Someone to Watch Over Me

Yes, it is an intergalactic "My Fair Lady." The doctor has been teaching Seven social integration. She is, of course, quite a challenging student. He decides it's time for her to start dating. So she chooses a shy man from engineering and asks him out. Of course, it is an utter disaster. But as this happens, the Doc (Henry Higgins) begins to feel a romantic attraction for our Borg bombshell. Jeri Ryan is perfection in her role. She connects with him, but we have to remember that her circuitry works differently. She admires her successes but doesn't quite cross the threshold. There are some seriously touching scenes. Meanwhile, a subplot is the adventures of a young man from a sterile planetary society going bonkers when he finally gets to spread his wings, overeating, overindulging, and carrying on in general. Neelix almost has a heart attack tracking the guy.

I never imagined the funniest episode of Voyager would center around Seven of Nine. "This creature has an exoskeleton".

Continuing his efforts to teach Seven the art of social interaction, the doc is now destined to unravel the secrets of the dating and romantic relationships chapter. The doc himself though is more of a beginner than a professional when it comes to romance and love, but among the blind people the one-eyed man is king.

Since Seven still has a rather wooden and direct tone towards those around her, the doc's lessons lead to all sorts of funny situations, for example when Seven invites a colleague on a date and there is an incident while eating lobster. At the end of the date, she almost dislocates his arm while dancing, so he has to be treated by the doc for a torn ligament.

As the doc goes through the individual lessons with Seven, he slowly begins to fall in love with her. Some users see this as borrowing from the myth of Pygmalion, but the doc doesn't create his perfect woman himself for his own pleasures. It's more like the spark of romantic affection is ignited between two outsiders. However, Seven does not feel this affection to the same extent as the doc, so he ultimately does not openly express his feelings towards her.

The B-plot, on the other hand, is pretty lame and can easily be forgotten. Neelix has been given the task of looking after a diplomatic guest. However, the guest surprises him by discovering that he is not as averse to worldly pleasures as he assumed. Neelix plays babysitter while his guest makes his way through half of Neelix's menu and also gets a taste for synthehol. In contrast to the A-plot, this seems rather silly.

The Doctor instructs Seven of Nine in a more complex social interaction.

This is a strong episode with great humour and character moments.

For me this is one of the better comedy episodes, as the jokes are well written and fairly prolific. There is a great mix of awkward social interactions, funny dialogue, sight gags, and fish-out-of-water situations involving Seven.

The writer deserves as much credit as the filmmakers for providing funny material that is not traditionally Star Trek, particularly with a lack of sci-fi focus. It does however embody the values associated with the show such as celebrating the difference of its characters. I appreciate this will depend on your own sense of humour, as comedy is in the eye of the beholder.

Robert Picardo and Jeri Ryan are key to its success as they display impressive comic timing and excellent chemistry in their scenes together. Some of their more heartfelt character exchanges work very well too. Star Trek usually does romance badly and they are supported well by the likes of Robert Duncan McNeill, Ethan Phillips, and Roxanne Dawson.

Perfect. Not one minute is a drag. Great concepts. Humor. Both stories are fun and intertwine perfectly. Directed by Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris). I read they did a new directors class for the staff. Nothing improbable happens. Characters are spot on. Just felt joy and only a little worry watching this episode.