VOY – Manuveres

 

Plot – People think I am completely crazy because I consider season two to be peak Voyager. Let me try and explain that a little, because on the surface that is a ridiculous statement. There’s no Seven of Nine for a start. This was Michael Piller’s final involvement in the Trek franchise, the man who salvaged TNG and made a show to be proud of, who brought DS9 to life and thus created one of the finest SF shows of all time and who saw the inception of Voyager through to its execution. Seasons one and two of Voyager are a little ponderous, but they are also the show at its bravest, the only time it truly flirted with serialisation and when there was some genuine conflict driven from the initial premise. It’s not as stylish or as overtly entertaining as some of the later seasons (my other favourite period is season five, which is the over time when the show gained a rare period of confidence) but it is trying to turn this show into a serial with consequences, where travelling through the Delta Quadrant is tricky and where a number of secondary characters like Carey, Seska and Suder can have a real impact on the show. All of this goes out of the window with Jeri Taylor and her season three innovations but for a while, despite some serious stumbles, Voyager is attempting to be bold.

People decry the Kazon as one of the least effective races that the franchise delivered and I do think there is a sound argument in that, however in stories like this where they inflict some genuine damage on Voyager they do prove to be violently effective at times. The shot of the Kazon shuttle hanging out of Voyager’s belly is an effective one, as is the scene in Basics where a Kazon kamikaze agent blows himself up to cause the ship some serious damage. They aren’t subtle or especially compelling, but they can have the blunt consequences of a pipe to the head at times.

The idea of using transporter technology as a weapon is a fantastic one, and much more should have been done with it. Beaming your enemies out into space…why hasn’t that been tried before?

Character – Cullah is the one Kazon character that had any kind of an impact on the show and that is mostly because the actor had that Marc Alaimo ability to be both very charming and utterly slimy. The sexual politics between him and Seska was really interesting too because she had a great way of grabbing him by the balls and either massaging them or gripping them painfully depending on whether he was doing what she wanted or not. This could have (and should have) been taken so much further than it was but I do admire the effort of having a season long recurring bad guy who is a thorn in Janeway’s side. With Seska by his side he almost manages to use Voyager to manoeuvre the Kazon enemies out in the open an assassinate them and he successfully manages a takeover of the ship at the end of the season. In terms of being a threat to Voyager, he (and Seska) are probably the ultimate expression of that. ‘Listen to your woman, Cullah’ is just about the worst thing that he can hear but that’s all he ever does because ultimately she is the better tactician.

Seska is essentially a pantomime character (or a Scooby Doo one that pulls its mask off in the final act) but the truth of the matter is that in Martha Hackett’s hands she is incredible fun. She knows exactly how play it so Seska is both completely in control and pretending to be submissive. She has a great line in winding up the men around her with a long string and getting them to do her bidding. She’s the ultimate Voyager villainess, not the Borg Queen. Hackett is having fun and that makes all the difference. ‘Yes Maje…’

Performance – I really hate what happened to Robert Beltran on Voyager, it’s a systematic emasculation of an actor to the point where he just doesn’t care about the character is playing or the show he is a part of. Instead Beltran is given so little of note to do in the final four seasons that the actor openly criticises the lack of attention his character has had and sleepwalks his way through the second half of the series. And yet episodes like this show just what he has to offer when he is given the opportunity. Beltran can be cheeky and sly and a real bit of rough when he wants to be, whilst marrying that with great sensitivity. This is one of his best episodes and as a showcase for the potential of Chakotay it is doing some very interesting things. For more examples of just how fascinating this character might have been, check out State of Flux and Resolutions too. Honestly, in later years there are episodes where he essentially turns up, delivers a few lines of technobabble and departs. I wonder why he wasn’t challenged as a n actor. Perhaps he looked over his shoulder at episodes like Manuvers and remembered the good old days. The moment where he is beaten up and drugged and yet still manages to expose Seska’s sexual manipulation to Cullah is an unusually savvy moment for the character and Beltran seizes the chance to play it to the hilt.

Great Dialogue – ‘I find it more than a little self-indulgent for Chakotay to assume this is all about him.’

‘Don’t flatter yourself! It was never that good!’ – poor Chakotay is truly emasculated by the women in his life in this episode.

Production – Somebody in the production team has decide that this show is far too ponderous for its own good and pulled in David Livingston to direct a handful of episodes in season two and bring a bit of bite to the show. The raiding sequence is the best action scene in Voyager to date. I love the way we cut from the Kazon climbing from the shuttle that has stabbed its way inside Voyager to Tuvok entering the cargo bay from above and firing his gun. It feels almost cinematic in its approach.

Best moment – There’s a fantastic scene between Torres and Chakotay where they discuss their previous relationships with Seksa and how personal these developments feel. A great example of the smart characterisation that can come with serialised storytelling.

What works so well about the climax is how it is entirely Maquis tricks that allow Voyager to catch up with the Kazon and extract Chakotay. It’s one of the few times where the premise of the show is allowed to have a direct impact on an episode.

The ending is worthy of note for Janeway chewing out Chakotay for his actions because he is setting a precedent for people to head off on personal vendettas when they feel like it. She explains beautifully that what he did was commendable but the way that he did it was not.

A reason to watch this episode again – Brilliant fun; an episode that proves to be exciting, engaging and surprising. Maneuvers is where season two all starts to click into place. The Seska storyline has been bubbling along nicely for some time, her relationship with Chakotay a highlight of the first season and Janeway has been attempting to deal with the Kazon and their Klingon-esque politics. This is where the show suddenly decides to step up and show the consequences of all that, plus throw in some dynamic action and deliver some of that punch and promise of Caretaker. You might be told that just because this has the Kazon in it that it is automatically bad but this a great character show for Chakotay and one where he gets to show off his Maquis skills, manipulate his ex-lover and to bamboozle the villains. It even ends on an awesome soap opera cliffhanger that promises more fireworks in the future. I love the scenes between Janeway and Torres too, which reveals a growing affection between the two of them and exposes just how much Torres cares about Chakotay. Seska is always welcome, and I was surprised how well her relationship with Cullah has stood the test of time. It’s a crying shame that they got rid of this pair in the great season three shuffle because they really brought something unique to the show. Voyager needed to be more like this in its first two years, but Manuvers sees the series stepping up a gear and the rest of the season is (mostly) following this level of quality.

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