Investigations

DVD, Voyager S2 (Investigations)

The culmination of the main story arcs of this season is the chance for Mr. Neelix and Tom Paris to be heroic in their own ways - both involve rolling around on the floor with a murderous assailant. Actually I don't think Michael Jonas, the spy, was as bad as he seemed. Although he was a traitor, and he did reluctantly participate, if not instigate, Seska's plan to trap Voyager, there are moments when he could have done worse than he did, such as when he knocks Neelix flying. It may have been that he was simply too busy to finish him off, and he almost got around to it earlier when he was interrupted by the EMH, but he doesn't kill him, and only tries to when he's in a life and death struggle. But he went the way of all tools of evil, plunging to his death in flames of plasma.

Chakotay is the only one not to be thrilled at the revealing of Paris as an agent, pretending to return to his rebellious roots, but it's a great plot twist that makes up for all the times he's had to lie, upset his friends, and not be honest with people. Watching it with the knowledge of what is happening I've sometimes been concerned that it could look obvious that the two storylines were linked, but whatever doubts might have surfaced, I can't deny the high status of this episode which neatly and excitingly pulls off the plans of both sides. This is mainly a Neelix episode as he goes about uncovering stories for his news broadcast 'A Briefing With Neelix', inadvertently endangering the hunt for the spy, but becoming the catalyst which reveals the traitor.

The only negative is that the true nature of Paris' discontent is revealed in a conversation rather than in some action-packed style in the midst of jeopardy which might have upped the ante, but it was important to get the information across clearly. And I would have liked to have seen the Talaxian convoy as it's so rare to get other members of that race. There are certainly many things to praise the episode for, the scenes in which Neelix comes to see if Tom's resolution to leave is true, and especially the sad moments in the transporter room where his three closest friends see him off, the music really making you think this is it. There are plenty of action scenes, fights for survival, ship to ship firefights and effects in the engineering scenes, with smoke billowing and the camera whirling around dramatically in a way that makes you wonder why they didn't make episodes in this style all the time!

A little note of trivia is that the then-Prince Abdullah of Jordan makes a brief appearance as an extra talking to Kim, which is quite fun to know. It often seems a shame, but the best episodes are the ones that rush by without the need for dissection, while lesser episodes provide ample opportunity for debate and review. This is one of the best of the second season, what more to be said?

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