In general I find conspiracy theories really boring since they bear so little resemblance to reality. But in this case the idea of studying something so carefully that a series of cooincidences appears to be a conspiracy seems pretty much how things actually work. This was especially effective since they gave us reason to think Seven's strategy of integrating information during the night was working and also by not having it be up to Naomi to talk Seven into backing down. Sure Naomi is awesome, but Seven and the Captain have a long running relationship which they played nicely in the conclusion.
We open with Naomi waiting for Seven in her cargo bay. Seven doesn't have time to play though as she is testing a new way to download information from the ship into her brain as she regenerates. The next day Seven wakes up and immediately calls Torres who is of course not pleased to hear from her. But she takes her issue to the captain, it seems Seven has a theory that space fleas have gotten into the sensors from some fruit Neelix brought aboard weeks ago. It seems unlikely but when they open the panel it is hopping with fleas. This leads Seven to continue the experiment. Later that day they encounter an area of gravimetric distortion and go on for a closer look. They find a single alien dude on a space platform that is emitting the gravimetric distortions. He explains he is making a catapult to get himself home but needs help. Janeway offers assistance and he offers to let them use his tech to get a bit closer to home themselves.
That night Seven includes the data about the space catapult into her download and when she wakes up she calls Chakotay into the cargo bay and deactivates internal sensors. She tells him she is sure the captain is part of a conspiracy by starfleet to use the catapult to colonize the delta quadrant along with the Cardassians. She has found possible evidence that the catapult is powered by the reactor from the caretaker array in the pilot episode and is sure this is proof that the captain and Tuvok are behind the plot. She has enough examples to convince Chakotay to start digging and he drafts Torres to help. She then calls the captain in and tells him she is sure Chakotay is behind a plot to use the catapult to murder Cardassians for the Maquis and again presents enough evidence to convince Janeway to start digging.
A bit later Janeway and Chakotay run into each other in Seven's cargo bay and after some prodding figure out that they both have been sent on a wild goose chase by Seven. We see Seven walking the hallways looking furtively at every passing crewmember and she accuses Naomi of being a Maquis spy or something. Janeway and Chakotay are called to the bridge when Seven steals the Flyer and heads for the array. She evades weapons fire but Janeway beams herself aboard and talks Seven down. We end with them cutting three more years of travel time off their journey with the catapult.
Review: I wish more media were willing to look at what conspiracy theories actually are instead of credulously showing them as almost always being right. Also a pretty solid Seven episode with good bits from the captain and Chakotay.
7 out of 10
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