Star Trek: Voyager: Workforce II (2 of 2)

After being trapped on the surface of the planet, Chakotay tries to evade the authorities and rescue the Voyager crew, while B'Elanna's memory is restored.

After an enjoyable opening episode, this second half fails to meet any of the expectations for it. The set-up, so interesting in part one, turns into merely a location for the Voyager crew as they start to work out where they are one by one. We no longer get to see them happy and at work, as all the time is taken up with them trying to work out a way to escape and find out who they are. Janeway doesn't get much time with her new man, Tuvok's situation becomes one sub-plot too far and is dropped partway through and everything gets put back to normal as quickly as possible.

After setting up all the problems the crew were facing and their reactions to their new life, it's a complete waste of a good idea when it becomes a runaround with people running from the authorities and everyone investigating the same things to find out the same information that we already know. Then, when things do start to change, everything is back to normal within minutes. Chakotay tells Janeway who she is far too early and B'Elanna manages to not only recover her real identity but remember everything about engineering in a couple of hours while at the end there are still some crew members not sure who they are. The ending in particular is incredibly unsatisfying, as the man with whom Janeway has been developing a relationship gets a new job and they part company. While it's not really unusual for a TV show like this, why couldn't he have gone with her? And why is Janeway so standoffish with him at the end? The least they could do is kiss, but he just wanders out of the door!

The only interesting thing about the episode is Kim and the Doctor's power play as each gets to try some neat tricks to beat the enemy, but this is such a tiny sub-plot that it merely becomes one thing that works in an episode of hundreds of things which don't.

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