Think Tank: I mean come on we knew they were going to ask for either Seven or the Doctor.

Oh OF COURSE Tuvok tried a mind meld.

If you can’t solve a puzzle, cheat! I love the metaphor they have going on here between the game and the actual problem. I also love seeing the whole team working together trying to solve a problem. And I love the way they did it. That scene in the mess hall made me so happy. Different groups trying different things, playing out different scenarios. I am also glad the audience is “in” on the plot here. We weren’t told when Tom was involved in something like this before. And that also made it interesting but I like know what’s going on.

It was very un-Janeway to let the Hazari destroy the think tank. It felt more like a Sisko move to me. While the Think Tank is terrible, this is one of those “nobody got hurt” situations. It doesn’t make it okay- they were obviously fully willing to kidnap Seven and clearly harmed other species and deserve to be punished. But we shouldn’t kill them! That’s a bit extreme, wouldn’t you say? Janeway supposedly doesn’t believe in executions even when they are arguably justified, but she’s okay if someone ELSE does the executing?

Juggernaut: I’m sorry guys I had to reload page while I was watching this and accidentally saw the episode description for Someone to Watch Over Me and the Doctor’s interest in Seven is going to become WHAT?

But uh... we’ll talk about that when we get there.

Two scenes I loved: Chakotay being a CO and not a friend, and Tom being adorable.

I was going to write a little bit here that goes as follows: “Here’s how this is going to go. Chakotay said ‘2-3 hours’, so they SHOULD be there for less than two hours but they’ll be there for over three, save the day, get emergency beamed to sickbay and have some side effects but make a full recovery.” But then I got far enough in that the dude was probably hallucinating but maybe there’s a monster on the ship so that blurb became unnecessary because that’s clearly not where this is going.

Did you guys see the thing he just shoved in B’Elanna’s neck? HOLY CRAP.

Also loved the moment where Tuvok tells Seven that Vulcan’s don’t believe in luck as a general rule but Janeway has taught her otherwise. That just made me happy.

Oh GOD I blinked and the Meilan dude scared the crap out of me.

This came out of nowhere to be a fantastic episode. I love it when they go full horror. At first it just felt like Macrocosm which wasn’t full horror, definitely leaning into the action genre. B’Elanna was doing Janeway’s part very well, getting all dirty and fighting through it. But then it slipped into something deeper. It definitely gave me Empok Nor vibes. B’Elanna was really strong in this, as was Chakotay.

I loved the “villain” in this episode. The line “I’m already dead,” made my heart drop out of my chest. It was both sad and absolutely terrifying because you almost believe it as you look at him. And I liked how at the end, B’Elanna doesn’t tell the freighter commander dude that it’s his fault and he did this to the core worker. She just comments on the horror that happens on those ships. She drops the blame. It was very powerful to me.

That said, a couple things in this episode super did not work for me. The first and most major one is that I can’t stand the way they did B’Elanna’s character development. She’s gone through the same arc multiple times, reaches the same conclusions, then makes the same mistakes again. It’s like Seven before she met Naomi. She just isn’t making any long term progression. We’re also not acknowledging the line between anger issues and Klingon culture that needs to be retrained. Which I imagine you would treat differently. It’s also just very corny the way that they do it. Although I thought it was sweet that she was meditating on the Mailon ship. My other problem is with the way they are blatantly trying to talk about climate change while still not technically doing it. It’s very much like how the Ferengi tackle greed and related issues and it doesn’t work for me. It’s just awkward how up front it is, and it almost becomes cartoon and not science fiction anymore. That said, this episode gave this species way more depth to me.

Someone to Watch Over Me: oh here we go.

Uh... when the doctor suggests Seven explore dating rituals, she uses “because you’re a women,” as the reason, which is a little disgusting. Then he tried to give her the talk, which was a little cringey, but I laughed out loud at his little sperm dance.

Oh my god they made a bet on her having a successful date. I don’t have to keep telling you guys how horrifically sexist this is so now let’s just laugh at how it’s terribly awkward.

Wow her voice is incredible. Just a reminder of how talented Jeri Ryan is. When the doctor sings it reminds me of my father.

A dropped tool can be a workplace hazard. Be more careful next time.

The doctor isn’t in his dress uniform. Oh I forgot Tom is an ensign now.

I don’t know why I didn’t expect that bet to go badly for him when he decided to go with her to the reception. It just didn’t occur to me.

This is just as bad as when Julian fell in love with his genetically enhanced patient. Seven is vulnerable. Not to mention way younger. I know that EMH is a hologram and thus outside the realm of aging, but he’s modeled after somebody who is what? 45?

I am glad we shut that down. There was another plot going on here which I certainly found funny. I enjoyed how they ended that story with, “Why wouldn’t you indulge a little and learn about other cultures? Just practice moderation!”

The edit on this post is because I entirely forgot to finish the write up for think tank.