OVEG: Tuvix

Description: The episode begins with Tuvok and Neelix picking flowers down on a planet to serve as a nutritional supplement. Hrm, guess Kes little idea may have caught on. While down there, Neelix is his usual self, a complete pest; indeed, it's hard to pick out which part of his behavior here is the most annoying. Watching this, it's obvious why Tuvok decided that the best way to test his control was to see if he could stop himself from strangling Neelix. Honestly, there's a difference between being an extrovert and being an ass, and Neelix is firmly entrenched on the latter side. I've decided, however, that it's probably the part where he decides to literally wriggle a flower in Tuvok's face while trying to get him to smile. You know, Tuvok, you could just snap his neck down here and no one would know. Just sayin'.

Closely nipping at the heels of the flower bit is Neelix deciding to break into a Vulcan song to lift their spirits while they work. The song he chooses is a traditional Vulcan funeral dirge, but has chosen it because he felt it was the most cheerful. Ah Neelix, showing those people skills that will inspire Janeway to make him an ambassador. "Ohhhhh starless niiiiight of boundless black..." he wails until Tuvok finally interrupts him. He essentially tells Neelix if he doesn't shut up he's going to shove his boundless black foot up his ass.

Finally, Hogan and Harry, who have been futzing with the transporter for a while, finally beam the two back up, but there's A Transporter Accident. Never seen one of those before, huh? The result is that Tuvok and Neelix have become merged into a single being, a kind of sci-fi version of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple. The Doctor says that the fusion of the two has occurred on the molecular level (thank you, Lord, for not being subatomic... I truly don't want to have to kill again), in addition to the plant. But the Doctor states "he's surprisingly healthy considering the circumstances." Well yes, considering that he should look like something that would make Clive Barker throw up, I'd say he's remarkably healthy. For starters, what happens when you merge a person with iron-based blood with one that has copper-based blood? How well would you survive if you got a blood transfusion from a crab?

Still, even though this creature is alive and so far less annoying than Neelix, it'd be foolish not to check this out in detail. You could wind up mixing Harry and Chakotay and get someone that takes ten minutes just to say "Howdy." So, he's sent down to the science lab to have Kes look into it - I guess Janeway's decided this is serious enough not to let her favorite bedroom toy get her dirty paws on it. "This scan is very delicate, so try to remain still for the next twenty minutes," she says. However, since this person is part Neelix, he thinks "remain still" means, "gesticulate and turn about as much as possible." Whatever this scan results are, I'm sure they'll be as useful as most figures of Big Foot. Incidentally, this is yet another Kenneth Biller script, so you can expect some things to go a little too far. For instance, that he constantly needs to remind us that Tuvok is in there by saying "logical," and Neelix by acting like a dick, though eventually this settles down. He decides to call himself the godawful name of Tuvix, to at least show Neelix's lack of imagination and bad taste are still alive and well.

After the scan is done, Tuvix appeals to Janeway to be able to leave. Not only that, but he wants to return to Tactical. Even Janeway balks at the idea of allowing some twisted mutant access to the photon torpedoes, but the Doctor says that Tuvix is driving him up the f*cking wall, so he'd really like to send him on his way. So, Janeway decides that while Tuvix isn't ready to bring his freakishness onto the bridge, nothing is too twisted for the magic meeting room, so she invites him to join the senior officers for the noon briefing. The meeting is about what the hell happened, and Harry insists that for once the transporter isn't broken, and there's no magic technowhatsis fields to cause this. Tuvix suddenly blurts out "Sex!" like he's suddenly developed coprolalia due to the accident, but it seems he's onto something. He thinks that this is a sign of symbiogenesis.

Symbiogenesis: real term, it just doesn't work this way.

Symbiogenesis is one theory about the development of things like mitochondria and chloroplasts in plants, that these organelles were actually ingested by other cells, but they continued to function within the cell, in effect, making both stronger. What it isn't is mixing two species like they were dropped in a blender, which is what was described. This is a lot closer to transfection or transformation. Even Janeway feels the need to point out that symbiogenesis only takes place in simple organisms, but Tuvix counters this by saying that during transport, people are broken down to the microcellular level. This is, frankly, disturbing, not to mention a little silly. Transport is supposed to be quick, yet Tuvix's theory is that they spend enough time in this state for symbiogenesis to occur... you'd think those cells would spend at least a little time thinking about baseball or something before leaping to the finish. Janeway finally decides that it's the best theory, so she tells Paris and Torres to go down in a shuttle and beam some samples back.

As we've observed, the better episodes of Voyager this season are those that have a single plot (Death Wish, The Thaw, Projections), rather than trying for a number of subplots. This allows the story to properly explore the idea rather than padding it out with a number of side plots and going nowhere (see Elogium). So what comes next is the beginning of one of the ramifications of this, the relationship between Kes and Tuvix. He brings her down to the messhall and quickly takes charge of the mess being made by the crew in making dinner. Afterwards, as they tidy up alone, he makes a move on her, and she runs off. The Neelix side of him is no doubt used to women being driven away by his touch. Other than that, Tuvix starts fitting in, fixing a security glitch faster than Tuvok had. Chakotay's so amazed by this, he actually gets a line.

