“Meld”
Written by Michael Sussman and Michael Piller
Directed by Cliff Bole
Season 2, Episode 16
Production episode 133
Original air date: February 5, 1996
Stardate: unknown
Captain’s log. Paris is hustling pool on the holodeck, and then starts a betting pool on what the radiogenic particle count will be each day on the ship, with Paris himself taking a cut of each day’s bet.
Hogan reports an issue with the warp drive to one of the EPS conduits, though Crewman Lon Suder had reported the conduit being fine on the previous shift. Torres investigates, and finds the dead body of Crewman Frank Darwin.
Tuvok is summoned from the mess hall, where Neelix is trying to get him to celebrate an ancient Vulcan holiday, and also trying to get him to smile. The initial assumption is that this was a horrible accident, but the EMH’s examination of the body shows that he wasn’t killed by trying to repair the conduit, he was killed by a blow to the base of his skull. Also, if the conduit hadn’t been malfunctioning, the body would’ve been vaporized.
Janeway, Chakotay, and Tuvok meet in the captain’s ready room. The last person to see Darwin was Suder. Tuvok says that Darwin had no enemies or issues with anyone. As for Suder, he is a Betazoid, and was always quiet and kept to himself—but Chakotay also indicates that he was always a little too happy to kill Cardassians. The Maquis did, after all, have a much less rigid screening process for members than Starfleet does…
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Suder is questioned by Tuvok, and he claims innocence. However, once the EMH finds Suder’s DNA on Darwin’s body, the crewman confesses. He says he killed Darwin because he didn’t like the way he looked at him. He also produces the murder weapon.
The EMH confirms the murder weapon is what was used to kill Darwin, and also says that there were no indications of psychotic behavior in Suder from his examinations—just elevated norepinephrine levels indicating more aggressive tendencies, but it’s within the norms for all the Maquis crew.
Tuvok goes to the brig to speak to Suder, asking if he can perform a mind-meld with him. The main reason is so that he can determine why Suder is the way he is, and also give the Betazoid some of Tuvok’s control over his emotions that he’s learned over a lifetime of being a Vulcan.
Janeway and Tuvok discuss what to do with Suder. He’s a confessed murderer, and the only option Janeway sees is to keep him confined to quarters for the duration of the journey. The brig is not designed for long-term use, and they can’t leave him with anyone in the Delta Quadrant. Tuvok thinks letting him live in comfort for however long it takes to get home is an insufficient punishment, and actually suggests execution. Janeway is concerned that Tuvok is suffering some effects from the meld, and Tuvok allows as how that may be the case.
Paris’s betting pool keeps resulting in no one winning, but since the house gets ten percent, Paris himself keeps getting a bit of replicator rations each time.
After experimenting in the holodeck with his self-control, and seeing that it’s not what it should be, Tuvok goes to see Suder, who says he has much more self control now. Tuvok locks himself in his cabin with a security field up, deletes his own security clearance, and has the computer inform Janeway that he’s unfit for duty.
Chakotay shuts down Paris’s betting pool, to everyone’s annoyance.
Janeway goes to Tuvok’s quarters to find them trashed. The Vulcan’s emotional control is frayed, and he requests sedation before being sent to sickbay, for the safety of the crew.
The EMH’s diagnosis is that he needs his emotional control artificially removed completely in order to shock his control back into place. Without his emotional control, Tuvok is a complete asshole and longs to execute Suder for his crimes. Later he breaks out of sickbay and goes to the brig, trying to mind-meld with Suder in order to kill him. Suder himself helps to talk him down from it, and Tuvok eventually collapses, unable to commit the murder. Suder uses Tuvok’s combadge to summon sickbay. (Tuvok also rendered Ayala, the guard on duty unconscious. At least, that’s the assumption, as we would see Ayala again, but given Tuvok’s mental state, the crumpled body on the floor of the brig of the brig’s guard was disconcerting, especially since nobody mentioned it.)
Tuvok is actually on the road to recovery, and he apologizes to Janeway for his outbursts. Janeway orders him not to initiate any more mind-melds without her permission. She also confirms that Suder will be confined to quarters for the rest of the journey.
Can’t we just reverse the polarity? Apparently, the mesiofrontal cortex in a Vulcan is where their emotional control is held. In humans, it’s related to vocalization, but whatever.
There’s coffee in that nebula! Janeway stands by Tuvok no matter what, and is steadfast in her insistence on imprisoning Suder in his quarters as punishment for murder.
Mr. Vulcan. Tuvok is baffled by Suder’s seeming lack of a decent enough motive for murder, and goes to absurd lengths to figure it out, endangering himself, Suder, and the crew.
Please state the nature of the medical emergency. The EMH has an epic rant on the “utter foolishness” of Vulcan mind-melds, as there are so many things that can go wrong.
Everybody comes to Neelix’s. When Tuvok needs to test his emotional control, he uses the most annoying person on the ship to test it. We don’t know that it’s a holodeck program until after Tuvok has choked Neelix to death, so our hopes are raised that we’re finally rid of Neelix, but those hopes are then dashed when Tuvok calls for the program to end.
What happens on the holodeck stays on the holodeck. Paris’s little betting pool at Chez Sandríne seems like a pointless, harmless diversion to give him and Kim something to do, but this is actually the start of a recurring plotline that will continue through several episodes, coming to a head in “Investigations.”
Do it.
“I remind you, I am trained in the martial arts of many Alpha Quadrant cultures. Sitting here attempting to meditate, I have counted the number of ways I know of killing someone, using just a finger, a hand, a foot. I had reached ninety-four when you entered.”
–Tuvok telling Janeway what a badass he is
Welcome aboard. Three recurring characters in this one: Simon Billig is back as Hogan, having last been seen in “Alliances,” and showing up next in “Investigations.” Angela Dohrmann makes her second and final appearance as Ricky, one of the patrons of Chez Sandríne, having been introduced with the pool-hall program in “The Cloud.”
