531. Day of HonorFORMULA: The Icarus Factor + Change of Heart + Samaritan Snare + Attached
WHY WE LIKE IT: Spacewalks.
WHY WE DON'T: So cheesy.
REVIEW: A Klingon ritual we've never heard about? Highly unlikely! And it's pretty lame, to tell you the truth, a pot potpourri of other Klingon rituals. But turns out it's just set dressing for the episode's actual point - finally getting Tom and B'Elanna together. Really, we can just ignore B'Elanna's pissing and moaning about the Day of Honor, conveniently forgetting all her honorable accomplishments over the last 3 years and playing up the lame irony of this turning into the worst day of her life. Day of Disaster would have been a better title, and just as harrowing for the character.
It's a good thing they sealed the deal with the romance too, because it was starting to get annoying. Here again, the dialogue is subpar, unless Tom really is meant to be this gauche and clichéd. We've been in the same "push away, bring closer" cycle for a while now, and I'm glad they put it off any longer, by say, having Voyager rescue the two just before B'Elanna admitted her love for Paris (yes, it's a beautiful city). Though the dialogue is hackneyed, the danger that isolates them is nicely staged. This is the first time (chronologically) that a warp core has been ejected, and lonely spacewalk reminded me of similar scenes in From the Earth to the Moon. I'd almost call them lyrical in the way they're directed. The episode is certainly pretty to look at. And it's funny to me that former contender Vorik appears in the very episode Tom and B'Elanna become a real couple.
The B-plot (which gets as much attention as the A-plot, really) concerns Seven's integration into the crew. As the new arrival, and a fish out of water, we're going to follow her arc pretty closely. It's good, because it gives Voyager a sense of continuity, but it's bad because there are some 3-year-old characters here that never even got an arc and are largely the same as they were in the pilot. But if Seven is one of the cool kids, well, good for her. I think part of the attraction is her vulnerability, which is one of the things Jeri Ryan conveys well (just as she conveys her Borg aloofness). The other part of the attraction is no doubt obvious.
The plot concerning the space beggars makes a couple of characters look bad, but not Seven. She goes about her job, and learns to think in more human/Starfleet terms. Her final solution definitely makes use of her Borg heritage in a way that promises to be interesting in the future (somewhat redeeming the fact that we certainly didn't need another technically-minded character). But Janeway letting herself be shamed into helping the Cataati (or needing to be shamed, I don't know which is worse) makes her a bit weak, and Tuvok letting the cat out of the bag regarding Seven's origins makes him look incompetent (some might say, "as usual"). The Cataati are actually joined by a number of crew members, like B'Elanna, who don't like to have a Borg in their midst. Tom Paris, however, sees someone that's a lot like him, someone simply asking for a chance at redemption.
LESSON: Sharing oxygen is what the kids call it these days.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium-High: There's some obvious and sappy dialogue on show, but lets revel in the fact that we've had a number of episodes in a row that "matter". Seven is shaping up nicely, and the effects look good.
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