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This week, Star Trek: Voyager combines the skillful noir of “Necessary Evil” and the wonky memory shenanigans of “A Matter of Perspective“. The resulting episode, “Ex Post Facto” lands somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. The raging hormones of Tom Paris are causing strife for the Voyager crew – can Tuvok don a pipe and cap and become the Delta Quadrant’s version of Sherlock Holmes?
The Wikipedia plot summary for “Ex Post Facto”:
While on a visit to the home planet of the Baneans, Lieutenant Tom Paris is convicted of the murder of engineering physicist Tolen Ren. As punishment, he must relive Ren’s last moments every 14 hours. As Ren’s memory plays back in Paris’s mind, he sees himself with Ren’s wife before stabbing Ren in his living room.
Voyager discover Paris’s fate after Ensign Harry Kim returns to the ship. Kim relates that Ren was helping him and Paris with a damaged piece of equipment, and invited them for dinner at his house. While there, Paris got bored and spent some time with Tolen’s young wife Lidell Ren. Soon after, Tolen was stabbed to death in his living room in front of Lidell. Paris was arrested and Kim forced to leave without him.
Voyager heads to the Banean homeworld and soon arrives despite encountering the Numiri, another space-faring race the Baneans are at war with. The Baneans allow Captain Kathryn Janeway to see Paris, who denies killing Tolen even though he did spend some time with Lidell. Immediately afterward, Paris relives Ren’s memory once again and loses consciousness. The Voyager crew finds Paris suffering ill effects of the treatment, and the Banean minister allows them to return Paris to the ship for medical care, on the advice of the Banean doctor who implanted Ren’s memory into Paris.
Soon after, Voyager’s Chief of Security Tuvok begins investigating the murder. He decides he must perform a mind meld with Paris to witness Ren’s memories. As he experiences the memory for himself, Tuvok notices alien writing overplayed on top of the visions. From the memories, Tuvok establishes that Paris is innocent, recognizing that the height difference between Paris and Lidell in the memory is different from reality, and the murderer must have had knowledge of Banean anatomy to kill Ren with a single stab. Tuvok reveals the strange glyphs in the video are confidential technical information important to the Banean war effort against the Numiri. The Banean doctor, who is Lidell’s lover, has altered the memory implants to implicate Paris and use him as a means of smuggling data to the Numiri attackers. Lidell and the doctor are arrested by the Banean authorities, and the memory implanted into Paris is removed.
In this episode of the podcast, Wes and Clay talk about “Ex Post Facto” and the passionate adventures of Detective Tuvok. Plus! The guys chat about the sins of Tom Paris, unnecessary characters, and Vulcan detectives.