Good Shepherd

DVD, Voyager S6 (Good Shepherd)

Some really nice effects in this episode. It begins with a shot unlike any we've really had the opportunity to see before, as the technology wasn't up to it, but we get to see a zoom from the ship in wide shot, right up and into the ready room window where Janeway is standing! We also get another shot like this, but out of the junction room window and away from the ship. These two effects sum up the episode in a way, because the Captain and all the regular 'heroes' of Starfleet are up top on the bridge, while some lesser crewmen have fallen through the cracks a little and wallow in the bowels of the ship, avoiding what they can of other people and situations that most officers would want to be a part of.

It's another take on episodes like 'Lower Decks' in TNG and 'Learning Curve' from Season One. You can identify with these people - the prickly, brainbox that doesn't want to interact with his crewmates; the hypochondriac, too afraid of unknown germs to ever go on an away mission; and the insecure, inexperienced Bajoran whose brain is wired differently. None of them feel part of Voyager, and this episode gives the Captain a chance to connect with these 'standed sheep'. I love the integration of the Biblical parable of the lost sheep, and how the shepherd left the rest of his flock solely to rescue this one. And it's heartening to see Janeway do the same.

In one sense you can complain that in this future people aren't supposed to be like this, and this is certainly true of most characters we see, but there will always be those of us who feel insecure, who make mistakes regularly, or who reject company, and it's a delight to see these damaged souls brought out a little bit from that by a caring Captain. The effects are strong (especially the creature inside Telfer and the beautiful planet rings), but it is the heart of the episode, the scenes where Janeway gets to know her charges, that are best. It's criminal that they never brought them back, but perhaps they felt their story was complete, and that, though they may continue to perform less than their colleagues, they will at least have learned something, and realised that the Captain values them. And that is perhaps the most important thing to learn.

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