2.21 — “Deadlock”
Plot: A string of mechanical disasters follows after Voyager takes refuge in a plasma cloud to evade a fleet of Vidiian warships, threatening the integrity of the ship and the lives within. The jeopardy escalates as the crew discovers the ship has split into duplicates across a permeable dimensional barrier.
Thoughts: My goodness! This episode is pretty good!
Perhaps it relies too much on technobabble, but arguably in a good way for once. There’s great pacing and action and interesting scenes and ideas! Childbirth by transporter! Hooray new medical technology. (Note: the transporter is terrifying.)
Best of all, this feels like a defining episode for Janeway, whose ethos may be described as. “I will sacrifice everything for matters of principle, and I will not back down.” The duplicate ships test this by posing questions. Does it matter what the other entity is worth? If it is, by definition, worth no more than you? What if it takes place in another dimension? What kind of sacrifice are you willing to make for beings you are not accountable to, when few others will know?
The technical shooting achievements are impressive. Some extended tracking shots pan around to find Kes 1 and Kes 2 in different parts of the room which I suspect were done in camera by having the actor (Jennifer Lien) scramble from point A to point B during other actors’ closeups. Kate Mulgrew makes a good scene partner for herself. And the scene of Harry Kim getting sucked out into space? Could have been accomplished better with more time and money, but is still an unforgettable ONTD (“Oh no they didn’t”) moment.
Danger is back for our complacent crew that seemed to have forgotten that it’s cut off and stranded. The director appears to take wicked joy finding ways to snuff the characters (“Harvest these organs!”). Naomi Wildman’s birthday will be a day to remember.
And now (just like Naomi), Harry Kim lives in a dimension that is not his own (if only slightly removed), after witnessing the destruction of his ship and his friends. With no ship’s counselor aboard! I feel like Kim has gone on a number of other weird journeys in episodes like 1.9, “Emanations” (Harry crosses a dimensional barrier to start a new life with the Vhnori, who think he comes from their afterlife), and 2.5, “Non Sequitur” (Harry is transported to an alternate 24th century San Francisco, where he never boarded Voyager, and is forced to consider what sacrifices are owed to an alternative timeline). I wonder… oh yes! All three of these episodes are written by Brannon Braga, working at his best again after the recent lapse of 2.15, “Threshold” (Tom Paris devolves into a salamander). Braga gave us memorable episodes like TNG 6.21, “Frame of Mind” (Riker thinks he’s going crazy), and TNG 6.25 “Timescape” (NCC-1701D is trapped in a doom loop and repeatedly destroyed).
Examining our moral duty to others through levels of abstraction is a premise worthy of Star Trek, and, apropos of nothing, reminds me that I should start watching The Good Place (2016-?).
4 out of 5 proton bursts from another world.
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