'Deadlock'

Stardate: 49548.7
Written By: Brannon Braga
Directed By: David Livingston
Rating: ***3/4 (out of 5)

A lot of people have said that is their favorite episode of Voyager, and �Deadlock� is an enjoyable episode that plays like one of those confusing time travel adventures, but I�m not all that enthused about it.  This is a very strange episode that shows us �what could be� and takes the �what could be� and makes it real.  And just as you say �reset- button ending� we discover it is and it isn�t.  See what I mean, confusing!

The plot twists and turns a lot, and there�s too much for me to write here.  But I liked the way Voyager was responsible for the other Voyagers damage, even if the science was a bit iffy.  I assumed that the healthy Voyager would be the one to get away after they couldn�t be connected again, but I was wrong.

It�s all very well having the crippled Voyager getting away, but somehow I doubt that the next episode will follow up on this damage.  The ship will be good as new, even that destroyed phaser array and the destroyed Bridge will be fixed.  And the casualties suffered aren�t going to affect anyone either.

But I still enjoyed the way the story went.  So many events here had me very surprised, like the Wildman baby dying (Why bother with the normal procedures for having a baby when you can just beam it out?  I think this was a silly thing.  I doubt such a thing would be able to happen), Harry being killed (which looked pretty cool), Voyager being banged up real good and Voyager being boarded by the Vidiians. 

Janeway seeing her ghostly self was creepy and I had a lot of fun watching two Janeway�s talking, finishing sentences and realizing what the other�s actions would be.

And ultimately these events are all reset.  But in a way they aren�t.  So are Harry and the Wildman baby really part of the crew or not?  I realize they would only have missed a few days, so its like falling asleep and having an odd dream, but is there anything that makes them different?  Wasn�t the copied Kes slightly different?  And the Doc mucks up by saying, �Does the other Doc have a name?�  Why would that be different if it was only a few days?

Even though it does seem like a bit of a muddle, the story is very clever because it allows all these things to happen, and all of them take their toll on the crew, everyone remembering what�s happened, but everything is pretty much back to normal.

My main problems with all this - like I said the science is a bit clumsy, the end solution was nothing special, but I liked how the Vidiians got to the Bridge and then BANG!, and the mechanics of it all, with Harry and Wildman, seems a bit too weird, even for Star Trek.  I mean, Harry�s dead body is still floating around out there!

So in the end it isn�t the fantastic episode I�d heard it was, but it was still fun and written quite cleverly by Brannon Braga.  This episode succeeds because you understand everything that�s happened, but somehow you can�t fully explain it, but fails in it�s lack of explanation and annoying science that is all too obviously a plot device. (ie.  �We need something to create two Voyagers, and something to put them back together, let�s pick a Tech word from a hat.�)