Marill Re-Reads "Disconnected"

"I've been talking with Foster and I believe that Ensign Stuart has fooled us all. I checked the federation database. Stuart's sister was killed only a few metres away from her house. They never found out who killed her, people believe that she was raped but if it was Stuart then I doubt that was the case.

Seriously? Okay.

1) Only a few metres from the house? That's a load of crap. And I'm not saying this because I've since retconned it (I'm very honest with these reviews, I'm sure you've noticed, so I'm proud to reveal that no, nothing about this back story was changed), nope, the doubt is cast in this very episode so yeah, keep reading.

2) The "people believe" part at least backs up my theory that Tuvok only got an extremely barebones report on this event. Which sorta makes me forgive him for the next point...

3) I get Foster, he's a weirdo. Tuvok though should instantly question the thought that James was a suspect in his sister's murder when rape was involved. Putting extremely gross incest implications aside, he was three years old. THREE! Why does Tuvok roll with that James has fooled us nonsense and then immediately doubt it because duh, James was barely out of nappies when this happened. F$$$$ hell, just admit you're trying to force the dramatics, Foster did just fine on his own.

Next to die was his father.

LOL FLASHBACK PLEASE

The officials believed that the shuttle was rigged so it would crash. 

NOW THIS IS NEWS TO ME

Come on, this guy beat up his three year old son to "toughen him up", the kid's neck was bruised. What's worse is HE GOT AWAY WITH IT. Do you reaaaally think this guy didn't have a line, or a packed stadium worth of people that wanted to kill him? Try harder.

The next to die was his mother.

Oh dear

James and his step father didn't go with her to the Trafford Centre because Stuart thought she could take care of herself.

HANG ON

Sexist Crap Count: 1

James' mum totally died because she dared to leave her house without Y chromosones. What was she thinking, she totally deserved to die in a place she went to every day.

He was wrong, she was brutally attacked

Sarcasm aside, the previous examples were to not subtley accuse James of killing his family. You can't spin this one. I mean you could've, but you didn't.

But hey, why am I looking for logic in this? James' mum went on her daily shopping binge to her favourite place, was attacked randomly and it's James' fault because he couldn't be bothered to carry her bags? The way it's worded you'd think this Trafford Centre was a mafia boss' territory, not some old fogey shopping centre in the middle of England in the 24th century.

Oh and Test of Time really shouldn't have glossed over this part of James' backstory. Sheesh.

Oh 2, how come I've never had someone tease James for having a crush on a girl who loves clothes AND a mother who insisted on going shopping everyday. Explains why he kept calling Jessie mum. Brb gagging

The next to die was his step father. He was part of the Marquis massacre. It was Stuart's idea to join the Marquis," Tuvok said.

FLASHBACK:

"My friend that works in the Marquis said that he saw her on a ship patrolling the Bad Lands. He's offered us a place, if you're interested," John said.

LIES DETECTED

"And you believe that James is responsible for all their deaths," Jessie asked.

"Yes," Tuvok replied.

James didn't kill them, but f$$$$$ hell, I'm glad you threw this at Jessie instead. Tell James this and he'd be hanging himself by dinner time. You read a file like his and you think "jesus this guy's been through the ringer, poor sod," not "HOLY CRAP HE KILLED THEM ALL"

Again, Disconnected really pumps the paranoia. And despite my whinging I actually love it.

"What a load of bull s**t. James is not a killer," Jessie said.

Okay correction, I love most of it. James IS a killer. That's why this story is happening. People are being murdered, they have a recent murderer on their ship, so people will jump to conclusions. THAT'S THE SODDING POINT

That settles it, I'm introducing the one episode only counter. Disconnected's will be how many times does this conversation get copy and pasted, with minor tweaks:

Character 1: JAMES DID IT
Character 2: JAMES WOULD NEVER KILL SOMEONE
Character 1: LOL EXCEPT FOR WHEN HE KILLED SOMEONE JUST LAST "WEEK"
Character 2: WAH THAT DOESN'T COUNT, IT WAS A CRIME OF PASSION

JAMES IS NOT A KILLLLERRR Count: 5

I'm starting to think this "is not a killer" malarky is just not written the way it is meant to be implied. Even now I'm struggling to reword it. I think every instance of this is the person saying basically, "James usually only kills when s$$$'s already hit the fan, you know only bad people." Because everytime it's said, it's when someone's accusing James of killing someone because they were going to blab a secret that's gonna be found out anyway. Or being Lilly.

It's hard to love an episode that keeps making the same mistakes.

"Why do you think he never told you how they all died, excluding his father?" Tuvok asked.

"I doubt he would want to talk about it, he was probably upset about it all," Jessie said.

Yep.

Wait, probably?

Another flaw I've noticed and should've sooner, especially when Foster was added to the mix, was that Tuvok really shouldn't be swept into this paranoid/jumping to conclusions JAMES IS KILLING US ALL panicathon. I think the reboot of this needs to address this one way or another, because it's too much OOCness, even for FV... Season Two anyway

"Maybe. I have one more question for you. Did you know that he's in love with you?" Tuvok asked.

