In the twentieth episode of the sixth season of Voyager, this is a neat idea, but it feels a little too familiar. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.Â
I mean… isn’t this basically a re-hash of “Lower Decks” from The Next Generation? During evaluations, a group of never-before-seen crewmembers are thrust into the action for the first time, proving to themselves and to others that they are able to rise to the occasion. There are elements here that set this apart, but as a whole, it felt like something Star Trek had already done, you know?
I welcome any opportunity to get a Janeway-centric episode, of course, so “Good Shepherd” has that going for it. I loved the idea that Janeway felt responsible for rectifying the fact that these three crew members – the hypochondriac William Telfer, the jerk-ish Mortimer Harren, and the doubt-filled Tal Celes – had never been on an away mission once while on Voyager. It’s one of those writing decisions that feels sensible because it’s absolutely something the character would do. I believed that Janeway would lead this mission herself. She’s all about giving people second chances, and we need only look towards her treatment of Seven for evidence of that! And each of these characters had a reason why they’d been so isolated from the crew as a whole. (At least in the case of Celes and William, they were friends with one another.)
If anything, their transformation over the course of this episode is a bit too obvious. The solution to each of their problems is spelled out by their flaws: William just needed to face his fear of disease and infection by being infected by something for the first time. Tal Celes had to develop confidence in herself by performing under pressure. And Mortimer Harren… well, first of all, he had to stop being an asshole, WHICH IS APPARENTLY SOMETHING THAT WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM TO DO PRIOR TO THIS. His anti-social behavior seemed to be derived from his obsession with theory over reality, so the solution? Testing an actual theory instead of working in a detached manner. Sounds easy enough, right?
Unfortunately, “Good Shepherd” suffers from this exact problem, wrapping up three complex stories with the most perfect resolution for each of them. For a moment, I thought the episode was trying to do something new with a familiar pattern, especially once that terrifying dark matter thing was introduced. “Good Shepherd” started looking like a horror movie! Plus, I’m usually a sucker for non-heroes becoming heroes in strenuous, terrifying situations. The problem here, however, is more of the medium than anything else. The pacing of this episode is perfectly fine for nearly half an hour, and then the last ten minutes happens in a flash. The story escalates, which isn’t a problem in itself. It’s how jarring the change in the characters is that I was bothered by. Their problems were solved in the span of a few minutes. Hell, William’s development came in a single, 60-second sequence. And then we never see anything else from them! They all wake up on Voyager after defeating this nameless force, but only Janeway is conscious, so we don’t even get any sort of emotional closure. If I had faith that we’d see these three characters again, I might not care, but y’all know this is the last we’ll see of them, right? I doubt we’ll get a sequel. So this was a bit too rushed for me, especially after there seemed to be promise that this might not unfold as I expected. Harren actually used the escape pod! I loved the idea that he didn’t change and instead just high-tailed it to Voyager to go back to his old life.
Alas. Well, I got a cameo from Tom Morello! Hopefully soon, you’ll understand why that’s important.
The video for “Good Shepherd” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
-Â Please visit my new site for all announcements. If you’d rather not have to rely on checking a website regularly, sign up for my newsletter instead! This will cover all news for Mark Reads, Mark Watches, and my fiction releases.Â
