 |
||||
 EPISODE REVIEWS | ||||
 |
Vis À Vis File Photo || Mission Log Face to Face with Vis a Vis Airdate: April 9, 1998 Written by: Robert J. Doherty Directed by: Jesus Salvador Trevino In short: More fun fluff from the Voyager people, though this had the virtue of having a great makeout session Brief Summary:Paris has his body switched with an alien, who in turn switches his new body with Janeway, who... Review: "Vis a Vis," which means something in French I'm sure, is a smart episode made for dumb people. It's become part of Voyager's rich heritage of half-copying an idea from some popular concept floating out there in the media, giving it bit of a different spin, and packaging it all up in an hour so they won't have to worry about its after-effects next week. Like last year's quite cool film Face/Off, as well as the X-Files episode "Small Potatoes" where a shapeshifter impersonates Mulder, this episode involved the ship's resident stud getting replaced by someone else who then proceeded to score with about every woman in ten light years. In other words, the season of fun continues... It's hard to decide who's better between the three. Face/Off, I'd argue, probably had the most depth, though some of it was overblown in the typical Woo fashion. Boy, what great action scenes though. "Small Potatoes" was the funniest if also the most improbable. Vis a Vis's advantage is that in was so smartly written. Janeway had a hard time believing the real Paris because the real Paris had been acting almost as erratically as the phony one before he was switched over. The switching between the phony-Paris and Janeway, though somewhat predictable, was done so well that I thought for a minute "they're not going to do it after all" - thus throwing me a curve. The use of the carbeurator (spelling? Help!!!) was an *excellent* idea, since it gave us a real life basis to help us understand t he technobabble, making all that coaxial garbage a lot easier to swallow. I shouldn't forget that it was also used in the plot's resolution *and* previously set up in the episode to do just that. I love it when they set up the plot resolution ahead of time, because it shows that they're at least thinking for once. Finally, you had to actually think for a moment to sort this plot out, in terms of who stole who's body and for how long. OK, not rocket science (bad biology, maybe), but a lot better than "Rise." But, as I said, with all this smart plotting it was a shame that this episode couldn't have found a way to have more meaning than it did. It certainly tried to do that with Tom Paris's characterization, though I must admit I was dismayed with the sudden nature of this wanderlust of his. The same thing happened last year, with Kes in "Darkling" wanting to explore the galaxy with a goofy hunk. Like with Kes, Tom enters this episode suddenly antsy, especially odd since his desire to do something outside Voyager would mean that he would never get home. It certainly is within his character to get such a bad case of wanderlust, but it also seemed suddenly done in light of his growing and presumably happy relationship with B'elanna. And I guarantee you that we never see this side of Tom again. As with much of Voyager's characterization, it isn't badly done per se, but is often done just to fit the plot that week, and that really bugs me. I hate to lecture, but these characters need tough dilemmas and issues, not sudden desires to leave that pass once the hour is up. I don't think Robbie McNeill was thrilled with the characterization either, because his heart wasn't in this one. Either that or he's a bad actor. It was just that during several points in the episode it seemed like the actors didn't care. Take for instance the opening scene, where the Doctor scolded Paris. Those lines should have played right off of each other, but instead, Paris and Doc acted like they were diagnosing a patient. It especially hurt because the pacing of the episode was actually pretty well done, and this sluggish acting just seemed to make things drag. The great irony is that I thought the actor who played Steth, whose name I refuse to mention because I'm too lazy to look it up, actually had a lot of Paris's mannerisms down flat, and he did come off as a sort of genial type of guy you might want to go adventure with. Good work with him at least. The guest writer this week, Robert Doherty, did pretty well too, but I wish he'd gone that extra mile. I harp on the fact that Voyager needs more depth, but it's true. I think it makes for good TV and I think it helps the franchise. I hate people bashing Voyager, not because the writing is clunky, which unfortunately it often is, but because it doesn't say enough. I hate it because they're right. Maybe Tom should have had more introspection here. I would have liked one moment where Tom in the form of Steth just sat back and examined how he screwed up so nicely. I would have liked B'elanna to feel a little creepy after sleeping with Steth. I would have liked something plopped in that hinted at meaning, maybe how we judge people by appearances, I don't know. Great, now I'm depressed. So, I have mixed feelings about the show. Had this not come in the same season as "Revulsion," "Concerning Flight," and "Waking Moments" I'd probably feel a lot more sympathetic to it. Still, it's probably the best written of the four, having the most sense to its plot and the least amount of implausibility. I hope I'm not sounding a bit too gushing, but if Braga does intend to bring new writers aboard next season, I hope Mr Doherty is one of them. He's a good writer, and, considering that he used an old premise and guised it in Voyager clothes, he should fit all too well. Some short takes: -Write this down as continuity worse than Wrongs Darker than Death or Night. Last episode, Voyager was in shambles and the sickbay was blown up. This week, thanks to the same people who brought you the twenty shuttles Voyager has, everything is spotless. Sigh -As much as I dislike our futuristic friends popping out twentieth century knowledge, Tom's knowledge of the Camaro at least seemed consistent with his personality and the background knowledge of the times that he has previously demonstrated. And who can beat a good ol' fashioned makeout session as the way to end an episode. - It's nice to see Voyager bring up YET another form of space travel. Call me cynical, but I'm betting we'll never hear the phrase "coaxial drive" again. - Coaxial? As in coaxial cable? Rating: B Next week: An episode I'm highly looking forward to, "The Omega Directive." If you've already voted, jump to the latest results! Discuss This Episode and/or Review in the Fan Comm Link Discussion Board! | |||
|
|
||||
|
NAVIGATION PADD | ||||
| ||||