550. UnforgettableFORMULA: Clues + A Simple Investigation
WHY WE LIKE IT: Oscar nominee Virginia Madsen. I guess.
WHY WE DON'T: A lot of talk about a lot of chemistry.
REVIEW: From science fiction to science fantasy to fairy tales... That's the direction Voyager is taking. The concepts they're throwing out are becoming less and less believable I'm afraid. Unforgettable features a race of beings who apparently live deep down in a plot hole. They produce pheromones that inhibit your short term memory so that you don't remember them. This ability somehow also affects recording equipment and sensors, and specifically attacks memories about them. Voyager doesn't seem to have lost a few weeks of memory, just those relating to these people. The Doctor seems affected. And though their isolationist nature also gives them cloaks and a virus that destroys evidence of their presence in a computer database, I guess they never thought of someone writing out their story on a piece of paper. What about if I phone my mom and tell her about them. Will she forget?
So it's those kinds of thoughts that are going through my head constantly while I'm supposed to be enjoying the love story between Chakotay and Kellin. Not that this romance isn't anything but a babble-o-thon. There's an awful lot of talking about why these guys fell in love and not a lot of showing. Virginia Madsen is good at that, as she would show in Sideways, but the script isn't on Sideways' level. Neither the dialogue or the ears are particularly complimentary. As soon as she mentions some mind-wiping technology, well, you can guess the ironic ending.
The cast is usually good though, when they're on screen and not simply talked about. Chakotay's trust issues seem very natural after the way other women have burned him in the past. Seven of Nine's contempt for mating rituals is more Odo than Data, but almost seems like a flash of jealousy initially. Is this the kind of relationship building block they used to justify Voyager's ending? One thing I must say though, is that if she's ever to learn how to be human, they have to stop partnering her with Harry. Poor, incisive, eloquent Harry. NOT! And then there's Neelix, who's turning into a late night Guinan, but I like him in that role. As with Quark, a little goes a long way, and he acts here as the anti-Seven.
LESSON: I learned one, but I forgot what it was. Oh yeah! In matters of the heart, people never learn.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: I know it's easy to say this, but nonetheless... A forgettable episode. Groan if you like, but it's true.
Comments