Repression

*** (3 stars out of 5)

Bajor's Vedek Teero Anaydis is a crackpot zealot whose mind control experiments were so distressing that even the desperate, morally compromised Maquis kicked him out. (That and he was creeping them out by looking so much like mad vampire hunter Daniel Holtz.)

It seems that the holy man a) outwitted Tuvok b) found out Tuvok was a Starfleet mole on Chakotay's ship Val Jean but never bothered to TELL anyone c) planted a "Total Maquis Loyalty" code-word in Tuvok's subconscious d) lost interest for seven years during which the Maquis and Cardassians were both utterly ruined e) learned all about Voyager's current status somehow f) wrote a subliminal message into a Starfleet-secured video letter from Tuvok's son and finally g) orchestrated an orgy of mind-melded Maquis mutiny. A plan so cunning in its elegant simplicity that the end result would have forced nearly 40 loyal Maquis to dump the Starfleet crew in a ditch and head for Cardassia, phasers blazing.

With any luck, sometime in the early 25th Century, barring accidents over a 35 year journey through uncharted regions, a skeleton crew of brainwashed middle-aged lunatics would drop out of the smoggy yellow sky and slaughter the next generation of innocent, totally oblivious Cardies! That'll learn 'em!

Or, as it turns out, barring the mind control simply wearing off like some very mild hangover.

Still, "Repression" reminds us that it's nice to dust off the old brown leather jackets and the old blue leather Derek McGrath and play a little "what if" now and then. Just as long as it has no lasting repercussions. Like a 3D movie: bombastic, showy, good with popcorn, and afterwards you're not sure why it happened at all.