Searching for a cure to the Phage, a Vidiian doctor splits B'Elanna Torres into two people -- one a timid human, the other a defiant Klingon on whom he intends to experiment. While both B'Elannas, Tom Paris, and Durst are imprisoned in a Vidiian labor compound, the Voyager crew works to overcome the aliens' camouflage technology to mount a rescue.
This episode was an early assignment for staff writer Kenneth Biller, who was handed the "split B'Elanna" concept (purchased from outside writer Jonathan Glassner) as maybe something of a trial-by-fire for the new guy. Biller realized that the Vidiians would be the best vehicle to logically explain the premise (ditching the "random alien machine accident" in the original story), and from there he crafted this script.
In my view, though, this episode manages somehow to thread a needle of both being too on-the-nose and not digging deep enough. Human B'Elanna's journey of self-acceptance, arriving at the realization that her fiery Klingon personality is a vital part of who she is, seems awfully literal and is rather laboriously hammered on in dialogue. But there's something much more profound at play here that goes underexplored, something more meaningful than "all Klingons are warriors and I don't like the warrior inside me."
B'Elanna Torres, much like Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation, is a character with a background in two very different cultural heritages. She's very unlike Worf in two important ways, though: she made the choice to assimilate, to reject her "foreign" heritage; and she is of two worlds not only in upbringing but in genetics. It matters that Roxann Biggs-Dawson herself is an actor with a Puerto Rican Latina background, who changed her birth name to further her Hollywood career. There is a lot in common here between actor and character. But I feel like the script doesn't do the best job of leveraging that in the story.
Of course today, two-plus decades later, there is a broader understanding of the concepts of cultural appropriation and assimilation. And you can't really expect older television to "get it" completely. Still, the moments where the episode really doesn't get it are a bit cringe-worthy. Tom Paris equates B'Elanna's embarrassment over her Klingon physical features with the bad haircuts he got as a boy. (Haircuts grow out, dude.) The scene of Neelix messing with a classic Vulcan recipe is just played for a laugh (in a scene where Tuvok is made to seem like the one in the wrong).
Perhaps because the episode is relying on the performer to bring the subtext, I think she struggles a bit at times. Klingon B'Elanna speaks strangely and slowly for the first half of the episode -- is this a choice meant to indicate that she's not as smart as human B'Elanna? Is Biggs-Dawson just learning to speak through the prosthetic teeth, or did she watch Lursa from The Next Generation for preparation and choose to copy that? In any case, they certainly threw Biggs-Dawson into the deep end here without much help: she's barely had time to figure out her regular character on the show, and now here she's asked to play two related characters, one in heavy makeup, both with a challenging visual effects element (for the split-screen scenes).
Biggs-Dawson isn't the only performer in a double role. Guest star Brian Markinson, who showed up last episode as Durst, is double-cast here as the Vidiian doctor Sulan. That's all to support the visual gag of Sulan transplanting Durst's face onto his own, a great concept and even better makeup effect... that like all things Vidiian, seems like it isn't played enough for the true horror it could be. (But it is another fun level on the episode title of "Faces.")
Other observations:
- The opening scene is supposed to end on the stunning reveal that B'Elanna has been transformed into a full Klingon. But it's filmed in such low, harsh lighting that I don't think it's entirely clear what's happened.
- There's a Talaxian prisoner in the labor camp with our heroes, who helps them out with good advice and water... and who Paris just abandons when Chakotay arrives to rescue him.
- B'Elanna is going to die at the end of the episode if the Doctor doesn't reintegrate her Klingon DNA. But by all means, take the time to restore Chakotay's regular, non-Vidiian appearance first. No hurry.
I feel like "Faces" is on the cusp of being a really good episode. But "so close, yet so far" really applies here. I give it a C+.
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