Star Trek: Meld

Episode: "Meld"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 2, Episode 16

Original Air Date: February 5, 1996

via Memory Alpha

There's been a murder and Tuvok must investigate.  The whodunnit question is resolved quickly.  Crewman Lon Suder, a Betazoid and a former Maquis, killed Crewman Frank Darwin.  With that out of the way, there's plenty of time left for a more interesting story.

Tuvok is frustrated by Suder's inability to articulate a logical motive for the crime.  He suggests a mind meld and Suder agrees.  The session has a welcome regulating effect on Suder but the impact on Tuvok is highly disturbing, awakening his own violent tendencies.  

"Meld" addresses several important philosophical quandaries in regards to criminal justice: punishment vs. reform, suspicion vs. guilt, logic vs. impulse and so on.  And, of course, there's the long-standing Star Trek question of what happens when a Vulcan lets down their well-honed emotional controls.  Tim Russ gets a wonderful opportunity to flex his acting chops and he makes the most of it.  

One of my favorite lines came early, before Suder's guilt is established.  When asked why Suder was initially recruited despite misgivings, Torres replied "In the Maquis, we didn't ask for resumes.  We needed all the help we could get."

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Brad Dourif (Suder) was born in Huntington, West Virginia, March 18, 1950.  He briefly attended Marshall University before leaving for New York to pursue acting.  "Meld" is his first of three appearances as Suder.

During an off-Broadway production of When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?, Suder was discovered by director Miloš Forman who subsequently cast him in what would become Forman's masterpiece, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.  Suder played the unforgettable (aren't they all in that film?) Billy Bibbit.  Latere voiced Chucky in the Child's Play franchise.  As if that weren't enough to cement both a career and geek-cred for life, he played Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Television has been kind, too.  He played Doc Cochran in Deadwood.  He has won a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and a SAG and been nominated for an Oscar, an Emmy and a Saturn.