And best of all, the great Brad Dourif, who has made a stellar career out of playing creepy dudes, plays the incredibly creepy Suder. The character will return in the “Basics” two-parter.
Trivial matters: Suder is seen working with Chakotay in the Maquis in your humble rewatcher’s The Brave and the Bold Book 2, where his telepathy proves useful.
This is the first Trek writing credit for Michael Sussman, who was a writer’s intern at the time. He will continue to freelance for Voyager, eventually becoming a story editor in the seventh season, then move on to Enterprise where he will work his way from executive story editor to co-producer to producer.
With Darwin’s death and Suder’s imprisonment, Voyager has now lost seven crew from the 154 they started with in the Delta Quadrant, the prior five being lost in “Faces” (Durst’s death), “State of Flux” (Seska’s departure), and “Alliances” (three deaths to Kazon battles).
Set a course for home. “If you can’t control the violence, the violence controls you.” My biggest issue with this episode is one that isn’t entirely the episode’s fault, because it’s a common mistake made when writing procedurals, one that dates back to the earliest days of the mystery novel.
Fiction in the mystery genre has always had as an important component the motivation of the perpetrator of the crime, to the point that the investigator won’t even accuse someone until they know what the perp’s motives were.
Here’s the thing—in actual police procedure, in actual jurisprudence, motive is wholly, utterly, thoroughly irrelevant. What matters in a court of law is proof that the act happened and that the person accused of committing that act did (or didn’t) do it. “If” and “how” are the important parts; “why” is the perp’s shrink’s problem. Sure, sometimes it can help with knowing who to ask, but if you ask any working detective, they will tell you that motive rarely even comes up in a criminal investigation.
So when Tuvok says he can’t close the case until he has Suder’s motive, I winced. The case was closed the minute Suder confessed.
Having said that, it’s still understandable that Tuvok would want to find out why anyhow, not so much in his role as investigator of Darwin’s murder, but in his role as the person responsible for Voyager’s security. Chakotay mentions that Suder enjoyed killing Cardassians a little too much, and there’s a good discussion of the fact that the Maquis didn’t exactly ask for resumés. Still, he’s not the only one like that—as we found out in “Learning Curve,” Dalby joined the Maquis for the express purpose of killing as many Cardassians as possible after his wife was raped and killed. This sort of conflict is something that may come up again (and indeed probably should have come up more often), and Tuvok does need to know the reason.
The meld itself works as an actual melding of minds, functioning in much the same way it did in TNG’s “Sarek,” where each side gets a piece of the other. It’s to Suder’s benefit, as he gains a certain measure of control over his psychotic impulses, but not so much to Tuvok, whose control frays. As seen often in the original series, Vulcans are truly a passionate, turbulently emotional people who use logic and emotional control to keep it all in check, and it’s very bad when they lose that control (as seen with Spock in “The Naked Time,” “This Side of Paradise,” “Amok Time,” and “All Our Yesterdays” and with the title character in “Sarek”).
The episode is made by three grand performances. Tim Russ beautifully plays the collapse of Tuvok’s control. The scene in sickbay when his emotional control is completely removed is a bit too over-the-top—and I’m sorry they couldn’t contrive to get Neelix there to get a lesson in being careful what you wish for, as that’s when Tuvok smiles the way Neelix wanted him to, and it’s when he’s discussing homicide—but the scene in his darkened, destroyed quarters is devastatingly effective. Director Cliff Bole—one of the most prolific and talented of the stable of directors used by the first wave of Trek spinoffs going back to TNG’s first season—films the scene magnificently, with Tuvok staying shadowed for most of it.
Robert Picardo is his usual great self, also, adding his acid commentary to the proceedings, from his analysis proving that it was a homicide all the way to his bitching about how mind-melds never seem to work right. (Not the last time the EMH will provide meta commentary on the various Trek tropes.)
And then there’s Brad Dourif, who excels as the sociopathic Suder. The role could have been played as a dead-eyed automaton, but Dourif manages to give Suder depth and complexity and even a slight tinge of tragedy.
I would’ve liked a bit more consideration for Darwin himself, who’s more of a plot catalyst than a character who should be mourned by the crew (a little bit of the grief seen in places like “Alliances” for Bendera, or in TNG’s “The Bonding” for Marla Aster, would’ve been appropriate), but still, this is an effective meditation on psychosis and a gripping episode. (A nice mental palate-cleanser after the previous monstrosity…)
Warp factor rating: 8
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Tuvok’s line about ways to kill people is one of the biggest lines I remember from Voyager. A bit of show rather than tell since I don’t think we get any evidence of Tuvok being so bad ass. But if you’re going to tell rather than show, this is a way to do it.
Meld is certainly a gripping episode, made all the better through the amazing performances from both Tim Russ and the ever outstanding Brad Dourif (who at this point had me floored with his tragic performance on Babylon 5‘s Passing Through Gethsemane, which aired right around that same time).
I’d argue Meld was so effective in portraying the removal of Tuvok’s Vulcan control and the ensuing results that it inevitably spawned a bad trend afterwards. Almost every Tuvok episode since Meld (Innocence and Flashback being exceptions) has gone back to that same well. Losing his logic and emotional control. By the final season, it was getting tiresome.
I also have a problem with the writers yet again taking the easy path by putting Suder in the Maquis camp. I don’t argue that the Maquis would be willing to hire anyone of any background to aid in their fight against the Cardassians, but this is yet another example of a missed opportunity. There’s no reason Suder couldn’t have been Starfleet. It was already a problem when they also put Jonas in the Maquis camp, not two episodes ago. It seems as if every time they want to do a problematic 24th Century human, make him a Maquis. It’s as if the writers are deathly afraid of tarnishing Starfleet’s perfect image.
