Star Trek: Voyager — 1x14 — Faces

Aired 1995-05-08

SpaceOpera.com rating:7

Average reader rating:5.82

Synopsis

Torres is split into two beings.

Remarkable scenes

A fully Klingon Torres.
The Vidiian scientist with Durst's face.
Klingon and human Torres meeting each other.

Review

A fantastic episode for Torres. Kind of like an extreme version of TOS: The Enemy Within, Torres' Klingon and human halves are at war with one another. We get to peek into her psyche and learn about her inner struggle. And then there's the antagonist of this episode. The Vidiian scientist's goals, to cure the phage, were certainly noble, but he had a wonderful tortured, downright sadistic quality to his character. I found it interesting that at first both human and Klingon Torres hated their human half after being separated, human Torres even hated both her halves! But toward the end they began to respect each other.

3 reader comments

I really liked the episode, but I find the conclusion to be somewhat lacking. After Janeway's threat in the previous episode, I didn't expect Voyager to just fly away after this. They killed one of their crew after all! The episode wouldn't have ended like this if for example Paris was killed.
I find the Vidiians and their problem intriguing. I would like to see more of them. After two episodes, we've only seen two "harvester scientists", which is slightly one-sided. ;) But there's surely enough characterization there for another episode.
Another reviewer (Jammer) had a nice observation:
"The scene where human-B'Elanna reveals all of this to Paris is very absorbing (until Paris' extremely stupid line, "I guess you finally got your wish," upon which B'Elanna should have promptly strangled him)."
:)
by Remco | 11/30/2008 at 5:29 pm

I don't know what was more of a remarkable scene, seeing a fully Klingon Torres, or seeing a fully human Torres, vulnerable and scared and conciliatory : ) This was a really fantastic idea for an episode and it was well-executed.
by faced | 08/19/2011 at 8:28 am

I'm not normally a Torres fan, for whatever reason, but I liked what they did with her here. I liked the concept of two conflicting aspects of a person being embodied and able to speak and argue with each other. Very existential. One of them died. Which is the real Torres? Good acting on Dawson's part.
It occurred to me watching this that Klingons might not feel fear the way humans do. That's why they're so bold; they're literally fearless. So B'Elanna, at least to a degree, isn't used to feeling fear. When she finally does as a full human, she's incapacitated, and Tom has to point out that for humans, courage is feeling fear and acting despite it. To me this means humans almost have an advantage over Klingons in this way: They experience fear and learn to overcome it!
I liked the consistency in Tom's character. I think despite his attempts at a bad boy persona, he actually cares. He tries to be comforting to people, sometimes succeeds, but often comes from a place of reasoning with them somehow rather than empathizing. There's a time for each of those, and he doesn't always know the difference.
I wish they had thought to save that nice Talaxian who helped them. Or anyone else there, for that matter. The Vidiians were enslaving and murdering people. I feel for them, but the phage doesn't excuse their behavior. And the redshirt death was disappointing.
by Damien Bradley | 12/28/2016 at 12:43 am