In the fourth episode of the fifth season of Voyager, I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS EPISODE. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.Â
I’ve decided (or figured out, I should say) that one of my favorite things about Voyager is how this show repeatedly comes up with these ridiculous, ambitious concepts, and then finds a way to execute them. THIS IS BASICALLY A HUGE COLD WAR NARRATIVE THAT IS TOLD AND RESOLVED IN FORTY MINUTES. Oh, and it’s all about Species 8472. OH, AND THERE’S A SIMULATED STARFLEET HEADQUARTERS, TOO. Ethics of interspecies conflict? Seven of Nine learning about faith? All of this in one single episode? YES.
“In the Flesh” has an abrupt start, but I think starting it in the midst of this story works incredibly well; instead of showing us how Voyager discovered the space station, we watch Tuvok and Chakotay’s first reconnaissance mission within the massive Starfleet simulation. For the first couple scenes, this episode is a surreal guessing game. Is it a Holodeck adventure? Is it a flashback? Once the simulation becomes obvious, the episode transforms: Who is running the simulation? Why?
In many ways, “In the Flesh” felt like a classic Star Trek episode, and that’s mostly because of this script’s philosophy. It didn’t feel repetitive, though. If anything, I was pleased to see the show address the complicated ramifications of what Voyager did to Species 8472. Even the recon mission that opens this episode is an important thematic element. Once we learn why all of this is taking place, the show places these two sides into a conflict that seems impossible to solve. Indeed, I kept bracing myself for the battle that felt inevitable. How could the Voyager crew explain that recon mission away? How could they justify killing members of Species 8472? How could Species 8472 be convinced that Earth was not about to invade and destroy them all?
That’s why that opening scene is so important. The show has to establish the paranoia that runs rampant throughout this episode. At every step of the way, this conflict is made more complicated. The further the Voyager crew pushes the recon mission, the higher chance they have of ruining any attempts at diplomacy. And once Chakotay is caught by Archer (we never get the names of the Species 8472 characters, so I’ll just refer to them with their Starfleet names), the difficulty exponentially multiplies. But it has to be difficult. There has to be mistrust on both sides – much of that trust quite justified! – for this episode to work as well as it does.
Janeway’s commitment to the principles of Starfleet and the Federation are what guide this, though, and it’s the reason I invoked The Original Series. As messy as the original episodes could be, there’s a flair for diplomacy amidst violent tension that feels fitting within the greater Star Trek oeuvre. Roddenberry’s vision was of a world where violence wasn’t the first action taken, where humanity sought out negotiation over instantaneous destruction. Here, Nick Sagan’s script takes that idea to an extreme, and the Cold War overtones push this conflict to near-warfare. Like, if that meeting onboard Voyager had just nudged itself even slightly different than what we saw, Voyager would be fighting Species 8472. I know it! This story truly felt like it had one solution, and Janeway – with Chakotay’s help – managed to find a way to get Species 8472 to let down their guard just enough to start a dialogue.
It’s a wonderful teaching moment for Seven. It’s also such a shocking resolution of this story. I ASSUMED IT WOULD END IN VIOLENCE GIVEN HOW IT STARTED. I am super thrilled by the idea that “In the Flesh” leaves this open for another update in the future, too, and you better believe I want it. DID BOOTHBY SUCCEED? CAN THERE BE PEACE BETWEEN SPECIES 8472 AND THE FEDERATION?
I love this episode. A LOT.
The video for “In the Flesh” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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