Review Text
The lack of growth for Dal continues to be a vexing problem on this show. He's impatient, intellectually uncurious, groans at every mention of science or technobabble, and is a prime example of "fools rush in." When he finally breaks down to study Temporal Mechanics 101 (now that he has no choice), which he has been studiously avoiding (or should that be "unstudiously avoiding"?) long past the time all his peers have studied it, we see him pull up the lesson ... and it's essentially a Starfleet-produced YouTube training video which he completes in, I don't know, an hour? How far we have fallen from the days of the brilliant Wesley Crusher and the calculus-taught pre-teens of the Enterprise being barely able to pass the entrance exams. Why don't you get off my lawn, while you're at it.
I jest, but this demonstrates the show's unwillingness to fully engage with its most intriguing sci-fi ideas. When the YouTube video started with a demonstration of falling dominoes to illustrate the timeline, I thought we might be getting somewhere. But the substance of the video is glossed over with giant ellipses and is merely a device to show that Dal finally learns something, rather than providing the episode's viewers an insight into the show's take on timeline shenanigans. Maybe I'm asking too much of this series, but I don't think so. This is the ostensible entry point to the Trek universe for kids. Show them how things work.
And about those shenanigans: they're varied, numerous, and not without interest. We've got a mysterious unknown entity sending multiple characters cryptic messages and offering them help. It hacks the Infinity's computer with a message telling Dal to "Save Gwen" and provides coordinates to the Va'Lu'Rah arena, where Gwen lies 52 years in the past, phasing in and out of the timeline. The Voyager and Infinity are both protected from the effects of the timeline paradoxes by special "temporal shielding." The mysterious entity that's helping them is able to somehow transcend time and space and do magically helpful things. (It helps send the downed shuttle back in time and then gets it airborne so our characters can escape.) And by the end, this entity reveals itself to Murf as a humanoid-shaped form of light, which struck me as a take on Future Guy AKA Shadow Man from Enterprise's temporal war.
Though the serialized plot continues, this episode feels like a wrap-up of the first mini-arc of the season. Gwyn and her father reach some emotional resolution — at least for now — that indicates for both of them a second chance at a relationship given the Old Diviner's complete lack of parentage for his daughter in his original timeline. (But, again, the lack of foundational timeline rules doesn't seem to indicate whether these changes to Ilthuran's past exist in a way that alters his future or exists parallel to it in a different universe — although the second option seems more likely.) And we have all of the characters reunited on Voyager.
I seem to be stuck on two-and-a-half stars. Since these first four episodes were so closely connected like one big piece, I guess that kind of makes sense.
Previous episode: Who Saves the Saviors
Next episode: Observer's Paradox
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5 comments on this post
Karl Zimmerman
Alright, we pick up more or less where we left off here.
This episode features a lot more scenes back in the "present" on the Voyager, following Rokk-Takk, Murf, and Janeway & co. Communication links are made between them and Dal and the others through the wormhole on two different occasions, as they try and unfuck the timeline. However, a certain mysterious benefactor has let them know Gwen is in danger. This ends up being pretty much the plot of the episode - rescuing Gwen.
A highlight of the episode is Gwyn's developing relationship with the downtime Diviner. He was a complicated villain in the first season, and seeing him before the destruction of his people made him go bad is...refreshing.
The gang somehow built a time machine in less than ten minutes of showtime! This would frustrate me if this weren't a kid's show. As an aside, "Dr. Erin" is a within-universe cameo of the real Star Trek science advisor.
Regardless, they "save" Gwyn, and then somehow the mysterious benefactor fixes their ship. This is a sort of annoying deus ex machina, but it does set up a wider mystery of who is helping them. And the episode concludes with the whole gang reunited (with the sadness of Gwyn having failed in her mission), with a real feel that "Act 1" of the season has finished.
On the whole, I think this is the best episode of the season yet, which strengthens with every entry. Yet as I noted in the last review post, the first four episodes have been barely distinguishable. These all could, with a bit of trimming, be combined into a serviceable regular-length episode.
Chris W
Janeway: "How can we help?"
Dal: "Uhhh... could you be ever so kind and send us all the information you have on 'Temporal Mechanics 101'... please?"
😆
Jeffrey's Tube
Just an observation, that I know is of limited merit because it's not an apples-to-apples comparison . . .
. . . but the writing on this show is Shakespeare compared to the writing on the final season of Discovery. I'm actually transported by the story. No awkward bit of writing or pacing or a bad line or characters being colossally stupid for plot reasons or acting dramatically out of character inexplicably, no crying or emotional confessions in the middle of high stakes time-is-of-the-essence moments; I can watch and no moment like that arrives to suddenly and jarringly take me out of being engrossed in the story.
You know, basically the standard for the bare minimum of competence in entertainment? This show is flying over that bar.
How refreshing.
And while I know it's easier in 20-minute installments, and this is only episode four, you know what else they're doing competently? Pulling off a highly serialized story without filler or false stakes, delays or stalls, or failing to convince with the character development because it hasn't been earned. See? Competent serialized storytelling CAN be done in Star Trek!
All you need are writers who aren't lazy and give a fuck. This show is clearly being made by writers who give a fuck. They have something to say, a story they want to tell, characters they care about, and it really appears they like their jobs rather than just like the paycheck.
You can always tell in the final product. Always.
. . .
I am going to watch these slowly over the next week or so to avoid blowing through them all at once. I know I will enjoy the show more that way. Little moments will stick with me better over the long run than just the big moments. I'm done for today and will pick it up again tomorrow.
What a treat to have this.
Chris W
@Jeffrey's Tube: "the writing on this show is Shakespeare compared to the writing on the final season of Discovery."; "...while I know it's easier in 20-minute installments..."
---> Totally agree on the quality of the work product. There are 20 episodes that seem to average 23 minutes. I'd peg 6 of those are filler episodes (all of which are relatively descent). Translating to Discovery's runtime of 55 minutes per episode, that gives you a little over 6 episodes of serialized content. That would have been a strong half-season for Discovery.
But to your well-meaning point in ensuring proper merit and objectivity, this is a kid's show. I wonder myself how much unconscious latitude I'm giving to Prodigy because of that.
Black Oatmeal
I really didn't like the "how to build a time machine from scratch" instructional vlog scene.
The first 3 and a half episodes of this arc have been good, and then the writers write themselves into a corner and switch to "we're just a kid's show!" to get themselves out of it.
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