Lifesigns

It was a wonderfully emotional episode where the Doctor really got into his act. The acting in every episode of Voyager is generally excellent. But in this episode, the Doctor really showed off his acting skills. It was like a movie. The actress was just as good as the Doctor. I wish we saw this level of quality acting in today's series.

This is a nice character episode for the doc. He falls in love with a female patient, whose brain has been transferred to the computer and is now projected as a hologram while the doc tries to save her real body - which is blemished by the phage and about to pass away unless the doc finds a cure.

The doc though is unexperienced (or shall we say "not programmed") in matters of love and acts quite wooden and unromantic. With a little help of Kess and Paris though, both find a way to each other and the doc shows a more empathic side of his. What I don't like about this episodic approach of Star Trek though: It is always this "Once and never again" scenario. Of course doc's love interest has to leave him after the treatment to help her people. It would have been much more interesting if the crew would make friends that enrich their own story arcs and change things on the ship.

Also what is strange: Data is said to be a sentient life form. He is aware of himself, he thinks and is able to adapt. The doc on the other hand is also aware of himself, he also thinks, is able to adapt and unlike Data obviously capable of having emotions. So he is even more human than Data! The only thing missing is a body. He is just a hologram. So, why is the doctor not treated like a sentient life form? How comes he is just forgotten, when the ship is evacuated like in another episode? Shouldn't the crew treat him like a living being, too? Just like Data? We talk about an intelligent computer program that is able to learn, evole and adapt. This is not different to a human's brain.

After "Faces" robbed the Vidiians of all subtlety and nuance, this one does a good job of giving it back. Denara is an even more sympathetic character than Motura was. It's not entirely clear how she feels about possibly benefiting from her people's organ harvesting practices but she's aware of the lack of compassion some of them demonstrate and manages to charm Torres, who has more reason that most to hate Vidiians, into helping her in a way that the Doctor's matter-of-fact attitude didn't.

References to healthy Vidiians seem a bit strange given that earlier references have suggested the whole species have the phage (certainly all of the ones we encounter appear to), although if they're not born with it, it's understandable they would contract it at different ages. When I watched this in 2020 and heard talk of mass gatherings being banned to prevent the spread of disease, it was a "Welcome to our world" moment...

The main focus is of course the relationship between the Doctor and Denara. After he's been a bit more confident about his new role this season, he suddenly gets thrown a curveball and Kes gets to slip back into her old role of given him pep-talks. It's not quite a hole in one this time, as telling someone as blunt as the Doctor to just tell her how he feels was never going to go well: Kes is clearly thinking "Really?" throughout the whole excruciating conversation, although she gets to redeem herself with a similar pep-talk to Denara later. Nice touch that a holographic body isn't created fully clothed by the way, even if we don't see anything unbroadcastable. (The Doctor handwaves the question of fitting an entire mind into the ship's computer by saying it's got room for his programme and that's more complex than an organic brain.) The final scene is a bit obvious but sweet all the same.

This is the one where Paris' roles in the A- and B-plots really start to conflict. Robbie McNeill does his best to keep Paris' cocky air throughout, but it's very hard to see the guy giving the Doctor romantic advice as the same person as the obnoxious yob from the other plotline. It makes more sense after the next episode but it's odd in context. The Doctor gets another one episode name, although this one gets briefly reprised in "Resolutions". I'm not sure if his comment about Paris' experience of rejection was sarcasm or if he was being serious!

Meanwhile, in the C-plot, someone decides a bit too late in the day to try and give Jonas some character and motivation, as he gets squeamish about going from spy to saboteur. It remains unclear what he's hoping to achieve with all this: Did he think the Nistrim would leave Voyager alone if he fed them information?

Lifesigns is essentially the Holodoc in love story. Voyager transports a disfigured Vidiaan dying from the Phage.

The Doctor manages to revive her with placing her consciousness in a holographic body.

Luckily the Vidiian is Dr Danara Pel, her medical knowledge could prove essential to revive her body.

Only for the Doctor to fall in love with Dr Pel but showing romantic inclination is part of his programming.

That is where Tom Paris comes in, but Paris is having issues with Chakotay over his lateness and insolence.

The romance story works better than expected. Although you sense there will be no happy ever after.

As for Paris and the return of the Kazon spy. You can see how this will be all linked and Paris's impertinence looks clumsy.

The Doctor falls in love with a hologram image of a woman suffering from a terrible disease. This is a nicely done episode about accepting people for what they are. The Doctor is a really interesting character. There are two other focuses that continue. Paris has turned into a complete ass. And we are continuing to see the traitor who is sharing information with the Talaxians.