Meld

A murder has happened on the Voyager. Lt Tuvok together with the doctor can quickly solve the case and present the murderer who also confesses his crime. Everything seems to be fine. But Tuvok is unsatisfied with the motivation of this murderer. He is obviously mentally ill and killed for no deeper reason. But in Tuvok's logic there has to be a clear motivation which goes beyond acting on instinct. He mind melds with him to get a glimpse into his thoughts.

After the mind meld Tuvok changes. Suddenly dark and evil feelings emerge which show us a different side of Tuvok. His suppressed side. His primal instincts. The first time he is in rage, condescending, hateful and wants revenge by executing the murderer.

This episode teaches us that Vulcans, too, are empathic and illogical beings but have learned to suppress this dark and bright sides of themselves. But still those feelings and thoughts are buried deep beneath the surface of logic and self-control. And when they emerge a Vulcan in the end is just like a human: Guided by emotions and instinct.

Tuvok mind melds with a Betazoid who killed another crew member.

This is a strong psychological episode with great character moments.

The story is a good character study of the Betazoid Suder and Tuvok's experiences trying to understand his motivation for killing people. It contains good themes about the individual desire for violent behaviour and it's connection to capital punishment.

Brad Douriff, Tim Russ and Katie Mulgrew are all excellent, particularly Douriff who is very creepy with Betazoid eyes and in his performance.

There is some good cinematography that makes various scenes dark and shadowy to great effect.

When I was 10 to 12 years old, before I had read Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius, Leonard Nimoy and Mark Lenard's characterization of Vulcans immediately struck and internal chord. Like my father, they were men of reason, intelligence and dignity. You could disagree with them, but you always had to admire them.

As I grew older, I found that I was a natural Stoic. Vulcan aspirations coincided with my natural inclinations. This is one of the reasons that I found the the portrayal of Vulcans in Star Trek: Enterprise so distasteful.

The portrayal of Klingons as sort of battle loving vikings, but with a code of honor in TNG was fun, but it was at the expense of what resonating with me in TOS, reason and dignity.

So, now, Star Trek: Voyager is the last Star Trek series that I have watched. As it has the creative team for Deep Space 9, occasionally, it approaches high quality TV. Although the best of DS9 is unsurpassed for quality.

So, that brings me to this episode. It could have been mostly a single setting play. It is a bit predictable, the theme being the thin line between our animal nature and our civilized selves and the nature of capital justice in a civilized society. There is no new ground here.

But, oh, what a job by Tim Russ. He is the first Vulcan since TOS to give me the feeling that the future can contain reason and dignity. He is the first Vulcan to give me that zing of admiration, and watching him kindled the same recognition of self that I saw in the original portrayal of Spock. For that alone, this episode earns infinite stars.

Tim Russ captures what it is to be Vulcan like no actor since TOS.

He did great job acting Suder. Creepy and unsettling, but never over the top. It's nice to meet someone outside the main crew characters and Suder was one of the best!

Also, it's nice to see Tuvok a bit frustrated. And wild. Vulcans are more...interestig when they are not like a piece of wooden statue. A little burst of emotions go a long way.

I'm not a fan of just-on-board episodes, that filler ones, but this one is quite different.

Dark, intense, serious... Oh, don't worry. There is a nice and optimistic Star Trek ending, as it should be.

So, if they need a filler episode, please forget the holodek ones and make something like this.

This episode takes place completely aboard Voyager--usually a sign that it's a crappy show. However, this one is actually excellent. The show begins with the body of a murdered crew member being discovered. Crewman Suder is soon identified as the killer and this Betazoid soon admits he did it and it seems that he murdered because he enjoyed killing. As Tuvak is in charge of the case, he's completely perplexed as this sort of antisocial thinking is completely un-Vulcan. So, he attempts to use a mind meld to help Suder to become more normal as well as understand him. Unfortunately, this also turns Tuvak into an antisocial personality with a strong desire to kill--Neelix in particular (which is VERY understanding). What's to become of these two crazed crew members?

Brad Dourif stars as Suder and this is VERY interesting, as he played a murderer on "Babylon 5" as well--one who is captured and who is punished in a most unusual and interesting manner. Either way, this is a fascinating episode of "Star Trek: Voyager" and worth seeing.