Discovering a comet that looks a little bit funky on the sensors, Voyager quickly learn that it’s not just any rock floating through space, but a prison. Accidentally releasing a shunned Q (not that one, another one!), they learn that the Continuum had exiled and imprisoned him for casting aside immortality, seeing it as a punishment, and trying to end his existence. With Q (still not that one) now released by Voyager, Q (yes, that one!) pops by to put Q (the other one) back in his box, causing a unique call for asylum that puts Janeway in the centre of a Q Conflict (Qonflict?).
John de Lancie’s Q had been a regular on the Next Generation. Whether just being annoying because he was bored or giving Picard unnecessarily complex lessons in self awareness, he became a bit of a fan favourite who opened the series by putting humanity on trial, only to give Picard the budge he needed to prove humanity’s worth in the series finale. Keen to keep the character on board, Q travelled to Deep Space Nine during it’s experimental phase and, thankfully, never returned once the show found it’s footing in more grounded story telling.
But Voyager was right there. Another show where the ridiculous can happen, and who else was more ridiculous than Q? But his introduction to Captain Janeway was far from the silliness of his reputation and despite some weirdness down the line, Death Wish was one of his more sombre outings thanks to the challenge of his other Q, or Quinn as he’d eventually call himself for ease.
Quinn’s struggle was very on theme with what the Q Continuum was. All powerful immortals lording over the galaxy who knew everything, saw everything and had nothing more to learn. The whimsical Q had spent his Trek tenure jumping on board the Enterprise to play morality and guide Picard in the right direction, but what happens when he’s not found a distraction? It turns out…. nothing. The Continuum used to be a lively place of debate, humour and knowledge shared from all over the universe. But in living forever, there’s nothing more to say and all the joys of life have been replaced by eternal isolation.
After some of the usual Q shenanigans, with the pair using their powers to get the silliness out the way early on, the episode mostly plays out as a hearing with Q reluctantly playing by the rules, letting Quinn’s asylum request play out and Federation rules apply. Quinn pleads his case in a hearing while Q stands in for his people.
It’s fairly dark for a Q episode, and fairly enlightening in pulling back the curtain to show life on the other side. Among the debates is a trip to the Continuum itself. Just translated in a visual way to allow human minds to comprehend how bleak it is – using a barren desert highway with disengaged and silent inhabitants to highlight that where they once thrived, the Q are now just surviving in silence. Quinn refuses to spend eternity with his life behind him, just existing to exist in misery and, despite the usual overly sci-fi analogy, the whole concept of Quinn fighting for the right to end his suffering is an obvious one.
For an episode that starts with two Q’s playing hide and seek, the story ends up being a standout with a compelling story told with guest star Gerrit Graham giving a wonderful performance that pushes some difficult questions as a Q who just wants the right to die on his own terms.
Aside from being a good story that comes together nicely in the final act, when Quinn does win his case and is granted mortality, his choice to euthanise himself instead of exploring humanity also opened up a few new doors for Q to return; shaking up the status quo of the Continuum and starting a second life for the TNG trickster.
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