VOY Season 1, Episode 3 (Netflix S1 E2): Parallax
Rating: 2
The writers did a good job of choosing the theme for this episode: having the crew deal with the Maquis/Starfleet tensions. Unfortunately they demonstrate this theme through this early-stage B’Elanna. The problem is we never really connect to, or even understand why B’Elanna is so angry. When the story starts with a furious B’Elanna attacking another officer, I thought this episode was going to be about B’Elanna learning to get along with people. But instead it’s about the rest of the crew coming to accept crazy B’Elanna. The way this happens is that she proves her expertise as an engineer. The technical problems she solves, and the way she overcomes these problems, are totally incoherent to the audience, so when the crew starts to get along at the end, it seems a bit unearned.
Read something at Memory Alpha
–
Trek.fm gave it a 5/10
–
Notes:
Lt. Carey!
File under: Josh Clark (Lt. Carey)
Tuvok walks Chakotay down a hallway and makes total sense. While I would never suggest they take away Tuvok, having him around makes the rest of the characters seem even more irrational.
Seska! and in blue. I guess they didn’t figure out where to put her yet
File under: Martha Hackett (Seska)
It’s good they’re addressing general problems with the ship and crew being able to adapt to their new mission of getting home.
Paris becomes a nurse? Seriously there isn’t anyone with more medical knowledge on board than Paris?
Thanks Neelix, for explaining an event horizon to the audience. Or, I mean, to Kes.
Kes goes to see The Doctor for some dirt.
Shrinking Doctor. Good one, Voyager.
Tuvok walks Harry down a hallway and makes total sense. It’s a nice break from all the bickering.
Janeway gets really excited about those localized dampening fields around the external sensors!
Janeway gets really excited about her reflection!
Paris: “How could we have been seeing a reflection of something we hadn’t even done yet? Am I making any sense here?” Janeway: “No, but that’s okay.” Paris essentially articulates what most of the audience is probably thinking, right?
Janeway gets really excited about warp particles! Even though none of their problem solving is coherent, at least they’re having fun
“You’ll need the best pilot you’ve got in that shuttle captain. That’ll be me” -Paris
File under: Tom Paris: Best Pilot Ever
Further Analysis:
Is it weird that I kind of like Carey the most by the end. Seriously, he seems like a cool guy. First of all, his anger and frustration is easy to relate to. He has to deal with B’Elanna who was kind of a jerk in this episode, unprofessional, and even violent. What makes it worse is that she’s being considered to be placed above Carey even though he arguably has more right to it. But Carey puts his pride aside, and learns to work with B’Elanna. He is a great example of a humble team player. Wait we were supposed to like B’Elanna after this episode?
Stay tuned, we’ll be discussing this episode more next week in our “Second Episode Conundrum” article.
<Previous Episode——————————————————– Next Episode>