This is another one of those episodes that chooses to tell us a few interesting things about many characters, rather than focusing on just one. This works as long as the tidbits we get really are interesting, as they are here.
In fact, one of the things that makes "Prime Factors" fun is watching this crew work together, just as Janeway mentions at the beginning of the show. Tuvok says they should negotiate, Kim says they should use the stories as barter, Paris points out that Jaret's offer is suspect, Chakotay helps Janeway weigh the pros and cons. Thus, when Seska gets Torres and Carey riled up, her mutiny -- that's what this is, no question -- isn't just wrong in principle, but is mucking up a well-functioning unit. The crew divided against itself can't stand, and the mutinous plot falls apart right on schedule (with the help of anti-neutrinos, admittedly).
Janeway's decisions to destroy the array is still giving some of the crew, and some Star Trek fans, cause for complaint. Whatever. It either seems to the right decision to you or it doesn't. What's nice to see here is that she too feels discomfort with the demands of her own ethics. She asks Tuvok to consider the depth of sacrifice she knows she's enforcing on her crew, unaware of the effect it will have on him as well.
Tuvok's decision, and subsequent repentance, all work very nicely here too. It's truly surprising when he shows up in the transporter room, but his explanation to Janeway that he needed to spare her is completely in keeping with the friendship they have so overtly formed. We know from Spock and others that self-sacrifice has its own logic ("the good of the many..."), so Tuvok's valuation of his career as counting less than Janeway's peace of mind, and as less than getting everyone home, allows him to step so completely out of line without stepping out of character.
It seems that with Tuvok we're getting a Vulcan who's less "perfect" than we've seen other Vulcans be. He can make mistakes, and learn from them, without having to blame his human blood or Pon Farr all the time.
Torres gets the most development, showing more interesting and right-on-target character aspects. We've seen her change on the ship dramatically under the responsibility of commanding engineering. Seska is really Torres' inner Maquis voice, the outlaw that whispers it's only a little bit bad to do something that's a little bit illegal. Torres doesn't have the Starfleet training or the life experience to realize that the outlaw voice is lying. She bends her principles a bit -- providing a nice contrast to Janeway's refusal to bend them at all -- and in that way invites the disaster on her own head.
But my favorite part (and one of my all-time favorite moments in the show so far) occurs when Torres confesses her crimes to Janeway so that she can continue to "look at herself." She has no noble story like Tuvok's to make it clear this was a case of misplaced self-sacrifice. She done wrong all right, and all she can do is take the blame.
Janeway has another dilemma now based on Torres' decision to compromise the ship: like with Vidiians, she can't just throw Torres over to authorities. She needs Torres to do her job. And so, like with the Vidiians, she just puts the fear of God into her. Come after the crew for their organs and I'll kill you. Make another mistake and you're busted. We don't know if the warning will hold for the Vidiians, but Torres leaves the ready room like she'll never ever stray again.
Nicely, then, it is from Seska that we get the true acknowledgment of how much responsibility has changed Torres. When Torres doesn't like the idea of taking the trajector technology without permission, Seska asks, "Since when do you talk like that?" When Torres won't change the logs, she says simply, "That doesn't sound like you. You've changed." This gives Torres the opportunity to claim, "If that's true. I take is as a compliment." Torres, it would seem, wants to become more like Starfleet, and thus more like Janeway. This doubtlessly makes it all the harder on her when Janeway tells her how deeply she has disappointed her.
One more note on Janeway: it's interesting that she's starting to notice men a bit more. It's been months since she's seen Mark. Kirk's proclivities for falling in love with the wrong woman caused the Enterprise crew no end of difficulties. Somehow I doubt they'll let that happen with Janeway, but it's an interesting possibility for at least an episode or two, don't you think?
As for Kim, what IS it with you, dude? Jenny Delaney's advances make you fall out of the gondola, and you can't even get it on on Alastria. You still thinking of your girlfriend, Libby?
THOUGHT
With Sicarus, we are basically getting the Bower of Bliss adventure for our odyssey. The function of such stories is to reveal the true determination of the heroes' discipline while showing that they are also very human, or fallible. In the usual scenario, the travelers come to some land, led by someone who tempts them with offers of rest and physical delights. "Come," say the beautiful sirens, "stay on our lovely shores and forget about your loved ones at home."
The travelers usually stay for a while and feel the full temptation of abandoning their journey when they're having such a good time, then realize the danger they're in (usually with the help of some sort of guide), and book out of there, frequently after doing some sort of battle and/or destroying the blissful bower.
It's a most interesting twist to an old tale, then, that these "sirens" also have the magic to send our travelers home. This only increases the temptation offered by the Sicarans. Janeway laid out the rules in the pilot: to get home is not the goal; it's to get home as Starfleet officers, honor intact. The Sicarans are offering them the easy way, the way without glory.
