I got the impression, while watching this episode, that the writer got sick or something, leaving the script unfinished, and they had to have another writer come in to complete it, but the new writer didn't even bother reading the existing script! Tom Paris and Harry Kim are in a hellhole of a prison, full of violent inmates with a very "every man for himself" attitude. Tom and Harry have been convicted of a terrorist bombing they didn't commit, apparently having been framed by a government that doesn't care about who is really guilty, but only that it has found a scapegoat in the two aliens and a narrative, that these foreigners have been helping the (native) terrorist faction get the materials it needs to build its explosives, materials which can't be found in the local star system.
There's a heavy focus on the violence in the prison; the inmates are mostly left to themselves and are not protected from each other by guards, and they are all forced to wear implants that apparently increase aggression as well as making one itch (according to Tom Paris). (As in many biomedical plot devices in 1990s Star Trek, the pseudoscientific attempt to explain the implants' mechanism of action is absurdly oversimplified; they do better when they come up with fictionalised bio-Treknobabble using completely made-up concepts, similar to the more developed engineering-based Treknobabble.) Supposedly, attempting to remove the implant will kill you (although once Paris and Kim are at last rescued, the EMH has no problem with it). Things are seeming really bleak, with the two Voyager dudes tense and easily angered as a result of the effects of their implants, and most of the other prisoners are vicious; they'll happily kill you for your clothes or an extra bit of the unappetising looking food - or for no reason at all!
The two Voyager crewmembers meet one guy who, unlike the rest of the prison population, is relatively calm and spends most of his time writing. Kim and Paris, in contrast, are having an increasingly difficult time concentrating, making it even more difficult for them to come up with an escape plan. This new guy says he has come up with a way to overcome the implants and invites him to read his 'manifesto.' He seems a little goofy, believing the government is using the implants to perform a behavioural experiment on them (although given what we've seen of his government, it's not so hard to believe this story), but his ideas about preventing the implant from driving you crazy seem to have merit, in light of his own much more laid-back behaviour and ability to concentrate enough to write.
This, IMO, is where the episode really starts to break down. Harry has had some success using his tech skills to get past the force field that keeps them from reaching the chute through which food and the occasional new prisoner are sent into the prison. He has discovered, as a result, that they're on a space station, and not underground as they had been led to believe, which means they can't just escape by getting the hatch open. Tom has been wounded and isn't much help; also, he is succumbing to the implant and increasingly tries to undermine Harry rather than encouraging him. This is where I think the story takes a sharp turn and seems to lose its appeal. While the new character sounds a little goofy, it seems to me that Harry would be wise to try listening to him and reading his 'manifesto.' Instead he rejects him and refuses to cooperate with him, treating him as an enemy. The guy seems pretty pointless as a character as a result; if anything he only helps to underscore the other flaws in the story.
Meanwhile, Voyager hunts down the actual terrorists (with little difficulty), but the government on the planet that is holding Paris and Kim shows no interest; they claim that their conviction of the two humans is proof that Voyager has been assisting the terrorist movement and demand to impound and board the _Voyager_ to find the proof they are sure is there (Janeway's refusal only makes them more certain that she must be hiding something) of Voyager's complicity in the terrorist act. It's a nice example of the willingness to violate people's rights, employ torture, invent a false narrative about who is to blame for the attack (usually emphasising "foreigners" while downplaying the failure of government to prevent the attack despite advice from intelligence sources), etc., in situations where the public is very frightened and paranoid.)
Rather than trying to work with them, Janeway offers to give up the two bombers - a brother and sister, the latter a teenaged girl - in exchange for her own people. This doesn't work, as the government representative insists that the Starfleet prisoners are guilty at least of aiding the bombers. It is only then that the captain agrees to help her own two prisoners, and she only agrees, in exchange for their showing her where the prison is located. The brother tries to get her to help his imprisoned comrades in the guerrilla group to escape along with her two men, but she refuses, and although she was clearly bluffing (she needed his knowledge of the prison's location), the youth buckles and agrees.
This seems pretty ruthless of Janeway; she is already involved in this planet's internal conflict, she easily could have rescued the other victims of this cruel government and removed the implants being used to torture them, but instead she leaves them - the message seems to be that only her crew have rights as sentient life forms, and she will only interfere to the point that is necessary to rescue her own crew members - if someone else is being victimised, even if they ask her for help, it's Not Her Problem. It really paints her - and Starfleet - negatively.
