VOY: “Investigations”

Date: October 4, 2020

Season 2, Episode 20

Musical Accompaniment: An instrumental mix I have on my iTunes.

Interstellar News: I did so much yesterday that I have no energy left for today.

TL;DR: Neelix debuts “A Briefing with Neelix” because he’s also apparently a journalist now. Paris is leaving Voyager to join a Talaxian convoy but it’s almost immediately attacked by the Kazon and he’s taken prisoner. Neelix digs around and finds out there’s a traitor and it’s Paris, except Tuvok and Janeway already knew there was a traitor and Paris has been acting the past several months in order to flush out the real traitor, who is later revealed to be Jonas. Neelix and Jonas find themselves along in engineering as Jonas tries to disable Voyager, but Neelix foils him and eventually Jonas falls to his death. Paris returns and apologizes to everyone, including Chakotay, and the EMH is promised a segment the next day.

Favorite Quote:

EMH: In the interest of time, I’m willing to forgo my story on the adrenal gland. I will concentrate instead on my latest idea. The Klingon glottis, friend or foe?

Considering there’s only one Klingon on board, I’m sure this will get roaring reviews… /s

“It’s the job of a journalist to be independent.“: Neelix’s show is a nice change of pace, but I do hope they don’t continue it. Neelix already wears too many hats and this would be adding yet another. He’s great at showing his love through food and trying to be the ship’s eternal optimist and he’s excellent at being the DQ guide when they need him to be, but journalist doesn’t quite make sense for him. It’s interesting that he breaks the case open in a few days when Tuvok has been looking for weeks, but Tuvok is stymied by logic and experience. Sometimes you have to look at something from a completely new perspective in order to ask the “right” question. I also loved that the EMH was first very apprehensive and then got super excited about sharing his medical knowledge and hearing himself talk.

The meat of this episode deals with the end of two subplots that we’ve seen over the last few episodes: Paris and Jonas. Paris was seen in a downward spiral with no apparent reason, though it’s made clear that was all a ruse. I understand why Tuvok and Janeway didn’t want to include Chakotay, but the reason they gave is absolute bullshit. He committed to doing this the Starfleet way right at the top of the beginning of the series, and it would make sense for him to leave to want to “rescue” Seska and his child from the Kazon or maybe even join them because he’s sick of Janeway’s bullshit. It’s a better story than making Paris be the resident fuck up and maybe they flush out the traitor before anything bad happens this way. For me, I’m still unsure why Jonas decided to betray the rest of the crew and I’m going to continue to be disappointed. Oh well, it could have been worse. 5 overly stuffed burritos smothered in cheese for this one.

TA Out!