3x11 The Q and the Grey

[6.2/10] There's a handful of interesting ideas in “The Q and the Grey”. Doing a screwball comedy with Q and Janeway could be a pip given the characters’ on-screen rapport. Examining how Quinn’s suicide and the ideas it represented destabilized the Continuum could make for a fascinating follow-up to “Death Wish”. A story that reflects on the promise of parenthood and peace could have emotional resonance. The notion of a Q Civil War, with our Q leading the charge for freedom, and an opponent crusading for the cause of the status quo, with explosive side effects for our universe, is tantalizing in its possibilities.

Sadly, though, the episode tries to cram all of these together, and each is worse for it, because they don’t really fit. “The Q and the Grey” wants us to laugh at Q’s antics haranguing Janeway, fear for the lives of our heroes in a battle of demigods, seriously consider the implications of bringing a child into the world, and champion the cause of peace all at once. Tonally, it’s a mess. Narratively, it makes no sense. And visually, it’s laughable.

I griped about the overly literal depiction of the Q Continuum in my write-up for “Death Wish”, but at least there, the rendition of these beings’ dimension was a little kooky and esoteric. There was a vaguely Twin Peaks quality to the mundaneness and slight peculiarity of it. Here, the Q Civil War is conveyed as the literal American Civil War, and even with the fig leaf that it’s a lens to allow the humanoids to view this place despite their simple mortal minds, the whole thing demystifies and dumbs down the Q to a ridiculous degree.

I don’t want to slate the creative team too much. It’s all but impossible to convincingly depict a war of the gods in a T.V. budget in 1996. (Though Deep Space Nine does a better job of it.) But they didn’t have to do this at all! Making a Q conflict into one with Union and Confederate camps, southern belle dresses, and opposing generals who talk like southern gentlemen doesn't pass the smell test. Don’t get me started on how our heroes are able to not only sneak into the continuum but use Q weapons to get the upper hand on the demigods somehow. You could have done all the other stories without the civil war part, let alone the Civil War part.

It’s an especially odd mix for the screwball comedy elements at play here. I’ve long taken Janeway as an inheritor of the Katherine Hepburn archetype. It’s not just the much-fussed-over hair; it’s the commanding presence and quiet dignity. So seeing Mulgrew and de Lancie have a back-and-forth that wouldn’t feel out of place in a 1940s romp is a treat. Q’s ridiculous courtship matched by Janeway’s whip-smart rejections could have spurred the episode on its own. (Even if Q’s interactions with Tom, Harry, and to a lesser extent Neelix don’t have quite the same juice.)

But once again, everything turns too generic and sitcom-y. I love Suzie Plakson, who’s practically Star Trek royalty, and nails the Katherine Hepburn vibe in a more caricatured but still entertaining way. But do we really need a “Ms. Q” who’s our Q’s ex-girlfriend and spurned lover griping at him for going after Janeway? One jester taking the stuffing out of a bunch of Starfleet stiffs, with some good bon mots from the Captain, is a treat. Two jesters tweaking one another around dated gender stereotypes is a chore.

All of that said, there's some meat on the bones here. I like the idea that Q took Quinn’s message to heart, making a stand for freedom and individuality that caused a ruckus within the Continuum. And as goofy as his come-ons are, I appreciate the idea that he thinks a child with a human will bring peace -- through the combination of a demigod’s abilities and the sort of courage and kindness that morals like Janeway exemplify. It’s a little naive, and I don’t pretend that there's a truly coherent arc at play. But I like the idea that Q has spent all this time with humans, and thinks that, after all his taunting, the attitude of such noble mortals may be exactly what his people need.

But not much from there makes sense. The whole conceptual elements of Janeway and the other mortals in the Gettysburg-esque confines of the Q war strains credulity. You can take this as a supersized version of a “having a child will solve all our problems” fallacy, but the way Janeway’s able to shift Q’s thinking from mating with her to mating with Ms. Q comes off way too easy. And when exploring the idea of Quinn’s philosophy causing problems, we don’t get anything approaching the depth of “Death Wish”, but banal platitudes about individuality that make the actual conflict among gods seem like a paper tiger.

It’s hard to hate on this one too much. With top performers center stage, some quality banter, and some solid concepts, this one is still pretty entertaining on a scene-to-scene basis. But when you step back and take a look at the episode as a whole, none of it hangs together. None of the shifts in perspective make sense. None of the high concept elements add up. “The Q and the Grey” is a lot of worthwhile concepts smushed together into one big Mason-Dixon mush.

It’s nice to see the Q give peace a chance. Q as a father opens up all sorts of new possibilities (that I think largely go unrealized, if I recall correctly, but it’s the thought that counts). And Janeway acknowledging that she wants to have a child someday, just not with Q, adds an interesting dimension to a character who, by necessity, is often all business. (Even if we have to tolerate a hacky jealous boyfriend routine from Chakotay over it.) Sadly, the episode can't nail down that swirl of ideas into something coherent.

It’s always a hoot when Q stops by. De Lancie is too much of a pistol for it not to be, and Mulgrew can more than hold her own as his scene partner. The Q Continuum has long been a fascinating element of the universe. But the more we bring those demigods down to earth, genericize them into just condescending humanoids with mildly fancy powers, the less interesting they become, and the more Q’s episodes suffer because of it.