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Star Trek: Voyager reviews — season 5

Star Trek: Voyager — 5x22 — Someone to Watch Over Me

SpaceOpera.com rating:8

Average reader rating:7.25
Episode screenshot
Episode screenshots.

Synopsis

The Doctor takes an interest in Seven.

Remarkable scenes

  • Torres discovering that Seven of Nine is following her and Tom.
  • Torres: "How the hell do you know when we're having intimate relations?" Seven: "There is no one on deck nine, section twelve who doesn't know when you're having intimate relations."
  • Torres: "Borg provokes Klingon. Klingon breaks Borg's nose."
  • Janeway: "This is a starship, not a nature preserve." Not exact, but I'll count it. Count 31 for "I'm a doctor, not a (blah)" style lines, which McCoy was famous for.
  • The doctor: "They say gossip travels faster than warp speed."
  • The doctor: "You're a woman, Seven." Seven: "Is that an observation or a diagnosis?"
  • The doctor's silly slideshow.
  • Seven of Nine attempting poorly to get a holographic date.
  • Tom making a bet with the doctor.
  • The doctor: "Seven, has anyone ever told you you have have a beautiful voice? It's a true gift!" Seven: "The gift is from the Collective. A vocal subprocessor designed to facilitate the sonic interface for Borg transponders."
  • Seven of Nine's "flawless" singing, along with the duet.
  • Harry discussing Seven of Nine's date candidate selection.
  • Seven of Nine asking out Chapman.
  • Seven of Nine's behavior on the date.
  • Seven of Nine tearing a ligament in Chapman's arm.
  • The drunken ambassador.

Review

This episode is original and a nice change of pace. Neelix' role with the alien ambassador is a lot like the Enterprise crew's roles with the alien ambassadors in TNG: Liaisons (especially Troi's ambassador), which is certainly a compliment. But Seven of Nine steals the show. I don't know whether her attempts to start dating are embarrassing or hilarious to watch, maybe a little of both. The episode is almost tragic, as the doctor desires a relationship with Seven, but is unable to bring himself to ask her out. Maybe he felt it would be a conflict of interest, or maybe he feels more content in a fatherly role than as a lover. In any case, the mingling of the two plot threads worked extremely well and ended up being one of Voyager's surprisingly better episodes. I like being pleasantly surprised.