VOY S3E3 "The Chute" Review By AnswerMan

Horrible:Meh:Adequate:Good:Fantastic

Kim and Paris get dumped down a chute into a chaotic prison. There are no guards, no rules, and the only thing that connects them with the outside world is the chute that periodically drops new prisoners or food. Oh and everyone has a brain implant that drives them nuts. So, good times.

At first Paris pretends that he's interested in Kim because he has a vendetta against him, but later that act gets dropped. I'm not entirely sure why the prisoners claim ownership of new meat, anyway. Basically the entire episode is about breaking the men down. They are in an impossible position in a horrible place where people get their throats slit over a bite of terrible bread. Eventually Paris gets stabbed, and Kim does a completely silly flailing around bit where he wields a pipe but hits no one. Kim then negotiates for the pair to stay with Zio, who seems to be the most (relatively) sane person around.



Kim takes a feather, wraps some string around it, and puts it in a pipe. This magical combination that seems more appropriate for one of Chakotay's rituals than a prison escape somehow shuts down the force field, allowing Kim and Zio to climb up the chute. There they discover that they are not underground on some planet, but rather on a vessel floating in space. The scene where Kim wipes the crud off the hatch and peers out into space is truly creepy. The helplessness of the situation is amplified, and the scene really works.

Meanwhile Janeway has found the people responsible for the crime that Kim and Paris were somehow convicted of, but the aliens of the week are not interested in being proven wrong. So instead the guilty parties and the crew hatch a plan to use Neelix's ship to sneak in and nab the two officers. Janeway heroically appears at the bottom of the chute with that giant phaser that only she is allowed to touch. Soon enough they're all on Voyager in the sick bay laughing it up about what happened.

The true story here, if there is one, is the friendship of Kim and Paris. Paris immediately steps in to protect Kim when he arrives. Then Kim protects Paris after he gets stabbed. First Paris very rationally tells Kim that if he has a chance to escape, not to think twice about leaving him behind. But after Paris begins to break down from either the blood loss or the implant, he pleads for Kim not to leave him. Meanwhile Kim is having a hard time forgiving himself for almost bashing Paris to death after he senselessly destroyed the feather pipe. In the end, Paris tells Kim that the part he will remember is Kim telling everyone that they are friends and to leave the vulnerable Paris alone. It's actually kind of touching, and might work in a situation where the whole thing didn't have to be wrapped up in a 20 second scene.

"The Chute" is only a Meh episode. I feel like more could have been done to explore the psychological manipulation going on. Zio was an interesting character, but I was never quite clear if he actually had mastered the situation or was completely crazy. Kim really should have read some of his manifesto to find out. The plot twist of the chute leading to a space hatch was great, but the rescue was cheesy. Meh.

Published May 13, 2018