Truth be told, even DS9 had this problem, and they wouldn’t sully Sisko’s reputation for another two years (which is what made In the Pale Moonlight so effective; it was willing to tarnish a Starfleet officer to his core). But on Voyager, Starfleet was saintly and the Maquis were the Visigoths.
Also, Paris suddenly turning rebellious was thrown in the episode with the subtlety of a jackhammer. Given how incapable Voyager was of doing long-term character arcs by this point, it was blatantly obvious we were being thrown a red herring. Viewers who didn’t know better were likely to think he was suffering from long-term mind effects from his recent Warp 10 shenanigans (which would have to also affect Janeway, if it were the case).
But thankfully, the rest of the episode is a masterclass in detective work (something Berman-era Trek didn’t always get right) as well as a journey into the psychological side of Tuvok, as well as giving us one of the better recurring characters in the franchise.
I wish we could have seen more of Suder in the long run (but supposedly Jeri Taylor was not a fan of the character and lobbied to kill him off). And it seems the writers didn’t want to deal with the long-term consequences of having a crewmember in the brig for several seasons.
Also, Tuvok killing holo-Neelix is as meta-humor as Voyager gets. Easily the funniest scene all season.
@2:
This. If I didn’t know it was setting up a plot line, I would wonder what the heck was the point of the little side plot. Like you said, it wasn’t done naturally. It mars an otherwise excellent episode.
I can’t remember, was Tuvok’s suggestion of execution first brought up after the mind meld? I think I missed that sign. I found I agreed with his recommendation, so it kinda went past me.
Oh, and I found it interesting that Suder felt that holo-killing wasn’t the same. The holodeck is as close to reality as it gets. I guess the knowledge that it was arranged doesn’t scratch the itch for him.
But yes, Tuvok choking Neelix to death is the greatest thing ever.
Much love to the incomparable Brad Dourif. As always he’s such a dark and creepy bright ray of sunshine and, though underused, is one of Voyager’s most memorable elements.
Honestly that’s not so much a problem with Voyager as it is with all the Star Trek shows. Every Vulcan regular character – Spocks 1, 2 and 3, Tuvok, T’Pol – has had this issue, where the writers have trouble coming up with any stories for them that don’t involve them losing their emotional control in some way. In some cases like this or “Amok Time” it works; in others it ends up with T’Pol writhing around and slathering herself in oil.
Alas, I wouldn’t have objected so much if Tuvok’s sudden dementia diagnosis in “Endgame” had seemed like the culmination of all the times he got his brain screwed with over seven years, instead of just being the latest example of it. But no.
Anyway, I have to agree that this is a gem, and probably Tuvok’s best episode in the entire series. I didn’t take his determination to discover Suder’s motive to be about the investigation per se; it was for his own elucidation. He just couldn’t understand, and he needed to understand or he couldn’t rest. That’s what led him down the road to hell. Brad Dourif’s performance is actually one of his less creepy, for me ; he comes across as more of a it-is-what-it-is psychopath than an I-will-suck-out-your-eyeballs psychopath. It’s that that makes Tuvok the scarier one out of the two of them.
Those dark Betazoid eyes make Suder extra creepy. I always found those eyes a subtle and unnerving way to make Betazoids physically distinct from humans.
Austin: as I indicated in the plot summary, Tuvok was suggesting capital punishment after his first meld with Suder.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
A good one, but it’s a shame they couldn’t have seeded Suder as a crewmember in a couple of earlier episodes, so he wouldn’t feel so much like “character we just invented to drive this episode.” They did that a couple of times in the first season, mainly with Seska, but also with Durst showing up as a background crewmember in one episode before being killed off in the next. And in this arc, they gradually built up Jonas and Hogan as recurring characters, which made Suder’s sudden appearance stand out by contrast. But I guess they couldn’t afford to use an actor of Dourif’s prominence for just a couple of minor background appearances, plus it might’ve given away that he would become important later.
Given that Betazoids were introduced as a race of empaths, the idea of a Betazoid psychopath, someone with no empathy for others at all, is an interesting deconstruction. Otherwise, it just seems to be an excuse to have something go wrong with the meld through an unexpected interaction of two telepathic species’ minds. Though you’d think that members of two of the Federation’s predominant telepathic species would’ve had enough history of mental contact that there’d be extensive medical precedents for it.
@2/Eduardo: “There’s no reason Suder couldn’t have been Starfleet.”
Of course there is — Starfleet’s psych evaluations would’ve identified his sociopathy and presumably disqualified him. No, Starfleet isn’t perfect, but this doesn’t require perfection, since it’s a matter of basic competence in the recruiters and testers.
Really, that was supposed to be the whole idea of the mixed Starfleet-Maquis crew. Starfleet is the best and the brightest, so the Maquis were meant to be the more flawed, morally ambiguous characters who’d clash with Starfleet ideals and procedures the same way that DS9’s Starfleet characters clashed with Kira, Odo, Quark, Garak, etc. Although “Meld” is one of the few times they really took advantage of that difference.
Eduardo: the performance of Dourif’s that blew me away was his turn on The X-Files episode “Beyond the Sea” as the serial killer Luther Boggs.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
I wouldn’t say motive is irrelevant in criminal investigations. While you are correct that for most offenses the State doesn’t technically have to prove motive to prove an offense, practically speaking it is often extremely difficult to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that your defendant committed the crime if you can’t present the jury a plausible motive for why they did it. (Which is why one of the most common exceptions to the prohibition against presenting extraneous offense evidence against defendants during the guilt-innocence portion of the trial is when the extraneous offense evidence is relevant to show the defendant’s motive.)
There also are some offenses where motive is very much an element of the offense. (e.g. if you are charging a defendant with a hate crime enhancement or if they are charged with a retaliation type offense.)
