Star Trek: Voyager – S02E05, Non Sequitur

We lost Kim again! You can’t keep that boy under control… After losing him during a funeral rite in Emanations and after having been dematerialized in the holodeck in Heroes and Demons, this time he finds himself in San Francisco, on planet Earth. At least, this seems to be the case, let’s say: at the beginning of the episode he’s in a shuttle returning from an unspecified mission, but then he wakes up in an apartment in San Francisco with his girlfriend Libby (Jennifer Gatti – she was Ba’el in Birthright, Season 6 of The Next Generation).

I liked the episode, even if it will remain a completely useless parenthesis both for the journey of the USS Voyager, and for the character of Harry Kim (as the title itself says: non sequitur that is, no consequences). However, I found it well made, with some beautiful matte paintings of future San Francisco and with some impressive sets recreating the street where Kim apparently lives with her fiancée and where he gets the coffee made by Cosimo (Louis Giambalvo) every morning.

I also liked how the alternate present was conceived and written (by none other than Brannon Braga) in which Kim never embarked on Voyager, but became an engineer at Starfleet headquarters and he’s working on new prototypes with Lieutenant Lasca (Mark Kiley). I enjoyed all the small plot details such as the funeral service in honor of the Voyager crew done two months earlier and Kim looking for Tom Paris who, like him, should be on the ship but is actually on Earth, that is Tom Paris. I loved the line: “I’m going to Marseille to see Paris“!

As for the rest, once again Kim has to convince the whole world of something that nobody believes in: this time he isn’t back from the realm of the dead, he simply should be the other side of the Universe. And the final solution is not particularly well thought out… but, like I said, I enjoyed this episode, and I liked the opportunity for Robert Duncan McNeill (who plays Tom Paris) to get out of the rigid character he played so far. Ciao!

PS: if I had been in Kim’s shoes I don’t know if I would’ve abandoned a comfortable life in San Francisco with my girlfriend to return to the crazy Delta quadrant trip!

PPS: The Delta Flyers podcast shout out: this episode was full of anecdotes, like Wang’s karaoke in Ukraine, Gatti’s kisses, some tricks for acting in the sunshine… but the thing that I take home from it is Robert Picardo’s Youtube channel!

---

Episodio precedente: Elogium

Episodio successivo: Twisted