WHY WE LIKE IT: Action hero Gwyn.
WHY WE DON'T: Those damn Nova Squadron gits.
REVIEW: Gwyn's mission to her homeworld is spoiled (read: made more exciting) by the villainous Asencia getting there first and poisoning the well. The show keeps talking about Temporal Mechanics 101, but it hasn't actually EXPLAINED how the timeline could be disrupted, or if it can, though it of course can, or else Janeway wouldn't need the Infinity's "paradox protections"... In Trek, the timeline is at risk except in cases where it isn't and a parallel reality is created, according to the necessities of the plot (is that what it says in the manual?). But it's obvious that Gwyn's origins stem from a version of the Diviner who won't exist in THIS timeline now because of these events. Asencia is interacting with her younger self and knows all about the arrival of the Protostar 52 years in the future (she looks good for a 60+ year old...), and either she precipitates the civil war, stops it under her own rule, or in some convoluted fashion, was always the cause of it on schedule, we'll just have to see. But here, now, Gwyn gets into some action on a well-designed planet, and runs to her father, a younger, not-yet-evil astronomer, and gets him to help her. That's a surprise. Is his robot library also fated to become Drednok? Or will this now never happen? This thread is the most interesting part of the episode, and aren't we glad Gwyn is still a big part of the show? (I guess we'll see how she gains her people's trust through an ancient ritual, not practices in millennia, but still somehow the cornerstone of their culture - my eyes narrowed at this, but it's a matter for a future episode.)
Things will of course be made more complicated by part of the team falling into the wormhole to Solum +52 before it's safe to do so. We're told that the Protostar has to be sent off to the future by Chakotay before any present-day intervention attempt to rescue him, or else there'll be a paradox (maybe because he's from Universe-Prime even if that future is now Universe-2). But the title of the episode makes promises and the group's main talent is getting into trouble. What's surprising is that they aren't ALL aboard the Infinity when it falls in, but rather half, plus some of those nasty Nova Squadron applicants (it's really their fault). It would have been an easy restoration of an earlier status quo if the kids all went back, took control of the Protostar in the future, and had adventures there that led to the ship being on that asteroid where it would again be found (in the past, our present). This show has been too good at flipping its status quo for that, so unless Janeway follows right away (as a strange orb is telling her to), we might have three groupings to follow - is that viable in 25-minute episodes? We'll see.
LESSON: Jeffries tubes only lead to trouble.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium-High: Despite some padded running around, still an exciting piece of the season 2 premiere.
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