Lets start with the obvious, an episode all about Neelix is never going to be my favorite. This episode almost seems like it is aimed directly at people like me who realized Neelix wasn't adding anything to the crew and eventually he would leave the part of space he had even his crappy level of knowledge about making him literally useless. And they address it by him trying to get up to wacky hijinks to try and get a map of the area ahead to make himself important. But of course after scolding him at the end of his hijinks being more of the criminal murder kind than the wacky kind she tells him how important he is to her as a trusted adviser. Now I guess this is the thing a captain is supposed to say if they want a crew member to not leave, but it does seem to show how poor a judge of character Janeway really is.
We open with Neelix trying to be helpful to various crew members but of course all he does is annoy them and get in the way until he gets called to the bridge. The ship has encountered a dusty region of space Neelix tells them is called the Nekrit expanse. They stop at a filthy space station to try and trade for supplies after a warning from the administrator that he takes 20% of all trades. They spread out across the station to try and get the supplies they need starting with Paris and Chakotay being offered drugs by a sketchy looking character. They do manage to find people willing to trade and Neelix runs into his old buddy Wix. WIx helps them get some stuff they need and gets a tour of the ship. When they are alone he tells Neelix he can get a map and a bunch of other useful stuff but he needs Neelix's help.
The two take a shuttle to get the goods and then beam into a shutdown part of the station where they meet the drug dealer from earlier. He is impressed with the goods but opens fire rather than pay for what he got. The two flee after Wix kills the drug dealer with a phaser he borrowed from the shuttle. The next day the administrator contacts Janeway about the murder on his station. He soon arrests Paris and Chakotay since they were seen with the drug dealer and the phaser had a Federation signature. Neelix is torn and eventually convinces Wix to help him with a crazy plan to help the administrator catch the guys behind the drug smuggling. He agrees for some reason and Wix sets up a meeting to trade warp plasma for their lives. Neelix opens the vent on the plasma container before handing it over and revealing that it is leaking so no one can shoot. But security shows up and the criminals open fire but sadly Neelix survives. Janeway is pissed and they all move on.
Review: There is a scene near the end where Neelix pushes hard for the drug dealer to shoot him which seems both stupid on his part and just doesn't make much sense. I really wish he had died in this episode though and the fact that he didn't is going to push this one down to:
3 out of 10
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