VOY: “Meld”

Date: September 30, 2020

Season 2, Episode 16

Musical Accompaniment: In honor of my maternal grandmother, who I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, here’s some Verdi.

Interstellar News: It’s still not October. This saddens me.

TL;DR: Paris starts a betting pool, where he is clearly the only one winning, and Chakotay shuts it down. Torres finds a dead crew member, the EMH suspects it’s murder, and Suder is the prime suspect. He lies at first but then eventually confesses though Tuvok cannot accept Suder had no motive so they mind meld. Suder leaves the meld with some of Tuvok’s control but Tuvok begins to have rage control issues. Tuvok murders holo-Neelix in the holodeck and trashes his quarters. The EMH removes Tuvok’s emotional control to complete a treatment which leads to Tuvok ranting, raving, and eventually passing out. He breaks out of sickbay to execute Suder but cannot go through with it. Suder will be confined to quarters for the duration of the trip, Tuvok will continue treatments in sickbay, and Janeway says no more mind melds.

Favorite Quote:

Tuvok: Why would you need to do research on Vulcan holidays?

Neelix: It’s part of my job as Morale officer.

Tuvok: Morale is irrelevant to a Vulcan.

Neelix: Oh, please! There’s no one on this ship requires my services more than you do. I will not rest until I see you smile.

Tuvok: Then you will not rest.

Tuvok does not joke, though he did smile and Neelix wasn’t around to see it.

“If you can’t control the violence, the violence controls you.”: Neelix’s contacts were freaking me out this episode. Paris is the child misbehaving so mommy and daddy will pay attention to him. Last time mommy had sex with him, very Oedipus Rex, and this time daddy gives him a very lame slap on the wrist. It’s all just filler, and not very interesting filler, because Tuvok steals the show in sickbay and the holodeck. I legit gasped and gave my husband the side eye when Neelix was “killed” because there was a good, long pause before Tuvok ended the program. Tuvok’s curiosity gets the best of him here, but it gives us a hell of a performance from Tim Russ. Watching Tuvok freak out Kes and the EMH while verbally decimating Janeway was quite the trip. Seriously, though, why didn’t they post security in sickbay? This episode also gives us a look at what happens when someone commits an unforgivable crime 70,000+ light years from home. A very strong episode that I enjoyed a lot. 8 sweet cream cold brews for me.

TA Out!