Neelix visits a colony of Talaxians who are being asked to leave their homes so that miners can carry on mining the asteroid where they live. Neelix sets out to fight them off.

This is Neelix's farewell story, and as such you might be forgiven for expecting better. As it is he's almost forced into defending the colony by Tuvok prodding him to start a fight, and his reasons for leaving are non-existent. There are several elements at play here, but none is adequately explored. Neelix meets a Talaxian widow with a son that he apparently falls for, yet there is little sign of passion between them. In fact, when he arrives at her home at the end, you half expect her to tell him to go away and ask why on Earth he's there.

The miners versus Talaxians plotline is dull and goes on forever with only one major, and quite interesting, battle, and the rest is a lot of talking. There's no sub-plot to speak of, so there's nothing to distract from the main story, and all it accomplishes is getting Neelix off the ship. And this is the biggest problem. Throughout the episode, Neelix expresses no desire to leave the ship. Then Janeway tells him she'd like an ambassador in the Delta Quadrant and would he like to stick around and do it? Even then he doesn't look enthused, and as Neelix has already said he'll 'keep in touch as long as he can', it's not like he'll be able to report anything in after a while anyway. His scene with Naomi is evidently meant to make him realize it's time to move on, but even after this he at no point requests the chance to go. In the end you get the impression that Janeway and Tuvok have forced him off the ship without his permission, and there's no touching farewell either, just Janeway saying goodbye and good luck right at the end of the episode. It could have been dealt with so much better, and however much Neelix may or may not be liked, Ethan Phillips deserved better.

**

Would you like to go to the Voyager Season Seven guide, head back to the main TV reviews page, read older reviews in the Reviews Archive or return to the front page?