In the nineteenth episode of the seventh season of Voyager, okay. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.Â
You know, this isn’t a bad episode, and it’s not a bad idea. I do like it when episodic shows revisit past threads and surprise the audience with sequels. Yet I spent most of “Q2” wondering one thing: Did we really need this?
Q is an absurd character, but over the course of all three Star Trek shows he has appeared on, the story isn’t the absurd part. It’s his behavior that’s so out there. Yet here, I couldn’t get a grasp on this script: the premise seemed so pointless and non-sensical, and not in a way that was all that entertaining. The double ending was unnecessary because the first ending – where Q’s son is doomed to be human for the rest of his existence – actually gave this whole episode meaning and purpose. It’s wiped away afterwards by a much more saccharine solution that came from a governing body who, may I remind y’all, judged ALL HUMANITY in the finale of The Next Generation. So the Q Continuum, through Q, can conduct one of the most grandiose trials in the history of time and space, yet can’t handle one kid?
“Q2” has a much bigger problem, however. Let’s say that there’s a way you could use canon to support the messier Continuum stuff here. I’m sure someone could do it! It’s fun to see John de Lancie and (I assume) his son have fun with these characters. But y’all. Y’all.
I can’t stand Q’s son.
For the entirety of the first act, he is a Reddit thread gone wrong. He is the epitome of white privilege, a manifestation of a social phenomenon with frighteningly similar parallels. Q is a kid who has the literal power to do whatever he wants without fear of any consequences, and all other authority powers are afraid to stop him. DOESN’T THAT SOUND INCREDIBLY LIKE SOMETHING ELSE. By about the fifteen-minute mark, I was SO ANNOYED WITH THIS CHARACTER. He was ruthlessly mean and cruel, determined to be selfish every waking second, and an unending terror. When he begins his transition to the “good” version of himself, it’s not believable. I don’t understand the motivation for him to become better. Was it validation? Fear of Janeway? Why did he decide to give up his arrogance? There’s so much time spent on showing us what an unforgivable jerk he is, while there’s virtually no time devoted to the difficult journey of LEARNING TO BE A GOOD HUMAN. That doesn’t happen in ten minutes worth of screen time. And look, that whole situation with Icheb occurred because Q was being selfish again, so did he really learn to be a better person?
Apparently. He was all smiles and platitudes at the end, but that doesn’t mask the fact that he did a lot of awful things for years. COOL MOTIVE, STILL MURDER.
The video for “Q2” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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