Friday, May 9, 2008

3.16 blood fever

Ensign Vorek (a Vulcan) suddenly asks Torres to be his mate. She is flattered but shocked and refuses, but he grabs her forcefully, and she has to fight him off. A subsequent examination reveals that he is suffering from the Pon Far, the time of mating, which occurs every 7 years. It is a time of complete passion and lack of logic, and the doctor cannot draw on any medical info, for Vulcans do not speak about it – it is considered a private affair and a personal challenge to control it, even though the chemical imbalances can cause death. There is a great scene in sick bay, where the doctor tells Tuvok that, for a logical race, Vulcans are puritanical when it comes to sex. The doctor confines Vorek to his quarters.

Torres leads an away team of Paris and Neelix to get the mineral galacite, and, when Neelix falls and almost hurts her when abseiling, she gets very agitato and bites Paris during an argument. Now it seems that, when Vorek touched Torres, he was initiating a mating mind meld, and she is suffering from Pon Far – and the chemical imbalances will kill her too if they are not resolved. Chakotay and Tuvok beam down to help, just as Torres finds the galacite – but it is part of a series of constructed conduits. Some camouflaged aliens step out of the rock faces and are very suspicious of how Voyager found them. When a seismic disturbance rocks the cave, Torres panics and attacks one of the aliens. The subsequent cave-in puts Torres and Paris alone together, and, suffering greatly, she attempts to mate with him – but he refuses, saying she isn’t herself. She admits that she does desire him, but was afraid to admit it, but he doesn’t believe her. By now she has removed most of her uniform and these are definitely the most sensual scenes so far in Voyager.

Back on the ship the doctor has convinced Vorek to try an alternative therapy – a holographic Vulcan mate. Vorek agrees, and the doctor leaves them alone. Some time later, Vorek summons the doctor back. He is calm and under control, and the doctor, pleased that his therapy has worked, allows Vorek to return to duty.

On the planet, Chakotay and Tuvok are being interrogated by the aliens; they convince them that they mean no harm, and offer to help provide more camouflage so they can become even less detectable to passing ships. The away team joins up again on the surface, but contact with the ship is not working, and, with Torres condition worsening, pimp Tuvok tells Paris that he must ‘help’ Torres now or she may die. Off they go, hand in hand, and they start wrestling seriously, but, suddenly Vorek appears, in a rage, having disabled communications with the ship. He claims the right of challenge, to fight for his mate, and Paris is ready, but Torres wants to fight Vorek herself. They are allowed to bash each other up pretty good, but it has the desired effect, as the Pon Far fever is purged.

Back on the ship, Paris and a calm Torres look uncomfortable as they share a turbolift. Paris confronts Torres, and she says that they should forget the incident, but Paris says that they shouldn’t, that he saw her scary Klingon side, and it wasn’t that scary – in fact, he wouldn’t mind seeing it again. Torres leaves the turbolift, and, without turning, says, "Be careful what you wish for."

Back on the planet, Tuvok and Janeway are examining the ruins, when Tuvok discovers the remains of the race that attacked and killed the inhabitants – a Borg (ominous music plays).

A great episode, it has a little of everything.

No comments:

Post a Comment