(This is the point where I started tweeting the episodes.) S4E12 “Mortal Coil.”
I’m in the middle of a StarTrek Voyager rewatch and I’m up to “Mortal Coil.” As soon as I heard the word protomatter I knew someone was going to die and be brought back to life. Sure enough, Neelix gets zapped and is revived by Seven’s nanoprobes.
Of course, it had to be Neelix. The episode is now about questioning religious beliefs. They wouldn’t try that with a human character.
The most amazing thing so far is how damn dumb Chakotay is. He’s on his way to watch a holodeck recreation of the accident & he invites Neelix along without batting an eye. “Sure! Come watch yourself die! That won’t traumatize you at all!”
This got heavy-handed fast. And of course, there has to be a vision quest that inexplicably requires a piece of technology.
Neelix contemplates his new condition and the episode almost stops without any real ending. This might be okay if they circle back to it, but without a real epiphany, this is merely a return to the status quo.
It’s a pleasant enough episode but ultimately unsatisfying.
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