It makes the story a Star Trek story to have the Prime Directive (alien version) show up to spoil the fun, especially since it's this same alien Prime Directive which also acts as the guide, pointing out the danger the Sicarans present to the crew's ethics.
More fun in this version comes from the way the Bower of Bliss people themselves make sense. They're not sirens, really. Sirens crave the destruction of the voyagers; the Sicarans simply don't care about them.
These pleasure-oriented people remind me of people I know who love to show off their toys and will treat you to things while you're their guest. They're very generous, but only as long as they're enjoying themselves. If you become "unfun," by having, say, an unpleasant emotional experience that you need to discuss, or an emergency that requires their help, or anything that takes away from playtime, suddenly these generous people have something better to do.
Now, It is fun to introduce people to new things. We've all given friends a tour of something. I've tried to tell a lot of my friends about surfing the net. But there's a point past which this "generosity" really is just a selfish form of pleasure. Such people show you a videotape of their favorite film, but then won't leave you alone to enjoy it. They'll take you to their favorite restaurant, but then ruin the cuisine by asking you every five seconds if you like the place. When Janeway has an actual need, Gath isn't remotely interested in helping for her own sake.
To do Gath credit, though, he does seem qualified to be these people's leader. At least, he seems to have some principles, unlike Jaret. As he says, it gives him no pleasure to deny Voyager his technology. It is the law. He just isn't willing to do anything for them that isn't fun. And when the games are ended, he wants them to leave his playground.
In the end, the episode works just as it should, revealing the damage Torres and the others have done to themselves by falling for temptation. Torres does what she can, distinguishing herself from Seska, the voice of villainy, by confessing her misdeeds to Janeway. Tuvok does the same and reveals his "emotional" nobility, which we humans always seem to enjoy finding at the heart of Vulcans.
SPECTACLE
The bazaar is pretty good, but my favorite shot is simply one of perspective. When Torres is confessing to her role in the plot, Janeway's hand stays in the foreground, slightly out of focus, and her fingers tap in irritation.
DICTION
Some good lines include:
"I don't enjoy being judged like this. It's most upsetting, not at all pleasurable." -- Gath to Janeway.
"I don't have the luxury of throwing you in the brig for the rest of this voyage. I need you. I need every person on this ship. But I want to you to know how very deeply you have disappointed me." -- Janeway to Torres.
[Julia Houston here. Wow. I was just on this very weird planet where I was talking to this stone ring that wanted me to ask it a question. I asked if there were anything good on TV and it started showing videos of Voyager. I jumped through the ring in slow motion and came back one week in time. The upshot of all this is, I've seen "State of Flux," so I know that when Seska tells Kim, "There are no secrets on a ship this small," that's a very interesting line indeed. Hey! Suddenly I'm jumping in slow motion again. Where am I g--]
SONG
Great score, great musicians, great job!
And now for the baggage...
STAR TREK ELEMENTS WE (OR I, ANYWAY) LOVE
Starfleet captains and their private pain are always fun. Kirk (who needed his pain) dreamed of having a loving and permanent relationship with some beautiful woman...any beautiful woman. But he's married to his ship. Now he knows why they call the ship "she," etc.
Picard's private nature and reserve hide the pain of his own loneliness. We glimpse the man beneath the commander and wish we could be his friend.
Sisko’s pain over the death of his wife couldn't be cured until he met the prophets. Even now he has pain in his relationships, as with finding out Yates is with the Maquis.
With Janeway, however, we have captain's pain taken to a new level. It may be because she's a woman or just because of her personality, but she seems to feel the crew's pain more even than Troi does. When people complain about their lives, she's tormented, and when she considers what is happening to her crew out here all alone, she wants to blame herself for allowing it. Her fierce protectiveness seems to be growing as Janeway fills out the captain's role, and while she seems no longer to be tormented over the loss of Mark, she seems increasingly tormented over everyone else's loss of whoever it is that they lost. One wonders just how much pain a captain can stand...and something tells me that if we watch Voyager long enough, we're going to find out.
Another beloved element I've mentioned before is interesting alien cultures that we get to meet. The Sicarans are quite interesting and quite likable...at first. Then they become nicely dislikable. I hope we've seen the last of them, personally, but with that trajector thing, they might pop up again.
STAR TREK ELEMENTS WE (OR I, ANYWAY) HATE
More of that near-miss stuff about whether they'll make it home. It works well in this episode, but I still want to see less of it.
AUNTIE JULIA'S CORNER OF THE CONTINUUM
(This occasional section is for readers' comments.)
Steven McKinnon has pointed out to me, and I agree whole-heartedly, that Gath is decidedly reminiscent of Christopher Walken's "The Continental."
"Ah, Katherine. You were a minute late, and I thought, perhaps, you were a dream."
Good lord.
Hmmm, can't think of more to say on this one.
Star Trek Voyager Reviews
Or go ahead to ST Voyager Reviews -- State of Flux?
Or go back, if you'd rather, to ST Voyager Reviews -- Emanations?