As Seven of Nine tries to find her place on Voyager, B’Elanna finds herself having a terrible day. Originally broadcast on September 17, 1997 this is Day of Honor.
The Episode:
Captain’s Log Stardate Undetermined: Day of Honor.
Voyager encounters a race previously devastated by the Borg while B’Elanna and Paris finally have a heart to heart…although it may be their last.
The Story:
After a rough start to the day, including a bad shower, a plasma leak and her impending Klingon Day of Honor ritual, B’Elanna has had enough. Talking it over with Paris it seems things are not getting any better and when she is informed that Seven of Nine will be working on the Engines with her, B’Elanna’s day gets even worse. Making clear to Chakotay she is not pleased with the assignment, she is informed that Seven will indeed be helping to modify the engines to be able to use transwarp technology.
Later, Janeway and Seven discuss the new assignment to Engineering. While the former Drone is not allowed to leave her quarters in Cargo Bay 2 without an escort, Seven assures Janeway that she will not attempt to contact the Borg again. After a brief discussion about Seven’s name, Janeway is called to the bridge where the ship has come in contact with a severely damaged vessel. Hailing them, she learns that this is a Caatati ship which came from a people who have fled being assimilated by the Borg. Reduced to a nomadic lifestyle, the Caatati captain asks for help as they are the last of their kind and need assistance. Janeway agrees on an exchange of supplies in order to assist the suffering refugees.
Working with Seven in Engineering, Torres soon learns that the former Drone has no remorse for the damage that has been done by the Borg themselves. Pushing the frustration in this aside they continue to work until Seven leaves to regenerate. Torres heads to the Mess Hall for a break and is presented with a Blood Pie by Neelix, much to her dismay. She has no interest in participating in the Klingon ritual and Neelix offers to be B’Elanna’s emotional punching bag should she need it. Torres politely declines but is pleased that she has such a good friend. With her spirits lifted, she heads to the holodeck to participate in the Day of Honor.
However, the ritual does not go according to plan and she only ends up leaving it prematurely unable to handle the final ordeal of pain-sticks. Giving up, she flees to her quarters only to run into Paris who she ends up arguing with. He tries to encourage her but tells her that she needs to embrace both sides of her heritage or she will only find herself alone due to her nature to push people away.
Janeway and the senior staff meet with Lumas, the Caatati representative sent to negotiate for supplies. Although Janeway has been more than generous, it seems that Lumas is unhappy with what Voyager is offering. Making a play at being insulted, Lumas attempts to guilt Janeway into offering more but Neelix chimes in indicating that the crew of Voyager has always been more than generous to anyone they meet. Janeway works with Neelix and The Doctor to procure additional supplies knowing that she has opened a can of worms with this rather needy alien race. Things get worse, however, when Lumas runs into Seven of Nine as he and Tuvok head to the transporter. Deeply offended and frightened by the presence of a Borg Drone on the ship he nearly attacks Seven insisting that she reveal the whereabouts of his family. It is clear that Seven has no knowledge or interest in this person and makes note to Paris that this is a typical reaction from some of the crew-members as well.
After arriving in Engineering, Seven and Torres begin work on the Transwarp modifications but something goes wrong. The Warp engine begins to flood with tachyon particles and soon approaches a warp core breach. Unable to stop it, Janeway orders engineering evacuated but both Seven and Torres try to remain behind to stop the breach. Unable to stop it, Torres is forced to eject the Warp Core.
Getting a safe distance from the core, they are relieved when it does not explode, but now have to go back for it. Unfortunately it will take to long to take the ship back so Torres and Paris are sent to repair and retrieve the core via a shuttle craft. Things go from bad to worse when they arrive only to find the Caatati there attempting to steal the damaged core for themselves. Claiming that they arrived first and have claim, the Caatati ignore Paris and Torres fire on the shuttle. The shuttle’s own warp core is damaged and both Paris and Torres are forced to put on EV suits and evacuate. Unable to send a distress call, the two manage to get far enough away and watch as their shuttle explodes. Now trapped alone in space the two begin working on a way to both contact voyager and survive. Things get even worse when an ion storm hits them damaging their suits and causes Paris to lose his air supply. Acting fast Torres connects her oxygen to both suits so that they share the little remaining. It is now clear that they both have feelings for one another but this revelation may have come too late as they will run out of oxygen in less than an hour.
