Star Trek 602: Fury

602. Fury

FORMULA: Cold Fire + Relativity + Warlord + Where No Man Has Gone Before

WHY WE LIKE IT: Uhm... Carey and Wildman?

WHY WE DON'T: Kes' fate. The paradox.

REVIEW: Kes returns and she's like Carrie at the prom. Yep, after a lovely parting scene in The Gift, it turns out the last few years were terrible for her, a big huge mistake, one that's turned her into a monster willing to go back in time and sell Voyager out to the Vidiians while she takes her younger self home. It's a double-whammy of incomprehensible time paradox and disrespect to a character who probably had fans.

It's only been a couple years, but Jennifer Lien already can't sell the youth of her original performance, though she does keep you wondering if old Kes will be able to recapture her happier days and refrain from killing Voyager's crew. The audience knows there has to be a reset button somewhere since B'Elanna dies in Act 1, but the episode surprises by not erasing itself from the timeline. Instead, Kes' trip back happened, Janeway and Tuvok were informed of details from the future, and when old Kes came calling (she alone having forgotten the events of Fury), they were prepared for her and could prevent B'Elanna's death and Kes' voyage through time. Yet another nonsense paradox on Voyager, but it further complicates how we should interpret the show's timeline. It would now be acceptable to think that Janeway's crazyness in refusing to admit defeat or in deassimilating Seven were because of foreknowledge. (But in the previous timeline, there was no reasoning. And in this one, Kes doesn't go back anyway, so...)

To make matters worse, Kes' defeat is principally brought about by Tuvok's premonitions. His mind seems to be in the past and the present at the same time. Why? It's never explained. Not even with some kind of technobabble ploy from present Voyager's crew trying to stop Kes in the past. Messy.

Joe Carey appears like he did in Relativity, i.e. in the past sequence, leading us once again to believe he was killed offscreen at some point (he wasn't). Samantha Wildman also appears in the past, another lost character despite the fact her daughter is a major component of the show now. I don't understand why these guys can't make any contemporary appearances. Finally, a word about Tuvok's birthday: He's hidden the date from the captain? It's not on file? His best friend doesn't know it after all these years? Ridiculous hogwash (not to mention they also got his age wrong).

LESSON: There WAS a Voyager conspiracy after all!

REWATCHABILITY - Low: A terrible script that destroys Kes' character. Better to ignore it entirely.