7x19 Q2

Ooh fun! And pretty cool they used his actual son.

I know. I know. Q episodes are silly. Most of the time. Only rarely they explore a philosophical problem. I must admit though, that I always liked (most) episodes with one of the Qs. Call it my guilty pleasure. This episode is no exception: it's great fun (and inconsequential and pointless). Q2 is basically like his father was. The "education" and "bettering" of Q2 is perhaps the only serious topic discussed here but of course it's kind of predictable 'cause we have seen similar antics before. Btw: DeLancie proves again to be a great actor.

It seems a bit silly to bring back John de Lancie as Q and then barely use him. On the positive side, it does further his character growth which is what Q's Voyager appearances were all about. Q2 is not the most exciting character to spend all this time with, but he manages to provide entertaining diversions. Where things failed for me was in how wrapped up the episode became in turning Q2 into a "better" person, and how shallow the examination of that journey was.

By this point in the overall story of the Star Trek franchise, it feels like the writers weren't trying too hard. There's a formula and they stuck to it like their lives depend on it. Here, the episode almost wrote itself ("Let's bring Q back! Oh wait, he has a kid now, right? Let's make him even wilder than his father! What's the story? I guess the Voyager crew need to show him the error of his ways. Okay, another episode done.") This is unimaginative despite being perfectly watchable.