A pretty creative episode that is basically a retrospective of past events. In contrast to other flashback and clip episodes (a negative example is certainly the TNG episode "Shades of Gray"), it doesn't just repeat what happened in other episodes. Instead, the past events are woven into a new story.
This time, for a change, Chakotay doesn't have to go on any spirit quests or explain supernatural phenomena with mystical mumbo jumbo. In fact one of the few good Chakotay episodes. The interaction with an early version of Janeway, who is not yet stranded in the Delta quadrant and who also only knows Chakotay as a Maquis renegade, leads to one or two surprising scenes for Janeway. For example, that one day she will host Borg drones on her ship and one of them will also be part of her crew, or that her decision is ultimately the reason why Voyager and her crew are stranded far from home.
Janeway's inner struggle is also convincingly portrayed. Who wouldn't want to make different decisions if they found out depressing news about their future? But Janeway doesn't know the whole picture. Just snapshots. Fragments that seem threatening without knowing the whole context. She may be able to avoid making a wrong decision in the future, but this would mean that many of the right decisions that follow would never be made.
However, the talk about the Temporal Prime Directive is nonsense. Janeway herself says that once the temporal event is corrected, none of those involved will be aware of this time fragmentation. And the Janeway from Chakotay's time could well have known that Chakotay was trapped in a temporal fragmentation, but that all time strands have now been realigned. This would not have given Janeway any knowledge of future events, she would only have understood why Chakotay needs to be secretive.
When Janeway asked Neelix how he knows how she drinks her coffee, I kind of wondered if she still hasn't gotten the memo that because of time fragmentation, she'll encounter future events on the ship and Neelix will probably be one of her crew members - in a future that is still unknown to her.
This time, for a change, Chakotay doesn't have to go on any spirit quests or explain supernatural phenomena with mystical mumbo jumbo. In fact one of the few good Chakotay episodes. The interaction with an early version of Janeway, who is not yet stranded in the Delta quadrant and who also only knows Chakotay as a Maquis renegade, leads to one or two surprising scenes for Janeway. For example, that one day she will host Borg drones on her ship and one of them will also be part of her crew, or that her decision is ultimately the reason why Voyager and her crew are stranded far from home.
Janeway's inner struggle is also convincingly portrayed. Who wouldn't want to make different decisions if they found out depressing news about their future? But Janeway doesn't know the whole picture. Just snapshots. Fragments that seem threatening without knowing the whole context. She may be able to avoid making a wrong decision in the future, but this would mean that many of the right decisions that follow would never be made.
However, the talk about the Temporal Prime Directive is nonsense. Janeway herself says that once the temporal event is corrected, none of those involved will be aware of this time fragmentation. And the Janeway from Chakotay's time could well have known that Chakotay was trapped in a temporal fragmentation, but that all time strands have now been realigned. This would not have given Janeway any knowledge of future events, she would only have understood why Chakotay needs to be secretive.
When Janeway asked Neelix how he knows how she drinks her coffee, I kind of wondered if she still hasn't gotten the memo that because of time fragmentation, she'll encounter future events on the ship and Neelix will probably be one of her crew members - in a future that is still unknown to her.