The Dauntless is in hot pursuit of the Protostar and a psychic mind connection goes awry in Season 1, Episode 17: “Mindwalk.”
1. High Speed Chase!
A good chunk of this episode occurs during a violent chase at warp speed. The crew of the Dauntless, in hopes of disabling and boarding the Protostar chase her down while firing with enough power to wittle down the shields. It is an action and anxiety forward sequence that looms heavy over the storyline and sets the tone for the rest of the episode, and probably what remains of the season.
A space battle at warp is something that’s been done sparingly throughtout the franchise, including once in the first half of the season, and doing that once again is a great visual feast as the action unfolds on and between the two ships.
2. Freaky Fleet Admiral
In an effort to call off the chase and ensuing damage, an attempt to psychically link to Admiral Janeway is made. Using a combination of Zero and Dal’s telepathic powers, they reach out to finally tell Janeway everything. However, Dal’s recently discovered power is unpredictable and it not only connects their minds, it swaps them. This brings about a Freaky Friday scenario leading to awkward conversations and hijinx as Dal fails miserably to step into Janeway’s shoes. While she has a much easier time inhabiting Dal’s body and finally learning what thia whole crazy season has been about. The humor of this kind of story works mainly because of the intended audience. It’s pretty much all low hanging fruit, but it’s true to the characters. The body swap allows for all of the frustrating miscommunications to be corrected, but sets up an entirely new conflict.
3. A Game!
Admir-Dal Janeway puts a pause to the space battle and the two ships are holding steady next to each other. So close that they can actually see each other through the windows, Dal-way decides to communicate using the old Earth game Charades. It doesn’t go as planned, but at least Rok-Tahk and Jankom had fun.
4. A Change of Heart
After the crazy antics of Admir-Dal, the crew of the Dauntless is immediately suspicious and both attempt to get them to head to Sickbay and then eventually arrest them. It’s all part of the typical humor of a body swap story, but with what we now know about Acensia and the Diviner, there is an added sense of dread and anxious tension. So when the Diviner comes face to face with Admir-Dal we believe it is game ofer for them. But in a shocking shake-up, his post-amnesia kindness comes through and he lets them go. Unfortunately the escape is short-lived.
5. Hard Time
After Dal and Janeway are returned to their correct bodies, we believe things could be on the path to working things out. Until the reveal that Janeway was in fact arrested and thrown in the brig. Leaving us with a sinking heart and lack of hope that things will go smoothly any time soon for our heroes.