Back on the ship Janeway asks Seven for answers concerning the malfunction. It soon becomes clear that Janeway is suspicious of Seven and the former Drone makes that clear. Calling Janeway out for being ‘ just like the others’ Seven makes her disappointment known assuring the Captain that this was not her doing. After discussing human compassion and the inefficiency of the crew, Janeway and Seven return to work attempting to find the reason for the near warp core breach. Before long Seven discovers the cause of the accident and Janeway is revealed that no sign of sabotage has been found. With the impulse engines nearly ready to be brought back online, the crew is concerned when they receive a faint signal from Paris and Torres indicating that they have run into trouble.
Things get even worse when Lumas returns with a small armada of Caatati ships demanding that Voyager give up all of their supplies in addition to Seven of Nine so that they can enact their revenge on the Borg. While Voyager is outnumbered, Janeway is not about to give up without a fight. Seven offers to sacrifice herself to the Caatati but Janeway refuses. Just as Janeway is about to go on the offensive Seven has an idea, she might be able to make a way for the Caatati to have a regular supply of fuel using the the knowledge she has of the Caatati technology from her Collective memories. Seven and Vorik begin work on the replicator and Janeway begins negotiations with Lumas.
With the device prepared, Seven and Janeway present the tech to Lumas who at first does not understand its significance. After explaining the tech and providing Lumas with the supplies needed to use it, Voyager retrieves their Warp Core and heads off to save their shipmates.
With only minutes left, Paris and Torres finally accept their fate. Torres finally admits that she loves Paris and wants him to know before they die. She is saddened that it took her death to finally admit it but it is the truth. Paris is shocked at the revelation and the two pass out just as Voyager arrives beaming them aboard moments before the new couple parish.
Is this a ‘Good’ Episode:
Wow, they are really wasting no time getting to some significant character development in this season. Not only do we get some serious development for the newest member of the crew but we also hit a massive milestone for two of the long term members
As expected, Seven is still exploring her humanity and the loss of her Borginess. From the get go it is abundantly clear that Seven of Nine isn’t really fitting in as well as Janeway had hoped as people simply do not like her. I mean, who can blame them, she has zero emotion and is more logical that the resident Vulcans showing zero compassion for, well, anyone. So, of course, this episode explores just that, Seven of Nine, gets a chance to experience compassion and her lack of it nearly gets the crew killed. While the story surrounding this advent is not the best, it does also show that Janeway doesn’t really trust Seven even though she kinda claimed that she did. I really don’t blame her to be honest but don’t take someone in your confidence only to not actually believing in them…that’s just cruel.
The real story of this episode is the relationship of Paris and Torres, specifically B’Elanna’s acceptance of it. These two have become fast friends that seem to be dancing around one another since the start. B’Elanna is, much like Seven, a very unlikable person. She is harsh, hard and, unlike Seven, has no problem making her emotions a very loud part of her personality. If B’Elanna doesn’t like something, EVERYONE knows it…there is no doubt. The thing is, she uses her emotions and her anger as a shield.
Having been hurt when her father left her as a child, B’Elanna does all she can to keep everyone at a bat’leth’s distance. Not only is she afraid of letting anyone in close to her for fear of being wounded, she also hates her Klingon heritage as she sees that side of her as the root of all her pain. You see, as I have mentioned in previous reviews, B’Elanna blames her Klingon Mother and herself for the reason her Father left them. This pain is something she has held on to and has caused her nothing but struggle from the start. In fact, it is also the reason she can not bring herself to have a serious relationship with anyone. She is afraid that she too will scare off anyone who loves her.
Much like Seven having to learn compassion by nearly being responsible for the deaths of the entire crew, it takes Torres having a near death experience with Tom to finally admit that she does in fact love him. While this revelation comes at what she believes to be their final breaths, this does not mean that their are off to their honeymoon…no this relationship still has a ways to go but man is it a great story for them both.
Overall, the actual plot for this one was a little contrived, needy aliens who try to scam Voyager, but the character development was top notch. I guess it took a new character to jump-start the series after-all. Not bad, not bad at all.
Gleanings and Cool Bits:
- 0 photon torpedoes fired, 22 remaining.
- 1 shuttlecraft lost or destroyed, 1 remaining.
- I found it odd that Neelix was not grieving the loss of Kes at this point but, after thinking about it maybe that is why he was suggesting to Torres that he be treated as her punching bag. He wants to be beat up as he feels guilty for losing the one person he has truly loved.
- We never see the Caatati again but man… I am kinda glad we dont.
- I find it interesting that Vorik makes an appearance in the episode that Torres finally admits her love to Paris. Kinda fitting seeing that he was after Torres himself at one point.
Thanks for reading the Retro TV Review, I look forward to discussing the rest of the series with you, one episode at a time every Monday, Wednesday and Friday! Next Review: Nemesis
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Late To The Game 9/11/2020
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