Another decent episode with what felt like a bit of a cop out at the end. This entire episode is about how there is no afterlife and even a culture obsessed with death doesn't really transcend it, instead they just beam their corpses to asteroids in the middle of nowhere and let them rot. Janeway's bit at the end about how maybe they live on as energy seemed like a way to get out of the fact that they were talking not just about how aliens look at death, but how we do as well. It felt especially hollow after Kim's awakening of a man who was preparing himself to be sacrificed to be less of a burden on his family.
We begin with Voyager investigating a super heavy element discovered improbably on asteroids with atmosphere in the ring system of a gas planet. I am going to just let them go on the super massive element discovery, it is obvious the writers don't actually understand physics. Chakotay leads an away team to investigate, but instead of finding mineral deposits they find dead bodies wrapped in what appears to be spider webs. As they debate how to proceed a dimensional rift opens and threatens to drag them in. The transporter chief manages to rescue Chakotay and Torres but Kim gets swapped out for a recently dead body. The body turns out to be capable of being revived and the doctor gets to work. Meanwhile Kim wakes up inside some sort of body transporter on a distant planet. The people there are convinced he has been brought from the afterlife and are hella pissed when he says he came from an asteroid full of dead bodies.
At the same time on Voyager the revived woman wakes up and is similarly upset to not be with her relatives. After having to sedate her once she is awake again and explains her people believe that after death they will wake up in the physical presence of their dead family and friends. She is still quite disturbed this didn't happen. On her planet Kim gets questioned by the death scientists and gets a guy who is preparing to die to question what he is doing. On Voyager they come up with a plan to send the woman back with a transponder to get Kim home but the plan fails and she dies. Kim though convinces the doubter to switch places with him and he goes back through the rift. Just as they prepare to leave Kim's dead body appears on the ship and he is revived by the doctor.
Review: A decent episode which would have benefited from the writers being willing to stick to their guns and let there be no afterlife, but still an interesting episode. The lack of Neelix is also an always welcome bonus.
5 out of 10
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