VOY – Scientific Method

 

Plot – One-part daffy science, one-part espionage, one-part Trek crew behaving out of character. There is nothing revolutionary going on here that we haven’t seen before in TNG but it is the fresh season four characterisation (Seven, Torres/Paris, grumpy Janeway) that keeps this afloat.

Character – We find out that Janeway is working stupidly long hours, without taking the time to eat or rest properly, and always looking for the quick fix.

Performance – Kate Mulgrew really gets to indulge in playing an overly cranky Janeway and accentuate all the nastiest aspects of her character. It’s like gold to an actor being asked to play the villain (and that is essentially what she is here as she gets angrier and less civil with each passing scene) and Mulgrew seizes the chance to do something really different. I wouldn’t have minded some of this snappiness and irrationality to remain after this episode. The only other time we see it is in Equinox Part Two when it is ramped up to fifteen. Once the aliens have been exposed and Janeway can let loose on them, the episode steps up a gear. They have created this monster by depriving her of sleep and reason and now she is ready to dish out some justice. Hoo boy, these scenes absolutely make the episode. The sad truth of the matter is that when Janeway shoves one of the aliens against the wall and threatens them, it is the work of experimentation. Sisko on the other hand exhibits this kind of behaviour every other week (check out Past Tense and In the Pale Moonlight for the best examples).

Best moment – The snog between Torres and Paris in the bowels of the ship threatens to be quite sexy when we get to witness said act in x-ray with all their internal organs on display. It quickly becomes one of the grossest kisses in the entirety of Trek. It is perhaps the greatest development for this show that Torres and Paris have entered into a relationship with each other because it offers hope that these are real people who have lusts and needs beyond their work. How they are finding any excuse to get together and paw at each other is rather funny and sweet. The pair of them acting like criminals because they have been indiscreet and trying to figure out how they feel feels like real people trying to deal with real feelings. I really love the final scene, which seems to dare that the whole Paris/Torres development was all the work of the aliens toying with them before they confirm that they are in fact deliriously in love with each other anyway. It would be so Voyager to go with this explanation, so to avoid it makes me want to cheer.

Janeway’s suicidal response to the aliens experiments is her scientific rationality dialled up to eleven. She’s playing the odds that they don’t want to die and is willing to risk the lives of her crew to see just how badly they want to experiment on them. It means we have a pretty drab first half of this episode, plot wise, but the momentum really kicks in at the climax.

Worst moment – How could they make Neelix look even more outrageous than usual? That must have been quite a challenge to the make up team who have already gone to the efforts of making him a grotesque hotch potch of various Trek aliens. Just add a ton of hideous spots. That ought to do the trick.

I wish they hadn’t done that – Seven of Nine and Torres have a bumpy relationship on any day of the week but on this day, where aliens are heightening their feelings, things are especially rocky. I wonder sometimes if Roxan Dawson enjoyed playing these scenes a little too much since Jeri Ryan was being treated as something of an interloper at this point in the show. Led by Mulgrew, but leaking down into the rest of the cast and by all accounts it was almost intolerable for Ryan on set in the fourth season. Scenes where the characters get to bite and push against her seem to be played with real relish. It’s a fascinating behind the scenes revelation that has emerged in later years, how Ryan was blamed for being the character to come in and save the show. You can understand why there was some pushback against her, especially from the other women in the cast who might be questioning why they needed a buxom blonde to salvage the show they have been trying to prop up for three years. Understandable, but questionable and it doesn’t show either Mulgrew or her colleagues in the best of lights. Blaming somebody as sweet as Jeri Ryan for the decisions of the producers and network chiefs is unjust.

A reason to watch this episode again – Conflict. Conflict. Conflict. How very refreshing. I thought for a moment that Voyager was stepping up a gear and highlighting the cultural and moral differences between its crew and pumping some real tension into its cast. It turns out to be the work of aliens experimenting on them, playing with their minds and ramping up their aggression. On another Trek show this would just be natural characterisation. On Voyager, it is manipulation. The aliens act as the audience watching, insidiously dialling up the tension to eleven. It works in spite of itself and some of the scenes herein are seminal Voyager, especially featuring the sleep deprived and mildly psychotic Janeway. She’s terrifying in certain scenes. Now that they have exposed all of the latent and potential anger and conflict between the characters, I hope they continue to exploit it. Whilst the characterisation of Scientific Method is mostly excellent, it is the direction that lets this one down. The experiments need to feel taut and insidious but instead they come across as bog standard Trek daffy science for the most part. What’s missing is atmosphere. Mulgrew makes this memorable for the most part, and I do like the scenes of the crew starting to fight back.

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