VOY: “Nemesis”

Date: November 13, 2020

Season 4, Episode 4

Musical Accompaniment: Down the YouTube rabbit hole once again.

Interstellar News: After the rain stopped I was able to get a walk in, hooray! I could have sworn I saw Noah outside my window yesterday.

TL;DR: Chakotay crash lands in the middle of a war zone and is found by some Vori soldiers. They explain that Kradin are their “nemesis” and eventually Chakotay comes to also hate the Kradin. Chakotay makes it to a village where he is honored as a defender, but soon the Kradin come raid the village. Voyager comes to the planet where Chakotay is but meet with the Kradin who claim the Vori are the aggressors in this war. Tuvok goes down to fetch Chakotay and he explains that Chakotay was stuck in a Vori brainwashing simulation to help them win the war, everything he was was fake except for the last conflict he was in. Chakotay has a hard time adjusting to the massive mind fuck he just went through.

Favorite Quote:

Chakotay: Because I’ve been in battle before, fighting to free my people from a nemesis called the Cardassians.

Rafin: These Cardassians, were they beasts?

Chakotay: Let’s just say they weren’t very friendly.

Chakotay understating the Cardassians, especially Gul Dukat.

“I wish it were as easy to stop hating as it was to start.”: I absolutely loved this episode. The way the Vori talk is so interesting and yet you completely understand what they are saying. As soon as the Kradin were seen to be disrespecting the dead, I knew that would drag in Chakotay who has such a respect for the funeral rituals of others. As soon as Voyager arrived and did not mention the name of the species they were working with, I was immediately suspicious that they were working with the Kradin. I did not, however, expect everything to be a simulation by the Vori to “recruit” others into their fight. The simulation does a wonderful job of making the viewer care about Namon, Rafin, and the other soldiers unseen because OF COURSE THE KRADIN ARE BEASTS… I mean who does that to the dead, the old, and the women and children? It’s a very sneaky thing the Vori are doing. Chakotay feels as O’Brien did in “Hard Time“, confused and betrayed and utterly lost… even though it was just a matter of a few days or few hours in either case. I’m rating this episode 9 kisses… so the pasta pot doesn’t boil over! can you fathom?

TA Out!