Voyager comes upon a Kazon ship in distress: an onboard disaster involving an experimental technology has killed all but one of the crew. When our heroes investigate, they learn that this experimental technology is based on Starfleet systems, which seem to have been given to the Kazon by a traitor aboard Voyager. Suspicions quickly turn to Seska, a Maquis crew member who has had trouble fitting in, and Carey, the Starfleet officer who was passed over for the role of chief engineer.
Freelance writer Paul Robert Coyle had read the script of "Caretaker" (before it was even filmed) and got a chance to pitch story ideas to the show. Co-creator Michael Piller loved his pitch of a Cardassian spy disguised as a Bajoran amidst the Maquis crew, and it became the first outside story sold to the series. But as another co-creator, Jeri Taylor explained: "...it would probably be a good idea – since all of these people are new – if we did some stories in which we established this character before we did a whole episode about her."
As the writers wrote material for Seska to build toward this plot reveal, they discovered she was actually a very useful character to have around, quite different from the usual Star Trek characters with her grumpiness and abrasiveness and mutinous tendencies. It feels to me like they enjoyed writing for her a little too much... or, at least, too much for you to take the alternative suspect of the comparatively underwritten Carey very seriously.
Still, if the "mystery" here isn't especially strong, there are at least some good scenes throughout. We get the back story that Chakotay and Seska previously tried a romantic relationship -- a detail that both says a lot about how dedicated a spy Seska is and sets up future stakes for Chakotay with the recurring villain the show is now putting in play. The episode also hangs a lantern on the obvious question of "just how many spies were on Chakotay's ship after all?" It depicts his crisis of confidence: "how big a dupe am I?" he basically asks Tuvok.
Other "lanterns" are hung in this episode to somewhat less effect. Janeway dismisses Tuvok's conjecture that any other Starfleet ships could have been pulled to the Delta Quadrant before Voyager -- but a few seasons later, we'll learn this is exactly what happened. Seska deflects Chakotay's suspicions by saying that he wouldn't have had any secrets good enough for a Cardassian agent to steal -- which sounds correct; why was she infiltrating his Maquis ship?
Around the margins of the episode, characters are becoming more themselves. B'Elanna explains how she's not a Scotty (not quite in so many words) who pads her time estimates to look like a "miracle worker." Tuvok continues to be efficient and effective as security chief, ahead of the game at basically every point of this story. Neelix... well, the writers seem determined to make him as annoying as possible, and they keep writing for his one major character trait: he's a terrible cook (and doesn't know it).
The Kazon become the first Voyager baddies to repeat... though we get a different "sect" here than we did in the premiere. My memory of the series is that they don't do nearly enough with this notion of rival Kazon factions to amount to much, but this episode does at least makes them seem a more credible threat than "Caretaker." By establishing that a Kazon leader would rather murder his own subordinates than give away information to an enemy, we see how far they'll go. That in turn informs the climax of the episode, which hinges on the fact that once a handful of Kazon ships are united in one place, that's a threat Voyager can't ignore.
Other episodes:
- This episode heads briefly back out on location, to a popular Star Trek spot. Bronson Canyon has appeared several times, though their caves haven't really been featured. I'm not sure this episode needed that extra touch, but the real caves do look better on screen than the fake ones back at the studio.
- For the first time, the Doctor does not say "please state the nature of the medical emergency" when activated. I suppose this is because he was in some sort of "half on" mode to watch over Seska. Or maybe it has to do with Chakotay mixing up the order of the words when he asks for the "Emergency Holographic Medical Program."
"State of Flux" makes good moves for the future of Star Trek: Voyager, but as an episode unto itself, it could use a bit more punch -- Chakotay could feel more shaken, the "Carey or Seska?" mystery could be more convincingly balanced. I give it a B-.
1 comment:
That's three consecutive B- episodes - looks like a theme is emerging. I must admit I don't remember enjoying the early seasons of Voyager much, but reading these reviews 25 years later, it doesn't really sound as bad as I remember.
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