode 22
Star Trek: Voyager’s “Unforgettable” is an ironically titled episode about a woman named Kellin (Virginia Madsen) seeking refuge from her xenophobic homeworld on the USS Voyager. She’s been there before, and even fell in love with Commander Chakotay, butno one remembers Kellin, thanks to the pheromone that makes people forget her species after a matter of hours.
The stakes are relatively low, because it’s obvious Kellin isn’t going to be sticking around; it’s just a matter of how and why she leaves Voyager. The story drags out over conversations that don’t sit right with me, whereKellin tells Chakotay that he feels something that he clearly doesn’t, because he doesn’t remember their relationship.
Butthere are also good things about “Unforgettable”, like the heartbreaking,Twilight Zone-style twist at the end, and Madsen’s beautifully desperate, believable performance. And “Unforgettable” scores points for cleverly usingStar Trek: Voyager’s reset button problemto its advantage. It’s easy to believe Kellin really was in an earlier episode that I just forgot about.
I judged “Unforgettable” too harshly.
Honestly, I judged “Unforgettable” too harshly.It’s a solid character piece for Chakotay that highlights his compassion and kindness, while I—like Lieutenant Tuvok (Tim Russ) and Seven of Nine—was wondering if this was an elaborate scam. It’s not a badStar Trekepisode, so I’ll be adding it back into my futureStar Trek: Voyagerrewatches.
4"Vis à Vis"
Star Trek: Voyager Season 4, Episode 20
I remember “Vis à Vis” being bland filler with a goofy premise where Lieutenant Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) got his life stolen by the body-hopping guest star, Steth (Dan Butler), but I was pleasantly surprised by what it actually is. Instead of being filler,“Vis à Vis” is a character-driven story about Parislearning to appreciate his life.
ModernStar Trektakes on the body-swap genre inStrange New Worldsseason 1, episode 5, “Spock Amok”—but with more hijinks and humor.
That’s par for the course for most good body swap stories, so"Vis à Vis" doesn’t break any new ground in terms of storytelling. But this episode does help solidify Tom Paris as a character at this point inStar Trek: Voyager’s run. We get insights into Paris' daily life as Steth tries to navigate one of Tom’s ordinary days.
During “Vis à Vis”, Chakotay tells Paris he’s proud of how far Tom has come since their Delta Quadrant journey started. B’Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) expresses frustration that Tom isn’t the best boyfriend (yet). These two conversations show thatStar Trek: Voyagercharactersdoactually evolve and change, and Tom Paris may be one who has changed the most.
“Vis à Vis” is a fun little episode that works better than I remember. Sure, the plot is a little derivative, but I like it whenStar Trek: Voyagertakes time to show us who individual characters really are.If you like Tom Paris, give “Vis à Vis” a chance—but if you’re not a fan, you’re able to still skip it.
3"Waking Moments"
Star Trek: Voyager Season 4, Episode 13
“Waking Moments” is anotherStar Trek: Voyagerepisode where aDelta Quadrant alien speciesdoesn’t know what to make of the USS Voyager encroaching on its space. The solution, in this case, is to make the Voyager crew sleep as a protective measure, because these aliens spend their lives sleeping, and don’t trust the “waking species” to leave them alone.
There’s some humor in the Voyager crew’s dreams in the cold open, and a scene where theydofigure out the common element in their shared dream that echoesStar Trek: The Next Generation’s “Schisms”. But “Waking Moments” is neither aStar Trekcomedy episodenor sufficiently creepy; instead, the tone is relatively even throughout.
The dreams in “Waking Moments” range from Lieutenant Tuvok reporting for duty sans uniform and Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) making out with Seven of Nine, to Captain Janeway discovering Voyager’s crew are all dead.
The resolution to the mystery of who’s keeping the crew asleep comes fairly early in the episode, and the solution to the problem is pretty simple. There are no character arcs giving the story emotional weight, andthe premise of “Waking Moments” isn’t weird enough to be bad in a memorable way, likeVoyager’s infamous season 2 episode “Threshold”.
Instead,“Waking Moments” feels like a cobbled-together take on two betterStar Trek: The Next Generationepisodes: the aforementioned “Schisms”, with the crew’s troubling shared dreams, andTNGseason 6, episode 21, “Frame of Mind”, with a much more viscerally creepy take on questionable realities. I’d recommend watching those instead.
2"Nemesis"
Star Trek: Voyager Season 4, Episode 4
“Nemesis” sees Commander Chakotay being found by a group of alien soldiers, eventually joining in their fight after being radicalized by their personal stories.Chakotay’s compassion is his downfall, as he compares the soldiers toStar Trek’s Maquisfighting the Cardassians. Framing compassion as something that makes Chakotay easier to manipulate is a weird choice forStar Trek.
The soldiers' unique dialect sounds like it was filtered through multiple translations, with word choices that are just familiar enough to be understood, but odd enough to be unsettling. Using this dialect is supposed to signal that Chakotay is assimilating into the soldiers' culture, as he picks up on the misinformation and stereotypes of their “nemesis”.
I see whatStar Trek: Voyager’s “Nemesis” is trying to say; they even spell it out once Chakotay is back on the USS Voyager. The insidiousness of propaganda is a particularly important message today, when it’s harder to filter the signal from the noise on modern social media. I understand all that, andI still think “Nemesis” is boring.
Even though it’s an interesting premise with a powerful message, “Nemesis” suffers from its perplexing delivery. The soldiers' jargon is dense and difficult to unravel, andwatching “Nemesis” feels like wading through sludge. ForStar Trekstories about the complexity of alien languages, tryStar Trek: The Next Generation’s “Darmok"orStar Trek: Strange New Worlds' “Lost in Translation” instead.
1"Retrospect”
Star Trek: Voyager Season 4, Episode 17
Unlike theStar Trek: Voyagerseason 4 episodes that I skip because they’re dull,I skip “Retrospect” because it’s uncomfortable. In “Retrospect”, local trader Kovin (Michael Horton) is attacked by Seven of Nine, seemingly unprovoked. Seven, meanwhile, claims she acted in self-defense because Kovin assaulted her to forcibly harvest Borg nanoprobes. But whose truth is correct?
The episode is ostensibly about hypnosis creating false memories, but"Retrospect" risks supporting the idea that victims of assault should keep quiet, because rape accusations — regardless of guilt — ruin men’s lives. Yes, Seven’s memories are faulty, guided by the Doctor’s (Robert Picardo) new recovery technique, but Janeway doesn’t know that when she asks Seven to rescind her accusation.
Instead, Seven, who isalreadya victim of assault afterSeven of Nine’s history with the Borg, is branded as a difficult woman. Seven is barely liberated and just learning to speak up, before Janeway tries to silence her again.It’s out of character for Captain Janeway, who is defined by her support for her crew, and it’s off-brand forStar Trek.
It’s hard to watch Seven of Nine recall the assault, and harder still to stomach the implication that Seven’s accusation actually doomed an innocent man to his death. “Retrospect” is one of the fewStar Trekepisodes I really can’t bear to watch, and I’m going to keep skipping it in myStar Trek: Voyagerrewatches.