Also even in cases where the identity of the offender isn’t in doubt, knowing why they committed the offense is still pretty important to the prosecution since it helps them determine what type of punishment to seek for an offense. (Remember in a lot of criminal trials the real issue being fought over isn’t whether the defendant committed the offense but rather what punishment they should receive, and motive can be extremely important in that regard.)
Thus speaking as a prosecutor with 18 years experience I would be… displeased with any detective that decided that trying to figure out the suspect’s motive was a waste of time. It may not ultimately be necessary, but as a prosecutor it’s never a bad thing to know why your defendant committed the offense.
@11/krad: For all its narrative and plotting issues, X-Files usually excelled with its superlative guest stars, Dourif included. This was especially true in these Monster of the Week episodes, and particularly the later ones written by Darin Morgan and Vince Gilligan.
@10/Christopher: Even if Starfleet has rigorous training regimen designed to scrub out those less qualified, I still feel it’s simplistic to put all the troublesome cases in one basket. There’s no reason to not assume that even a qualified Starfleet officer would show a darker side no one had previously noticed, especially given the circumstances. Being stuck on the other side of the galaxy for 70 years could have unintended effects on even the best of crewmen. Even if the Maquis are more predisposed towards behavioral problems, I think it would have made for a more interesting story had Suder been Starfleet from the beginning.
After all, it’s not as if people like Barclay would have fared any better under the distress of being away from home for so long, and we know that people like Barclay exist and that they themselves survived Starfleet training.
On a side note, speaking of Starfleet training, I’m halfway through the novel Pathways, and I’ve enjoyed both the Kim and Chakotay chapters that dealt with their Academy years suffering physical and survival training under the teachings of the rigorous Nimembeh.
bguy: fair enough, and I probably didn’t express myself properly. In my own lengthy studies of police procedure, one truth that has come out is that motive never helps with the closing of a case. Yes, it does help the prosecution, but in terms of leading to an arrest, it’s evidence and eyewitness testimony that does the trick, not motive. It does play a role in the prosecution, yes, but not so much in the investigatory aspect.
But your point is well made, and thank you for making it.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
This was a nice episode, but I do agree that it would have been more effective if Suder and Darwin had been present in a couple of previous episodes.
@13/Eduardo: “Even if Starfleet has rigorous training regimen designed to scrub out those less qualified, I still feel it’s simplistic to put all the troublesome cases in one basket. There’s no reason to not assume that even a qualified Starfleet officer would show a darker side no one had previously noticed, especially given the circumstances.”
In general, in another context, that could be a valid point. But in the context of a show where the situation was consciously set up to allow the Maquis to be the more flawed and morally ambiguous contrast to the Starfleet crew, it seems strange to criticize the show for actually using one of its core elements as it was meant to be used.
“Being stuck on the other side of the galaxy for 70 years could have unintended effects on even the best of crewmen.”
But it’s only been slightly over one year at this point, so that idea makes no sense in this context. It would take a lot of cumulative trauma for a Starfleet officer to sink that far. But the Maquis started out traumatized. They became Maquis in the first place because they were victimized and damaged by the Cardassians, and they experienced much more violence and conflict in the months between that and “Caretaker” than most of the Starfleet crew has. So of course it’s going to be the Maquis crew who are more damaged and prone to violence at this point. That’s the only thing that makes sense given the premise as presented.
@14/krad: As I understand it, the traditional “motive, opportunity, method” triad is a way of identifying and narrowing down the suspects in the first place, rather than a way of proving their guilt. It’s not irrelevant, it’s just an earlier stage of the investigation. Motive is another way of saying cui bono? You ask who benefits, who has a reason to commit the crime, and that tells you where to start looking, even if it isn’t ultimately decisive in proving the case later on.
@CLB – Are you saying a sociopath couldn’t pass a psych eval? Isn’t that, like, the problem with sociopaths—that they can appear and act normal? It wouldn’t stretch belief if Suder had been Starfleet.
@ChristopherLBennet
I’m a hundred percent with you on it being much more likely for someone like Suder to make it in the Maquis rather than Starfleet, but I’d like to examine the idea that Suder is the way he is because he’s “damaged,” by his experiences with Cardassians/in the Maquis. Suder feels an awful lot like someone with Antisocial Personality Disorder, and while there’s an ongoing debate as to genetic vs environmental factors in ASPD and psychopathy, I’m not aware of any research suggesting that trauma experienced as an adult tends to lead to the development of those disorders.
As someone with an admittedly somewhat mordant interest in the subject, I’d welcome being shown I’m wrong!
(Of course, if you told me that a psychic empath, after long exposure to violence and suffering, might experience psychological or neurological damage to the parts of their mind that processed ‘other people have feelings and interiority,’ I’d say ‘sure, that makes sense.’)
Brad Dourif was magnificently creepy during his appearance on Agents of SHIELD, and that was all facial expressions and a recording of his voice.
As for Starfleet officers and psych evaluations, if I recall correctly there was a Vulcan Starfleet serial killer on a 7th season episode of Deep Space Nine who must have passed psych evaluations before losing it during the war.
@17/Austin: Keep in mind that Suder was already a killer many times over; it’s just that that behavior was welcomed in the Maquis, as long as it was directed toward the enemy. Once in a Starfleet crew, he literally couldn’t last much more than a year before murdering a crewmate. So if he’d been in Starfleet all along, surely his homicidal tendencies would’ve been discovered much earlier, like at the Academy.
@18/Cuttlefish: I wasn’t talking about Suder specifically, but about the Maquis in general and why it makes more sense to use them to generate a story like this, because it’s exactly the kind of story the Maquis were conceived to make possible. This is a story about someone so innately murderous that he could only thrive in a group that was dedicated to warfare, and thus was unable to adapt to a more peaceful environment.
