Asencia throws the captured Protostar cadets into an arena with a captive Loom to menace and execute them. Voyager has very little time to secure their rescue -- but Janeway, Chakotay, the Doctor, and Wesley Crusher are on the case.
The pendulum swings quite a bit in the last chunk of this season: some episodes center the young main characters in the story, and others -- like this one -- give the spotlight to the legacy franchise characters. There simply isn't much for Dal, Gwyn, and the gang to do in this episode but run from the Loom.
And that by itself really tripped me up for too big a chunk of the episode's short runtime. At some point, we get a clear shot showing the technological collar that's been attached to the Loom, implicitly forcing it to stay in our reality, and perhaps even driving it into its extra-aggressive rampage. (While depriving it of its most dangerous powers? Maybe?) But there's a lot of hand-waving here.
Not the least of which is the question, how did Asencia figure out how to control (or at least confine) a Loom when even Wesley Crusher couldn't stop them with his extra timey-wimey knowledge? This is more of the artificial inflation of Asencia as apex villain that hasn't really made sense to me. But at least Jameela Jamil keeps delivering a deliciously wicked vocal performance as the character. The character isn't quoting authors and playwrights like Khan or General Kang, but she's bringing the same energy.
Like I said, though, this is more of an episode for the legacy characters -- and they do get some nice moments in it. The Doctor's holographic deception to stall Asencia is the "big scene," but I most appreciate a much quieter scene that opened the episode: Chakotay acknowledging Janeway's 14th anniversary commanding a starship. It's a nice moment reminding us of how much these characters have shared, informed by how much history the actors themselves share. Plus, there's extra resonance in it all when you think about it specifically from Chakotay's point of view: he had 7 years with Janeway every day, another 7 post-return-to-Earth... and a staggering 10 years where he was stuck in isolation with the Protostar and only the holographic version of Janeway for company. (He was stuck there longer than he was stuck in the Delta Quadrant!)
That's a lovely scene with surprising emotional heft... but it's also just one scene amid an episode that's otherwise mostly run-and-gun action. For me, it wasn't a favorite of the season. I give "Touch of Grey" a B-.
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