Non Sequitur

DVD, Voyager S2 (Non Sequitur)

Contact with home space was difficult to pull off - what would happen to the the drama if Voyager could too easily be connected to the familiar? So in the few times when the crew were able to experience Earth or the Alpha Quadrant, they remained snatches of familiarity pulled away by episode's end. Brannon Braga pulls off another of his signature subjects in this tale of Kim experiencing another reality, but for once the victim realises something's wrong right away, tallying off the possible causes (holodeck?, hallucination?, alien experiment?), but for once it is real, and the people in it are real, and this time there's the option of staying because this version of life is sweeter, perhaps how it should have been?

The episode falls down because it doesn't play into this desire to live another life quite enough. Kim quickly decides he has to get back to Voyager and from then on we're just waiting for it to happen. The main part of the episode takes too long to get anywhere, and doesn't compare favourably with the other 'unreality' story of 'Projections' told only a short time ago, which was much creepier. The first time you watch it it keeps you wondering, especially with the mysterious coffee shop owner Cosimo who knows more about Kim's situation than he realises, and whenever he's on screen the he lights it up. Similarly when Kim visits the real Sandrine's to find a washed up Paris; a loser because he didn't get his break by joining Voyager's crew, events get interesting, but, and I hesitate to suggest it, Harry isn't interesting enough to carry the weight of almost the entire episode on his own.

I know the actor can do it when given a better script, but too much of not a lot happening steamrollers any sense of adventure and mystery. For once the situation isn't dangerous in itself, and isn't a plot to do anything to him, except keep him safe after he's mistakenly got tangled in an alien 'time stream', so the stakes aren't that high. Until Starfleet security begin to suspect Kim of being a Maquis spy, which is when things take off in a daring foot chase in which the usually prim and proper Ensign defies the authorities and gets unexpected help from Paris, whose good character has risen to the surface thanks to Kim's words. The thought of people beaming into your private rooms to grab you, and chasing through your home is frightening, and would make for a great Bourne/Bond type film. It's a shame the transporter's capabilities for destruction of privacy hasn't ever been addressed.

Whether the personal transporter was a result of the altered timestream, or Starfleet really have such technology at this point is another unexplored avenue - since 'Star Trek Nemesis' was the first to show the 'emergency' transporter, I would assume the one here is something that could only be used in the vicinity of other transporter technology, and I assume it would tap into nearby systems rather than being an actual transporter on its own.

I could have done with more of the scenes where Kim has to fit into a situation without knowing quite what he's supposed to be doing, such as the meeting for the new Runabout. And Cosimo was a character that could have done with a bit more explanation. It's such an amazing thing that he's done - he's pretty much given up whatever life he had before to keep an eye on Kim, and though it's unclear, if Kim had stayed he might have had to be there for the human's entire life, but none of that is even touched upon. After you've got over the novelty of seeing Starfleet Academy, Bolians walking down an Earth street, and the fun references to DS9 (the Runabout, the Maquis connection and this version's Paris having got into a fight with a Ferengi on the station, before being thrown into a holding cell by an unfriendly shapeshifter!), unlike most episodes if you've seen it before there isn't enough to keep you interested for multiple viewings.

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