Season 4 Ep 12 / 13 "Mortal Coil" / "Waking Moments"

Season Four, Episode 12 – “Mortal Coil”


Shuffle off


Honestly, I was kind of dreading this one. Both this episode and the next were viewed in unusual circumstances – this one while on holiday in Berlin, the next one half-drunk on a plane to Paris (what a windswept and interesting life I lead, eh?) – and of the two this was the one I thought I’d have to pay the most attention to, because I expected it to be crap. I know “Waking Moments” is good fun, so watching it while a fraction inebriated on a European flight wasn’t much of an issue, but this one I thought I’d probably have to concentrate on. I mean, broadly speaking, this does not have a good reputation, and I remembered very little about from the only time I watched it back in the 90s (which maybe says something itself). But you know what? It isn’t half bad. It’s not a neglected classic or anything but it’s a lot stronger than, “comedy character has a crisis of faith about the afterlife” might suggest. But then that’s the pleasure of a redemptive reading – finding these little moments where things just turn out so much better than expected. Or maybe it was the booze.

In terms of Voyager’s own history what this episode most closely resembles is “Jetrel”, and it’s obviously trying to give Neelix the same kind of dramatic material that Ethan Phillips proved such a good match for back then. Unfortunately what it most resembles in, in fact, “Rise”, whereby Ethan Phillips acts his absolute socks off in service of material that ought to be stronger. See, that’s the thing about “Mortal Coil” – Phillips (and to an extent Beltran) lift a lot of the material around them, and they both seem to have a much stronger idea about the core concepts of the story than what’s on the actual page. It’s interesting to give Neelix a crisis of faith, and having him question the nature and structure of his own beliefs seems like a beneficial direction to take the character in. We’ve had attempts at this before, with variable success, but since we know Phillips can deliver the goods given half a chance this seems like a good chance to push him in interesting new directions. And using Chakotay in conjunction for this is a clear, obvious fit as well – he’s the member of the crew most closely associated with spirituality, and Neelix and Chakotay working together in this way makes for a pleasingly unusual character pairing. Neelix’s crisis of faith emerges logically from a fairly typical Star Trek set up – mission gone wrong – and it looks like, for the first five or so minutes at least, that the episode really might start to deliver on the promise of Neelix as a character.

Then Seven’s bloody nanoprobes turn up. It’s a huge hole in the centre of the episode, and its very frustrating because had Neelix just been revived with a typical “the Doctor fixes him”-type waving of a gizmo it would have been fine, we’d have lost about ten minutes of pointless faffing about, and we could have spent that time much more fruitfully getting further into the crisis the character is going through. Arrgh. And here Seven’s motivations are shaky – we’re told she’s come to see how important he is to the crew, but has she? Has she really? The two have spent very little actual screen-time together beyond an (admittedly funny) scene where he teaches her how to eat yet she’s suddenly plot-conveniently aware of his significance to the crew. It’s a writerly conceit rather than one that really emerges from the character, it won’t be the last in this episode, and it’s frustrating precisely because there is a lot of good stuff here. I mean, this episode even finds a way to do something useful and interesting with Chakotay’s Native American beliefs, and that’s not something you can say about every episode those turn up in. Neelix using the vision quest as a way to deal with the trauma of his death and his lack of experience of an afterlife is a genuinely compelling idea, especially using the spiritual beliefs of another race to deal with his trauma. And, nanoprobes aside, the parallel between Seven’s trauma and what Neelix goes through here is nicely compared without ever being over-emphasized, an appropriately subtle piece of writing that fits in well with the story being told. What a shame, then, that the vision quest Neelix experiences is the usual collection of Dutch angles, Vaseline on the camera lens, and him running though a number of lazy set pieces that have him meeting his dead sister. But (and again, here comes the frustration) this episode also uses Neelix’s established history incredibly well – we know about his sister, we know about the war that devastated his planet and his feeling of guilt in connection to them, we know about how important and comforting his beliefs are. We even have an offhanded reference to his single lung, and there’s just something incredibly touching about him including, “a flower from Kes’s garden” as part of his medicine bundle. Aww. There’s a real sense of Neelix existing as a proper character, with a history and dimension that overlaps with Voyager but isn’t exclusively bound to it. Given the strength of this writing, Ethan Phillips throws himself, completely successfully, at the material and for the first time in what feels like ages, Neelix comes alive. It’s a joy to see.

