Voyager Flashback: Fair Trade

I've made no secret of the fact that Neelix was my least favorite character on Star Trek: Voyager. I think this was the same for many viewers. The third season episode "Fair Trade" was not going to change any of those opinions.

Voyager arrives at the Nekrit Expanse, a vast region of space about which little is known. Neelix is secretly concerned, as it marks the edge of space he knows personally, and thus the end of his utility as a guide to the Delta Quadrant. Concerned about his place on the ship, he works with an old partner to find a map of the Expanse... and is drawn back into a criminal past.

The story of Neelix's "dark past" had reportedly been kicking around with the writing staff since season one. But only in season three did they contrive a reason why he might embrace that past: fear of outliving his usefulness on Voyager and being put off the ship. On the one hand, that fear makes sense: this is not a Galaxy-class starship with non-Starfleet families "not contributing" to the workings of the ship. On the other hand, Neelix has been living with these people for two years now, yet hasn't learned that the Federation is non-transactional and generous to a fault?

But then, Neelix's failure to "read the room" has always been one of the character's most obnoxious traits. And this story kicks that into high gear. In the opening minutes of the episode, he's trying to force his way into the security department and engineering. Only minutes after that, he's admitting to his old friend Wixiban that he's actually never really been useful on the ship -- they don't need a cook, and he's not much of an ambassador. Indeed, Wixiban seems to actually be everything Neelix always pretended at: more street smart, more knowledgeable, more clever and resourceful.

That's the real problem with this episode: it's "threatening me with a good time." For Neelix to actually get put off the ship would be a dream come true. (All apologies to actor Ethan Phillips here. He's doing exactly what the writing asks of him in this role... and the writers repeatedly throw him under the bus.) Neelix doesn't even have the connection with the far more interesting character of Kes anymore; their breakup from a few episodes ago was apparently real, as he doesn't even go to her for advice in this situation. (Apparently, a scene dealt with this, but was cut for time. I have to believe other material left in the episode was less essential.)

What saves the episode from being a total bust is its relatable theme: the more you lie, the harder it becomes to tell the truth. I imagine for everyone, that lesson relates to some very different and very personal past, but the general sentiment feels absolutely universal. Paris voices this theme in an awfully on-the-nose scene, but it doesn't make it any less true. And everything builds to a conclusion in which Janeway echoes one of Jean-Luc Picard's all-time best speeches from The Next Generation, about how the first duty of any Starfleet officer is to the truth.

Other observations:

• Ensign Vorik makes his first appearance in this episode, a character being seeded now for a future story line. It's the second time that actor Alexander Enberg played a Vulcan, and show runner Jeri Taylor once opined that the two characters might be twin brothers. (Taylor had a vested interest in fleshing out Vorik; Alexander Enberg is her son!)
  

• Garrett Wang does not appear in this episode. Years later, he explained that he was experiencing depression at the time and showing up late to work. He was given time off to see a counselor. Though lest you think that producer Rick Berman was actually doing a nice thing here, he believed Wang was simply out "partying too hard" and blowing off his responsibilities. So he probably saw his actions here as something more akin to meting out punishment.
  

• Speaking of punishment, "cryostatic imprisonment" sounds like an interesting one, worthy of its own Star Trek episode. We've seen stasis used as a sort of one-way time travel before, and the people who do it always seem pretty miserable for everything they've missed. Inflicting it as punishment doesn't sound entirely far-fetched.

• And still speaking of punishment, at the end of this episode, Janeway orders Neelix to scrub the ship's exhaust manifolds for two weeks. It's a task so unpleasant it can double as a punishment. But it's somebody's regular daily job on Voyager.
  

Relatable as the theme of this episode might be, it still centers around Neelix. And the writers remain as determined as ever to make him the most unlikable character on the show. I give "Fair Trade" a C-.