Underrated Trek: Counterpoint (VOY)

Welcome back to Underrated Trek, where I take a special look at Star Trek episodes that I love…which may not be the most popular or even liked by most. Today however I’m gonna do the opposite. I've done two or three of these now on episodes I strongly disagreed with, I mean so much so I refused to watch them again, and today I wanted to discuss one of the biggest examples if this. This episode is considered one of Voyager's finest. Then why is it I can't stand it? The day has finally arrived to give a second chance to.....

Don't get me wrong, I know I can not like it if I choose. But when sooo many people say it's good, I can't help but wonder if I a missing something. Am I? 

Plot Synopsis:

Voyager is passing through a section of space controlled by the Devore, a species who are deeply suspicious of telepaths. In order for Janeway to get the ship across the region she hides all telepaths in the transporter buffer when subjected to regular inspections.

When Inspector Kashyk visits for a fourth time its as a defector requesting asylum. Is he really requesting asylum, or is he trying to mislead Janeway into revealing the crewmen and refugees she is hiding? The two work together to hash out a plan to get the refuges to a wormhole and out of the are safely.

As it becomes clear that hiding the crew with the transporter buffer is detrimental in the long run, Janeway realizes she feels a connection to Kashyk. When he finally resumes his role as inspector, he reveals it was all a deception after all as a way to get Voyager to find the wormhole for them. However, Janeway was suspicious and trumps him thus securing the refugees safety and making Kashyk accept defeat.

Guest Stars:

Mark Herelick has good chemistry with Mulgrew here as Kashyk, can't fault him. He comes off connivingly sincere and slimy when he needs to. 

Episode pros 

Kate Mulgrew has said that this was her favorite episode and it's not hard to see why. This is Janyway on display as we got all her sides here, from romantic to cunning. In fact, we see sides of her we rarely do on the show which is kind of cool. It is a good character study of Janeway, I can't argue with that. We can see how conflicted she is through the episode. In the end, she may let her guard down a little, but she'll always put her ship first. Even if the price is a broken heart. Nice acting here. 

Guess I can't criticize the writing and acting here, as boring as it is. And it is a cute deception we get at the end. I had thought this was written by a new writer who didn't understand the show, but it's written but Michael Taylor who has written lots of Trek. Though sometimes his writing can be, silly? He wrote two of my favorite DS9 episodes considered the best of the series, and another considered absolute awful. On Voyager his work is on many episodes some damn good and others very very silly or just plain awful. Some I love others are unwatchable. This one fits in right in the middle. 

The few parts that actually feel like a Voyager episode are fine, when the other characters actually get a line, but let's get into the nitty gritty shall we?

Episode Cons 

This is a big pet peeve for me. Seinfeld used opera music in "The Barber", and I hated that episode. Who's The Boss? used dance music in "Gotta Dance", and I hated that episode. Even the Italian music used in Everybody Loves Raymond's episodes in Italy did nothing for me. And don't get me started with the endless jazz music in various episodes of The Cosby Show. So, you can imagine my joy that the typical soundtrack was replaced in this episode with classical music. I don't know why it bugs me so much, I guess because it's different. Yeah it creates atmosphere but all it does to me is make me cringe. Doesn't help I know almost nothing of music so the metaphor's they are going for are right over my head (despite Janeway explaining what Counterpoint means). Heck, it had to be explained to me why that Seinfeld episode used opera music for me to get it. To be fair the music doesn't overwhelm the episode but its inclusion does nothing for me.

This is definitely the Janeway show. Not only does she take the focus, but the rest of the crew seem to vanish. And in the last act, they literally do as it's just Kashik and Janeway and with the boring music the whole scene falls so flat for me. We only get one briefing room scene and it's rushed so we can spend more time with Janway and Kashyk. Janeway romances can be very hit (Workforce) or miss (Fair Haven) and this is somewhere in between. To be fair I don't like any "Captain romance" episodes, it takes a lot for me to care. TNG's "The Perfect Mate” and “Lessons” are so bad I won't even re watch them IMHO.

The plot has lots of holes in it. Why would Janeway ever agree to be inspected like that? She would have never put her crew at risk let alone rescue refugees which only make the situation worst. It's never explained why they couldn't just avoid the area, and in fact it sounds as if they could have if they so choose. Trusting Kasyk makes no sense. Why didn’t the inspection teams check the transporter buffers? Why was Tuvok hidden at the start of the episode but not at the end? Why did they not realize two shuttles were missing at the end? Where the heck did the crew go??? And what happened at the end, Kasyk decided to leave to leave them alone but did Voyager leave the space safely or continue through it sans inspection teams?

Fast Forward Moment: There's a whole long boring scene where Janeway and Kasyk are hashing out ways to find the wormhole which is just stupid. Especially since NONE of the crew are in on it. It's just there to further the relationship and I guess the others were off playing cards or something.

                           (yes, other characters do appear!)

Final Thoughts: This was a good episode, just not of Voyager. TNG got away with episodes squarelyfocused on one character where others barely contributed but on Voyager it feels really odd. This was much more an ensemble show and only Neelix does anything memorable here. It's not God awful, there are good ideas and performances, but man you won't be seeing it on any "best of" episodes that I write. Unlike the other times where I rewatched an episode I hated and realized it wasn't so bad, this one is staying firmly in my crap pile.