7x17 Workforce (2)

I'm not sure why this ended up being a two part episode. Maybe to save costs and justify all the sets that were built? Even though all of the factory scenes happened in the one set which made it feel a bit cheap. It just didn't really deserve it from a story point of view.

Harry is written very strangely here. His obvious annoyance at the Doctor being given a command role is bizarre and makes him look like a jealous kid. Worse is the way Harry dismisses the Doc out of hand when he suggests he might like to continue the role in some capacity. "LOL no, you're just a robot doctor and that's all you can ever be."

A winning story, although part two did feel too condensed, rushed even. It's still a nice change from the norm and I like that we get to see Janeway sans the big shoes, despite what she says at the end, she liked it too. Sure she loves being Captain, but there's just a little bit of regret that she's missing out on that uncomplicated love and cushy life without the hefty responsibilities.

Big kudos to Roxann Dawson on acting whilst directing this giant, it might not seem like it, but with more of a cast in play and so many dynamic scenes, she undoubtedly had her hands full and she did a great job imo. No surprise that she'd go on the find her home in that area of the industry.

I get it. It's about Star Trek classics like limitations of artificial life, abduction, slavery, S&R with a touch of capitalism criticism. I guess that's why they told this story in an industrialized dystopian Metropolis. Plus, they added a half-decent romantic story for our beloved computer panel whisperer, They thought so many different topics need a back to back episode. I don't agree. This could have been better told in one episode or two isolated episodes. Episode two is actually worse since we already know the mystery that made the first half of part one somewhat entertaining. Part 2 is mostly boring.

It's one of the episodes in which Kim can prove his command skills. I still don't get how they treat the Doctor. Sometimes they defend his rights, sometimes, like in this episode Kim (and to a lesser extent Chakotay) tell him that he's just the person, he was programmed to be. It's really like they evolve back to the time when they deactivated the EMH when that was convenient.

At least we get to see the ECH in use. Liked the clash with Harry even tho at this point the doctor should know how to work with the rest of the crew which he did when it came down to it so their little tiff was pointless. This was a change of pace with them not fighting back because they didn’t know they should. Yet we have to admit without the doctor to save them or assist a returned away team, voyager would have been lost long ago.

There have probably been a dozen episodes during the shows run that would have warranted two parts. This one did not. Once you know what's behind all this all the suspense was gone and it dragged itself out.