'Resolutions'

Stardate: 49690.1
Written By: Jeri Taylor
Directed By: Alexander Singer
Rating: **** (out of 5)

I liked �Resolutions� a lot.  It had a great story and it�s a great character episode for Janeway and Chakotay, well it would�ve been even better.

There are some very annoying problems.  First, the time this all happens in.  Are we supposed to believe that there are 17 days of trying to find a cure, where I believe Voyager stayed in orbit, than about 1 month and a bit more passes after Voyager has left and in that time Voyager keeps close (well, close by Warp standards) to the same Vidiian convoy, and than gets in contact with the Vidiian�s, a battle ensues and they return to the planet?  Well, I guess we are.  But that means that this episode spans about 4 months or so, it doesn�t seem like it.

The problems I have with that is that the episode doesn�t take in that this has spanned so much time.  It might as well have been a week or so, but no, it�s definitely months by the dialogue.  Janeway and Chakotay spent a lot of time down on the planet, and Voyager spent a lot of time at Warp speed near the same Vidiian ship.  A lot of time was wasted on their journey home, and to make a decision about contacting the Vidiian�s or not.

Another problem with �Resolutions� is that at the end everything goes back to normal, as if nothing happened between Janeway and Chakotay.  All we needed at the end was for Janeway and Chakotay to smile at each other before Janeway gives the order to plot course and before the episode ends.  But no, Chakotay just says he�ll write a report and they forget everything.

Apart from that, this episode fared very well.  Beltran and Mulgrew act out their characters very well, and Janeway�s obsessions are so . . . well, �Janeway!�  It was heart-warming to see these too working and cooperating in this way, and it was kind of sad that they had to leave their peaceful life on the planet and go back to the modern Starfleet life.

I did notice however, that when they left, they didn�t take the supplies with them, what a waste of energy and resources.  And this go against the Prime Directive, those primates could very well become a civilization.

The Voyager-side story isn�t as good, but it�s not too bad.  I understand why Tuvok doesn�t want to contact the Vidiian�s but his case is really strained by the writers.  It�s obvious they where trying to make Tuvok completely disagree with the Vidiian plan, but they couldn�t come up with enough good excuses and it seemed a bit ridiculous that he wasn�t complying.

I liked seeing the Starfleet and Maquis crews working together like this also.  One thing I noticed though was that Janeway was the one they seemed to care about more, while poor Chakotay isn�t missed.

I liked also having Denara Pel return, even if it was more a cameo and there wasn�t too much time for the Doc and her to speak, but it shows good continuity,

�Resolutions� turns out to be one fine episode, especially the Janeway and Chakotay scenes, but it�s very unfortunate that these events will be forgotten so quickly.