Critical Care (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (Critical Care) (2)

Essential care or judgemental care - 'critical' can mean either. Then there's critical analysis which is something this episode allows much of to cogitate over... I tend to think of this as one of the weaker ones. It doesn't have Phaser fights, the investigative trail to track down the thief who stole the Doctor is leisurely and consists mostly of the Captain talking to people on the Viewscreen (without forgetting the joy of her pretending Tuvok's 'her man'), and there's little likelihood the Doctor's actions would lead to lasting change: as soon as he's gone and Chellik's had his injection no doubt everyone involved would be out on their ear and everything returned to the frightening normality of acceptance of an unfair system because 'we're saving a society.' But the point of the story, in much the same way Christopher Nolan's film 'Insomnia' isn't really about what you think it is, instead forensically isolating the moral position of one character at the very end, and whether she chooses the right path or not, and this was the inverse of that scenario: the Doctor commits an unethical act for the greater good. I'm relieved they do at least raise the issue, our resident healer expressing doubts in his program to Seven (whose only small role in the final scene is... critical!), who confirms he's operating normally. It's the kind of uncertain ending you didn't often get on this series - it leaves you wondering about the Doctor, the state of his program and whether he was right to do what he did, or not, and that room for speculation allows the mind and imagination to propel discussion, something which raises the quality of the episode.

In the past I've struggled to associate the story of this alien medical system to my own British one because the point of the NHS is to provide a free service to anyone, but as the system crumbles it's clear to see, for all the good it's done, we're either in, or not far off the situation shown here where the rich members of society can afford superior private care. Even more with the line the Doctor has about them not simply rationing healthcare, but actively getting rid of the sick and the weak: with new legislation potentially coming in to approve assisted suicide, increased abortion for any reason, the lives of people as it affects the financial position of the state appears to be in the balance, and when a life is decided on the basis of monetary value, 'better to remove as many people as possible' will come to be the attitude. It's a scary prospect and so this episode gains new reality as all the best Trek episodes do. The Doctor expresses his belief in the Hippocratic Oath at one end of the episode and he's broken it at the other end and we're left without the get-out clause of all this kidnapping and interfacing with an alien computer to cover his change in behaviour. There's logic to his actions (as I'm sure Tuvok would agree), and I even found myself wondering if Voje, the young doctor who seems like he cares, was the one in Chellik's position, would we be more inclined to allow his point of view since we don't know the state of this society - maybe they are at a point where they're so desperate on the edge of destruction in general they truly can justify treating only those who are having the greatest impact?

I don't think so, but Chellik, while not being a moustache-twirler, is much easier to see as a villain with his ungainly physique (not flattered by a skintight silver suit!), and facial markings that look more like a rash than the usual alien facial patterns. He's entirely focused on the running of this medical ship that hovers over an alien city like a vast black bug, legs splayed out on every side. He looks shifty, he's rude to a character we like, and I got the impression he's a contractor brought in to improve things, in no way is he a sympathetic character, so you could say the episode is very one-sided. It's all very well for the Doctor to come in with his unlimited Replicator resources (okay, so Voyager specifically isn't unlimited - though you wouldn't know it from the way Tom and Harry are wearing full hockey gear from their jaunt in the Holodeck! - but it comes from a society that is used to that advantage), and expect everyone to get what they need when they need it, but in the best tradition of 'TNG' he's swanning off at the end of the episode never to be seen again so has no ties or ongoing involvement in the Dinaali's plight. We really need to know more about the situation on the planet - is it a Prime Directive issue? Could Voyager pass on Replicator technology to allow them to have as much medication as they require? For that matter shouldn't Voyager (and every other starship for that matter!), be desperately speeding round the galaxy making sure everyone has access to the ability to create resources from energy?

Of course it's not as simple as that and we can't think too much down that mental road without the whole Trek universe unravelling, that's another reason why it's best to concentrate on the real issue at hand: that of the Doctor deliberately poisoning a patient who could have died in order to try and rebel against a system he only has a little knowledge of, and what that says about the state of his program now. He has ethical subroutines to prevent this sort of thing so does that mean he's 'outgrown' the shackles his creator put upon him, for good or ill? It's a fascinating situation in the same way Data appeared to go against his programming at the end of 'The Most Toys,' potentially about to murder someone. The Great Reset is usually the way they go with this, and it's not like we haven't seen strange anomalies in the Doc's program before (I think of an episode such as 'Latent Image' as a good example of this). It's clear how the writers consider his change of 'heart' in that they outright have him compared to the Borg, of all things, by a former drone herself, Seven saying he was ready to sacrifice an individual to save a collective (or to put it another way, how a Vulcan might: 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one,' which is just as worrying when you think about it in the same way as Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations says there is no such thing as wrong - creepy and illogical!), though she says it in an understanding way rather than a judgemental (or critical!) way.

