Special Agent Matti
Tinker, tenor, doctor, spy in drag.
How many times can a crew-member alter their subroutines without getting permission from someone higher up? The EMH keeps doing it despite Janeway's direct orders to the contrary. Seven keeps tinkering with herself and the ship despite direct orders to the contrary. It seems as if The Maquis Way of doing things is assimilating Starfleet protocols left, right and centre.
It's even worse when the action doesn't sit well with the character. Seven has gone nuts before (see Survival instinct) but this loopy conspiracy nutter just isn't right for her. The folderol about chaotic synaptic patterns causing paranoia is just more technobabble. Not to mention why no-one noticed that she was behaving oddly, storming around the ship ranting how everyone but her is not to be trusted?
What's even more worserer is the conspiracies: they don't hold up under the slightest scrutiny. With the CU/UFP military presence theory, Chakotay should know that the two groups had just finished a bitter war when Voyager disappeared in the Badlands. That was why he was a Maquis, after all. There is no way that they would formed an alliance, let alone a long term strategic plan like the one suggested. As for the Maquis resurrection, Janeway already knows that the Maquis have been annihilated from communiqués received in Message in a bottle. To think that a gateway could recover the former DMZ is ludicrous.
Mind you, this episode does show how conspiracy theories develop. People make order out of chaos according to the patterns with which they are familiar. Your average bloke will always mistrust governments because governments are so secretive. That's the nature of the beast.
Ummm... what was my point? Maybe there wasn't one. Kinda like this episode, really, now that I come to think of it. It's that big ol' reset button: the writers just can't resist it!
PG (Adult themes)
VHS rental and retail: 9 June 2000