Muse

A review by Arlie (re-posted with permission)

Well, this was an odd episode of Voyager. As I've grown to expect from a Joe Menosky script. I suppose I have to applaud them for trying something different...but in the end, this one just didn't work for me.

Almost all the characters except Torres had mere token roles. I'm afraid this really weakened the episode. They tried to show us how concerned everyone was over the missing Torres and Kim, but the Voyager scenes were too brief to make it convincing. Not to mention contradictory. We see Neelix chatting about how quiet it is without B'Elanna and Harry. As if they were away at college, not missing and presumed dead. We see Tom laughing at Tuvok asleep on the bridge. Yet we also see Tuvok driving himself past his limits (highly illogical), and Janeway nearly sobbing at the idea that Harry might be dead. It just didn't make sense.

But what really made me dislike this episode is its underlying message. Many have noticed that it seems to be a commentary on the fans who criticize Voyager. B'Elanna is speaking for Braga and the rest of the writing staff here, while Kellis, the alien playwright, is speaking for the fans. Kellis wants drama, romance, betrayal and redemption. In his view of Voyager, Janeway is kissing Chakotay, Paris is kissing Seven, and Harry is kissing both Delaney sisters. (Like some fanfic I've read. ;-)

B'Elanna just doesn't see the point of all that stupid soap opera stuff. And she's remarkably unpleasant in this episode. Yes, she's often brusque, but here, she's downright heartless. She demands that Kellis risk his life to get her spare parts. When he protests, her reply is basically, "Do it, or else." She doesn't offer to help him try to get the parts, or try to think of less dangerous alternatives. B'Elanna may be bitchy, but she's usually more compassionate than this. I can't help think that this is the writers telling the fans, "You'll take what we give you and beg for more, no matter how much you hate it."

At first glance, the ending seemed conciliatory. But it wasn't. Kellis continues to write about Voyager, while B'Elanna goes her merry way. In other words, the writers are telling the fans, "You need us, but we don't need you."

Notes:

B'Elanna eats the alien food offered her without even scanning it to see if it's compatible with human/Klingon physiology. I suppose if you can eat gagh you can eat anything.

B'Elanna orders Harry to save himself (even though he thinks they should die together, if you believe the aliens' version). Instead, she almost kills him. If he hadn't turned around and followed her, he'd have died in that escape pod. As it was, he had to hike 200 km (about 90 miles), at night, through a war zone, to end up where he'd have been if Torres hadn't ordered him to abandon ship. Geez, Lanna, don't do Harry any more favors.

Speaking of Harry...six years on the senior staff, and B'Elanna still thinks of him as "just a boy" and "young Harry Kim."

The makeup and lighting could have been better. Paris in particular looked awful this week. Haggard and extremely pudgy. Neelix has got to quit feeding Tom and Harry out of the same dish. I think Tom's eating Harry's share of the ice cream.

Are Paris and Torres still together? She didn't seem to mind Tom and Seven kissing. In fact, she seemed more upset at Janeway and Chuckles kissing. (Hmmmm.....)

The scenes in the trailer were from "Alice," "Memorial," and "Collective" - not from "Muse." Clearly, this episode was conceived as a really quick and cheap episode. Little use of the cast (except Dawson), no special effects to speak of, cheap sets. They had to dress the Delta Flyer set to look battered, and there were a few extremely generic landscape mattes, but other than that, really, really cheap. The theater set and costumes could hardly be any cheaper. They must be saving up their money to blow on the season finale.

I hated the Tuvok-asleep-on-the-bridge scene. Tuvok really gets very little respect these days. If he's not injured or sick, he's comic relief. And Tom's reaction was wrong, IMO. His amusement was out of place. Especially since Tuvok was that tired because he was trying to find Tom's friends. Paris should have been more compassionate. He should have expressed concern for Tuvok, rather than just laughing at him.

They didn't show us the reunion scene. (So I guess we're free to think Tom ran right past B'Elanna to throw his arms around Harry. :-) There was one between Harry and B'Elanna. I'm sure the K/Ters across the land were ecstatic at their enthusiastic embrace. It did show more feeling than the last 50 episodes' worth of P/T scenes put together...but that's not saying a whole heck of a lot. I don't think I can remember ever seeing B'Elanna so happy. Or maybe it's just in contrast to how crabby she was throughout this episode.

It is frustrating, the way they depict characters and relationships on this show. But on the good side, it leaves the door wide open for P/K. When Tom throws his fit in the conference room, we don't know if he's concerned about Harry, B'Elanna, or both. When B'Elanna gets furious when the playwright asks her if she loves Tom, we don't know if it's because she does, or she doesn't.

There are little tidbits for everyone in this episode. J/Cers got a play kiss. Ditto the P/7ers. Tu/T and Tu/K fans got some good fodder in Tuvok's obsession with finding the missing crew. Torres didn't seem at all upset about Tom kissing Seven, but she did seem bothered by Chakotay kissing Janeway - fuel for the C/Ters (or the J/Ters). And K/Ters got that sweet embrace.

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