I think this episode is quite entertaining. There is something about a Hirogen in a Wehrmacht uniform. And it was interesting that the characters, more or less, stayed true to who they are. Even Janeway and Seven's alter egos were clashing horns.
I didn't like the setup , meaning that we haven't seen ´how the Hirogen were able to overwhelm Voyager. Starting right into the simulations did not have the impact they probably were going for. I found the idea of a Hirogen that tries to find a future for his people through the means of a holodeck interesting and his motivations, for me, were believable. What I absolutely don't get is Janeway giving away Federation tech freely - something she always refused to do no matter the circumstances. But that's Voyager for you.
For once they had no need to cover up Roxann Dawsons pregnancy, they just made it part of the story. I had no idea that Marc Metcalf was in this episode. So far I only knew him from the Twisted Sister videos of the 80s
[7.7/10] The second half of “The Killing Game” is a much more straightforward hour of television than the first. The first part of the duology is all about winding things up, and the second part is all about letting them go.
In theory, that should be where the fun comes in! You take all the time to do some quality setup and then pull the trigger and watch the sparks fly. In practice, a lot of that means indiscriminate firefights and stand-offs that don’t have the same tension of when everyone’s furtively fighting against one form of oppression or another in the hopes of striking a blow without getting caught.
The episode also stops making even a mild amount of sense. The holographic Americans and Nazis are attacking aboard the ship! But the HIrogen can’t turn off the holo-emitters, or even just engage the safety protocols, because (insert science-y thing). I’m not one to slate Star Trek for technobabble that conveniently removes obvious technological solutions that would otherwise break the story. (If I had a nickel for every time there was some sort of local “interference” that disrupted the sensor/transporters/espresso makers, I could afford my own holodeck.) But it’s a reminder that you have to turn your brain off and just appreciate the “ultimate showdown”-style rumble among these various forces for what it is.
And it’s pretty fun! Seeing American G.I.s fight the Hirogen, or Starfleet officers square off against German soldiers, both in period settings and in the corridors of a starship is novel and entertaining. Plus, god help me, I’m a simple man, but watching Klingons eviscerate a bunch of Nazis fucks is strangely satisfying. “The Killing Game” has a sort of bonkers premise to begin with, but the creative team plays it for all it’s worth, so I’m loath to complain.
In truth, much of the first two-thirds of the episode feels like well-done but less engaging piece-moving. Sure, Janeway needs to destroy the console in Sick Bay to disrupt the neural interfaces. The others have to unlock some console or secure some corridor or what have you. The scenes aren’t poorly constructed, and it’s always good for characters to have some immediate goal, especially in an action movie setting, but these moments and mini-plots feel like perfunctory steps necessary to get to the next part of the story rather than something engaging on their own terms.
That said, I like the handful of nice character moments we do get amid the fireworks and fisticuffs. Voyager hints once more at the sublimated feelings between Chakotay and Janeway, as the soldier version of Chakotay admires his ally and appreciates her “gung ho” nature. In a cute scene, Harry’s knowledge of early American films from “Year of Hell” comes back to help him when a brainwashed Tom asks him about Betty Grable to verify he’s a friendly. Janeway reflects on how her fictional counterpart, a leader of a company of soldiers, is devoted to getting his people home safely, even if it kills him, and she can relate, accentuating the parallels between the French resistance and Voyager’s situation that part one was built around.
To the point, this is a good Janeway episode! She’s savvy enough to be able to earn the loyalty of the French resistance and their American allies, even though her neural interface has been disabled and she has to bluff her way through it. In an episode that’s built around some pretty standard action scenes, Kathryn gets to show some actual cleverness by luring her Hirogen pursuer into a corner where his holographic weapon won’t work to get the upper hand. And as all great Star Trek captains do, she finds common ground with her enemy and manages to (temporarily) forge a diplomatic solution to the problem at hand.
That’s my favorite part of this. In truth, I’d thought there was more explanation of the Alpha Hirogen’s hopes and plans for his people than we get here. But I’m still compelled by the idea of him as a sort of enlightened warrior, one who laments how his people have been reduced to nothing but “the hunt,” and envisions a better way, where they can use this holographic technology to maintain their cultural traditions, but in a way that would allow them to rebuild their civilization. It makes him a sympathetic antagonist, and the way that Janeway recognizes that, and bargains Voyager’s technology in exchange for her crew’s freedom, is some classic Captain-y business.
