Alliances

I do get tired of Janeway's speechmaking and her unbridled loyalty to her roots. She lectures her crew like an old lady English teacher (I am an English teacher, so don't get your hackles up). The crew wants to try something new, a bit of negotiation instead of a violent solution. So what happens when they try? The forces at work are shown to be untrustworthy, so give up any hope of doing something other than force. Still, it was very interesting and really a bit accurate.

It's clear that voyager was highly erratic when it came to quality. For me the early episodes are frequently just plain bad. Kate Mulgrew is still doing her B rate Katherine Hepburn acting, more than a minute with Nelix is too much, the Kazon look ridiculous even for the Star Trek universe. As a matter of fact, the entire entire story arc regarding the Kazon Is a good example of how bad Voyager could be. This mediocre episode is an example of that.

There were occasional good episodes early on, like the previous one- Prototype. And as the series evolved, things got better in many ways.

I think the best way to rewatch Voyager is a chronologic list of its "greatest hits".

I like that this is an ensemble episode that explores the idea of Voyager forming an alliance with some other aliens in this seemingly darker region of space. I think it would have been a lot more interesting if some of the Kazon had died in the reveal at the end. Or if Voyager had at some point really taken-up an alliance with one of these alien species. I feel like this episode became average when it could have been great because they didn't make it a two parter and were scared of viewers losing track of some alliance formed with another alien species halfway through season 2.

It's especially annoying for Janeway to talk about how Starfleet is too pure to form an alliance with these delta quadrant aliens given that they later align themselves with the borg.

Well, I don't get it. Voyager tries to fly home, back to the alpha quadrant. They are stuck for months in the delta quadrant already. Yet the crew does not seem to travel forward. They constantly run into Kazon ships and into Maje Cullah and Seska. Do they follow them? Is Kazon space so huge? In other episodes we learned that each sect only has a few ships. Yet, they seem to be everywhere. Is Voyager flying in circles? Not even in the alpha quadrant Federation ships ran constantly into Romulans or Cardassians. Sisko and his crew could fly undetected through the gamma quadrant without being chased by the Dominion all the time. And they bred their soldiers and built ships in masses unlike the Kazon.

And why would they form an alliance with the Kazon that includes a defense treaty? Voyager is said to be heading straight to the alpha quadrant. If the Kazon would be under attack, then Voyager would have to turn around and fly back to help. This makes no sense. And why would Maje Cullah suggest to swap crew members as a sign of good faith? First, Voyager crew wants to fly home which wouldn't work if they serve on Kazon ships in the delta quadrant. And second, why would any Kazon want to be on the Voyager which is definitely heading away from the delta quadrant and their home? Also, at the start of the episode Voyager takes a heavy beating by Kazon ships. Why would they need to form an alliance with a faction that only has one ship? A little more pressure and the biggest Kazon sects would be able to incapacitate Voyager and take all its technology for free.

Starfleet once more shows its stupidity in this episode: They form an alliance with the next best alien species they encounter (and never met before) without running some background checks on them. Then they meet with the Kazon Majes at a place which has neither been scanned nor secured by Starfleet security forces. They also haven't noticed that a ship entered the atmosphere. Their new allies thus can easily sabotage peace negotiations with the Kazon because Starfleet again thought, that foreign species far from Federation space are all trustworthy, peaceful and honest.

Why are there just a handful Majes at this meeting anyway? In another episode Kazon Nog said there are 17 Kazon sects!

With this "Let's all hug each other and become BFFs" attitude Voyager would have been destroyed already in season 1 episode 2. While it might seem honorable to follow Starfleet protocol and values, it also is naive to do so in a quadrant that never had contact with the Federation and runs on different rules. And Janeway's hot and cold blowing doesn't help either. Follow Starfleet rules? Then stick to them! Bend the rules? Then do it in a smart way!

As Voyager negotiates it's way through Kazon territory, Janeway seeks an alliance.

This is an enjoyable episode with a good concept and performances.

The story works well for the premise of the show. It is logical that given their situation the crew would possibly need to consider this type of strategy and it is something that feels unique to Voyager. Whether or not some of the decisions made by Janeway are plausibly written is, to say the least - debatable.

Supporting characters like Tuvok, Chakotay, B'Elanna, and Neelix have some decent moments, but outside of Janeway the best scenes for me involve Seska and Culluh.

Visually it pretty good, with some strong action moments, such as the opening sequence and another that comes late on during a good plot reveal.

All performances are strong, with the standouts being Katie Mulgrew, Anthony De Longis, and Martha Hackett.