Still confined for committing murder, Suder wants to find a way to contribute to the ship. But Janeway has little time to consider his request, when Seska sends a desperate message to Chakotay: Chakotay's child has been born, and Maje Culluh is enraged. The crew resolves to help the commander go after his baby, on guard for the trap they sense it could be.
During this period of Star Trek, the writers regularly took a "we'll figure it out" attitude to each season's cliffhangers, writing their way into jeopardy and then figuring their way back out after the break between seasons. According to co-creator Jeri Taylor, that's what happened here too, with the staff working on part two after a six-week break. Still, this finale suggests to me that they at least had more of an idea than usual of how they'd wrap up this story. Escape hatches are meticulously put in place in the form of Suder, Tom Paris, and the Doctor. And indeed, the title itself, "Basics," seems to mean nothing here; it's only the second half that provides the context, that the crew must "get back to basics" to survive without their technology on a hostile alien planet. (What's more, the filming of the episodes reportedly took place back-to-back. A few early season three episodes were filmed -- out of order! -- at the end of season two before production took its break.)
The cliffhanger certainly works, in that the crew ends up in serious jeopardy unlike any they've faced before. The episode, I find more mixed, in that the Kazon-Seska plot is really wearing thin for me. Piller was reportedly keen to wrap up that story on his way out the door, where other writers were lobbying to introduce a new alien threat. Piller was probably correct that loose ends needed tying, but it's getting old to watch the Kazon (made out to be primitive and stupid) get the drop on Voyager. Or, if the argument is "well, they have Seska's help," then it's getting old to watch one person outsmart an entire crew with her plans-within-plans scheming.
But there is good material here. Chakotay's vision of his father is a rare case of the character's invented spiritualism being reasonably respectful of real-world American Indians. To my limited perspective, at least, it does a good job of voicing the history of babies forced by conquerors onto Chakotay's ancestors without actually equating his situation to rape. Interestingly, the episode doesn't shy away from that topic, though. It comes up both in that scene, and later when we learn that as cover with Maje Culluh, Seska claimed Chakotay raped her. Delicate material for a 90s TV series, but also not just included to be edgy.
As you'd expect, guest star Brad Dourif is great. To me, it's clear that Suder fears losing the stability he's found, like it's a fading memory. He's worried about backsliding into the person he was, and is desperate to avoid that. Although none of this subtext is voiced until part two, Dourif does an excellent job of conveying it without dialogue. (His scene with Janeway, in particular, speaks volumes.) But more on Dourif when I get to part two.
I'm divided on the character of Teirna. In a nutshell, I wish the prayer moment wasn't here. Even though this episode was made in 1996, and may not have meant what it looks like today, it sure reads in a very particular way to a modern audience. The thing is, the Kazon have never before been portrayed as especially religious; indeed, we know nothing of their religion at all. So the whole "wait, are they saying what I think they're saying?" aspect could just as easily been avoided. The toenail peeling, needle wielding, distending body elements would be as unsettling either way.
Other observations:
- While actor Henry Darrow had played Chakotay's father before, this was the first time Robert Beltran actually got to work with him.
- The Doctor works great for comic relief. The whole sequence where he's projected into space is superfluous and silly... but it also kind of works.
- The lava footage on the viewscreen doesn't feel like it matches the location where the crew is dropped off at all.
- Director Winrich Kolbe is quite dynamic with his camera choices, without being too showy about it. Interestingly, he himself was kind of mixed on this two-parter; he praised the work while critiquing the very premise: "...why are we going after a baby if we're running out of fuel and everybody wants to get home?" I think only being on the set a few times a season, Kolbe came to the job with Voyager's original premise more in mind: the situation is going to be desperate and resources will be scarce. But over an entire season he wasn't always around for, the writers seemed to gradually blur the line of just how limited resources really were (like shuttles, torpedoes, etc.).
I must admit that despite some quibbles, my main takeaway from this episode is still an interest in seeing what happens next -- exactly how they will get out of it (even if clues point the way). I give "Basics, Part I" a B.
That brings me to the end of season two of Voyager. I'd call it a fractured effort. When it was good, I found it measurably improved over season one; I rated only two first season episodes a B or B+, but 11 episodes (over 40% of the season) got there for me in year two. On the other hand, I'd say the season average was only barely better than year one -- when Voyager was bad in year two, it was worse that year one. From this "tale of two seasons," I'd select these five as the best Voyager episodes of season two: "Projections," "The Thaw," "Meld," "Basics, Part I," and "Lifesigns."
On to season three!
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