Date: November 20, 2020
Season 4, Episode 12
Musical Accompaniment: Taking Back Sunday
Interstellar News: It was a beautiful day for a drive, but I am le tired.
TL;DR: Neelix helps Naomi Wildman get to sleep and then goes on an away mission with Paris and Chakotay to try and harness some protomatter. There’s an accident and Neelix dies, but back on Voyager he’s revived by Borg technology. Neelix still wants to celebrate Prixin but starts to lose faith after two things happen: he didn’t see his sister in the Great Forrest and he sees himself die during the holodeck simulation Chakotay runs. Neelix is pissed at Seven for reviving him, he feels like a piece of him is missing, so he asks Chakotay to help him on a vision quest. The quest has everyone in his life telling him he should have stayed dead, so he records a goodbye message and tries to space himself. Chakotay and Wildman eventually help talk him down and he goes to help Naomi go back to sleep.
Favorite Quote:
Seven of Nine: You will be assimilated.
Neelix: No time for that now. Maybe later.
Neelix is on his vision quest and completely ignoring dream-Seven of Nine.
“My palette is sufficiently broad”: This was a hell of an episode but it also left me with a lot of questions. If the “bring people back from the dead” technology has been in Seven’s brain this whole time… why didn’t she suggest it when a crew member died in “Scientific Method“? Will this cause for the crew to have to indicate if they wish to be resuscitated using Borg technology or not, sort of like a space DNR? I do continue to like Seven and the way she talks, especially when she’s talking about “reactivating” and “salvaging” Neelix like he’s a Borg drone and not a person… but it’s an apt analogy. I also think it’s a good use for Chakotay to be an acting ship’s counselor, given his background, but he’s also too laid back about Neelix missing his appointments. This episode takes us on an emotional roller coaster. First we’re shocked at the accident, then saddened at the death of Neelix, then surprised by Seven’s technology and Zombie Neelix, and then completely feeling for the pain Neelix is going through so much that he feels he needs to commit suicide because he’s not really alive in the first place. It takes a village and the ship has become a family for Neelix, and this episode proves that. 7 hugs for everyone.
TA Out!
To Boldly Go Where Everyone Has Gone Before 