But, lest we get too comfortable in the praise, we also have to deal with Naomi and Samantha Wildeman. Using Naomi as an anchor to pull Neelix back from his suicidal nihilism feels right for his character – we know he’s invested in Naomi, we see him tucking her in at night, and The Big Scene in the transporter room where Chakotay uses Samantha’s (somewhat convenient) intervention as a way of giving Neelix something to care about and latch on to again is all absolutely fine. On paper. Once again we see Phillips giving his absolute all, and Beltran delivers a good performance too – compassionate and understanding, but also with enough force to push Neelix into finding something to care about. But – well, it seems a bit harsh to wail on a child actor, but Naomi isn’t very good. In fact, she’s really annoying, to the point where you wonder if pushing the life-ending site-to-site transport button on the tricorder might be a preferable option to spending years putting this whiny brat to bed. It works, in theory, and as a motivator for Neelix to ground himself after his trauma and it all makes sense, but it feels clumsy on screen, again more writerly manipulation than genuine character movement – and as they say, when you can see the strings the puppeteer is doing something wrong. Here the strings are glaringly obvious, and it undermines what is otherwise a powerfully realized scene. Indeed the whole idea of Neelix, of all people, being reduced to a suicidal state, is surprisingly powerful, and the flashes of real anger we see earlier in the episode (his lashing out at Seven is a particular highlight) re-enforce this. Shorn of his need to be a comedy character so much potential is revealed, and even seeing his gentle side with Naomi enlivens him in so many ways that we don’t ordinarily see. But I suppose the writers need to give him something to care about and at least using a character like Naomi seems like something that would resonate with Neelix, and it’s a lot more convincing that reminding him of how much he loves making Leola Root Stew (or whatever). Without Kes on hand, he needs something to care about, so we’re stuck with the kid. Fine, let’s accept that works on a character level and move on.

And move on we shall. “Mortal Coil” is a decent episode, to my surprise – much better than its reputation – but one that acts as a showcase for Phillips much more than as a well-scripted piece of drama. All the good material here works, and all the bad material doesn’t. That might sound like an obvious observation, but bad material can be made to work, and good material can be sunk by any number of other problems. “Mortal Coil” never really manages to square that circle – when it’s good, it’s very very good, and when it’s bad it’s awful. Still, full credit for trying to develop Neelix and do something interesting with his character, and full credit for finding a way to do it that steps outside of his normal character tropes of chef, ambassador and morale officer. It’s another in a long line of “a few more re-writes could have made all the difference”, but even that feels harsh because it’s not an episode that needs saved. It’s an episode that just needs improved. But it shouldn’t be forgotten and it shouldn’t be written off because, if nothing else, it shows what a great character Neelix has the potential to be. Here’s hoping he gets the chance in future to really prove it.


Any Other Business:

• Obviously I’m going to praise Phillips some more, and once again I’m going to trot out the old line about, “when he’s lit properly you can take the character seriously.” So much of his screen time is shot in shadow and half-light (appropriate, given the episode’s theme) and it does wonders for him.

• Something almost unique happens here – during the scenes in the mess hall at Neelix’s holiday celebrations, all the crew are wearing casual clothes that look like something people might actually wear, and not the usual mish-mash of hideously awful 24th century casualwear we normally get. Harry looks good in a pseudo-Nehru collar, Janeway’s relaxed white top suits her, and everyone actually looks comfortable, which makes the scene work much better. What a difference! (Compare and contrast with the collection of bus-seat covers the crew of DS9 are often seen lounging about in…)

• “You are a peculiar creature Neelix.” No kidding…

• So does Seven basically cure death here? Yup. It’s not the first time death has been cured in Star Trek – it happens in the inexcusably execrable TNG episode “Unnatural Selection”, where Pulaski is miraculously saved by some hair and a transporter (don’t ask). Seven never performs this trick again so either the writers completely forgot about it or there’s something going on between Seven and Neelix we really don’t need to know about…

• More Betty from Tuvok, with his sidelong, “thank you” when Tom manages to attract everyone’s attention at the party using a glass and spoon.

• I don’t want to hark on about production, as you know, but this is a pretty shoddily produced episode, something it has in common with “Rise”, unfortunately. Neelix’s vision quest should be a dark step into the unknown, not something a first year film student would turn their nose up at.

