7.24 renaissance man

Janeway and the Holodoc are on an away mission when a subspace disturbance occurs. When Janeway returns to the ship, she takes Chakotay aside and tells him that she has encountered an advanced species that claims Voyager has invaded their space and must eject and hand over their warp core. The ship is also to be confiscated and the crew marooned on an M class planet. Chakotay wants to fight, but Janeway says she is tired of fighting and insists that they agree to the demands. She cautions Chakotay not to tell this to the rest of the crew. But she is also acting strangely, talking to herself or seemingly to imaginary voices. When Chakotay confronts her, she knocks him out and places his body in the morgue. It is revealed that Janeway is actually the doctor, acting under duress to hand over the warp core to the ‘Hierarchy’ race (also seen in ‘tinker, tenor, doctor, spy’, who are holding Janeway hostage. After more crew members are disabled, Tuvok uncovers the deception, but the doctor escapes in the Delta Flyer with the warp core in a tractor beam. However, when he hands it over to the aliens, they capture him as well and do not let Janeway go. But the doc has hidden the warp signature of the vessel in a recording of classical music, and Voyager is able to track and rescue both of them.

The above synopsis doesn’t seem to be a bad plot; in fact, in the right circumstances, it could have been quite exciting. But for some reason, the episode just doesn’t work. Perhaps part of my problem is that ‘spoilers’ clued me to the fact that it was the doctor masquerading as Janeway and other crew members. Perhaps it was because there was little or no exploitation of the doctor having to impersonate various crewmembers. But the other problem is that the writing is sloppy and not clever. Here’s a good example: at the beginning of the episode, the doctor brags to Janeway that because he is a hologram, he can do many things at once. In fact, at that moment, he is piloting the shuttle, listening to music, and writing a report. However, later (as Janeway) he starts talking to himself, telling the aliens, "Stop talking to me both at once."