Meld

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.

I'd say that the main Tuvoc storyline is better than a 7/10. But the B story brings the score down to a 7/10 for me. I'm guessing that when I wouldn't be surprised if most of the people who grade Meld don't even think or remember Kim and Paris gambling in the pool room holodeck program. It doesn't seem to connect well with the main storyline for this episode. The main storyline is probably worthy of about an 8.5/10 to me if it was on its own. Unfortunately it's not on its own. However I still think it's not a bad episode overall. To me a 7/10 is an average Voyager episode. And that's about what this episode is overall to me.

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.

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.

Wow, I am currently watching Voyager, and this has to be the worst episode so far. The acting of everyone involved is pretty bad. The plot is cringe-worthy. It makes me think of bad B-movies where writers try really hard to get a point across but fail so badly, one feels like bursting out into laughter.

It's supposed to be dramatic and deep, but it's shallow and ridiculous. Dropping a few lines on the topic of violence reminiscent of a discussion one might have at 4am at a bar with people drinking all night. Even though in such a discussion I'd expect a bit more depth.

And then the tech babble and logic part. While it is said that he might not have "any tendencies" in the genes hits on there only being tendencies the fact that the rest of the show depicts both Tuvok and Sudor as obviously fighting with their mental state also completely throws that out the window.

The end on the other hand is at the level of magic recovery due to a prince kissing the princess.

The question of revenge/satification vs lost potential is quickly thrown in and not thematized, neither are mental illness or human nature really gone through. Instead we have ridiculous scenes like the captain giving Tuvok strange over-dramatic looks, Tuvok having destroyed his room, but otherwise being fine other than his face looking a bit different. Despite messing up his room, smashing it into pieces and somehow knocking out a guard off-screen he is to weak to even stand up-right.

There is no area in which this episode is good, even though the premise sounds like it could be interesting.

Suder feels pretty okay. Hard to tell, because there is nothing but forced drama, but I like that he is a not overplayed psychopath/sociopath.

The Marquis topic - Suder being from the Marquis - also feels like a "why not" decision.

There are no twists, whatsoever.

The best scene is towards the end where it appears that Suder is worried that probably the only person understanding him feels bad.

Overall highly disappointing. It feels like no effort was put into this episode by neither the writers nor the actors at large.