SEE

Tuvok wouldn't ask this.

Marill's Playing With Her Dolls Again: 2

"We were forced to check his personal logs to help with the investigation. This new piece of evidence shows why he has been violent with people who have at least insulted you," Tuvok said.

Oh look, it's the other repeating chestnut that I hate. And lol, this evidence is James' personal logs. What the hell does James write/talk about in these things? I'm picturing a teenager scratching James hearts Jessie together 4eva and lots of X's into a bus shelter. Sheesh

"No, I bloody well didn't. Danny only told me that he had a little crush on me but I didn't believe her. And for this I totally hate you," Jessie said.

Um, okay?

So you believe Tuvok then?

Because he's been so rational, anti-gossip and fact oriented so far, he's got to be correct? LMAO

Marill's Playing With Her Dolls Again: 3

"I don't understand," Tuvok said.

"You wouldn't. And you probably never will," Jessie said.

Um ouch

I do get it. Jessie's going to have this love thing on her mind whenever she's around him. Interactions legitimised her "dating James=fallout" fears, it's happened before, she doesn't want that to happen again. Love's a bit harder to get over than a crush, so yeah, I get it.

The Delta Flyer:
James was in the back part of the shuttle, just sitting on the chair.

Just A Little Bit More: 1

He heard a noise coming from the next room. He picked up a phaser and he hurried into the next room. L'Arana was sitting at the helm. She turned the chair to face him.

"I knew you'd come here. People always come here to hide," she said.

They do? Tom will be pissed

Run away would make more sense

"Well, firstly I'm here because my friends are here too. Secondly, I am a little responsible, I think. You see, death is a beautiful time, and me and my friends think it doesn't come quick enough for some people so we help them. True it's painful for them. Now if you'll excuse me, I've gotta go and assist another killing," L'Arana replied and she walked straight thought the shuttle's hull.

My head hurts

James ran out of the shuttle. He saw L'Arana walk through the shuttle bay doors. He followed her through the doors, but as soon as he did that he lost sight of her. Suddenly he heard a scream. He ran towards the source.

He saw Naomi lying on the ground with her neck badly broken. She had the number thirty two calved onto her forehead. The console at the side was smashed so it looked like she had been thrown against it.

Oh s$$$, neck break's are James' thing. He's going down.

"Morgan, are you okay?" Craig's voice asked.

"No, that James attacked me, Naomi is hurt," Morgan's voice said. Foster, Craig and Morgan appeared from around the corner.

Oh dear, at this rate there's going to be a public execution

"Did that jerk hurt you that much?" Craig asked. Something about his voice disturbed James. Morgan was definitely acting differently too, but Foster didn't notice.

Yeeaaah, I think it's at this moment I can stop beating around the bush.... Morgan's clearly not herself.

"He twisted my arm, the last time somebody did that it took ages to heal. Do something about it," Morgan said.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of him personally, for you," Craig said.

Foster and James felt really sick when they saw Morgan and Craig kissing.

YEP THOUGHT SO

I do like that Disconnected's showing and not telling. We don't know for certain how long Morgan's been like this. My guess is when she had that first hallucination after the Craig smooch. YES, GUESS, I DON'T REMEMBER. This is a good thing, sometimes it's fun when you don't know everything that'll happen.

"Uhoh, somebody else is coming," Morgan said. She collapsed to the floor. James saw L'Arana come out of Morgan's body. She smiled at him and she headed down the corridor. She walked straight through Emma. Emma was just staring at Naomi's body.

Hmm although I'm still baffled by the friends remark earlier. I thought I misremembered something when she said that. I clearly haven't.

"Cool!" she giggled. She looked up at James. He saw that she had a ghostly looking number thirty three on her forehead. It disappeared a few seconds later. "Why is he looking at me like that?" Emma asked.

Oh :(  Just when things were getting interesting too.

"He can't kill me, I'm not easy to kill," Emma said. They all heard Morgan getting up. All of a sudden Emma found herself being pulled down the corridor. James had a tight grip on her wrist and she couldn't get away.

Hang on James, hang on. You saw the ghost leave. If Emma was the next target and btw was the "someone coming" that triggered her leaving, then where are you going? What are you doing? How does this make you look? You only have a bad feeling about Craig, who btw may have been a bit OTT but nothing he did was really out of character right now. Morgan acting like a damsel and flirting with him would make him act all extreme-macho, it's canon at this point, look at Fair Haven 2.

Craig noticed and he tried to fire on them but they had already gone down the corridor

Ahem. This doesn't prove him right. We don't know who Craig was shooting at.

A little further down the corridor Emma kicked James in the leg and she pulled herself out of his grip. She quickly headed down the corridor. She turned to face him. "You can't kill me, you've got to do better than that," she said.

"No, I'm trying to help you," James said.

"To hell you are," Emma said. Suddenly the person in the black cloak appeared behind her and a large knife had gone straight through her stomach. The cloaked person pulled it out and he or she ran down the corridor.

