OK, I am intentionally exaggerating in the title of my summary. But this really is quite bad. For starters, the A plot takes a coma-inducing twenty-five minutes to start moving and in the end, the final five minutes (before the epilogue featuring Seven of Nine and Chakotay) have been stuffed so full that the flash by in such a hurry that it's not worth the long set-up. And, of course, this is yet one boring Prime Directive episode. Then there's the B plot, a "comedic" story of Tom Paris having to attend flight school. It's so not funny that it makes me want to cry. Of course, it *conveniently* merges with the A plot in the end. So conveniently that it constitutes as lazy writing. The only saving grace of this episode is, of course, Jeri Ryan as Seven and an all too brief appearance of semi-legendary rent-a-dislike-able-elder-guy Ivar Brogger who's been in pretty much every TV show that amounts to something. Some interest may be also found in the fact that this is credited as Autumn Reeser's (the lovely Taylor in The O.C.) first acting work, but she's practically unrecognizable, a ten-year-old in alien make-up. So, in the end, a boring episode with only curiosity value.
Review of Natural Law
