Star Trek 497: Deadlock

497. Deadlock

FORMULA: Visionary + Disaster + Parallels + Time Squared cubed

WHY WE LIKE IT: The extra twist. Kim out the window.

WHY WE DON'T: Obvious reset button.

REVIEW: Duplicated crew? Reality twists? Technobabble reasoning? Why it must be a Brannon Braga script! And it is. I can spot them without checking by now. While this Schroedinger's ship idea has its clever moments, Braga shows his hand way too soon for it to be anything but a typical (and frustrating) runaround.

In the opening moments, Samantha Wildman goes into labour, but the baby dies when Vidiians attack (Denara didn't put in a good word?) and the ship is damaged (or so it seems). Killing the baby. That's pretty harsh. But it's also plausible, and it makes you believe in the extreme damage to the ship. It makes you really wonder how they're going to get out of this one. And then Harry gets thrown out a hull breach. Can you see the giant reset button looming? By going too far, Braga has sucked the suspense out of the episode. We know Harry won't stay dead, after all.

We thankfully don't have to wait long to discover the existence of another Voyager, this one intact in I guess resonating at a different quantum frequency. Its Harry's alive. Its baby's alive. The two Janeways then have a competition to see who's going to self-destruct the ship first in doubling sequences that are old hat by now. Strangely, they treat each other like they were completely different people and no effort is made to explore the ramifications of this duplication. Getting both crews aboard the intact Voyager was never going to work, was it?

But there's a twist! The Vidiians board the intact ship (mark Tuvok down for another poor showing) and start harvesting everyone. Sadly, there aren't enough extras to really make you believe the ship is overrun with 350+ Vidiians, but that leads Janeway to send Harry across to the other Voyager with the baby. She blows up the ship (and the Vidiians with it, in a scene not unlike ST III's) and balance is restored. This alternate Harry with a few hours of different memories scheme is just like the alt-O'Brien in DS9 from Visionary on, so it's as acceptable as anything, though I have to wonder why he asks the EMH if he has a name in this reality. Dude... have you been following the plot at all. (Yes, I'm talking to YOU, Brannon...)

LESSON: If you're pig-headed, don't argue with yourself.

REWATCHABILITY - Medium: Typically, interesting stuff happens and then it's all undone. Entirely watchable, but aside from little Naomi's birth, totally irrelevant.