OK, this was obviously going to be a medical ethics episode almost from the beginning. It is a very good look at the issues involved with medical ethics, and is almost befitting of ER. I was highly impressed, and it was nice to see that B'Elanna's starting to return to her former self.
LIKES:
Jeri Taylor's writing. She managed to condense the major arguments on both sides of the issues into a one hour episode and still have time for a few jokes. Both sides were eloquently presented, and it was an unbiased look at both sides as well. It would have been very easy to either ignore, or shortchange one side, but Taylor managed to avoid that. Trek has a history of tackling some pretty difficult topics, and this is no exception. It definitely leaves you thinking, even if you're like me and are absolutely sick of the arguments, having heard them a few hundred times in the past few years with the whole Jack Kevorkian thing.
The interaction between Tom and B'Elanna was excellent this week as well. The scene in sickbay when B'Elanna first wakes was beautifully done by the actors. It was obvious that even though Tom doesn't say it much, he does care for B'Elanna. I'm not sure if it was the writing or the acting this week, but Tom's feelings were much clearer this week than in either "Once Upon a Time" or "Extreme Risk."
Following in the trend of past episodes this season, there is still some unresolved feelings at the end. As Janeway says, there are still some demons in the air. I like that we are reminded that not everything in life can be resolved in one hour, but I think a few of the threads need to be followed through a little more. This one will be interesting to see how it plays out in the coming weeks. Can Torres set aside her dislike of Janeway's decision while on duty? I'd like to see a little off duty tension, maybe even a nice fight later in the season.
I enjoyed the teaser a lot. A bit of light-hearted fun. However ...
DISLIKES:
I would have liked to see Janeway's confrontation with Chakotay about not breaking up the Doc's presentation. I'm sure she won't go so far as to actually bring up a court martial, but she's not the type just to let it go. It really wouldn't have fit into the episode, but it certainly would have been fun.
Seven brings up an interesting parallel to the Borg that could have been explored a little more. OK, I'll grant you the episode certainly brought up more than enough tough issues, and there really wasn't time to look into this more, but it would have been interesting.
J/C QUOTIENT:
I think the extent this week consists of the semi-insubordination/threatened court martial from the beginning. Not much else to talk about.