• Fucking pan pipes! If I never hear another pan pipe in connection with Chakotay it will be too soon.

• Another rarity – Harry detects an unauthorized transport in progress and is, just about, able to stop it!

• “Having fun?” “No.”


Season Four, Episode 13 - “Waking Moments”


Vulcans - not just longer lived...


Lllllladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, roll up, roll up! Please, join us, as we play all-inclusive, pro-am Voyager cliché bingo! Get your scorecards ready, have your pens on stand-by, and be prepared as we call out every cliché you can possibly imagine! Mark down your cards, first one to get a complete line wins! Fun for aaaaaall the family! Are we ready? I can’t hear you! I said Are! We! Ready! You are? Good! Then eyes down for the first call!

Eight Fat Characters, it’s an ensemble piece! Yes, we’re most assuredly back in romp territory as we collide with a plot that’s not exactly startling in it’s originality. That’s not to say that it isn’t terrific fun – it is – but Voyager really is excellent at doing these ensemble piece. This ensemble is led by Chakotay, which is unusual but successful, and his understanding of the dreaming is a surprisingly good way of using his beliefs without falling back on the Native American material. Since we had a big spoonful of that in the last episode that’s something of a relief, but it’s a good way into his character, and generally a successful way of moving the plot along. Original? Erm, no, it’s not that. But it works, and it works well. Voyager as a ship has had plenty of invasions and take-overs, and this one, done though stealth and sleep, is just different enough to keep things interesting, while also being very obviously rooted in a traditional Star Trek narrative. Indeed the narrative geometry of this episode is generally successful – the crew gradually falling into sleep one by one is fairly reminiscing of “Displaced”, it’s just that the crew falls asleep rather than being physically transported to another location. But fine, it works here, and it’s not too similar. Probably.

Hundreds of Aliens In A Cave, most of them are off-screen! Yes they are. I know we get a bit of an optical painting that stands in, but we only gets a few of them that we actually interact with. Their plan is inventively different, which is a bonus, and their vaguely sinister agenda makes sense – the bluff about them telling Voyager how to avoid them when in fact they’re directing the ship deeper into their territory is actually very well delivered. Because it occurs about halfway through the episode we know that can’t be all there is, but it’s a good piece of mis-direction. In context that works, but we’ve been here before.

One I Don’t Want To See Again, Ever, memories can’t be trusted! Really? Again? It’s by far the weakest part of this episode. OK this time it’s dreams that are unreliable rather than the memory implants we more typically get, but it’s a slender enough difference. This time it’s the whole crew, not just whatever character gets stuck with this hoary old plot device, but we’ve been here before. Oh wait, I said that before. Well, maybe that’s appropriate. Dreams so very rarely follow a linear pattern do they? Now, we can at least here say that this is entirely played for laughs – all the little dream vignettes (you don’t get a number for character vignettes in Voyager, so please, don’t mark your cards) are funny, and there’s something genuinely hilarious that the only real chance that Harry gets with Seven is in a dream. Resistance really must be futile. So that works, and if you want to read that as a subversion of the usual unreliable-memories trope, well I wouldn’t object. Neither would I necessarily , but it’s a perfectly valid reading, I just wish it hadn’t happened quite so close to “Random Thoughts”.

Far Too Much Bafflegab, explanations are somewhat glossed over! Well they are, aren’t they? There’s lots of stuff about how the mind needs sleep to process what’s happened and how important sleep is, and…. Yea, it does go on a bit. I suppose it works, and at least the explanations of what are going on are layered throughout the story rather than dumped in one big explanation, so that’s something. And it gives the Doctor something to do. If you’re going to learn from the mistakes that previous episodes have made then this is a good lesson to learn. Gradually delivering the explanations rather than having one character spout them all out at once means there’s a feeling of proper progression and a sense that the characters are working things out as they develop, rather than just arriving at an answer.

Chakotay’s Belief’s Help Solve A Problem, this week it’s The Dreaming! No, not the Kate Bush album, but after last week’s use of the vision quest to help Neelix heal his trauma this doesn’t exactly come across as original. Saying that, though, the use of the moon image isn’t something we’ve seen before, even though the reality-within-reality very, very much is. Actually this is one area the script falters, just because it’s so very common that this happens. You think it’s over – then it isn’t! Yawn. “Frame Of Mind”. “Projections”. Blah blah. It’s hard not to think that if the script have been written in a more linear way (and it’s not often I call for more linearity) and avoided this it would have made the material feel a little less labored. I don’t want that to sound too critical – actually “Waking Moments” fulfilled exactly what I was expecting and mentioned at the top of the last review, it’s fun and enjoyable and a good old romp, but this is one cliché that we also don’t need to see again. So, yes, this episode gets away with it, but it doesn’t feel smart any more, it feels expected, and that’s a shame.

