A fairly average episode of Trek with the still annoying phagliens (yup, still know they are called Vidiians, still don't care). It isn't so much that I dislike the idea of the Vidiians, it is more that it seems like the crew of Voyager should be less accepting of a race that lives by harvesting organs from unwilling donors. I also can't help but wonder if they were originally supposed to be the Borg but they decided to save that for later seasons. The split Torres was kinda cheesy, but no worse than average for TNG or TOS certainly so I am not going to be too upset. Honestly the fact that the doctor was able to easily return her to normal after seemed like the unreasonable part.
We open with an extra Klingony Torres strapped to a table seemingly being experimented on. Back on Voyager they still aren't done with the gag that Neelix is a terrible cook but doesn't seem to get it as he makes a bowl of inedible soup for Tuvok who is happy to flee to the bridge to get away from it. It seems the away team that included Torres who were supposed to be surveying caves for some reason have gone missing. Tuvok and Chakotay come up with a plan to find and rescue them. Back on the planet Torres in full Klingon form is told by the phage doctor that he believes Klingons are able to resist the phage so he purified her removing her human DNA. Torres is obviously pissed to be a lab animal but doesn't have much choice as he infects her with the disease. Paris and redshirt dude are prisoners of the Vidiians and are being forced to mine rock and if they get weak their organs will be harvested.
Tuvok, Chakotay and Kim beam down to look for the missing crew but have to beam out when they run into some Vidiians after discovering a forcefield made to look like a rock wall. Paris is surprised when a human Torres is brought into the prisoner area. She is sick and afraid of just about everything. Klingon Torres starts working on a plan to seduce the doctor experimenting on her while also trying to break out of her restraints. Redshirt guy gets hauled off to have his organs harvested and Paris gets sent to mine with human Torres. The doctor working on Klingon Torres shows up with the redshirts face but she still breaks out and knocks him out.
On Voyager they have come up with a plan to beam through tiny cracks in the shield but it will be a one way trip until the shields are off so the doctor modifies Chakotay to look Vidiian and he beams down. Human Torres isn't keeping up with the mining but instead of taking her to have her organs harvested she is taken back to the prison room which for some reason has a computer console she can try to take the shield down with. She gets caught though by Klingon Torres rescues her. They head back to the lab to use the computer there as Chakotay shows up and rescue Paris also taking him to the lab. They have a showdown in the lab where human Torres manages to take down the shield and Klingon Torres sacrifices herself to save them all. Back on the ship the doctor is going to be able to bring Torres back to normal no problem.
Review: The idea behind this episode is pretty solid, but it has some execution problems. They really should have left out the entire Chakotay being made into a Vidiian bit as it added nothing to the episode.
5 out of 10
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