'WorkForce II' Reviews

• The first round of ‘Workforce Part II’ reviews are out, and, for a change, there seems to be a general consensus among the reviewers - that the episode was reasonable, if maybe a bit dull, and not as good as part one. On that note, first up to the plate O.Deus of TrekWeb is still being pretty positive about Voyager’s final season.

  So all in all, Voyager season seven has taken plenty of risks that didn't pan out. Workforce however has taken a large number of risks that have. First setting a two part episode around a storyline that focused more on the characters and much less on the action and FX quotient. Secondly by putting much of the resolution of the story into the hands of the aliens and making them more complex than your usual Hirogen. Thirdly by actually letting Janeway be a human being ever so briefly and tempting her with the opportunity to step off the cross and into life (and of course letting the ECH demonstrate that Voyager would have done just as well without her.) And finally by avoiding most of the obvious and easy plot gimmicks and let the characters actually struggle to work things out, something we rarely see on Voyager. Appropriate enough in an episode entitled Workforce.

  To read his full review of the episode, and find out more on what he liked and what he didn’t, click here.

• Second up, there’s Mania’s Michelle Erica Green, who was the least positive – though she thought it’s been worthwhile, if only for "watching to see the Doc and Kim running the ship with as much aplomb as the captain and first officer."

  I was practically asleep by the end of this episode, which is sort of strange because it's very well-directed -- nice mix of planet-side action and space battles, good pacing, fine performances from the guest stars, balanced appearances by all the crewmembers. It just feels so ridiculously inconsequential, especially at this late date. We've already seen the crew under mind control more times than I care to recall -- in "Persistence of Vision," in "The Killing Game," in "Memorial" -- and we really don't learn a thing about them we didn't already know, other than that Paris speaks very sweetly of Torres in his personal logs.

  Again, to read the follow review, follow this link.

• Review number three comes direct from the ever-optimistic Jason Bates of IGN Sci-Fi. Rating it a 3 out of 5, he too thought it was somewhat on the dull side.

  That, and the fact that the pacing was a bit off from the first episode (different directors, for some reason), blunted promising openings and pushed the rest of the show into meandering along until the inevitable conclusion (everyone escaping unharmed). All this unfortunately resulted in a dull part two.

  His full review can be found by clicking here.

• Rob Adams (Quinn) of Section 31 was more positive in his review of the conclusion of 'Workforce'. Though he came up with a number of flaws in the episode and a few directions he would have rather seen it take, he gave it an 8/10.

• Last, but certainly not least of the 'Workforce Part II' reviews today is Jacqueline Bundy of the Trekker Newsletter. Giving it an 8.5, she thought it was a ‘satisfactory’ episode, working best as a whole rather than two separate parts.

• Meanwhile, Julia Houston, About.com’s Star Trek Guide, continues to catch up on her reviews after being laid out with illness. Today she added her review of ‘Repentance’, and, unlike many, she liked it, saying that "it's frustrating, and very well done."

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