'Investigations'

Stardate: 49485.2
Written By: Jeff Schnauffer and Ed Bond
Directed By: Les Landau
Rating: *** (out of 5)

Since �Alliances� we�ve seen Jonas being in contact with the Kazon and in �Dreadnought� we saw the beginning of Tom�s bad behavior and finally in �Lifesigns� Tom comes to blows with Chakotay and Tom is relieved of duty.  Now we get a conclusion to these events, and I can�t say I�m satisfied.

�Investigations� was a good distraction, but its purpose, to bring the traitor aboard Voyager into the light, needed something a little more important than a simple distraction.  What we get is an unfortunate mess of questionable decisions, plot holes and coincidences.

Many times through �Investigations� I thought how obvious it was that the writers are trying to give us more action than any reasonable plot, which is a sad thing to do.  The basics of the plot are okay but how it is done here, by making the plot work around the action, just doesn�t work.  I lost count of the amount of times I said to myself �Why didn�t the Kazon shoot him� or �How silly was that?�

Apart from action, the plot revolves around Neelix�s new interest in journalism where he starts a morning show for the crew.  While this is a spontaneous character trait, I hope we see more of this!  It�s amusing, especially the Doc trying to get a space for his medical topics!  I enjoyed the journalism part, and Ethan Phillips does a commendable job, but I would�ve liked some more introductions to this hobby.  Everything else was setup, why not this?

If you ask me, if TPTB is going to do something like this in this way than they shouldn�t bother.  All this build up and all this welcomed continuity just flies straight back into their faces.  Not only would more time have been better devoted to this, but more thought also.

Tom�s plan aboard the Kazon is typical of Kazon stupidity and writer stupidity.  Tom was so sure that the Kazon are idiots that he knew that 1) He could escape, 2) that they would fall for his plan easily and 3) that he could easily escape from the Kazon ship!  Smart Tom, Dumb Kazon.

I�ve babbled on about my dislike of �Investigations� but there are actually some good things to offer here.  The acting was quite good, all the major cast doing a good job.  Despite the plotholes and stupid errors many scenes where quite tense; Jonas about to kill Neelix and the final �show-down� at the end, Neelix�s tribute to Tom was nice and the good-bye scene satisfying, although where was Janeway?  The plot had a good basic theme, which helped improve things, and some nice SFX added into the brothel!

In ending; �Investigations� offers some exciting and tense moments and a good plot, but as things progress, you must make sure your brain is in the �OFF� position.  Lucky I watched it twice to get the best, or worst, of both worlds.  *** is pushing but I�m a generous person.