But I also like why it fails. Cultural change is difficult, and full of blowback. Using the Alpha’s second in command, Turanj, as a symbol of that idea is a smart choice. Spurring his betrayal of his commander with inspiration from Nazi ideology about the purity of one’s culture, the notion of it being one’s birthright to subjugate others, underscores the perniciousness of the ideas that are motivating him here. And likewise, it allows the show to depict the Nazis as scleroitc, ostensibly trying to “defend” their civilization while in reality holding it back from evolving into something better.
Despite all the bullets and bombast in this one, there’s heady ideas floating around in the background. I wish they were a little more front and center rather than pushed to the side so we can blow up bad guys and offer action movie tropes, but there’s weight to the tale if you’re willing to look for it.
And hey, the action isn't bad! While a bit of a cliche, Turnaj giving Janeway a head start so the hunt is fair, and then stalking her through the corridors, builds some legitimate tension and thrill. Our heroes trying to even the odds by creating a holographic grenade, only to inadvertently weaken their own side, is a cool turn of the tide. And when the good guys’ backs are literally against the wall, after the Nazis get the upper hand, the fact that it’s Neelix and the Doctor, leading a charge of Klingon Warriors in the Big Damn Heroes moment, is rousing as all hell. “The Killing Game” has our heroes win the day in style.
But it comes with the kind of graciousness and compassion we’ve come to expect. The fact that Janeway still turns over the technology to the Alpha Hirogen’s successor, knowing he’s a skeptic, in the hopes that the Alpha’s dream might still survive, ends this explosive and combative story on a note of hope.
It’s a good note to go out on. “The Killing Game” is a high water mark for Voyager: one of its most exciting outings and the one that shows what the series can do when it goes big but also wild in its choices. Some of those lead to empty calories, especially in the second half, but they’re tasty calories. And in the final frame, suggest something a little deeper, a little more meaningful, amid all of the fighting and fireworks.
About time Janeway fired a weapon when she needed to. She is the worst captain to protect her crew.
Any episode where the crew get to venture away from the ship is a often a win. I find these episodes to be often visually appealing and entertaining, and The Killing Game nailed it for me, particularly with the costume and set design. The Nazi/Hirogen parallels cause some appropriate discomfort and added depth to the plot.
8/10 'cause I'm stingy with points.
Everything I said about part one is still true. It only gets crazier in part II. By design, since different holodeck simulations and the real world blend, it's really an eclectic mix of all sort of things: Klingons, WW 2, Hirogen and whatnot. The technology behind the story makes probably no sense and there are probably multiple plot holes, but I don't really care in such episodes. I appreciate that some characters (like Neelix) are caught in their holodeck alter egos (until the bomb goes off) but still keep traces of their real persona. Even some real world issues shine through (most notably the tense relation between Seven and Janeway). It gives plenty of room to experiment with characters. Plus, like all holodeck episodes, it offers a lot of fun and diversion from the usual episodes, only that this turns into a pretty serious episode very quickly. I'm not sure what I think about the depiction of Hirogen. On one hand, you learn a thing or two about the race and the leader seems to be intelligent and has a vision about his race's future. On the other hand, they are too often depicted as mediocre adversaries that seem to be obsessed of playing LARP games and disagree all the time.
Shout by LeftHandedGuitaristBlockedParent2018-04-26T13:51:45Z
As I'd feared, no sooner has Voyager introduced a menacing new enemy than they completely neuter them and render them a pretty weak threat. The Hirogen here just want to play games and argue amongst themselves. Remember when we first met them and they were about to eviscerate Tuvok alive? The double-episode could have easily been a single, and I can only imagine that the production needed to justify the use of all the WW2 sets.
I expect this was addressed in the episode and I just missed it, but... the crew are on the holodeck, right? Couldn't they just say "computer, give me an extra 100 soldiers fighting on our side", or "computer, give us more advanced weapons"? Were the whole crew locked out of the system?
It all felt a bit pointless and silly to me.