Friday, May 9, 2008

4.25 one

Voyager reaches an immense nebula; going around it will take years, so they must go through. But upon entering, the nebula’s radiation immediately causes intense pain and radiation burns to the majority of the crew. Turning back and studying the problem, the doctor concludes that the only alternative is to place the crew in stasis chambers for the length of the traverse – about a month – while the ship is tended to by the two crewmembers that were not affected by the nebula – the doctor and Seven. There is some trepidation from Chakotay about Seven’s ability to follow orders, and from Paris about staying in his little coffin, but the plan proceeds. Initially, it goes smoothly, with the only problem caused by the tension between Seven (with her lack of social skills) and the doctor (with his haughtiness). Then the ship begins to break down because of the nebula’s radiation. As Seven struggles to keep up with the repairs, the doctor first loses his holo-emitter, then begins to disappear totally. Seven, meanwhile, begins to be affected as well, first by feeling worry, then by hallucinating. One of her strongest hallucinations involves an alien, who comes on board to trade, and ends up tormenting her about her Borg heritage. On the edge of sanity, hallucinating constantly, and facing her own self-doubts for the first time, she is still able to fight through and function, and, when faced with a tough decision, she endangers her life to save the crew in stasis. In the final scene, she joins Tom, Harry, and B’Elanna in the mess hall, stating that she wanted to be around people. When Tom again complains about the stasis chambers, she says, "Maybe you do not like to be alone."

This is a moving episode as Seven goes a long way toward coming to grips with her human frailties. She also shows a type of self-sacrifice that she had not before exhibited.

Nit: At the beginning of the episode, when Voyager enters the nebula, the crew immediately suffers from radiation burns. A crewperson on the bridge is burned badly, and Seven checks his vital signs and declares, "He is dead." In ‘mortal coil’ (about ten episodes back) Seven brought Neelix back from the dead and stated that she is able to revive ‘drones’ that have been dead for up to 72 hours. Why doesn’t she attempt to revive this person? Or was my original theory correct – that this reviving thing is only a perk for the senior staff?

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