Let’s not confuse general argument with specific argument. In general, sure, there’s room for stories about Starfleet officers being screwed up in ways that slipped through the screening. But that wouldn’t work for this story. This story is perfect for a Maquis, perfect for the situation of a Maquis crew being forced to join Voyager‘s crew and try to assimilate — because it explores what happens when that assimilation fails. “Meld” takes advantage of that core premise better than almost any other episode of the series.
I enjoyed this one for the performances of Russ and Dourif, and because it’s always, or at least usually fun, to see our regular Vulcan character lose emotional control. But I do feel the story is contrived just to get Tuvok to this point. Surely in his already long life he’s learned that there are senseless murders that lack any real motivation. Especially being Vulcan himself, he has to be aware of his own people’s ancient history where they were governed by strong emotions, undoubtedly including murderous impulses.
I thought it was interesting making the character of Suder a Betazoid as opposed to human or another alien species. If a Tuvok had melded with a sociopathic human, would he still have lost emotional control or was it indeed because Suder was Betazoid that there was a bad reaction? I don’t recall if that was ever cited as a specific cause but maybe it’s implied.
I also liked the discussion of what to do with a crewman that is now a convicted criminal, in this case, one for murder. I did like the character of Suder and his role in “Basics” so his ultimate fate in that two parter left me very disappointed. But that’s a mark against that concluding episode, not this one.
Belated realization: This may not even be the first time Suder has done this. Assuming he couldn’t get his fix killing Cardies, the ploy he tried here likely would have worked on a Maquis ship that would be less likely to have a trained investigator and more prone to malfunctions that could be conveniently blamed for the death of a crewmember.
It’s funny that Voyager subverted the most basic police procedural trope twice and it worked great both times. It’s never the first suspect! Except in State of Flux and here, where it is. The first time through, I was fully expecting some shapeshifter/mind control/nebula nonsense to explain how it only appeared to be Suder.
Krad I love your reviews. But bguy (#12)) has it right. Despite krad’s tap-dance in response. “Motive” is important – ask any prosecutor. Who does the prosecutor gets his/her evidence from? The investigator. I also worked as a prosecutor for several years. I don’t know who krad refers to when he says “ask any investigator…” but they are not investigators that I would have used. Krad I appreciate you changed your opinion from “motive is wholly, utterly, thoroughly irrelevant” to “not so much.” But your point, as amended, is well made. Thank you!
@10:
Given that Betazoids were introduced as a race of empaths, the idea of a Betazoid psychopath, someone with no empathy for others at all, is an interesting deconstruction.
IIRC, there was a tie-in novel set on Betazed during the Dominion War where the Betazoids had to decide whether to ask an imprisoned psychopath to teach them how to use their telepathic powers to cause harm so they could fight off the Jem’Hadar invading their planet.
@11: Yes! Dourif did an amazing job in that episode.
@22/Rick: “It’s funny that Voyager subverted the most basic police procedural trope twice and it worked great both times. It’s never the first suspect!”
On ABC’s Castle, it was usually the first suspect. They had a pat formula where they’d jump from one suspect to another to another to another, always interviewing each suspect for a few minutes until they said something that cleared them and pointed toward the next suspect, and then eventually it would usually turn out that the real killer was the first suspect, whose existence we’d virtually forgotten since we hadn’t seen them since the first act. It got pretty tiresome.
@25 I am blessed with the ability to not recognize a procedural show’s formula.
Though after binging Elementary Suder’s willingness to confess and co-operate with the investigation was relaxing. As is his blithe acceptance of being murder happy.
One of my favorite Voyager episodes – one of the very best in all of Trek canon. It makes great use of the always terrific Brad Dourif but this is also one of Tim Russ’s finest moments as Tuvok. And I’d never considered it before, but you’re right to point out that Robert Picardo is pretty awesome in his scenes as well.
Though there have been some shortcomings pointed out, none of them disappointed me nearly as much as two others I always notice when watching this episode. The first is that Tuvok was wildly irresponsible in performing the mind meld – arrogant actually. He put the ship and crew in jeopardy by doing so – and in the end only gets scolded by Janeway and told to never do another mind meld without asking her permission first! WHAT?!? Sure Tuvok suffered some physical pain and mental anguish, but this reaction has the feel of a mother scolding her child and meting out punishment….after all that has transpired certainly some more severe form of punishment is due. Heck, how about for starters removing him as Security Chief – at least temporarily. It’s just unbelievable that all he got was scolded…no reprimand…no suspension of privileges…geez, she didn’t even send him to bed with no supper!
The other bothersome detail is that there is no security personnel on duty either inside or outside of sick bay when Tuvok is being held within the force field overnight. There’s not even a security monitor trained on him for someone to observe him on for any activity. That’s just not right….when we see Suder in his cell there’s a security guard present there. Why not have security monitoring Tuvok as well? Seems like a convenient oversight to help the plot of the story along….
As with “Resistance”, I think this one had the potential to be disastrous if it didn’t have a top-notch actor as its main guest star. Brad Dourif embodies Suder perfectly and adds depth to what could have been a fairly one-note character. For all his claim to lack emotional control, Suder is preternaturally calm throughout and that is what makes him disturbing, the juxtaposition between his attitudes and the way he expresses them. There’s also a real sense of tragedy about him. He actually does seem to have tried to have been different. When Tuvok suggests holographic violence or a medical solution, it turns out he’s already tried them. During their final confrontation, there’s a delightful conflict about Suder. Part of him wants to die, while another part of him knows that by killing him Tuvok will become him and he doesn’t particularly wish that on anyone. He makes no attempt to defend himself, yet he also warns Tuvok of what it will mean for him. When Tuvok backs off and makes his choice, Suder calmly summons help for him.
