Star Trek: Alliances

Episode: "Alliances"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 2, Episode 14

Original Air Date: January 22, 1996

via Memory Alpha

The Kazon are making life pretty rough for Voyager's crew.  Continuous attacks are costing lives and repeatedly exacting damage to the ship.  Times are getting desperate.  If something isn't done, the mission to get home may be doomed.  Against her better judgement, and in clear defiance of the Prime Directive, Captain Janeway pursues an alliance with one of the Kazon factions, beginning with the Nistrim, Culluh and Seska's band.  In the process, our heroes encounter the Trabe, the sworn enemies of all Kazon.  That's when things really get complicated.

Once again, we have an episode which I like while most critics are at best, indifferent.  For me, "Alliances" hits on all the dilemmas that had the potential to make Voyager, the series, truly great.  The worries over getting home bump heads with Starfleet absolutes and much of the split is along Federation/Maquis lines.  There are a few surprises on the character moral spectrum as Tuvok reveals openness to the idea of an alliance.  The Trabe's history with the Kazon turns out to be a lot more complicated than initially assumed.  In the end, nothing really changes.  But asking the questions is important.  Janeway's episode-closing lecture is a bit over-the-top preachy but Trek often fumbles on that play.

Overall, this is good stuff.  More, please.

Acting Notes

via Charmed Wiki

Raphael Sbarge played the part of Michael Jonas, a crew member whose treacherous tale is just beginning.  Sbarge was born in New York City, February 12, 1964.  He was born to theater people, his mother a costume designer, his father a stage director.  He was named after the Renaissance painter Raphael.  He made his screen debut at five years old on Sesame Street.

Especially given the family connections, it's not surprising that stage success came first.  He performed in Henry IV, Part 1 at Shakespeare in the Park, then made his Broadway debut at 19 in The Curse of an Aching Heart.  Film credits include Risky Business, Independence Day and Pearl Harbor.  On television, he has had principal cast roles on The Guardian, Once Upon a Time and Murder in the First.

Sbarge is also a director.  His documentary LA Foodways was nominated for an Emmy in 2019.