“Imposter Syndrome”

Review Text

The cadet hopefuls narrow down the possible location of Chakotay based on evidence that, frankly, feels less than ironclad. But because they're on restricted duty, they don't inform Janeway, and decide instead to steal the Infinity from the shuttle bay to make the trip on their own. (This seems like a really bad idea.) Furthermore, they decide to create holographic duplicates of themselves that will stay aboard Voyager so Janeway and the crew aren't aware they've even left the ship. What could go wrong? Hijinks, as they say, ensue.

I'm willing to grant implausibilities in the name of a story's premise, but "Imposter Syndrome" is several bridges too far, servicing a premise that never ventures beyond surface-level depth. The idea these kids could so easily create hologram duplicates so perfect that no one (not even the audience) can tell which is which is pretty tough to swallow, but the story doesn't even consider the implications of its bigger sin — that these holograms are programmed to believe they are the real people they're supposedly replacing. Are they sentient like the Doctor or Moriarty? Are there ethical considerations to creating such artificial beings? If they're programmed to believe they are real, how do they logically reconcile the other people that look like them? (At one point, the real Jankom becomes uncertain about his own realness. When the holograms are deactivated so they can be reprogrammed, he exclaims, "Existential crisis averted!" For him, maybe, but what about the holos themselves? They, and the story, don't care.)

There are all kinds of interesting questions that could be explored here, but the episode is more interested in the mayhem of the holos being loose (it even teases this with the clichéd mid-crisis cold open before flashing back "24 hours earlier"), and figuring out how to recapture and regain control of them. Also, there's the caper of getting aboard the Infinity. It's scheduled to be destroyed (by flying it into a star) to cover up the evidence of the classified mission, which works in the kids' favor: If they can board the ship at the last minute, they can fly it away after its course has been set for the star and no one will realize it.

But it's deflating, the incredulous nature of these kids being able to constantly sneak around and leave their superiors out of the loop so the serialized plot can work solely from their POV. By the end of the episode, we've got the kids aboard the Infinity taking on the mission unilaterally while the Voyager crew is none the wiser. And the holograms have somehow all switched personalities with each other, which seems like something that should be discovered by the crew instantly.

Previous episode: Observer's Paradox
Next episode: The Fast and the Curious

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