With only 45 minutes to tell the story, we do have to rush through a lot of set-up to get to the main point of the episode. It starts off seeming like a murder mystery, except there’s only really one suspect and Tuvok, with a bit of help from the Doctor, quickly ascertains that he did it. The question then shifts to why he did it, but Tuvok never really gets an answer to that beyond the one Suder provided in the first place. Then, in possibly the episode’s biggest weakness, Tuvok decides to mild meld with him almost on a whim without consulting anyone. (At the end, Janeway stipulates no mild melds without her permission, but that’s a rule that really should have been in force before.) And at that point Tim Russ really does pick up the baton from Brad Dourif and draw all the attention in the middle part of the episode. Up until this point, I haven’t disliked his performance but haven’t seen it as stand-out either. Here, I was really impressed. We start with those first subtle shifts during his scene with Janeway and his own burst of holographic violence. And then… There’d probably be a temptation to play Tuvok as more “human” once he loses his self-control. Instead, he still comes across as very Vulcan, very alien, while showing a new emotional intensity. That’s an achievement.
I don’t think it was until after I first watched this episode (although pretty much immediately after) that I wondered how this episode came across in the US, or perhaps more specifically the US of the 1990s. Coming from a country which, like the Federation, doesn’t execute people, I felt the same horror as Janeway at it even being suggested. In the US…opinion appears to differ on the subject. Tuvok here ends up voicing the pro-death penalty view that resources shouldn’t be wasted keeping a murderer who contributes nothing alive. Janeway represents the stance of most European countries, where it’s not even considered an option and rehabilitation must be assumed to be possible.
The beginning of Paris’ insubordination arc: I was surprised when I first realised it started in this episode, but they do have the sense to end this relatively light-hearted B-plot long before the A-plot’s climax. (No-one wants another “Life Support”.) I had no idea Hogan was in this one, so it was a surprise when he popped up in the pre-credits. Another demonstration of the Doctor’s disdain towards Vulcans, and he gets a nice speech about how everyone has aggression that they’re able to control. There seems to be confusion as to whether Suder’s an ensign or a crewman: He gets referred to as both at various points.
And of course, Tuvok’s way of channelling his violence harmlessly is to programme a hologram of Neelix at his most irritating and then murder him. This Neelix is, it has to be said, only slightly more irritating than the real Neelix is in the pre-credits: Tuvok’s expression when Neelix approaches his table practically screams “Oh god, not again…” It makes me wonder how much self-control he has to exercise around Neelix on a daily basis…
Fair point. Castle was really frustrating because the leads were talented, but the mystery quality was generally quite poor. The mysteries were generally easily solvable for stupid meta reasons, but IIRC the viewer often had little-to-no chance of solving the mystery by deduction because the solution relied on information not revealed until the very end. But at the time this first aired, I was primed by the Cabot Cove Police and similar fictional law enforcement agencies that they never or almost never got the suspect right on the first try. I’m glad this trope is less common than it used to be, even if Castle’s subversion of it was generally poor.
My favorite episode from season 2.
I like how Tuvok learns he isn’t as invulnerable as he thought he was after all, after claiming he should be able to suppress whatever he got from Suder. And also, I love how the Doctor was correct about Suder (and others like him) and Tuvok was forced to concede, despite it being “difficult to accept.”
I wonder (and gleefully shudder) what Tuvok’s “well-chosen commands” to kill the EMH would have been… I suppose it could be as simple as saying “Computer, this is Lieutenant Tuvok of the USS Voyager. Delete EMH, code 0-Theta-4-6-2 clearance level 8,” but surely the EMH would have protection against a simple “delete” command. Besides, Tuvok said “commands” in the plural.
Two points:
1) You’d think that by 24th century, the Federation and Starfleet with all of its wondrous technology, would have devised a way for shipboard computers to have continuous monitoring of the life signs of all personnel so that the second a life sign just drops off that security or someone at least would be immediately alerted by the computer. Therefore in this episode, the engineering officer’s death/murder would have thus been discovered a lot more quickly and not by accident.
2) It’s not something that would have been necessary, but I thought it would have been cool if it was revealed in dialogue that Suder was born with his empathic sense switched on. It would have been a nice callback to “Tin Man” on TNG where it’s mentioned that Tam Elbrun, the guest-starring Betazoid character of that episode, was born with his empathic sense on which is unusual for the race and thus led to his troubled development. If Suder had the same condition it would have made for some good continuity.
@29/Rick: I didn’t think Castle was that bad, but I do remember one case where it was obvious that the wife would turn out to be the killer, because the cops totally failed to consider her as a suspect. I mean, countless mysteries and cop shows have drilled home the point that the spouse is always the first suspect in a homicide, so if the cops don’t even consider the spouse, that’s a pretty clumsy giveaway that the writer is forcing them to ignore the obvious in order to drag out what would otherwise be an easily solvable mystery.
@31/GarretH: I think TNG did establish that combadges monitored crew life signs, much like the “perscan” belt buckles in TMP were supposed to do. But later writers didn’t always remember it.
Speaking of life signs, does Voyager not have security cameras?
This was definitely a Good One, but with Mr Brad Dourif doing his ‘angel of creepy, creepy death’ act and Mr Tim Russ firing on all cylinders, it would have required extraordinarily maladroit handling for it to be anything less than a really, really solid episode (and thankfully it was rather better than solid).
@8. remremulo: Most definitely agree with you about those Betazoid eyes – they’re a very neat way to keep this rather dexterous, frequently charming species just that little bit sinister of Humanity.
@29. Rick: My only disappointment with CASTLE (mostly because I only ever followed it casually) is that they never put together that MURDER SHE WROTE crossover the entire d— concept of the show was crying out for.*
*You will take my mental image of Rick Castle ‘fan-goobering’ over Dame Angela Lansbury and/or Mrs Jessica Fletcher only when you pry it from my COLD DEAD HEADS.
