Star Trek: Voyager — 2x14 — Alliances

Aired 1996-01-22

SpaceOpera.com rating:7

Average reader rating:5.93

Synopsis

Janeway seeks an alliance with the Kazon.

Remarkable scenes

The battle in the teaser.
Chakotay: "A lot of us can say we're alive today because of Kurt Benderan. There was never a better man to have at your side. Never anyone more willing to take on the tough jobs. The first time I met him was in a mining community on Telfas Prime. Some of the miners objected to my sense of humor and decided they should break a few of my bones. There were four of them and one of me and I was taking a beating. Suddenly this man I'd never seen before came out of nowhere and evened things up. We stood back to back and pretty soon the others decided my sense of humor wasn't so bad after all. I thanked the man. He just grinned and said, 'I like a good fight.' He was my friend from that moment on and he kept fighting the good fight right up until the end. I'll miss him."
Janeway bluntly claiming she'll destroy Voyager before she give the Kazon technology.
Janeway seeking advice from Tuvok. I like how Tuvok referenced Spock's attempt to ally the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Tuvok himself spoke out against it as a young man!

Review

This is the first of many episodes in which Chakotay tries to impose a cowardly or un-Federation-principles style solution to the current problem, something that (mildly) annoys me. Other than that, this episode is a thriller. End Voyager's isolationist stance in the delta quadrant. We also get some nice cultural information regarding the Trabe and their relationship with the Kazon. It's a nice plot twist to have the seemingly peaceful repenting Trabe attempt an execution of all the Kazon majes. Overall another decent offering by Voyager.

2 reader comments

This is one of the best Voyager outings so far just because it's part of the plot arc, something that Voyager desperately needs since 90% of its stand-alone episodes are embarrassing (though not quite as god-awful as the zero below).
Here's my main problem with Voyager, though: the Kazon aren't very interesting. The Mokra, who we saw recently, would have made better villains (maybe they come back; I'm not familiar with Voyager after about this point in the series) and so would have the creepy Ocampa who lived with second Caretaker. Instead we get 2-dimensional nomadic Klingons.
Giving Voyager recurring races is tricky because of their situation. It gets a little problematic with the Kazon. So just how big is Kazon territory? Isn't Voyager pretty much hauling ass across the Delta Quadrant (except, of course to investigate the alien or phenomenon of the week or to make pit stops for food)? Plus, the same Kazon Majes keep showing up. Are they following Voyager? I'm hoping that these problems get answered in future episodes; despite the fact that most of my posts on it are negative, I'm actually enjoying the series.
by JRPoole | 03/07/2009 at 6:31 pm

I agree that some of Chakotay's later solutions are annoying, but this one seems to fit the situation. What he's saying makes sense: the Maquis form ad hoc alliances out of convenience for short-term gains, which is what Voyager needs to do here with the Kazon. I do like the ending of this one, though, seeing that it all falls apart as Voyager finds itself in the middle of a continuing blood feud between the Trabe and Kazon. Ultimately, Janeway's instincts are reaffirmed.
I don't quite agree with JRPoole that the Kazon are uninteresting. They reflect this region of the galaxy. Whereas the Alpha Quadrant is controlled by several very powerful races vying for control, this region lacks major powers and is controlled by marauders and bandits like the Kazon factions. As for how big Kazon territory is…well, the Enterprises A and D both explored uncharted space in the Alpha Quadrant but still within reasonable travel of the Federation. It stands to reason the Kazon are present in a pretty wide expanse of the Delta Quadrant, and given their "nomadic" ways, may even follow Voyager.
The only thing that bugged me about this episode was that the Trabe go from having a bunch of their people confined to suddenly repossessing lots of warships after escaping with Neeliz and rendezvousing with Voyager. There's a lot of backstory there that gets glossed over.
by Mike L. Jackson | 05/27/2017 at 2:49 am