You know, if they just kept flying at high warp instead of stopping at every nebula and anomaly along the way maybe Voyager would have been able to leave Seska and the Kazon-Nistrim long behind. But no, they just keep showing up to cause trouble. Now to be fair it is clear the writers wanted to establish consistent opposition character, but in a show where they are moving all the time it just doesn't make much sense. It also seems like they are trying to keep the Chakotay/Torres relationship simmering on the back burner. I don't recall of they become a thing eventually, but I will keep an eye on them.
The episode opens with Chakotay and Torres returning to the bridge from a hoverball game to news that they have detected a hail that appears to be coming from a Federation source. It seems to be coming from a beacon and is of course a trap. The Kazon show up and use a weapon that punches a hole in the shields just large enough to let a small Kazon vessel to blast through and burrow into Voyagers hull. Three Kazon spring out and manage to evade Tuvok and make it to the transporter room where they steal a transporter core and beam off the ship. Chakotay hits them with a tractor beam to stop their escape and they are hailed by the Kazon leader Culluh. He refuses to give them back the stolen part and we see why, he is being assisted by now transitioning back to Cardassian Seska. She taunts Chakotay and then uses a trick to disable the tractor beam and escape.
They start working on a plan to either retrieve or at least destroy the transporter core while Culluh tries to press his advantage and convince the leaders of another Kazon faction to join him. It fails and when Voyager catches up they find the bodies of the other leader and his guard floating in space with the signature of a transporter still in them. The next day Chakotay is gone, it seems he has stolen a shuttle and gone after Seska. Chakotay manages to get close enough to beam himself onto the Kazon ship but his shuttle is captured. He destroys the transporter core and activates a beacon instructing Voyager to not come looking for him. Seska tries to interrogate Chakotay into giving her the command codes but it doesn't work. Culluh pushes until Chakotay passes out, but it still doesn't work.
Janeway ignores Chakotay and comes after him any way. Unfortunately the Kazon ship is still more than they can handle easily and things start going poorly. On the Kazon ship Culluh has some other Kazon leaders there and has told them he has Voyagers command codes so they better join him, but he is lying and it becomes super obvious when his ship is suddenly under attack. Janeway comes up with a plan to stop the fighting and has Culluh and the other Kazon in the room beamed aboard and their weapons neutralized. She trades them for Chakotay and the shuttle. In the finals scene we see Janeway scolding Chakotay for going off on his own like that, but since she doesn't want to demote him there isn't much she can do.
Review: A fairly average episode which would have been better without having the damn Kazon around still. Also it seems like Janeway should have done something about Chakotay stealing the shuttle, but whatever.
5 out of 10
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