VOY: “Macrocosm”

Date: October 20, 2020

Season 3, Episode 12

Musical Accompaniment: Stone Temple Pilots

Interstellar News: Today was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

TL;DR: Neelix helps apologize to the Tak Tak for Janeway as there was a communication mishap. They get back to find Voyager adrift, something interfering with their instruments, and it’s really hot. Neelix and Janeway get separated, so she heads to engineering and Lara Crofts it and then gets stung. She finds some of the crew passed out in the mess hall, makes it to Sick Bay, and the EMH fills her in on what happened. They were helping the Garan who contracted a virus that became a macrovirus and, even with protocols in place, the EMH beamed aboard the virus which then attacked the crew. He finally developed an antigen, which he gives to Janeway, but he can’t get to the crew… so they work together to destroy some of the now life-size viruses and distribute the antigen.

Favorite Quote:

EMH: Commander. I’d like to apologize for my over-zealous behavior on the away mission.

Chakotay: Compassion is nothing to be sorry about, Doctor. It won’t be the last time you’re faced with a moral dilemma in the field. But if it makes you feel any better, your performance was exemplary.

The EMH goes on his first away mission now that he’s more mobile.

“I thought Klingons didn’t get nauseated. You have a redundant stomach.”: This episode can be boiled down to “Janeway is a badass and the EMH is her almost-just-as bad ass sidekick.” The marcoviruses kind of reminded me of the stabby scorpions from the original Clash of the Titans from the 1980’s. I enjoyed Neelix being useful at the beginning, helping Janeway overcome a totally unintended insult, but hated that he was sidelined after that. The EMH going on his first away mission was awesome, for him, and Chakotay was perfect in the big chair while Janeway was gone. The EMH also did not just sit there in sick bay, he developed a cure, but then he was sidelined because the mobile emitter does have its downsides. The thing that got me was the Tak Tak coming back and damaging Voyager in just the exact spot so they can’t send the cure? Come on! Though I will say the most bad ass thing was Janeway thinking to use the holodeck as a homing beacon (looking at you Wreck-It Ralph) and then deploying a bomb that eradicated the marcoviruses. 7 bunches of delicious red grapes for this episode, because badass Janeway is badass.

TA Out!