Voyager Flashback: Critical Care

Star Trek is well known for taking modern issues and filtering them through a science fiction lens to offer social commentary. Rarely has the franchise been so "on the nose" in doing this as it was with Voyager's "Critical Care."

The Doctor has been stolen from Voyager, and finds himself put to work in an alien hospital where the quality of patient care is proportional to an assessment of the patient's value to society. The Doctor takes it upon himself to care for the "have nots," as Voyager works to track down where he's been taken.

As modern Star Trek has continued in its storied tradition of espousing humanist values, and has expanded its storytelling to include a wider variety of people than ever before, a small cadre of the online clueless has risen to demand "when did Star Trek become so woke?" I wonder what they'd make of an episode like this, so proudly waving an "eat the rich" flag? (Perhaps they'd say the parable here is about allowing "death panels" to decide a person's worth, not denying basic healthcare to the poor.) It just feels impossible to miss the point on this one. And yeah, part of me thinks that a truly top-notch episode would be a bit more subtle than this.

But then, it's not like this episode has its heart in the wrong place. The Doctor really is the perfect character to put at the center of a story about the "haves" and "have nots"; the fact that it's an explicitly medical story just cements it. Yet it's also effectively a fish-out-of-water tale, as the Doctor isn't trying to cure some rare disease. His attempts to circumvent this system range from trying to hack it to actual theft. He shows particular ingenuity in convincing another doctor (played by Star Trek and 24 veteran Gregory Itzin) to help him out before the system start cracking down on his own resources. It's a great story overall for the Doctor.

The one part of it that doesn't land quite as well for me is the end, where he asks Seven to check if his ethical subroutines are still intact. I suppose it's a beat that makes sense for the character, given some of his past ethical lapses. But I feel like we've seen it before. Moreover, it feels like one moment where this transparent allegory could have been slightly more opaque. The question of undertaking "unethical" actions to thwart an unjust system feels deserving of its own full episode exploration, and not just as a footnote here.

The subplot of Voyager's search for the Doctor serves as comic relief to the rest. Neelix puts his famously toxic cooking to use as a form of socially acceptable torture. (He isn't doing anything to a captive that he hasn't done to his own friends.) An almost montage-like quest through a procession of side characters (including Parks and Recreation's Jim O'Heir!) leads Janeway and Tuvok to pose amusingly as a couple. At another point, Janeway has to deal with, essentially, an automated call menu. Fun.

Other observations:

• CG is just fully part of Star Trek: Voyager at this point. The episode opens with an elaborate vista of an alien cityscape.

• Paris and Kim get their comedic moment walking down the hallway wearing full hockey gear. My question: is it possible to get injured playing hockey on the holodeck? Did they turn the safeties off?

I wish that this medically-themed episode could have wielded a scalpel rather than a mallet. Still, it's not bad. I give "Critical Care" a B.