Down on the planet, Paris and Torres put a few flowers into a container to see what'll happen when they get beamed up. "I never thought that botanical science class would come in so handy," Torres says. Interesting comment, given that her entire role in this was to take the flowers Tom handed to her and put them in a bucket. Of course, that's probably a good use for her talents, given what we've seen. Sure, she can handle things in engineering, but when it comes to science, her best role is to stand there and hold things when told to. The result of the transport is a mixed flower, one which the Doctor tries separating back out. However, while the process is successful, the result are very dead flowers, meaning there seems no way to restore Tuvok and Neelix, news so grim Harry nearly expresses an emotion.

Tuvix and Kes have another scene together in the wake of this news. Tom Wright, who plays Tuvix, is really what helps sell the character. I always try to give credit where it's due (because Voyager needs it), but it might seem that I like going after Kenneth Biller. Nevertheless, the character as written goes too far, and it's really only Wright's subdued performance that keeps him, to use an inappropriate word, human. Most telling is his part when, in this scene, he finally tells Kes the true feeling of his situation: that he feels like an impostor, that everyone looks at him and sees someone pretending to be the men he replaced. The problem is also compounded because he still has the feelings of those men in him, but no one sees him as being that way. When he tells Kes of his love for her, she doesn't reciprocate.

Kes decides to head down and speak with Janeway, since it's been a few episodes since we've seen her in her pajamas. Some days, my job feels like carrying bags of rocks up a very steep hill, in the rain. They sit down and discuss how much they miss Tuvok and Neelix, and Janeway tells Kes, essentially, "Welcome to my world!" She's had to deal with Mark being on the other side of the galaxy, but you don't see her crying about it, right? No! That's what she's got Torres for.

After this, we leap into montage mode, as we see Tuvix adjust over the course of the next two weeks. The implication is that Tuvix is better in every way than Tuvok and Neelix were separately. Unfortunately, this skips back and forth across the line between sympathetic character and Mary Sue. I think what pushes it over the line is a scene a minute after the montage ends, when Tuvix wins what's apparently the latest in a string of pool games, even prompting the "We've created a monster," remark from Paris.

We leave the montage, only to be stuck with a long period of watching Harry practice the clarinet, because we haven't had enough of that this season. The Doctor thankfully interrupts him to ask about something related to Tuvix's condition, and Harry heads down to help work on it. Soon Tuvix and Janeway are called in and the Doctor and Harry explain the plan. "We've come up with a radioisotope that attaches itself to the DNA of one of the merged species, but not the other. Then we simply beam out the selected DNA and segregate the two merged species." Okay, two problems. One, so you can separate the DNA, what about everything else that makes up a person, or are we just going to wind up with one person and one pile of protein? Second, Tuvix is made of three species - what happens to the plant? Or is Neelix going to walk around with a flower sticking out the top of his head for the rest of his life?

Anyway, this leads to the moral dilemma, because Tuvix doesn't want to undergo the procedure, saying that it would be killing him, the composite of the two. That is the saving grace for this episode - it would have been easy for them to technobabble up a way for Tuvix to be cloned or something and gone with the third way out of the moral dilemma Voyager loves to use, but they didn't. The choice is simple: do you force one man to give up his life to save the lives of two others? In a way, Janeway is finally put into the position of the Vidiians, although the issues are far murkier. Janeway mulls over the issue with Chakotay: "At what point did he become an individual and not a transporter accident?"

So, Janeway calls Tuvix in, and asks what his opinion is of the entire affair. Tuvix says that since it's his life, she has no right to make this decision. When she persists he tells her: "Captain, what you're considering is an execution." Tuvix, you have Tuvok's memories, you know the captain - don't tempt her! Probably realizing this, Tuvix goes to Kes and pleads with her to go to the captain on his behalf, to convince her not to kill him. However, this backfires, as Kes goes to the captain, and instead of pleading bursts into tears, admitting that even though she feels like a horrible person for saying it, that she wants Janeway to perform the procedure. I think that's what I like about this episode, because for once people are acting honestly and humanly - Kes admits that she wants this just because of her own selfish reasons.

Janeway eventually makes her decision, and she tries to take Tuvix aside, but he refuses, as it's clear what her decision is. He resists for a while, in a scene that is wonderful in its horridness. Tuvix goes from person to person on the bridge, trying to find an ally that will step forward and save his life, and finding no one. He desperately tries to run, but is restrained. Finally, seeing that there's no hope, he surrenders, and offers forgiveness to them for this. Down in Sickbay, the Doctor refuses to perform the procedure, because as a physician he cannot take Tuvix's life against his will. Fortunately, Janeway has no such problems, and performs the procedure herself. Definitely a win-win for her: she gets to kill Tuvix and she has two more crewmen she can torment on a daily basis until their deaths as well.

Rating: 6

Lazarus of the Week: Neelix and Tuvok - Killed by transporter accident, and then brought back by one.

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