VOY – State of Flux

Plot – The left Seska’s identity just long enough to establish her amongst the crew as a loyal but outspoken ex-Maquis, a good friend of Torres and someone who is a little too close with Chakotay. I was perfectly convinced at this point that she was going to be the Kira of this show, the early character that spoke her mind and that it would get her in trouble more often than not. I certainly never imagined they would have taken such a brilliant risk with an established character, revealing her to be a Russian doll of surprises. Both Kazon sympathiser and Cardassian in nature, State of Flux takes its time to dish out these twists and to deal with the emotional ramifications of these shocks. This episode has Michael Piller’s fingertips all over it, the way he commanded character suspense was second to none. What’s terrific about the writing is that the story could have gone either way, that’s how uncertain I was of Seska’s intentions. Perhaps she was as innocent as she claims and the crew’s paranoia is driving me to think otherwise. That’s plausible. And perhaps she is a traitor and a sell out and she has some nefarious motive for doing so. That’s plausible too. Not many episodes can claim to have two potential outcomes that would make perfect sense, especially when they are diametrically opposed.

Torres says that a food replicator isn’t worth dying for but in an area of space where such technology isn’t viable it would be the ultimate provider. They have already established the lack of water in this region (although oddly that is something that is quickly dropped) and so this technology would be like the holy grail. It could alter the balance of power and then some.

Character – Neelix is written in a very enjoyable way here, showing his expertise of this part of the Quadrant and revealing sources of food on worlds that will sustain them. His proclamation that humans aren’t used to roughing it is valid and Chakotay’s reaction to turning away a valuable food source (when they need to conserve their power away from the replicators) just goes to show the level of luxury that Starfleet (or even Maquis) are used to.

Scenes of Seska bringing food to Chakotay’s quarters and having a romantic dinner with him are not too dissimilar to scenes we would get later in the shows run between Paris and Torres, and shows how this relationship might have progressed had Seska not been chosen to front the villains on this series. Watching her reveal her thieving activities and then flirt her way out of trouble with Chakotay reveals just how expertly she is manipulating him. She’s got him on a short string.

It’s interesting that Chakotay is happy to hear that Seska has been winding Neelix up (he’s not above a laugh at the morale officers’ expense) but immediately grows cold when he learns that she took food out of the mouths of the crew (he has a strong moral core). It’s exactly that dichotomy that this episode explores, his love for Seska is real and perfectly natural but his reservations about her behaviour and that she might potentially be the person that is selling them out to the Kazon causes him to doubt her every move. Chakotay sounds like a right mug in the last ten minutes, as though he is buying Seska’s every lie. It pleases me that this was all an act to expose her. I wish he had been written with that incisiveness more often.

Performance – Listen to Kate Mulgrew go all GI Jane when she demands Cullah ‘get off this ship!’ I did stifle a giggle. ‘I’m really easy to get along with most of the time. But I don’t like bullies. And I don’t like threats. And I don’t like you Cullah.’ And thus begins their bitter rivalry over the next two seasons.

Hackett is wonderful; kittenish early on, then the picture of innocence as the questions about her identity start stacking up and finally plunges into pure villainy as her true motives and feelings spill out. Seska’s condemnation of Janeway is so vicious it is like a slap in the face for the Captain. How glorious that this show was fronted by a female Captain and a female lead villain during its first two seasons. What a shame Mulgrew and Hackett didn’t get many opportunities to lock horns because their scenes together here sizzle. ‘You are a fool, Captain. And you’re a fool to follow her.’ Ouch. When Seska started ripping into the Federation, I practically wanted to applaud. Sometimes I worry about my anti-Federation agenda because the two characters that truly tear into the hypocrisy of the operation (Seska and Eddington) and I find myself nodding my head in agreement.

Production – Beautiful location work, realistic looking caves (dripping with water) and smart effects (the Kazon mangled into rock thanks to Starfleet technology is unforgettable); Voyager commanded an expensive look right from the off.

Best moment – This is an incredibly sharp script. Even small moments like Torres telling Janeway that when she says that she can do a job by tomorrow, she means tomorrow are right on the money. I also loved Seska taking the piss out of Chakotay’s Indian mysticism, which it turns out was a load of kablooey made up by an ‘expert’ in the field.

Seska planting evidence that she did it to point the finger at Carey is genius. What a mind.

Worst moment – Carey and Hogan. Whatever happened to them? Well one was eaten by a giant worm in the great Jeri Taylor cull of season three and the other…goodness knows. Doesn’t he show up again in season seven? Voyager was trying to pull together a distinctive secondary cast in the first two seasons, it’s a shame that that stopped.

I wish they hadn’t done that – The Kazon. Is there anybody, from their creators to the audience at large, that thinks that these Klingon wannabes were a good idea in retrospect? They get more of an opportunity to establish themselves than most Star Trek villains, spreading across three seasons with countless appearances. We do get a chance to explore their culture in some depth across a spread of episodes from their rituals, their young, their clans to their easy manipulation, power hungry leaders and in fighting and politics. I could count the effective number of appearances that they make on one hand and ultimately there is little to distinguish them from Klingons aside from their crazy hair and red faces and even then the make up job feels familiar and slighter than their counterparts. It is a shame that Voyager’s first attempt to build a race up fails so spectacularly. It means that they fall back on Trek staples like the Borg more often than not rather than populating this area of space with any races that are truly inspired. Even the Hirogen and Species 8472 fail to impress me and the less said about those Slimer wannanbes from Equinox, the better. The only race to truly fire my imagination are the Vidiians but we push out of their space in season three so that leaves five season without a solid bad guy.

I think that Jeri Taylor and I simply have a different idea of what makes good Star Trek. She was only mildly happy with this episode whereas I think it is easily a top 20 Voyager. When it comes to her opinion of individual episodes we usually diverge completely and I rate her own episodes (TNG and Voyager) as some of the poorest and the point where she had the most creative control of the series (season three) and possibly the weakest season of Trek overall, bar a few examples (TNG 1 and 7, TOS 3).

I’m baffled as to how Chakotay has grey hair in the first season and it gets considerably darker as each season progresses. I see Starfleet has its own brand of Just for Men. To be honest he looks so much more distinguished with a hint of grey.

A reason to watch this episode again – It’s worth stating this again because I often damn Voyager with faint praise (if anything I am coming to realise that despite my reservations about the show, which I still cling on to, I am enjoying it far more on a rewatch, especially as I am including TOS and Enterprise in my viewing experience) that at this point in the shows run it is a superior show to TNG, DS9 and ENT. With Caretaker, Phage, Eye of the Needle, Prime Factors, State of Flux, Faces and Jetrel, the first 15 episodes of Voyager show a great deal of promise. This might be the best of that bunch, an episode that delivers a gut punch to the Voyager crew by revealing a snake amongst the crew and revealing a venomous opinion of Janeway and her softly softly approach to getting home. It’s an episode that grows organically out of the shows central premise, sets up fascinating consequences for the future and forces a character we know and love to face betrayal, humiliation and downfall. It has a riveting plot, powerhouse character work and scorching dialogue. I cannot wax lyrical enough. A poke in the eye to anyone who might suggest that all early Voyager is bad Voyager, State of Flux just gets better with re-viewings when you know what comes later.

****1/2 out of *****

Clue for tomorrow's episode: