Prodigy’ Takes A Deep Dive In “Observer’s Paradox” [Episode 205]

Table of Contents

“Observer’s Paradox”

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2, Episode 5 – Debuted Monday, July 1, 2024
Written by Jennifer Muro
Directed by Ruolin Li & Andrew L. Schmidt

An entertaining, lore-filled episode focuses on the characters and their new season stories.

Coffee… Janeway is in her happy place.

WARNING: Spoilers below!

RECAP

“Guys, we can fix this.”

The temporal tinkering done by the gang that took the Infinity for a joy ride results in an official inquiry that only leaves Janeway flustered by the kids, leniently chocking it all up to an unfortunate accident. With the usual exception of Dal, they realize they got off easy by only being put on probation. But when Murf recreates the spiral from Gwyn’s vision with bits of their lunches, they realize their blobby friend has been talking with their mysterious benefactor, and start a new goal of figuring out how to communicate with the Mellanoid slime worm. This latest scheme requires the gang to figure out how to avoid The Doctor, who has been tasked with keeping an ever-present holographic eye on them, so Zero takes one for the team by engaging him in a discussion of his latest holo-novel. As Dal and Gwyn catch up in a nice moment, they also research that spiral and have the breakthrough revelation that it is a petroglyph tied to an ex Federation colony… one that used to be the home of Chakotay. After Pog’s humorous but failed attempt to program the universal translator to understand Murf, they turn to a very reluctant Rok, who wants nothing to do with their rule-breaking shenanigans. But after they tug on her heartstrings–and she gets a nice slimy hug–she agrees to put her big brain into it and gets a big assist from her even bigger new friend, a whale named Gillian, who’ll do “anything for Rok.” Aww.

Murf shows off what he learned at improv classes.

“The mission is over.”

The kids aren’t the only ones wondering if Chakotay is connected to the mysterious entity, as Janeway’s investigation leads her to the same possibility. But unfortunately Admiral Buzzkill Jellico doesn’t care; he orders her to close the wormhole and head back home. She acquiesces, but has to retreat to her ready room full of memories of her time on the original Voyager as the order is given and her possible only link to her former first officer is lost forever. “Am I a fool to hope that he is still out there?” she asks the consoling Doctor… heartbreaking. Maybe the kids will be that hope: It turns out Murf is aquatic, so after some convincing, he and Rok jump into Gillian’s tank and the little blob takes to it like a—well, like a fish, and he and the whale have a nice chat. She translates the message “find me” and coordinates for Gwyn’s new temporal armband. After she convinces Dal it’s worth the risk, Gwyn dials in to find herself flying through space, returning to that spiral and an ominous voice, “Find me before they do.” Returning to Voyager before she loses herself to the void of time, she exclaims, “Chakotay, I know where to find him!” Holy A-koo-chee-moy-a!

These kids are Gillian’s favorite show.

ANALYSIS

Say hey, Chakotay!

This episode was deeply satisfying in many ways, but especially to longtime fans of this series and Star Trek: Voyager. Now that we’ve tied things together from the first four episodes, we start to deal with the consequences, which this show doesn’t shy away from. While Janeway is a bit lenient, the kids (for the most part) show how much they get what they have done has an impact, which is an important lesson. The one character fighting his own growth is Dal, but that appears to be by design, although he is able to have real conversations with Gwyn, which shows emotional growth. Speaking of characters having real conversations, Gillian is a delightful addition as a friend and perhaps new mentor for Rok. A standout character in this episode is Robert Picardo, who gets to have fun minding the kids and espousing his latest holo-novel, adding his unique humor but also being the perfect person to console Janeway when she loses the wormhole connection to Chakotay in that heart-wrenching movement, with the perfect (and very Star Trek) message that “hope is never a foolish thing.” However, the introduction of Picardo’s Doctor is coming at the expense of Dr. Noum and Commander Tysess, even though those characters introduced in season 1 are voiced by excellent actors, so hopefully they will be explored more in the rest of the season.

Now this is how you improv!

The flashback scene of Janeway and Chakotay was also heartbreaking, with a nice performances from both actors that should keep J/C fans buzzing. But his character was also woven throughout the episode, as he has been throughout this series. Prodigy went out of its way to honor Chakotay by bringing back key parts of his story, including turning his iconic medicine bundle into a key plot point and a key emotional trigger. In addition to reminding us of aspects of Chakotay’s background, the episode also added some elements, like connecting his background to the Nicarao people. And in another deep cut from the extended universe, the episode officially canonized Chakotay’s homeworld as Trebus from the novel Pathways, written by Voyager co-creator Jeri Taylor. All the focus on Chakotay was a nice reminder of the stakes of the series, and it certainly looks like he is at least connected to the mysterious entity that has been communicating with Janeway and the kids all season long, which is exciting.

That look says Janeway has been reading some J/C fanfic.

Final thoughts

As we make our way through the first episodes of season 2, it’s nice to see this show does not shy away from diving deeper into character stories and their franchise history. This show should still work for new fans, but it is also delivering on a new level for the old fans. The first five episodes have done a good job of resetting the story and setting up the stakes for a fantastic season of Star Trek, in any medium, and for any audience.

What if we agreed to that four-shift rotation?

BITS

Stardate 61865.1
The Doctor’s latest novel is titled Love in the Time of Holograms.
Referring to the kids, the doctor says he hasn’t seen a crew that dysfunctional since the Cerritos, indicating he is visited the main ship from Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Gillian the whale is named for 20^th-century cetacean scientist Gillian Taylor from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
Gillian is a descendant of George and Gracie, the humpback whales that were brought to the future with Dr. Taylor in that movie.
Gillian is voiced by Bonnie Gordon, who voices the ship’s computer as well as other characters.
The flashback scene with Chakotay and Janeway appears to pick up right after the flashback scene in the season 1 episode “Asylum.”
Captain Chakotay’s personnel file showed his birth year (2329), serial number (47-alpha-612), and affiliation to the Rubber Tree People, all previously established on Star Trek: Voyager. His status is listed as “Unknown” as of 2383.
In addition to Chakotay’s medicine bundle, Janeway’s ready room has a number of keepsakes:
- Her Starfleet Academy diploma
- A model of the original USS Voyager
- Her old Voyager badge
- Her old Voyager phaser
- The hairpin from her time as Queen Arachnia.
- A compact mirror connected to the short story “Isabo’s Shirt” by Kirsten Beyer from the Distant Shores anthology.
- An official seal of the city of her birth, Bloomington, Indiana.

Janeway should keep all her memorabilia in the box to be considered mint condition.

TrekMovie’s Prodigy July binge-watch

Since all 20 episodes were released on Netflix at once, we’re binging it in five-episode arcs; we can’t stick to watching just one a week! Each All Access Star Trek podcast (every Friday morning) will cover five episodes, while written reviews for all five will publish throughout the week, with two-parters paired up.

This will all wrap up just as San Diego Comic-Con kicks off at the end of the month. We also hope to have more Prodigy interviews and analysis in July and beyond.

We welcome fans joining us through July covering 5 episodes each week. However, for those choosing to binge the show even faster, we ask readers to avoid spoilers for episodes beyond the latest recap/review in our comments section.

Season 2 of Prodigy is available to stream on Netflix globally (excluding Canada, Nordics, CEE, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Belarus and Mainland China) and season one is currently available on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe with season two coming soon. Season two has launched in France on France Televisions channels and Okoo.

Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.