Unconvincing Smock To Hide An Actor’s Pregnancy, B’Elanna’s Engineering Jacket! Well, at least this one is a bit different. We had it back in TNG when Gates McFadden became pregnant but the character didn’t, so smocks and flappy cardigans became the order of the day to unsuccessfully hide an increasingly-obvious bulge. So we get the same technique used here. The tools that stick out of the breast pocket of the smock look silly – they look she’s carrying around a set of handy lock-picking tools in case she comes across a safe that needs cracking – and mostly serve to draw attention to the problem, but was it really necessary? I do emphasize that these episodes should be seen in context and in order, but it’s still hard to shake the feeling that there’s something odd about the fact that the production feel the need to hide her pregnancy here but have the character actually be pregnant in a couple of season’s time. She’s in a committed relationship with another member of the crew – why not just have her be pregnant? It couldn’t have been that difficult to write into the script surely? Ryan’s Hope managed it with Kate Mulgrew’s character back in the early 80s! Aaaanyway…

Slightly Pat Conclusion, The Aliens Just Give Up! Yea. That’s a bit of a shame. Chakotay does really well in an episode which uses his knowledge of lucid dreaming, and he gets to save the day, but it’s a bit… I dunno. Unsatisfactory, I suppose. It’s not awful, but the aliens take his word about having the torpedoes locked on their location a bit at face value. We’re at the forty minute stage when this happens, so it’s a bit inevitable, but still, one less click your heels together three times tap the back of your hand three times scene and one more Chakotay In Charge would have righted the balance a bit. Instead, the aliens’ look a bit bashful at being found out then we’re off to breakfast at Neelix’s Place. It’s just a touch unsatisfactory, if not a fatal blow.

But really, for all I’ve said here, “Waking Moments” is really good fun. Beltran especially seems to be having a whale of a time, and everyone acts as a good support for him. There’s a few striking moments – Janeway working out that they’re dreaming by surviving a warp core explosion is especially enjoyable – and the whole thing is carried off with great aplomb. The pacing is really important here – things start slowly and gain momentum with each act, and in this the script really successfully delivers on the action-adventure aesthetic even while keeping a comparatively narrow focus. A few surreal shots – the deer in Voyager’s corridors – help to enliven what is mostly a bottle show, and the direction is, if never inventive, always in sympathy with the material. You’d be hard pressed to call this a complex script, but it’s enjoyable, entertaining, and starts off a second run of really terrific Season Four episodes. Oh you know what? There was one other thing I should have mentioned. As is common at this stage in Voyager, we get another little insight into the ongoing lives of Tom and B’Elanna. This time it’s that they keep missing each other because of work, and never seem to quite find the time to get together. You know, like a real couple. It’s not emphasized any more than the other character’s having difficulty with sleep, but it’s an ongoing part of the series that just makes massive strides to making them seem like a real couple that behave in a real way. We’ve seen this a lot of times before and…

House!


Any Other Business:

• Really, this is all terrifically enjoyable. Everyone’s having fun with the script, nothing is taken too seriously, but equally it never feels lightweight or like a throwaway. That’s a neat little balancing act.

• I dread to think what Harry’s sheets were like after that dream about Seven…

• The way they reach the conclusion that the crew are not just dreaming but sharing the same dream is nicely delivered by the script and, as I mentioned in the review, really feels like the crew are figuring stuff out. It goes a long way to helping deal with familiar material.

• Everyone gets something to do! Really, it’s such a great use of a terrific ensemble cast.

• Seven punching out Harry to create a diversion is glorious.

• The taking-control-of-the-dream scenes are pretty well handled – not subtle by any means, and certainly not something we haven’t seen before, but they still get it to work. Such troopers!

• And, because I wouldn’t be doing my job as a reviewer properly if I didn’t point it out, the final scene where everyone suffers from insomnia is rubbish. Ah well, can’t have it all…