In the nineteenth episode of the fifth season of Voyager, the ship gets trapped in a thing, and then Chakotay thinks he’s fighting? And there’s a genetic disorder. Or there’s fear? And the aliens just wanna talk? I don’t know, but if you’re intrigued, then it’s time for me to watch Star Trek.
Trigger Warning: For talk of Native/indigenous stereotypes and ableism re: cognitive disorders.
So you know how I’ve frequently been saying that an episode of Star Trek has so many pieces that it shouldn’t work, but it does? Yeah, well… this isn’t that. There are about five completely separate things going on in “The Fight,” and the script for this episode tries to tie them together, but it just ended up confusing me more than anything else. There was an attempt at something here; I’m just not sure what that is.
Which is a shame, since Beltran really does a fine job with Chakotay’s panic, fear, and paranoia.
My issue is that I can’t seem to assemble this puzzle. I love a good execution of in media res, but as “The Fight: reversed to explain the intense opening scene, I found myself scratching my head. The idea of chaotic space: super cool and weird. And I like that Voyager keeps going weirder and weirder! That’s not a problem I have with this, nor am I turned off by how non-linear this felt at times.
First, Chakotay goes on a “vision quest” to hopefully figure out if his grandfather can guide him into dealing with a cognitive disorder that was “activated” by the chaotic space. I feel like this is really bad science, but I’m not a geneticist, so I can’t say why. But even if we accept that: oh god, please stop with the vision quests. STOP WITH THE PAN FLUTES EVERY TIME CHAKOTAY TALKS ABOUT HIS PAST, IT IS SO BOGUS. Yet even if I could ignore this (surprise, I can’t), I am still completely lost as to how this tied to the boxing ring and the greater story with the “aliens.” Did they try to contact him through the vision quest? Or did the hallucinations merge with that? Did the vision quest even need to happen?
I can accept that these aliens used an unorthodox means to contact Chakotay. Okay! That makes some sort of sense. But where were they? The only time we heard them speak was during the big confrontation sequence at the end, but… was that happening earlier? Was Chakotay unable to hear them well because it hurt him so much? Look, I love an intense scene just as much as anyone, but I was bewildered once the Doctor started shouting at Chakotay, telling him that his fear was making it impossible for him to hear what the aliens were saying. Hold on… I thought it was a language/communication barrier. And pain. Now it’s fear? Why was he afraid? Because reality and hallucination blurred the lines so much?
This was a lot. Not terrible, but the writers bit off more than they could chew. The one thing I wished I could have seen more of – the actual aliens – was the shortest part of “The Fight.” Alas! Not a bad episode, but certainly not a favorite.
The video for “The Fight” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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