Voyager has been ordered back to headquarters, but the crew is reluctant to leave Asencia alone to continue building up her forces unchallenged. Gwyn suggests that the cadets be sent on a covert mission, off the Starfleet books. On that mission, they learn that two people are in need of rescue: Ilthuran and Wesley Crusher... and make the fateful decision to split up to try to save both.
I'd been waiting for multiple episodes to the get the context that this episode finally provides: the revelation that Wesley Crusher allowed himself to get captured on purpose as part of an elaborate plan to ultimately send the Protostar back in time. I think we needed this detail a lot sooner than this, as not only does it answer the question of how a Traveler could be imprisoned against his will, it helps explain the sudden elevation of Asencia as a galaxy-threatening villain.
Not that this episode had me thinking, "oh, this all makes complete sense now." Indeed, this was sort of the episode where I kind of gave up on trying to track the ongoing story. This episode introduces us to a second, non-evil version of Asencia, which I decidedly did not understand. Is she from the past? The future? An alternate reality? It probably doesn't matter; we've just reached the part of the story where Big Bad Villain with a Big Bad Plan must be stopped.
To that end, Wesley Crusher has offered the minimally helpful advice that the Protostar crew (and Ma'jel) have "got to stick together." The guy can see the future (or... I guess we're meant to assume from all the math scribbles that he's just really good at predicting it?), but he can't predict that a bunch of children might not take that advice in the literal way he'd intended it without more explicit directions. And so, his grand plan goes the way of most "let yourself get captured on purpose" plans in TV and movies go: not well.
However, I liked that this episode returned the kids to the center of the action. And I really like that their actions were quite smart for the entire episode. This was not a case of kids being kids, leading to jeopardy; I felt that they pretty much made all the right decisions all the way through the episode. (I don't hold their ignoring of Wesley's super-vague warning against them.) It was a good showing for Gwyn as leader, for Dal in following another leader, and for all the other characters in little moments where they got to use their best skills.
So, taken altogether, I'll give "Brink" a B-. We've definitely reached the customary "all is lost" moment of the story. Three more episodes left to put everything right.
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