‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Sees Dal and Janeway “Mindwalk”
On the latest episode of Star Trek: Prodigy “Mindwalk”, Vice Admiral Janeway and Dal get surprisingly close with hilarious results.
Right before we began covering Star Trek: Prodigy, I asked a friend what he think of the series. “It’s good, but it isn’t very Star Trek,” says he. And if all you know of the show is the first half of this inaugural season, that’s a fair assessment.
However, as we draw to a close on the season proper, it’s clear that Prodigy is one of the best and most “Star Trek” shows in the current franchise lineup. Not only are we seeing classic aliens like Tellarites and Andorians (who we see precious little of in most of ‘Trek’), but classic storytelling is being explored almost every week now.
There are holodeck episodes. The Borg (the classic Borg, no less) are back. Heck, Okona gets a multiple-episode arc! And with “Mindwalk” we have yet another classic Trek trope – the bodyswap episode.
Recently, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds explored this dynamic between Spock and T’Pring in “Spock Amok“. And that’s one of the best episodes of Star Trek, period. But how does Star Trek: Prodigy stack up?
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To Boldly Recap
The jig is up. The construct has control of the Protostar and the ship hovers before the Dauntless. But as Hologram Janeway deactivates herself since she’s no longer in control of her own program, the Protostar automatically starts warping away. Destination? The heart of Federation space.
While Admiral Janeway lies unconscious, Asencia returns to the Dauntless bridge as the ship tethers its warp bubble to the Protostar’s. There’s no way for the Protostar to escape and the Dauntless begins firing.
Dal and company still cannot hail the Dauntless without transferring over a deadly virus. So Zero comes up with a Plan B. Since Dal is an augment with the DNA of telepaths in him, he and Zero can create a hive mind and reach out to Admiral Janeway psychically so they can explain what’s going on to her.
Unfortunately, the psychic link works a little too well and Dal and Janeway suddenly find themselves in each other’s bodies. From this point forward the plot is split in twain betwixt Janeway in Dal’s body and Dal in Janeway’s body.
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Turnabout Intruder
On the Dauntless, Dal awakens in Janeway’s body – and proceeds to absolutely freak out. In fairness, how would you feel if you suddenly woke up and realized you were trapped in a creaky, middle-aged woman’s body? Anyway, enough about me.
Dal tries to avoid responsibility but fails miserably. On the bridge, he at least stops the attack on the Protostar. But something is wrong with “Janeway” and everyone knows it. This is especially true of Asencia who is trying to work out why Janeway doesn’t seem to remember Asencia knocking her out. Eventually, Dal places Commander Tysess in control and makes a break for it back to Janeway’s quarters.
Meanwhile, Janeway gets the full story from Gwyn and co. about what’s really going on. Bless her, she believes them. Admiral Janeway meets up with her holographic self. The admiral uses her command codes to separate Hologram Janeway from the construct which unlocks all her lost memories.
Eventually, Zero and Janeway work out a plan. The reason the body swap happened in the first place was that Janeway and Dal were connected via weapons fire between the ships. In other words, they need physical contact in order to swap back. How hard could that be!
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Reach Out and Touch Yourself
So, first of all, how does the Protostar crew even explain to Dal what the plan is? Answer: charades. They communicate through spaceship windows (which exist and are made of transparent aluminum).
With the plan set, all Dal has to do is get in a spacesuit and head out of the nearest airlock. Simple! But bad news, friends, because the Dauntless crew knows something is up. They may not know what the something is, but they know “Janeway” ain’t right. So they knock her out with a hypospray and lock her down in sickbay.
But then the Diviner shows up and sets “Janeway” free. Why? Well, because she saved him once, too. And if the Diviner fails in his mission to destroy the Federation, he wants Janeway to care for Gwyn.
Dal suits up and meets Janeway out in space. They struggle, Dal even gets tractor beamed back towards the Dauntless. But Janeway fires a phaser at Dal to make their connection and they swap back. That’s the good news!
The bad news is that the Protostar is now in the heart of Federation space – and surrounded by Starfleet vessels. Worse, Janeway is in the brig with no way to tell her crew what’s really going on. Eep!
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To Boldly Review
Kate Mulgrew gets to play a lot of sides of the proverbial die as Janeway in Star Trek: Prodigy. But one thing she very seldom gets to do play, even on Voyager, is goofy. Sure, she deletes a wife that one time. But Kate Mulgrew gets to act like a nervous teen in “Mindwalk” — and it’s very funny. The animators have an absolute blast having this older admiral make silly faces and shoot finger guns like she’s twelve. It’s delightful.
But Mulgrew gets more to do than goof. She also has an absolutely incredible scene with.. herself. Admiral and Hologram Janeway discussing Chakotay and feelings of self-doubt is absolutely incredible. And not for nothing, but Brett Gray plays a great Janeway here as well.
With only two episodes left in this season of Star Trek: Prodigy, “Mindwalk” does everything it has to do to set up our finale. Janeway knows why the Protostar is not responding. But there’s still danger thanks to Janeway being in the brig. And, oh yeah, an armada of Starfleet ships ready to take down the Protostar.
One other thing: Janeway mentions that Dal can never be in Starfleet since he’s an augment. That’s a huge revelation even if you know about the Eugenics Wars and it creates yet another enormous wrinkle in this emotionally fraught situation.
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Easter Eggs: Gotta Catch ‘Em All
This is a very mild week for references to Trek’s past. Obviously, the body swap stuff lives comfortably within franchise canon and acts as a nod to episodes like “Spock Amok” and “Turnabout Intruder”. We find out Dal is part Organian, a telepathic, noncorporeal species we meet in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Errand of Mercy”.
The scene with the two Janeways is a lovely throwback to Voyager‘s series finale “Endgame” where Admiral Janeway from an alternate future goes back in time to get her crew home early. And speaking of Voyager‘s questionable past, Janeway mentions having been turned into a salamander once. And that’s a reference to the infamous Voyager episode “Threshold” – an episode so bad that it usually isn’t considered canon. Guess it’s back in the mix!
“Mindwalk” is a banger. It’s funny, it’s fast, and yet it’s also emotionally tense. After 18 episodes, Admiral Janeway is finally in the fold and, whatever happens next, that feels good.
4.5/5 stars
