Chakotay and Paris have been taken aboard Annorax's time ship, remaining there for so long that they're given freedom to move about -- which they each use in different ways. Meanwhile, a skeleton crew tries to hold a crumbling Voyager together and take the offensive in their battle against powerful aliens.
I mentioned in my write-up of part one that the writers had originally envisioned an entire season with elements of this "Year of Hell" story sprinkled throughout. Part II hints most at what this might have looked like. Chakotay buys into Annorax's fruitless quest to reset time, gradually adopting the same madness as his own. Paris reacts as a prisoner of war, looking for any opportunity to best his captors. Tuvok and Seven demonstrate a truly interesting friendship. Janeway has to deal with scars both physical and mental.
All of these are good ideas, but there are two major problems as this episode ultimately depicts them. One is the compression of time. I doubt very much that there was a whole season's worth of television here... or even, say, a 10-episode arc like the ending of Deep Space Nine. If there's a kernel of truth in the studio executive opposition to a long story arc, it's this: watching multiple episodes of Voyager beaten to the brink of destruction simply wouldn't be that fun.
And yet, some more screen time really feels necessary for much of this to seem realistic. Chakotay and Paris show no effects from months of solitary confinement. The idea that Annorax's crew would have tolerated 200 years of this hopelessness, without revolting already, is patently ridiculous. Set pieces like the opening sequence, where purple gas from a nebula has leaked into Voyager, look quite cool -- and you could easily imagine a few more "Voyager is messed up" scenarios being compelling as they drive the jeopardy home.
But the real flaw in this episode is the ending. It's a literal reset button, in which "temporal shielding" is disabled to allow all the events of this two-parter to be undone. It's such a cop-out that none of this mattered, that none of the character growth sticks, that no consequences remain to be dealt with in the future. (And that after two centuries of time meddling, Annorax would not consider this solution himself, if it was that simple.)
The writers reportedly did not want it this way. They wanted Voyager to remain damaged for several episodes before it could be fully repaired, but the studio vetoed it. They wanted some characters to have even faint memory echoes of the alternate timeline, but executive producer Rick Berman reportedly nixed that and mandated a simple reset. And so everything ends in the least satisfying way imaginable.
That this doesn't immediately place this episode at the bottom of rankings for me is a testament to just how compelling much of it is before that ending. The friction between the Doctor and Janeway is especially compelling. Conflict between Chakotay and Paris is pretty good too. The way a connection between Chakotay and Janeway is maintained even though they aren't together in this episode is really well-handled (if a bit of a tease for the 'shippers out there). The true friendship between Janeway and Tuvok is outstanding (and one of the few elements that is continued after this episode, since it had precedent before). Plus, guest star Kurtwood Smith is truly great as Annorax; if he weren't here, the episode would be much worse for it.
The production really pulls out all the stops presenting great visuals. Voyager looks even more trashed throughout this hour. New alien ship designs are brought in for just this one episode. The scope of the final battle feels appropriately big. Even little details are fun, like seeing what the bridge's main viewscreen looks like when it's malfunctioning, or thoughtful and evocative camera shots like Janeway alone on the bridge, ready to go down with the ship.
Other observations:
- The recap at the start of this episode is terrible. It doesn't show the capture of Paris and Chakotay or the blinding of Tuvok from Part I, two major things you need to remember before watching Part II.
- The epilogue scene between Annorax and his wife is perhaps even worse than a strict "it never happened" ending. It implies that this is all actually a loop of some kind, destined to repeat endlessly and uselessly.
And yet... frustrating as this episode can be, parts of it really are fun, well-written, and well-acted. So I'll give "Year of Hell, Part II" a B. I guess the bad ending isn't a dealbreaker for me.
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