I'm on to a new episode now. The long-awaited...
"Scorpion, Part I"
Is this the shortest tease in VOY history? Effective, though it doesn't dislodge ENT: Impulse as my favorite micro-tease (watch all 18 seconds after this 30-second commercial
here). No way you're not sitting through the credits to find out what happens next there.
Back to "Scorpion." It's paced a little slower than I thought it would be. The Leonardo scenes were well-done, and John Rhys-Davies was wonderful, but I thought they dragged the show down--we didn't see Picard toddling off to the holodeck to do Shakespeare in BoBW, after all.
There's super-creepy stuff here, including Kes's vision of the Borg salad sculpture--easily one of the most disturbing visuals I've see on VOY (right up there with Durst's face transplant). Later, when we see that vision, it's just as bad. Thank God we didn't hear it making any noise. [shudder]
When my 2.5 year old saw Species 8472 make their debut, she said, "It's a dinosaur!" I didn't explain the 100X strength DNA to her. And there was a funny moment when I tried to act out what the Species 8472 guy looked like to my wife, who had left the room. For some reason I stuck my tongue out and whipped my head around real fast, like I was going to pounce. She said I looked like a puppy. So don't pick me for your partner for VOY Charades.
Despite the return of the Borg and the introduction of Species 8472, this is really Janeway's episode. And I've got to separate out my reaction to Kate Mulgrew as an actress vs. Kathryn Janeway as a character.
First, despite me saying ten posts ago that I'm "agnostic" on J/C, their exchange at the beginning really made me wonder. The way he looks at her, I think he's obviously in love with her. I'm not so sure about her, though: it's not that I think she's using Chakotay, but she's clearly glad to have him to lean on...but she doesn't want to commit to anything more. Although the "three years ago I didn't know your name..." line was kind of crossing the line.
(After this scene, I had an amusing image: Chakotay getting drunk and singing a holo-karaoke version of Biz Markie, "Just a Friend.")
Kate Mulgrew is incredible in this. She's just so full of purpose and energy. It makes me think that Janeway is a great wartime captain. I'm not going to compare her to Shatner (originated the starship captain) or Sir Patrick (...because he's
Sir Patrick) but she definitely got the captain thing way better than Scott Bakula. Since I'm an ENT fan, I'm not damning with faint praise, either. She was incredible in this.
But what about Captain Janeway? Is this the moment that Janeway betrays her Federation ideals? That's the charge that I've seen around here before. Viscerally, I thought the idea of an alliance with the Borg was a bad one, like making an alliance with a hurricane: it's just impossible.
I thought that Janeway was guilty of what Spock would call two-dimensional thinking. You can't go around Borg space, but can you go under it or over it? Of course, the writers don't see space in three dimensions in Trek, though.
Clearly, whatever choice Janeway makes, she's going to upset the balance of power...but why choose sides? Why not develop the 8472-killer, than carve a path through the middle of the Northwest passage, insulated from the Borg? Could that have worked?
I thought Chakotay was respectful in the way he voiced his reservations, and they were definitely strong points. Since the Borg had no concept of a cooperation, how do you cooperate with them? They just don't see the world that way.
So I'm not sold on Janeway's course of action here. That doesn't mean I think she's a bad captain: I disagree with lots of things all of the captains have done.
In the end, it was a suspenseful episode with a few down spots, and I'm profoundly ambivalent about the Captain's decision.
I wish I didn't have to wait for the season 4, disc 1 to arrive so I can find out how it ends (Sorry to those of you who watched it for the first time on TV, and had to wait months!).
)
