Star Trek: Non Sequitur

Episode: "Non Sequitur"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 2, Episode 5

Original Air Date: September 25, 1995

via Memory Alpha

I just learned I've been spelling Sequitur incorrectly my whole life.  I had an o where the second u should be.

Harry Kim wakes up next to his fiancee, Libby, in San Francisco.  His assignment to Voyager never happened.  His best friend went instead and was lost when the ship disappeared.  Evidently, he has stumbled into an alternate timeline and must find his way back to the right one.

"Non Sequitur" was the result of Garrett Wang's complaints to the writers about the shoddy material he had been provided so far.  He wanted a shot at being an action hero, a story where they would "need a stunt double" for him.  It's a reasonable request.  As discussed in previous posts regarding ALL Star Trek series, principal characters are marginalized quickly if they don't get good material on a regular basis.  The actors had good reason to advocate for themselves.

The trouble is that apart from the "action" supplied, the story is awful and it could have been so much better.  It could have been a "Family" or "Inner Light" sort of tale: a glimpse of the other life that might have been lived.  I like those stories and the basic set up was ripe for it.  But there's no dilemma, no sense of regret.  Given the premise of Voyager so far, Harry should have been thrilled beyond measure to wake up in San Francisco next to Libby.  Even once the sense of needing to put things right set in, there should have been a grappling with the cost of having to give up his happy, simpler life.  Instead, he skips that emotional journey entirely.

Writer's fault, not the actor's.  

Voyager is like this over and over again.  So close to being good but missed opportunities abound.

Acting Notes

via Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki

Louis Giambalvo played the role of Cosimo, Harry's Clarence/Morpheus-like guide in the alternate timeline.  Giambalvo was born in Brooklyn, New York, February 8, 1945.  He attended Harpur College (now Binghamton University) for both undergrad and graduate school.  He was a founding member of Colonnades Theater Lab along with Danny DeVito and Peter Scolari, among others.  Television credits include The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote and ER.  Films include Airplane II: The Sequel, Real Genius and Weekend at Bernie's.