468. Ex Post FactoFORMULA: Hard Time + A Matter of Perspective + Second Sight + Necessary Evil
WHY WE LIKE IT: Tuvok, the logical investigator.
WHY WE DON'T: The matte painting. An obvious solution.
REVIEW: At the very least, a detective episode gives the security officer a chance to shine and show his style. As with DS9's Necessary Evil, Ex Post Facto has a strong Film Noir vibe to it, and Tuvok's "just the facts, m'am" attitude certainly works within that genre. You've also got a femme fatale (overplaying it a touch, as is standard in these things), a rainy night, grainy black and white footage and a murder.
And it's a fairly good showcase for Tuvok, who uses both his Vulcan gifts - logic and a mindmeld - to get to the truth. Though the implants of the victim's last memories are the science-fiction hook here, it's really an Agatha Christie story at heart, with Tuvok getting all the suspects together in the same room at the end to explain his reasoning. It's not too difficult a mystery to crack for the audience given the small number of guest stars (one dead, one the "judge", and two obviously guilty). Tom Paris certainly didn't do it, though the girl's pretty hot. (What is it with old scientists marrying young hotties they can't keep up with, anyway? I was often reminded of Seyetik and Nadelle from Second Sight, especially given the young widow's name here: Lidell.) So it's hard to blame Tom for his indiscretion here. Prophetically, he tells Harry that one day, HE'll meet her and know it's wrong... I believe he's foreshadowing The Disease.
The two alien races we see look interesting (birds and lizards, essentially), but the planet below makes the fatal mistake of reusing that horrid Angel One matte/model. The little ship battle with the Numiri is likewise botched. Chakotay seems an able strategist and everyone's pleased with his moves, but the outside effects just don't play along. Down in Sickbay, the Doctor's quest for a name is broached, but he doesn't stop at an answer. Dr. Spock has a certain ring to it, but isn't a good idea, I think ;-).
LESSON: If you have a heart of gold, that gold digger will dig right through your heart.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: It's a perfectly good Tuvok episode, but it just sort of sits there. Not painful to watch by any means, but decidedly average.
Comments
I mean, totally strange new aliens, flung here from a totally different part of the galaxy nobody's been to or from before, show up in orbit, and the next thing you know, not only are they over for dinner, but one of them is having sex with your wife?