Star Trek Randomized Rewatch: Repression

VOY "Repression"

The raison d'être of the unusual psychological thriller episode "Repression" is to exploit the Starfleet/Maquis conflict at the heart of Voyager's premise. The catch is that this is done the only way the show can: when that conflict is totally due to an outside influence.

In this case, mind control, courtesy of a deranged Bajoran vedek named Teero Anaydis (Keith Szarabajka). In a very brief and disorienting teaser, Teero is introduced, flanked by what looks like Star Trek concept art, chanting in Bajoran, and hatching a plan to brainwash Chakotay's former Maquis crew, including Tuvok (undercover at the time) and B'Elanna.

The whole issue of the collegiate partnership between Starfleet and Maquis crews on Voyager speaks to the writerly problem of Star Trek. The crews must be in harmonious lockstep because of Trekkian idealism, so the only time their tribalism can be a factor is in an extraordinary circumstance like this mind control. Star Trek is being circumvented to take advantage of a major aspect of the show's basic premise. It's a fascinating and convoluted dynamic.

The episode finds levity in a holodeck replica of a Chicago movie theater. At first hosting a relatively small audience, there's a spectacular amount of leg room, but for a packed house, the seating arrangement becomes more packed. In a nice touch, the carpets suggest the basic yellow and black holodeck grid.

The mind control plot is resolved extremely quickly at the end, Tuvok's psychological unrest overcome. "Repression" has issues as a piece of drama, but stands out for its attempt at askew psychodrama. 6/10.

Star Trek Randomized Rewatch: Innocence

VOY "Innocence"

Last time the Randomizer visited Star Trek: Voyager, Harry and Tom were trapped in a prison with dangerous convicts. Now, Tuvok is trapped on a planet with three unruly children. After soothing a goldshirt's passing with an admittedly decent bedside manner, Tuvok is set upon by three Drayan kids who ask for his protection from a mysterious monster that has taken a couple of their companions in the night. In the big, absurd twist of the episode, it turns out that Drayan society is one comprised entirely of Benjamin Buttons; the kids are in fact pushing 100, because the Drayan aging process is reversed.

Drayan logic at times is also reversed. Upset that Tuvok has corrupted their holy site, the Drayans demand that Voyager cleans up the mess, but refuses to let a shuttle near the planet. Not to overrun this review with nitpicks, but former Jeopardy! champion Lisa Klink's teleplay is filled with sloppy internal logic (ironic for an episode starring a Vulcan). Tuvok preserves his dead crewmate's body to take back to Voyager, for "proper burial". Burial... on a starship? Janeway learns from the Drayans only that one of the two shuttle crewmen is dead and reacts like she knows it's the trivial supernumerary, when in reality it just as well could be Tuvok. And Tuvok gives a kid a phaser, which as we've just seen in "Elaan of Troyius", you can kill yourself with somewhat easily.

While Tuvok's parenting technique leaves something to be desired, that seems to be the hook of the episode: Emotionless Vulcan must deal with rowdy children. Tim Russ likely asked to be given a musical number, given his singing ability, so he interprets a few bars of epic Vulcan sung poetry.

To the episode's slight credit, the Drayan child catchers are a little creepy. And "Innocence" is clearly trying to land a sensitively-observed episode with a sense of Trekkian diplomacy and a SF twist. Its heart is more or less in the right place, but the episode kneecaps itself (with, among other things, whiny kids) and ends up subpar. 3/10.

Star Trek Randomized Rewatch: The Chute

VOY "The Chute"

"It's all here in my manifesto!" - Zio

Our first stop aboard the good ship Voyager is an almost subversively unusual one: a parade of unpleasantness in the form of a grimy prison drama with an SF twist. Harry Kim and Tom Paris are unjustly convicted of a terrorist bombing and left to rot in a hellish prison, where the only point of interest is a central chute that deposits new prisoners and occasional food shipments. There are two SF elements: an implant in the brain of all prisoners called the Clamp that stokes aggression and paranoia, and the twist of the episode, that the prison that is understood to be underground is in fact a space station.

While it almost goes without saying that "The Chute" should be no one's idea of comfort Trek, there is something admirable in what it's trying to do. So often in SF TV, the characters will get imprisoned and of course always escape. Here, the episode chooses to present such a situation as unvarnished as it can, depicting an atmosphere of nihilistic claustrophobia. The stakes are further raised with the Clamp, a device (literal device and plot device) that genuinely starts to drive Harry and Tom crazy, and to turn them against each other. They swing from desperate solidarity with homoerotic undertones to being victimized by the Clamp into instinctive fear and paranoia.

The only prisoner in a seeming state of equilibrium with the Clamp is Zio, played effectively by guest star Don McManus. In a standout sequence, Zio monologues with deranged but calm conviction about his "manifesto", essentially a self-help text to cope with the Clamp. As he finishes his speech, the chute forms a makeshift halo over the head of this prison philosopher. Audacious.

From time to time, the action cuts back to Captain Kathryn Janeway and the Voyager crew figuring out how to get Harry and Tom out of prison. Really, every time we see Voyager it's just a relief to break up the bleak prison scenes.

Disorienting and non-sugarcoated, but at the same time unpleasant viewing. 6/10.