I'm giving this episode 3 stars for the potential it had. In light of the negative message it ends up sending, I'm probably being overly generous.
There's a heavy focus on the violence in the prison; the inmates are mostly left to themselves and are not protected from each other by guards, and they are all forced to wear implants that apparently increase aggression as well as making one itch (according to Tom Paris). (As in many biomedical plot devices in 1990s Star Trek, the pseudoscientific attempt to explain the implants' mechanism of action is absurdly oversimplified; they do better when they come up with fictionalised bio-Treknobabble using completely made-up concepts, similar to the more developed engineering-based Treknobabble.) Supposedly, attempting to remove the implant will kill you (although once Paris and Kim are at last rescued, the EMH has no problem with it). Things are seeming really bleak, with the two Voyager dudes tense and easily angered as a result of the effects of their implants, and most of the other prisoners are vicious; they'll happily kill you for your clothes or an extra bit of the unappetising looking food - or for no reason at all!
The two Voyager crewmembers meet one guy who, unlike the rest of the prison population, is relatively calm and spends most of his time writing. Kim and Paris, in contrast, are having an increasingly difficult time concentrating, making it even more difficult for them to come up with an escape plan. This new guy says he has come up with a way to overcome the implants and invites him to read his 'manifesto.' He seems a little goofy, believing the government is using the implants to perform a behavioural experiment on them (although given what we've seen of his government, it's not so hard to believe this story), but his ideas about preventing the implant from driving you crazy seem to have merit, in light of his own much more laid-back behaviour and ability to concentrate enough to write.
This, IMO, is where the episode really starts to break down. Harry has had some success using his tech skills to get past the force field that keeps them from reaching the chute through which food and the occasional new prisoner are sent into the prison. He has discovered, as a result, that they're on a space station, and not underground as they had been led to believe, which means they can't just escape by getting the hatch open. Tom has been wounded and isn't much help; also, he is succumbing to the implant and increasingly tries to undermine Harry rather than encouraging him. This is where I think the story takes a sharp turn and seems to lose its appeal. While the new character sounds a little goofy, it seems to me that Harry would be wise to try listening to him and reading his 'manifesto.' Instead he rejects him and refuses to cooperate with him, treating him as an enemy. The guy seems pretty pointless as a character as a result; if anything he only helps to underscore the other flaws in the story.
Meanwhile, Voyager hunts down the actual terrorists (with little difficulty), but the government on the planet that is holding Paris and Kim shows no interest; they claim that their conviction of the two humans is proof that Voyager has been assisting the terrorist movement and demand to impound and board the _Voyager_ to find the proof they are sure is there (Janeway's refusal only makes them more certain that she must be hiding something) of Voyager's complicity in the terrorist act. It's a nice example of the willingness to violate people's rights, employ torture, invent a false narrative about who is to blame for the attack (usually emphasising "foreigners" while downplaying the failure of government to prevent the attack despite advice from intelligence sources), etc., in situations where the public is very frightened and paranoid.)
Rather than trying to work with them, Janeway offers to give up the two bombers - a brother and sister, the latter a teenaged girl - in exchange for her own people. This doesn't work, as the government representative insists that the Starfleet prisoners are guilty at least of aiding the bombers. It is only then that the captain agrees to help her own two prisoners, and she only agrees, in exchange for their showing her where the prison is located. The brother tries to get her to help his imprisoned comrades in the guerrilla group to escape along with her two men, but she refuses, and although she was clearly bluffing (she needed his knowledge of the prison's location), the youth buckles and agrees.
This seems pretty ruthless of Janeway; she is already involved in this planet's internal conflict, she easily could have rescued the other victims of this cruel government and removed the implants being used to torture them, but instead she leaves them - the message seems to be that only her crew have rights as sentient life forms, and she will only interfere to the point that is necessary to rescue her own crew members - if someone else is being victimised, even if they ask her for help, it's Not Her Problem. It really paints her - and Starfleet - negatively.
I'm giving this episode 3 stars for the potential it had. In light of the negative message it ends up sending, I'm probably being overly generous.