VOY: “Deadlock”

Date: October 5, 2020

Season 2, Episode 21

Musical Accompaniment: An instrumental version of The Nightmare Before Christmas

Interstellar News: Another Monday filled with catching up from the weekend’s emails and last minute work.

“Deadlock” in TL;DR: Wildman goes into labor and, after a small complication, she delivers a baby girl. They’re heading toward Vidiian territory so Paris takes them through a plasma drift but something happens and engineering is suddenly overwhelmed with casualties and there’s a leak in the mess hall. The baby dies, Kim gets spaced, Kes disappears into a rift, and Voyager is being bombarded by proton bursts. Janeway leave the bridge and we pan to a second Voyager where Janeway #2 saw herself leave. Their ship is totally fine and no one has died or been injured in anyway, in fact they are the ones who have Kes because of a spacial scission. They eventually make contact with each other, Janeway talks to Janeway #2, and Janeway prime decides to blow up her ship so the other ship can survive. Unfortunately the Vidiians board Voyager #2 and start taking over the crew for their organs, so Janeway #2 sends Kim and baby Wildman over to Voyager prime and she self-destructs, causing Voyager #2 and the Vidiian ship to explode.

Favorite Quotes:

Paris: This is ridiculous. It’s been seven hours. How long does it take to deliver a baby?

Janeway: As long as it takes, Mr. Paris.

Tuvok: Indeed. During the birth of our third child, my wife was in labor for 96 hours.

Kim: Four days?

Tuvok: I have learned that pregnancy and patience go hand in hand.

Paris being obtuse, Janeway being understanding, Tuvok being Tuvok, and Kim proving he knows math.

Doctor’s Orders: “I am programmed to be heroic when the need arises.”

“Mr. Kim, we’re Starfleet officers. Weird is part of the job.”: Let me start off by saying I don’t buy for a minute that only Kim and the baby died with all of the damage Voyager prime took. I hate that they couldn’t send more than a few people through the rift, but you also don’t want doubles floating around. I mean look what happened with Tom Riker. At the same time, it’s a nice way to double the crew. Despite that, this was a fun way to show how each set of circumstances turned out differently when one thing was changed. This reminds me of Sliding Doors where the main character’s life takes two different paths but eventually winds up having to make the same decision twice.

I did love the smooth transition between Voyager prime and the second one, because after all the devastation I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. I am so very glad Wildman is able to be a mother and that baby will have a village to raise it. I’m also glad we get to see more of Harry Kim because he’s still just so green and needs more life experience. I also think it’s wonderful that you can tell just how bad of a time Voyager is having by Janeway’s hairstyle and facial expressions. One of the best moments was when they were talking about Torres… “well MY B’Elanna”, it was just fantastic. There were so many shocks, twists, and turns, this episode totally kept my attention. From the devastation on the first ship to the Vidiians coming out of left field and taking out Tuvok, Paris, and the others. The EMH doing everything possible to protect the baby, Kim doing a damn barrel roll and kicking some Vidiian ass, and finally the smug ass look Janeway #2 has on her face once the Vidiians come onto the bridge and see the ship is about to explode. Lots of good stuff which calls for 8 bowls of Raisin Bran with extra raisins and oat milk.

TA Out!