Captain Janeway begins to experience delusions at a particularly critical time: Voyager is about to pass through the space of mysterious and particularly territorial aliens. And soon, everyone on the ship is falling victim to catatonia.
There's a lot to like in this episode -- details big and small, character elements and tonal choices. This episode seems intended to be unnerving, and there are times it truly is, as the captain questions her own sanity. The look of the alien bridge is effective: bathed in light while somehow cloaking the character in shadow.
Best of all, the delusions experienced by the different characters are interesting and generally well-chosen. Janeway is haunted by the fiancé she left behind. Paris' stern father, mentioned before, actually appears to torment him some more (played by a different actor than would later take up the part). B'Elanna is made to question whether she even knows her own mind, as the possibility of romance with Chakotay is foisted upon her. When Kes starts having visions too, things get effectively dark: great makeup (Paris' burns, Kes' festering boils) combine with strong performances to really sell the horror.
But at the same time, the story structure here is a real barrier to fully enjoying the episode. It's clear by the end that a telepathic alien is responsible for what's happening to everyone, yet there don't seem to be any rules to how his powers actually work. Maybe it's dependent on distance, because he first affects Janeway and only later anyone else. Or maybe it's simply fun for him to first make just one person question her sanity before then moving on to attack the rest of the crew? Why is Janeway first to be targeted but also somehow one of the last to succumb to a catatonic state? Why is B'Elanna able to resist the attack for a while (being the only one in engineering unaffected), and what changes moments later when she falls victim?
A little mystery here does feel tonally appropriate -- and the fact that the alien does what he does for apparently no other reason than "he can" does seem to strike the right balance. But it also seems like he just gives up more than Kes defeats him, which doesn't make a lot of sense. And we never even really find out if he is one of the mysterious Bothans we keep hearing about, or if the Bothans themselves are just a figment conjured by this powerful alien. (Star Wars fans: these aren't the spies who stole the second Death Star plans; the first syllable of their names rhymes with "go.")
At the margins of the story are some nods to continuity on the series, both good and bad. On the plus side: after an episode in which the Doctor imagined he could move more freely around the ship, the crew is now trying to make that a reality. (Why holography is so easy in one particular room and so hard everywhere else is unclear.) But on the minus side: Janeway's silly holonovel. Again. As in its two previous appearances, it's shocking how much episode time is given to this go-nowhere fiction-within-the-fiction. Finally, the writers realized it; this is the last time the holonovel ever appears. (Though you might say it's finally starting to get interesting, with strong suggestions of ghostly activity in Stuffy Manor.)
Other observations:
- This episode opens on Janeway walking through the hallway. No establishing shot outside the ship, no music to set the mood. It's quite jarring.
- Tuvok and Kim both give fun wordless reactions telling us exactly what they think of Neelix's food. Great humor from both characters and actors... but it sure does seem like the writers don't even want us to like Neelix, do they?
- The visual effect of Kes supposedly pushing Janeway's delusion back into her mind doesn't really look like what they say it does. It looks to me like the captain is being possessed.
Much of this episode is moody and effective, but I really do struggle with the "what even are the rules here?" of it all. So for me, "Persistence of Vision" ends up about a B-.
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