At least there's room for discussion in an episode like this, which I don't find much of in modern Trek (oh yeah, you knew it was coming at some point!), and I don't find myself having much to think about at the end of most episodes today. That's why 'Voyager' is so good, it has that depth and thoughtfulness on a regular basis and can do drama, comedy, mystery, whatever genre you care to name, without sacrificing the potential for story or bashing you over the head with a political viewpoint. This episode I found myself enjoying the subtle turns and deft adjustments from scenes of reassuring familial pleasantness (such as Neelix feeling responsible for the Doctor's kidnap, while Janeway only has words of comfort in response), or humour (Janeway grabbing Tuvok's hand as part of her insightful dealing with the 'Adulteress' as the end credits name the woman with whom Gar ran off! Incidentally, Debi A. Monahan had already played a holographic woman in 'His Way' on 'DS9'). Tuvok threatening to use a mind meld on the captured Gar, Neelix giving him internal pains by poisoning his food... everyone seemed to be acting immorally, or contemplating it, not something you'd usually expect from the Starfleet realm. Perhaps there was a sub-message underneath all of this that it's okay to do whatever's necessary to right a wrong, which I don't think is true at all, even if it can be practical. Yet there was also a lot of sensitivity, especially from the Doctor who has become a very rounded individual compared to his early appearances.

It's a delight to see him make friends wherever he goes, enlisting aid, tweaking views, because everyone's just going along with this unfair system simply because they don't think outside of it, just accept it since it's what they know and understand. It takes the Doctor's bending of the rules for them to slowly realise better help could be given and we leave the society in a state where it could either clamp down even harder and make sure no one can fool The Allocator (a computer that sounds so much like something from 'TOS,' I loved it!), in the same way Janeway wants safeguards looked into for accessing even the lowest level files from now on. Or the people involved could start an opposition to the system they're under, for all we know (and you'd hope, judging by the Allocator not being completely omniscient and omnipotent, so there may still be hope...), one is already in existence that could benefit from the knowledge and experience of Dysek and Voje, perhaps the Doctor has ignited a protest that will break through the inertia and general acceptance. But then that's the Prime Directive's reason for existence: don't interfere because you don't know what will come from that, what unforeseen consequences could have a negative effect. But then if you don't do anything then negatives could be even more prevalent... It's like time travel, it makes your head spin and you just have to try to be wise and make the right decision in your time and place and not second-guess everything, I suppose.

The episode looks very nice and the difference between Level Red and Level Blue is stark - Blue could be a Starfleet Sickbay, all spotless whites and greys, great carpeting and space aplenty, while Red is crowded, dark and miserable, reminding me of the frontline medical care seen in 'Nor The Battle To The Strong,' another great doctor episode. I can't quite say the same for the CGI, which is up and down - the opening shot as Gar's ship flies across the cloudy skies to the hospital ship would have been better served with an establishing matte painting to better sell the reality better, but other times in the episode (the great black bug shot), it worked well, so perhaps movement is what makes the difference and I'm so used to a detailed, but largely static matte than I am too-smooth early CG work. What makes the episode work best is seeing a character, in this case the Doctor, do what he does best (no, I don't mean talk - Janeway even speculates he would have been most receptive to Gar's questioning him about the mobile holoemitter when he was aboard so they know their crewman!), and that's always a pleasure to see. Also a pleasure is seeing the odd returning face. I mentioned Monahan, but Gregory Itzin is the big name here as Dysek, his third role following two memorable appearances in 'DS9.' He'd go on to play a couple more roles in 'Enterprise,' but was sadly never used in modern Trek before his death in 2022 (Larry Drake who played Chellik also died in 2016). John Durbin was less recognisable as 'Alien Miner,' but the name was familiar, going back to Season 1 'TNG,' a later role in that series, and one in 'DS9.'

In some ways this was another episode that hearkened back to one of the early seasons: we even get a version of that restrained Doctor when an old training file is used to replace the real version by Gar, so that was fun. Going on a hunt for someone also seemed like something they'd have done back then, dealing with the Kazon or whomever. The Doctor couldn't have been so easily removed in those days since his holoemitter didn't come into the picture until Season 3, but a character being trapped in some alien world where they think quite differently about things brought 'Emanations' to mind. And of course Tom and Harry doing matey stuff together, no Seven (until the final scene), and Tuvok more involved than later seasons all contributed to the feel. I didn't used to like this one, and often low expectations can enhance the appeal of an episode, but it's just as likely to be that I rate modern Trek episodes too generously despite my general dislike compared with past estimates and so when I come across something with actual merit I find myself needing to bump it up a bit, plus things have changed in society since I last watched and reviewed this one (The Allocator as AI assistant has new meaning now), and Trek has a way of speaking to different times in different ways so this has become a good example in the interim.

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