@34/ED: The Castle crossover I wanted to see was with Barney Miller, since they were both set at the fictional 12th Precinct (which presumably would’ve modernized its building in the interim, explaining the different sets). I think I’ve heard Keith express the same thought.
Christopher: Yeah, I wanted to see Ron Glass show up on Castle as the aged R.N. Harris (thus giving us another Firefly reunion) and have Rick Castle fangoober him because Blood on the Badge was the book that got him into writing mysteries in the first place.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
I know we’ve discussed Castle on here before, but are you guys actually fans? It used to be my favorite show (until the dreadful last 2 seasons). Mainly because of the chemistry between Fillion and Stana Katic (who I had a major crush on), though the popular internet rumor was that they eventually couldn’t stand each other; so much so that the writers eventually had to come up with reasons to keep them from doing many scenes together.
Austin: Was a huge fan of Castle, though the show lost its way in its later years, as the need to keep Fillion and Katic apart because of their disdain for each other messed up the show something fierce. But I enjoyed it — it’s easily Fillion’s best role, perfectly suited to him.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Having missed the credits and working from a gap of about 20 years in my media exposure, I did not recognize Dourif at first (for this rewatch). Then came the signature tip of the head leading with the chin, and a certain half-whispery quality in the voice, that triggered a slow dawning that this looked familiar from somewhere. Ah! I *had* it: Wormtongue.
Meanwhile, I agree with everyone else that the acting in this ep was top-notch. Russ, Picardo, and Dourif were all engaging and convincing.
@37/Austin: I’m with you — I liked the early seasons, but it got sillier and more forced over time and I eventually lost interest. I think I may have quit before the last two seasons.
As for Brad Dourif, I don’t think I was particularly familiar with him when this episode came out. I heard or saw comments about how impressive it was that they got Brad Dourif on the show, and my reaction was, “Oh, is he someone famous?”
@31: Maybe constantly scanning for life signs is regarded as an invasion of privacy. (Such scanning would effectively show when people are engaged in amorous or excretory activities for instance.) Thus it’s not so much that Starfleet lacks the technology to be constantly scanning for life signs on their ships, but more that they choose not to absent good cause in order to respect the privacy of their people.
Engineering might also be a place where life signs might be obscured by shielding or interference.
@41/bguy: There’s no need to “scan” the crew’s life signs, since the combadges themselves would monitor them. They wouldn’t need to broadcast anything unless they detected a serious health problem in the wearer.
I never recognize Brad Dourif without weird eyebrows, I first saw him in Dune.
@40,44: I was 16 when “Meld” first aired and I don’t recall having ever seen Brad Dourif in anything previously but he did have that presence of a veteran actor. However, when “Alien: Resurrection” came out a couple of years later, by then I instantly recognized him and so was delighted because I knew it was going to be a good performance which it was even though it was a small role. By the way, are the irises in his eyes naturally black, because in the movie his eyes look the same as in “Meld!”:
https://youtu.be/LDF4FMOFv4Q
@20 – “Let’s not confuse general argument with specific argument. In general, sure, there’s room for stories about Starfleet officers being screwed up in ways that slipped through the screening. But that wouldn’t work for this story. This story is perfect for a Maquis, perfect for the situation of a Maquis crew being forced to join Voyager‘s crew and try to assimilate — because it explores what happens when that assimilation fails. “Meld” takes advantage of that core premise better than almost any other episode of the series.”
Or, it could show that Starfleet was more than willing to assume that the murderer HAD to be Maquis for all your stated reasons and then discovering that Starfleet and the Maquis aren’t that different except in matters of control. We saw that with O’Brien in The Wounded. Refusing to believe that a Starfleet captain could be capable of such actions as Maxwell was committing and believing that the Cardassians must be responsible. I always thought that the but at the end of that episode was a cop out, showing that Maxwell was right about the outpost. The Soviets weren’t nice people, at least those in positions of power, but at times their scientific research was exactly that.
Having the Starfleeters jump to the wrong conclusion would have gone a long way to showing the tension that should exist between them and the Maquis. It would have been a learning moment for those who see themselves on the side of angels and forced them to recognize their own prejudices and to confront them.
As it was we got “Oh, we need a bad guy. Round up the usual suspects”
As to mind melds, Spock made a “very serious” speech out melds the first time it was used and from then on, it was all melds, all the time. He even modified Kirk’s memory without permission. And let’s not forget Valaris. I wouldn’t let one of them anywhere near my brain. They’ve shown over and over again that melds can be dangerous to both parties and that Vulcans can’t be trusted not to misuse them. Spock in the Kelvinverse even decided to meld with the wounded Pike instead of calling for medical assistance. His wishes came before his captain’s life. he should have been severely disciplined and drummed out of Starfleet for that selfish stunt.
Pro tip: If somebody sounds like Chucky, keep an eye on him.
@38, one of my all-time favorite (non-Trek) scenes is this moment from Castle: https://youtu.be/-n3rsG7y8e8
@48, awww, she loves him!
Dourif and Russ were so good here, aside from that sickbay scene. I wish Dourif would get more non-psycho roles though. I loved him in Deadwood, where he was a moral center of the town. But when he plays roles like his in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and those like this one and imbues the characters with such humanity, you can see when they keep grabbing him for these sorts of parts.
@48 – Wow, I don’t remember that episode. Time for a rewatch! Except past season 6. Nothing exists after season 6…
“I’m sorry they couldn’t contrive to get Neelix there to get a lesson in being careful what you wish for, as that’s when Tuvok smiles the way Neelix wanted him to, and it’s when he’s discussing homicide”
“What’s the matter, Mr. Neelix? *evil chuckle* You look horrified. Don’t you like what you see? Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted, to see me smile? To see me so full of morale?”
