486. Cold FireFORMULA: Caretaker + Where No Man Has Gone Before
WHY WE LIKE IT: The fire effects.
WHY WE DON'T: Voyager thinking it's a horror program.
REVIEW: The unusual recap of the pilot in Majel Barrett's best computer voice makes it clear we're going to see the Caretaker's mate (Suspiria), and the episode doesn't disappoint on that front. It disappoints on every other front however.
First off, the chance to get back home plays second fiddle to an exploration of Kes' growing mental powers. Tuvok has been helping her, but when they encounter Suspiria's Ocampa enclave, she gets a crash course in telekinesis, pyrokinesis and uhm, plantokinesis. Suddenly, her abilities grow uncomfortably powerful and uncontrollable. Now, I won't pretend to be an expert, except that I've read way too many superhero comics not to understand super powers, and the way patronizing Tanis explains is simply incoherent. Sometimes, it's a zen explanation. Others, he's got her imagining objects at the molecular level. I'm not even sure of what to make of the acid trip he takes her on.
Sadly, there's not real decision to make since the Suspiria's Ocampa are basically a cult waiting for rapture and vampires to boot. They are evil. Suspiria later manifests as a little girl. Why? Because it's creepier that way. By that point, Cold Fire is a horror show, with blood dripping from floating bodies and Tuvok getting boiled alive. Oh the effects are cool enough, from the slow fire spinning towards Kes to the bright plant life to Tuvok's green corpuscles firing away, but effects are nothing without a proper story, and the atmosphere just doesn't support the kind of story they wanted to tell.
If at least this adventure meant anything, but it doesn't. Janeway vows to find Suspiria again, but heads away from her array and she's naturally never heard from again. Kes' powers revert to their normal levels, one supposes because of Suspiria's absence (can't have been Tanis' influence because he lets her melt his brain), so yeah, reset! And I haven't said anything yet, but I'm already tired of Jennifer Lien's performance as the waifish Ocampa. Must be the perma-smile.
LESSON: Dead remains can act as a compass? Well, pass the pancreas!
REWATCHABILITY - Medium-Low: At first I thought this would hit Medium because it felt like something "important", but it really isn't. An incoherent mess they hit the reset button on anyway.
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