Janeway and crew encounter gorgeous inversion nebula, inexplicably remaining active despite typical behavior dictating eventual burnout. Sandra Nelson stars as holographic luau beauty, on a program designed by Neelix to lighten the moods of the crew, named Marayna. Ensign Kim is head over heels for Marayna, going to Tuvok with a desire to practice alleviating all emotion due to just the embarrassing fact he's not in love with a *real* woman. Tuvok reluctantly attends the luau becoming compelled by Marayna who sizes him up analytically well. Soon Marayna is obsessed with Tuvok and uses The Doctor's mobile emitter (which allows holographic characters to move about the ship) to visit him in his quarters for a game of kal-toh (mentally challenging game where order is sought in chaos). Soon, the ship malfunctioning occurring since arriving at the nebula and Marayna is determined by Janeway and crew to be linked, with Tuvok key to halting the potential of Voyager's destruction. Kim and Tuvok in a rather unanticipated triangle with what is at first perceived to be a computer subroutine sure is quite a lead-in for the episode, directed by The Doctor himself, Robert Picardi! Tuvok and his logic dealing with Kim and his jealousy while a holographic woman yearns to be with the Vulcan...now that is quite a plot development! Slight, but fun...seeing Torres, Paris, and Tuvok under attack from holographic Hawaiians at a luau as a lei is used as a means to choke is just too funny. Loved the end with Tuvok apologizing to Kim and making an effort to offer an olive branch. The real Marayna revealed isn't underwhelming as I was expecting, as Tuvok gives her advice worth considering and their talk has intellectual and reasonable results.
Review of Alter Ego
