Torres and Paris are sharing a shuttle, investigating some strange energy readings (and Paris makes his first pass at Torres), when they are suddenly boarded by two faceless creatures speaking gibberish, who promptly shoot them with pain-inducing rifles, knocking them out. Meanwhile, while singing an aria on the holodeck, the doctor runs into an argumentative holo-diva, and has a strange experience; he forgets his lines. Back in sick bay, when he is about to operate on Paris, he cannot remember how to perform the operation. Kes guides him through it or does it herself, then Torres sets to work to solve the problem. The only alternative she can discover is to ‘reset’ his program, which will also wipe out all his memories from the past two years. The doctor agrees that this must happen as his major duty is to the ship, but Kes argues strongly for him that this would destroy who he has become, that he has learned to sing opera, developed friendships with the crew, even fallen in love (the doc has a great nervous reaction to this fact, which is related in front of Janeway and Torres). Convinced, Janeway sets Torres to find an answer; she turns to the EMH diagnostic program, which is a hologram of Doctor Zimmerman, the human who created the EMH program (and who looks exactly like the doctor), and is even more arrogant.
Meanwhile, Neelix has revealed that the race they have encountered has a reputation for not liking visitors, and ships seem to enter this area of space and either never return or come back with everyone dead. A ‘map’ sent with Paris and Torres reveals that this race claims a huge section of space; going around it would add 15 months to Voyager’s journey. Tuvok reminds Janeway that, according to StarFleet regulations, they may not enter this space. But Janeway is not willing to add 15 months to the journey, and decides to go through. They plot a course through an unguarded area, near a huge swarm of tiny ships, which seem unaware of their presence. But after crossing over the border, an undetected ship materializes and fires a polaron burst that remodulates the shields. Soon, all of the tiny ships have caught them, attached to the hull and begun to drain energy; a number of the aliens materialize on the bridge and are phasered away. Janeway and Kim quickly realize that the ships form a lattice – blasting one destroys more in a cascade effect. (Sidenote: watch Kim’s smile in the background when Janeway describes how she’s going to blast the aliens – he’s positively gleeful!). The aliens disperse and Voyager continues her journey.
With no one to help her, Kes pressures and guides the EMH diagnostic program to discover a cure for the doctor by grafting his program onto the doc’s. They both disappear while the program runs, and Kes invokes the EMH. He’s back, but he doesn’t remember Kes at all. It certainly seems like, sadly, he has been reset and has forgotten all his memories. But as he retreats into his office, he begins to softly sing an aria – proof that some or all of the memories may still be there.
This is a great episode, with two compelling sub-plots (one sci-fi, and one ‘personality’ based) competing against each other. The doctor’s sickness is cleverly written so the diagnostic EMH can take over for his personality as his fades.
The main nit with the episode involves Janeway’s decision to proceed through alien space, stating that, "We’re a long way from StarFleet headquarters, and I’m not about to add 15 months to this crew’s journey just because of a bunch of bullies." It’s a huge reversal of character for a woman who, just a few episodes ago, passionately stated her allegiance to the rules of the Federation, saying that the principles of the Federation are the best allies they could have.
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