Shortly after Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres marry, problems aboard Voyager begin to mount. People begin dying and the ship itself starts to decay. Soon, the crew discovers the "cause." They're not the real Voyager and its crew, but the mimetic life forms left behind when the actual Voyager encountered them. And now there may be nothing they can do to prevent their imminent destruction.
On the one hand, I appreciate that Voyager actually tries its hand here at a bit of serialized storytelling, with a direct sequel to a previous episode. Even more impressive is that they've taken what was actually a rather poor episode and made a clever and often compelling sequel to it. The writers lean into the conceit, embracing a quite tragic ending that's quite unusual for the series. On the other hand, nothing about episode actually "matters." It almost feels like a time travel reset, in that our real characters aren't impacted at all and have no idea that anything ever happened to them.
On the one hand, there are several emotional moments throughout the episode that do land, despite the fact that this isn't the "real crew." Characters die, and it has a profound effect on the survivors. Paris spirals after losing B'Elanna. Janeway and Chakotay argue about what to do, and it takes Chakotay's death for Janeway to come around to his point of view. Ultimately, Harry Kim finally gets a "promotion," to first officer and then captain, as everyone else around him is lost. There's tragedy both in the crew being unable to get their story out, and the fact that the advanced engine they created (dooming them all) could have actually helped the real Voyager.
On the other hand, there is an awful lot of hand-waving here -- so much that even if you can look past some things, it's hard to ignore them all. How did the entire crew forget the truth of their identities in just a few months? How did the mimetic goo of their homeworld graduate from copying life-forms to copying Voyager?
Actually, one thing about this episode actually does "matter," in how it actually shackles the writers for later. By depicting a wedding here between fake Tom and B'Elanna, they close off the option to do much with the real couple down the road. (It would feel too much "been there, done that.") That's a shame, both because the actual characters deserve better, and because this is a really weird wedding. Hearing "Heart and Soul," even in a jazzy rendition, sounds like a music lesson. The toast includes very awkward quips about homicide and pain sticks, and strange smack talk. It feels oddly old-fashioned to see guests throwing rice (though I guess there aren't any pigeons on Voyager to worry about.) The honeymoon is going to be on the holodeck in Prohibition-era Chicago; this would be like you honeymooning in the Dark Ages.
Yet, perhaps there's some special spark in asking the cast to play characters who aren't quite their usual characters. Because somehow, I do think this episode mostly works. Much of the writing is really quite deft, like the way Tuvok and Chakotay almost sneak up on revealing to the audience that this episode is a sequel. And yes, daring to give us about the bleakest ending possible.
Other observations:
- Lots of gooey makeup in this episode as people begin to decay. But it never affects their uniforms, of course. Messing those things up and cleaning them is really expensive.
- Neelix is made Chief Medical Officer as the crew dwindles. That's when you know there's no hope.
Part of me can't get over the fact that this episode kind of "doesn't happen." But taken on its own terms, it's a pretty solid, almost Twilight Zone-ish episode of Voyager. I give "Course: Oblivion" a B. In any case, it certainly redeems the episode "Demon" that inspired it.
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