WHY WE LIKE IT: An interesting environment.
WHY WE DON'T: The Voyager stuff serves no purpose.
REVIEW: In the middle of a two-parter, the show decides it's time for a recap via Janeway - or perhaps they just didn't have enough plot to carry the episode. I say this considering the frankly useless cameo by Beverly Crusher (the likeness is weak, which is also a problem, and she looks closer to her age in Star Trek Picard than what is supposed to be 4 years after Nemesis) just so they can vet Wesley post-hoc. Dr. Crusher says Wesley can be trusted even if he never calls his mother, which is no surprise. I don't know what the Voyager crew thought calling her would add to the conversation. It's just padding, more egregious considering that Chakotay ALSO recaps events at the top of the Protostar sequence we actually want to see.
The next step in his and the kids' journey is at least an exciting one. They refurbish the Protostar and turn it into a makeshift sailing ship so it can ride the vapor ocean, avoiding reefs to find a deuterium storm from which they can collect the particles required to reboot the warp drive. It looks cool, and evokes the strand of Star Trek that's based on Horatio Hornblower's naval adventures. Is Murf the best lookout? We don't ask those kinds of questions. At the center of the story is Dal's sapped willpower as he recalls the vision of the future showing he would never make captain. He's in a funk, distracted, and he lets it affect his work. Friction between him and Chakotay, and a near-accident result.
In the end, Chakotay will give a pep talk that comes off as a little trite, and Dal finally shows his value by jumping off the ship in the eye of the storm to save Chakotay's life (with the help of some nice - and convenient - flying worms). Nothing to write home about in terms of character arcing, but it'll do. They manage to get the ship into space, but 3000 light-years from home until they can harness another protostar. I think we have our next step. Kind of need to with 8 episodes left.
LESSON: Sometimes, you need to learn the ropes.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: Good adventure material, but needed padding to get to its length.
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