The idea for this episode is certainly interesting. A deceased crewman returns from the dead and begins a new life among an alien race. It fails on multiple levels though. One, we've never seen this character before. We have no connection to her. Harry has feelings for her which are only established in this episode. Two, the ending. She goes back to the people who resurrected her. Kim is about as lucky in love as La Forge.
After escaping from a pursuing ship an alien claiming to be the deceased Lyndsay Ballard comes aboard Voyager. She explains that an alien race, the Kobali, scavenge dead bodies to procreate. She was surgically altered and after two years managed to escape. Janeway is willing to accept her and Harry welcomes Lindsay back.
Lyndsay starts to get back to her old life. Her quarters, her stuff, reconnecting to Harry. She even has a list of things she wants to accomplish now that she's back. A lot of their banter is simply telling us they have a deep connection. The Doctor states he can not reverse the internal changes to her body but that he can begin to restore her original appearance with time. The first treatment restores her original skin tone.
Before having a private meal with the Captain, Lyndsay gets her hair back. She confronts Janeway about the away mission that resulted in her death. Why didn't the Captain send B'elanna instead? Janeway thinks she is angry but it turns out this is a Kobali thing. Lyndsay then dreams of her funeral, wakes up and immediately goes to Harry. He finally tells her how much he likes her. Later, wide awake, she simply says 'They're coming' and the Kobali show up.
She confronts her 'father'. He explains how they salvaged her body, modified it and created a new life. Later, when asked about her real father she says she can't remember. Lyndsay then experiences pain and her Kobali appearance begins to reassert itself. When told she will need to be treated twice daily she explodes with Kobali language and storms off. She admits to Harry the she hasn't felt right since coming back. That she feels like a ghost and that the woman he loved is dead. The Kobali begin attacking Voyager. Lyndsay tells Janeway she wants to go back. At episode's end Lyndsay, her Kobali form completely restored, is beamed over to her new 'family'.
So on the surface this seems like a pretty good episode. But i can't agree with the ending. The fact that the audience is just supposed to go along with this previously unknown character and her deep friendship with Kim is a real stretch. The phrase 'second chance' keeps coming up and you'd think they would act on this. But no. Just another episode of Voyager that plays it safe. Harry falls for another girl he can't have and she ends up leaving.
Whereas TNG, DS9 and Enterprise had a number of reoccurring characters you enjoyed seeing Voyager really didn't. Or i guess i should say, i was never interested in them. Naomi? The Borg children?* Voyager had many chances to add interesting characters but always refused. The Equinox survivors? Absorbed into the crew and never seen again. One? Dead. Lyndsay Ballard? Returns to the alien race that resurrected and alter her.
Ultimately, to me, the episode says 'well its ok to be a grave robber'. It's ok to mutilate the dead and mess with memories to create something. Lyndsay doesn't know what she wants because she is trapped between being a human and a Kobali. The brief space battle is resolved by her returning, but it's so predictable. Of course she would want to resolve the situation this way. She doesn't want Voyager destroyed, nor her adopted family. Usually, Star Trek would offer a third solution. Not this time. It's ok for episodes to have a bad end. In fact perhaps a better ending would be Lyndsay dying, surrounded by her Voyager family and her Kobali family. But this end just baffles me on multiple levels. What are they trying to say? What was the point of the episode?
Hey guys, i'm like totally back from the dead. Cool. Welcome back. Hey, my new family is here. I think i'll like, go back with them or whatever. Uh, what? But didn't they like, mess with your DNA and memories and stuff? Well, yeah. Yeah. Anyway, laters!
Everything we know about Lyndsay we learn from this episode. We are told, not shown. If she was so important to Harry how come we never heard about her before? Harry says when they were assigned to Voyager he just gave up on her. Why? He has no problem going after one of the Delaney sisters and they serve on the same ship. If i were in love with someone and we were stranded on a ship i would tell her how i felt.
*I'm not even gonna get into the B story of the Borg children in this episode.
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