Voyager answers a distress call from a holographic alien alone on a ship whose corporeal crew has all died. The Doctor is eager to bond with a kindred spirit, but it gradually becomes clear that his would-be friend is actually responsible for the crews' deaths. Meanwhile, Harry Kim is awash in a confusing jumble of feelings as he must work closely with Seven of Nine.
There's a lot about this episode that feels inspired by Alfred Hitchcock. There are moments where we the audience see incriminating things that the characters (B'Elanna and the Doctor) do not. There are specific shot homages, particularly to Psycho. The opening scene is perhaps the most Hitchcock of all: by showing us that the alien hologram Dejaren is a murderer, it forces the story to turn on suspense and not surprise -- Hitchcock's signature method. There's a dash of John Carpenter in here too, in the final "one last scare" confrontation between slow-walking silent killer Dejaren and outmatched, fleeing B'Elanna.
It's possible that the relative inexperience of the director here is why this cribs so heavily from "the greats." Kenneth Biller's main role on the show was as a staff writer and producer. (Interestingly, he did not write this script. It came from another staff writer, Lisa Klink.) Biller had some background directing theater, but little film experience. Even veteran directors aren't above borrowing from the best; Biller just seems to have dipped into the bag of tricks more than most. He also tries a few unusually showy shots for Voyager -- most notably, a minutes-long single take in the mess hall that passes between multiple conversations.
I feel the swings at style are a bit of a mixed bag. Where it does work, I mostly credit a strong, intense performance from guest star Leland Orser. He's one of those ubiquitous working actors (who had even done Star Trek before) -- though he will probably always be most recognized for his harrowing minor role in Seven. Here, wearing basically Brent Spiner's Data makeup, he is profoundly creepy, elevating a pretty stock serial killer role: a fastidious, quiet, explosive menace. The day after he shot this guest role, he hopped on a plane to London to appear in Saving Private Ryan -- so, yeah, this was Leland Orser at his peak.
The Seven/Kim subplot is less successful in my eye. The two characters make a good pairing, but it seems like the writers hadn't quite figured out how they were going to write Seven of Nine yet. It's fine that she gets the emotional upper hand on Harry Kim in the abstract, but she seems so mature and self-possessed, and that simply doesn't fit her history. She's a little too "human" in this episode, gamely moving past a mistake she's made (that should shake her profoundly) and wielding humor too skillfully.
Humor generally isn't this episode's strong suit. Paris trashing the Sickbay as he takes over for Kes feels pretty cheap. A story about pranking Tuvok by programming his computer to say only "live long and prosper" feels like it might actually be slightly racist. The Doctor pretending briefly to have gone psycho at the end is so bizarre. (Though one joke is delightful: Robert Picardo's delivery of the admission that the Doctor took "a few days to master the social graces.")
Other observations:
- Tuvok receives a promotion. I swear, in one reaction shot of Harry Kim, you can see Garrett Wang playing Kim's slight jealousy.
- I do wonder what the aliens' treatment of Dejaren was really like. (We have only Dejaren's account.) Was he actually mistreated? How much did the aliens bring their fate upon themselves by creating a monster?
- Dejaren reaches inside B'Elanna's body to attack her internal organs. I'm shocked she's not more wounded after that. I guess it's Klingon multiple redundant organs?
- They set up that a new Astrometrics Lab will be built. It will take several episodes before we see it. It's kind of different of Star Trek to make a big deal about a new set coming over the course of multiple episodes, rather than just debuting it.
Mostly on the strength of the guest star, I'll give "Revulsion" a B. It's fine enough, though I think it falls somewhat short of the horror-thriller aspirations it seems to have had.
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