@2/Eduardo Jencarelli: B5‘s Passing through Gethsemane is my all time favorite Brad Dourif performance ever! It was so brilliant a way to have Brad Dourif play the kind of creepy role he does best (in the waking dream scenes), and be such a tragic character in the end that brings a tear to my eye every time.
Since this is a Star Trek rewatch and not a Babylon 5 rewatch, I should say some things about this episode I guess, haha.
This is the episode that cemented my appreciation for Tim Russ’s portryal of a Vulcan to the point where I wholeheartedly believe he is every bit as good as Leonard Nimoy was. Obviously I’ve already stated my respect for Brad Dourif, but let me say further that he is among my top favorite character actors of all time.
As for Meld itself, I think for me it’s a candidate for the best Voyager episode that I wouldn’t rate a 10/10 if that makes any sense.
For the people wondering about whether Starfleet can monitor their crew’s vital signs (and thus how they missed Darwin’s death), in “Remember Me,” Picard ordered the computer to continually scan him: “Computer, continuous scan, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, vital signs. Audible readout. Begin now.” So they could monitor the crew’s vital signs. There were also only Darwin and Suder on duty in Engineering, so it was easy for Suder to murder him.
From the ridiculous Threshold to the sublime Meld, perhaps it’s not a surprise that Suder is the killer what with Brad Dourif playing the role but Meld can take it’s place alongside other fine psychological thrillers that followed in the wake of Silence of the Lambs.
I liked the way that Darwin’s murder is so completely artless. Suder does such a bad job of covering his tracks that when Tuvok brings him irrefutable evidence of his guilt, Suder just gives himself up. And when he can’t provide Tuvok with a satisfactory motive, Tuvok strives to find out why through a mind-meld, an idea even Suder thinks is too big a risk.
Naturally, this leads to serious consequences when Tuvok’s own emotional control is slowly eroded by Suder’s total lack of it. It’s interesting Krad thinks Tim Russ gives too over the top a performance in sickbay (Russ even shows that scene to potential employers) because I think it’s fun watching Tuvok being let off the leash in this scene, pacing around the bio-bed like a trapped animal using anger as his release. His final scene with Suder where he tries to meld with him again, almost trying to put the violence back into him, is superbly played by Russ and Dourif who both get to show off some real acting and get a lot of great lines of dialogue.
21: The Doctor theorises that due to the incompatibility between two telepathic species, that may account for Tuvok’s loss of control. That doesn’t quite explain though why Suder’s telepathy doesn’t seem to work since the meld affected Tuvok so intimately. 27: Tom got more of a bollocking off of Chakotay for a much lesser offence. 38: Better than Captain Reynolds, Krad? And do you know a lot about the human brain?
David Sim: Yes, I think Richard Castle was a better role for Fillion than Mal Reynolds. I can think of half a dozen actors who could have done as good a job with Reynolds. But Castle was 100% tailored to Fillion (I base this in part on having met the man and spent time hanging out with him at the Big Damned Flanvention in 2005…..)
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
For my money easily the best episode of Voyager up to this point in the shows run, and in my top 10 episodes of the series As with a few episodes previously when Joel Grey put in a memorable turn it’s down to a brilliant Guest star performance by The great Brad Dourif, It helps even more having him play against Voyager’s best (none holographic) main character in Tuvok. Tuvok and the Doctor (and I guess eventually seven of nine) are the shows strong points and many many times I wish Tim Russ had got to play Tuvok on a better or at least more consistent show such as TNG or DS9 9 out of 10.
56: What was he like in person, Krad?
David: pretty much exactly like Richard Castle….
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
I’m surprised there’s been no mention of Brad Dourif’s work as Wormtongue in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. “A just question, my liege.” When he first appeared in The Two Towers, I immediately recognized him as Suder.
I watched this again, and imho, it sounds like a motive was not “required” or “important” for closing the case. I think the conversation between the EMH and Tuvok gave a subtle hint or implication that Starfleet wouldn’t demand knowing the motive and would convict Suder just for his confession; I think finding the motive was strictly Tuvok being…shall we say…obsessed with needing to know. (For a Vulcan, that would be a dilemma…”) I think any other Starfleet officer would close the case, but only Tuvok was hesitant to “just do it” until he had all the facts.
EDIT: Yes, Tuvok said “My job is not yet finished,” but I’m still wondering if he is talking about what HE feels he must do rather than what Starfleet required.
@61/erikm: My memory of the episode is rusty, but I think you’re right — Tuvok’s search for a motive wasn’t about the requirements of the case, but about his personal need for a logical, rational explanation. It was something he couldn’t figure out, a puzzle he couldn’t solve, and he couldn’t tolerate that loose end.
Tuvok’s holographic murder made me wonder if Starfleet ever monitors the subject matter of a crew’s holodeck programs. The “Barclay Incidents” aboard Enterprise indicate they don’t – and that story certainly has renewed relevancy in todays world of deepfakes – but I would think Tuvok himself might suggest some monitoring for Voyager following the events of this episode. Being warned if a crew member does ‘something’ to a holographic rep of another crew member might be important for a ship in Voyager’s position.
@63/kalyarn: I strongly object to the idea of monitoring or regulating what fantasies people are allowed to indulge in private. Everyone has dark fantasies of things they’d never actually do in real life — that release is part of the value of fantasy, and it’s perfectly healthy as long as it remains fantasy. Intruding on the safety of people’s private fantasies and penalizing them for things they’ve only imagined is a profound violation of their rights and freedom of thought.
The only way it would be justified is if someone were being investigated for threatening or dangerous behavior in real life, in which case it might be deemed necessary to review their private journals, programs, etc. to assess their state of mind and the risk of escalation. But that kind of invasion of privacy should never be done pre-emptively or routinely.
@64/CLB, I would see this as being more akin to someone using company equipment to surf porn sites. Governments and companies routinely monitor their people’s usage and feel free to block sites.