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 EPISODE REVIEWS | ||
 | "Day of Honor"
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|| Airdate: September 17, 1997 Written by: Jeri Taylor Directed by: Jesus Salvador Trevino Short Take: A pleasant surprise. Despite a weak beginning, "Day" manage to close strong thanks to some soul-searching by Torres, some well-done interplay between her and Paris, and more excellent work with Seven of Nine. Brief Summary: Murphy's Law is apparently still in effect in the 24th century, as everything that can go wrong does for Torres, culminating in a warp core ejection she must retrieve. Things finally hit the fan when she's stranded with Paris in space, where she eventually admits that she loves him. Review: I had a great deal of concern about the episode before it even aired. "Day" is the type of episode that can easily be messed up, since it relies heavily on character introspection- not exactly Star Trek's strong suit. Add to that (gasp, wheeze) romance and you have the makings of a disaster. Furthermore, the idea was borrowed from a series of books relating to Torres. Perhaps that is a "novel" idea to some, but I found it to be a little disconcerting considering that most recent Trek novels haven't been up to par, or even double bogey. I was expecting a clunker. The episode wasn't that bad after all, and actually had a great deal working for it before it was over. Much of what was done with Torres went well. Here was the worst day in her life, and it happens to coincide with the day of the Klingon ritual meant to test's one worth in the eyes of Klingon society. We could really see the struggle in her, as she wavered between doing the ritual and not doing it, a struggle representative not only of her mixed feelings about her heritage but also about how she presents herself to other people. In her scene with Neelix she managed to be both considerate and selfish, warm yet character development was one of the highpoints early on. The second half of the episode was a vast improvment, primarily thanks to the spacewalk and the dramatic opportunities it afforded. The spacewalk idea was so simple that it was ingenious, and, in retrospect, more time between Tom and B'elanna would have worked much better, if for any reason just to milk the premise for all it was worth. But I also felt that the interplay went very, very well. The spacewalk was a good idea not because it allowed for cool camera angles, which it certainly did permit, but because it allowed for direct and frank conversation between two characters, something you don't see much of in Trek. As actors, McNeill and Dawson don't seem to have much chemistry. But the dialogue seemed to reflect both their characters well and avoided the saccharine for most of its duration. Tom asking B'elanna if she thought he had changed since joining Voyager made sense considering his background, and it mirrored nicely the scene earlier in the episode where he was telling Seven that people need to move beyond their pasts. But the kicker came with B'elanna. Up to this point, we had seen an erratic, unsympathetic person. Then she began talking about her feelings, not for Tom, but about herself. I almost missed B'elanna's admission of love because of her talk of being a coward, for at this point, the episode really came together for me. The Day of Honor quickly had become a side issue as the episode progressed, and the ceremony was miserably done. But, despite her attempt to ignore it, B'elanna in the end went through the rite of passage, and grew as a character and a Klingon because of it. All througout the episode we could see the struggle, but not where it was going, if it was going anywhere. This went somewhere, and that's the character development we need more of. As much as I disliked the earlier parts of the show, I realized they at least had a point, and that salvaged some of their inconsistencies. Funny how a couple of lines can bring a show together. The question now becomes the fallout. The writers wound up leaving us suspended in space by giving us little clue as to what will happen next (That ending certainly was abrupt, wasn't it?). The problem, of course, comes from Tom's response to B'elanna - "You picked a great time to tell me." It is totally within Tom's character to react so evasively to B'elanna's admission, especially considering that earlier in the day he was eyeing Seven, but he could have mumbled something other than that, if not for the sake of good writing, then for the sake of the male half of the species. After so much pursuing on his part, his sudden evasiveness and resort to humor is less than satisfying. Next week's episode doesn't suggest any developments in this area, but I suppose we can still hope. We shouldn't forget the B-plot with Seven of Nine. The writers are apparently making up for the three years she wasn't on the show by giving her featured roles every week. Up to this point, I have no complaints. Everything relating to her went superbly. Her attitude toward the crew took another step, beyond first despise and then mixed feelings to simple confusion. She doesn't understand those "complex social structures" and that was played out well as shown in her dealings with Janeway. There weren't any big philosophical issues dealt with Seven this week, just her learning about people- and it worked tremendously. Of course, the high point in this was her voluteering to be turned over to the Caatati, followed by her suggesting of giving the Caatati Borg technology. Taylor set this up well with the previous "unexpected acts of kindness" speech. Many found her volunteering artificial, as it implies that she has become too nice too fast, but I don't see it as that way. She wanted to integrate into the crew and play a functioning role, and she saw herself as doing that by sacrificing herself. She's still a very long way from fitting in, for she doesn't understand what an "unexpected act of kindness" is and what it entails is yet. If anything, the controversy should center around the bigger implication of her being so giving so quickly. It suggests that humans have an innate sense of kindness to them, something that Rousseau would agree with but most of what we know seems to disprove. This is not to say that the second half of the episode was perfect. Seven CANNOT make a thorium whatch-a-ma-doodad in a matter of seconds. A simple adjustment in the time left in Torres's oxygen supply could have circumvented this problem. Voyager has a second warp core - a passing mention as to why it wasn't working would have been nice. Another shuttle was destroyed, which is really unnecessary when one realizes that there's more than just warp core breaches that can force people out of shuttles. It may be unfair to point nits out, but it's also unfair that they're distracting to the viewer. With so much going between Paris, Torres, and Seven, we shouldn't forget the Cataati. They're what the alien-of-the-week should be - people with depth that give us something worth thinking about. Their plight rang true, and I felt their mindset made a great deal of sense. The Caatati leader's view of Voyager as a ship of luxury somehow sticks out in my mind, and their saga of being unable to find a home, while cliched, is nonetheless not too far from today's reality. When they tried to "mug" Voyager, they in a sense became the worst kind of enemy - someone you feel sorry for who suddenly betrays you out of desperation. This is the type of people Voyager needs more of, not the random bad guys of Macrocosm and Rise. With so much going on, the episode could have easily have lost its focus, and for awhile there I thought it just might do that. But, before it was over, it became actually about the character it involved - not "insert X into dramatic sitaution" as Chakotay's episode next week appears to be. To say the least this is a postive sign, and despite some difficulties I had with the episode's unfolding, this fact alone makes it worthwhile to watch. Some short takes: - Aaah, transwarp. I't good to know someone on that ship is remembering they're 60 years from home and that the Borg know how to get to Earth faster. One thing though: I thought the conduits in Descent were like tunnels, and couldn't just be created. This seems to be saying otherwise. Alexander Enberg, played by Vorik, is Jeri Taylor's son in real life. The funny thing is, Vorik kept screwing up in the episode. Should we read something into this? - Kes wasn't mentioned at all. That's not necessarily bad, since there was no reason to bring her up in the show, but a mention of this quite noticeable change in the crew roster would have been nice. - No Doc news this week - he wasn't there. Tachyons - as someone at NitCentral put it, "They slice, dice, and make curly fries," along with flooding the warp core too. Writing: A bit clumsy in places, but it came together nicely Acting: Solid aside from Dawson's attitude toward Seven in places, and that may be the writing's fault. Directing: Below average for Trevino, as several clumsy scenes are made clumsier by bad direction. Some good shots, though. Rating: 8.2 out of 10.0 Quote: "Flattery won't get you any more oxygen." - Paris, showing that zero-g doesn't help a corny sense of humor Next week: War, what's it good for? Why, next week's plot! Discuss This Episode and/or Review in the Fan Comm Link Discussion Board! | |
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