Twisted

See Also: 'Twisted' Episode Guide

The ship encounters a gravometric distortion which seems to turn the decks inside out. Kes finds crew quarters from different floors next door to one another; Torres opens a panel in engineering and walks in on a half-naked lieutenant; Janeway can't seem to get to the bridge no matter what path she takes. The distortion appears to be centered on Deck Six near the holodeck, so the command crew converges there.

Janeway enters a Jeffries Tube with Kim and comes into direct contact with the anomaly, making her alternately comatose and incoherent. Left in command, Chakotay counsels Neelix on how to deal with his jealousy over Kes, spars with Tuvok over the best course of action, and agrees to a plan by Torres which ultimately fails. When they realize that the anomaly will in all likelihood engulf them, Tuvok suggests doing nothing. They end up having little choice, and the anomaly twists the ship back into its previous state, leaving behind information in the computer library.

Analysis:

This was by all accounts a Bad Episode, but I enjoyed it anyway. The anomaly of the week was even stupider than usual - crew quarters moved from deck to deck, yet nothing was broken on the inside? And contact with a distortion field made Janeway speak in tongues? A serious science fiction fan would have to be embarrassed.

That said...I am forever going to think of this as the Sleeping Beauty episode, for that moment when Chakotay leaned over an unconscious Janeway, asked the Doc whether he could talk to her, was told that she wouldn't hear a thing, and proceeded to talk anyway, looking very much as if he wanted to kiss her. This after a delightful scene in the corridor with Neelix where the Talaxian exclaimed that a handsome man like Chakotay must have women falling all over him, then explained that he was jealous of attention to Kes, to which Chakotay responded that people are often jealous in love because they fear abandonment, but he's always found that what one gains in love is greater than what one risks. Give me this man's phone number - errr - access code, please!

Seriously...this was a fine Chakotay episode, though it's rather pathetic that they had to render Janeway unconscious to give him one. I liked him standing up to Tuvok and reconciling with him later, when it became obvious that no matter what decision the first officer made, the results would have been the same. I also liked his relationship with Torres, becoming frustrated when she resorted to temper and then taking her hand at what he thought might be their moment of death - Tuvok reached out for Janeway and Tom for Harry, so I am resisting making any jokes about what any of this means about possible crew pairings.

I have to admit that I'm a sucker for the characters on this show, even when the material stinks. Imagine how good it could be if they actually had a decent story to work with.