Oh, cloaked person could be a she now? Make up your mind.

Little tip if you're being framed for a killing spree; don't kidnap possible victims and drag them down into an empty room/area. If I were James, I'd be hanging out in the Mess Hall or the Bridge, witnesses and alibis are good.

Trouble with James though is he cannot help himself. If someone's in trouble he'll jump in, no hesitation, and it almost always backfires on him. Get used to seeing this.

"I was in my quarters when I felt something strange. The next thing I know I'm waking up near Naomi's dead body. I have no idea how I got there," Morgan said.

Hurray, a seed of doubt!

"Stuart must have brainwashed you to help him kill Naomi. That explains why you were acting funny, and why you said that Stuart had attacked you," Foster said.

Oh yeah sure, James can brainwash people now. No one's gonna believe that, they're not that far down the paranoid hole.

"Well, Craig was acting funny too. You two started kissing for no reason," Foster replied. Kathryn and Chakotay felt ill.

"She was definitely brainwashed," Kathryn muttered.

Oh. God damn it Foster

Remember how with Lee there was a motive, a fight etc... Before they established that they did consider other suspects. Then he was suspected because he found the next victim. Now it's like, OMG JAMES MUST'VE BRAINWASHED PEOPLE, OMG I BET HE EATS BABIES TOO, QUICK GET THE GUILLOTINE and even though you know he's not doing it, you get why they're making these leaps. James isn't doing himself any favours.

In: "Anderson to Janeway. I have found a blood stained knife on deck ten."

"Speak of the devil," Chakotay muttered.

foreshadowing

"Oh come on, I doubt it would be his fault. He was probably at the wrong place at the wrong time," Morgan said.

Well yes WE know that Morgan, but after finding Lilly's corpse the suspension of disbelief starts to fade.

"We'd better restrict you to quarters, Morgan. Just in case you're brainwashed again," Kathryn said.

"But..." Morgan muttered.

"No buts, it's for your own safety," Kathryn said. Morgan groaned and she left the room.

"Foster, is Tuvok still interviewing Jessie?" Chakotay asked.

Yeah, Morgan's been brainwashed or possessed by a ghost, best leave her alone. Great plan.

Meanwhile in the Security Office:

Tuvok: Did you know that James once left his dirty socks on the bathroom floor, and they got all soggy and stuff. I wonder why he didn't tell you that.

Jessie: OMG JAMES IS NOT A SLOB, HE'D NEVER MAKE A MESS

Tuvok: Have you seen his room?

Jessie: The socks weren't in his room, they tried to kill me, IT DOESN'T COUNT

(I only make myself laugh, I know)

Kathryn, Chakotay and Foster rushed onto the Bridge. They saw that James had walked onto the Bridge. Harry and Tom were aiming phasers at him as they walked closer to him.

James, what are you doing, there's more than 2 people here.

"I'd just thought I'd tell you that Emma's body is in the Cargo Bay," James said quietly. Everyone just looked confused. Kathryn tapped her commbadge.

"Janeway to Tuvok, please report to the Bridge," she said.

Just A Little Bit More: 2

Yeah I'm confused too. Why did he take her there of all places, and leave?

The turbolift doors opened and Tuvok and Jessie came onto the Bridge. Tom took a hold of her arm to hold her back. Tuvok nodded at Foster. He walked over and they both took a hold of James.

"Don't tell me you're arresting him," Jessie said and she tried to pull herself out of Tom's grip. Tuvok and Foster gently pulled James towards the turbolift. "But he hasn't done anything," she said.

Sigh. This is where the originality starts to really slip away, and it's a shame too. This and a later scene are big moments. And despite my joke, James finally makes a right move here turning himself in for arrest.

"I thought you might be able to help me find out who that woman is, the one he said he saw in the Conference Room," Jessie said.

"I'm not a miracle worker," Morgan said.

"No, you told me that you saw a girl in an hallucination. I thought she might be the same one, if it is then there must be a link," Jessie said.

"How do you know what the girl looked like, did he tell you?" Morgan asked.

"He said that it was L'Arana. I saw her dead body on the planet," Jessie said.

That's a convenient leap you made there, Jess.

"Not necessarily, this woman could be linked with the killings," Jessie said.

"But how? She's dead," Morgan said.

I didn't want to quote the whole thing. Jessie keeps trying to figure this out and ask questions, while previously supportive Morgan shuts her down.

"This is crazy, Tuvok already has a strong case on James, there's no way that this farfetched idea would convince him otherwise," Morgan said.

"Uhoh, mum's back. I don't think she would appreciate you being here," Morgan said. She looked around. She took a hold of Jessie's arm and she pulled her over to the cupboard. "Hide in here, I'll try and get her into another room," Morgan said. She pushed Jessie into the cupboard and she closed the door. Kathryn walked into the room.

"Morgan, what are you doing in my room?" Kathryn asked.

Yeah um. If you're still reading along with me and haven't yet recognised the episode's inspiration, then you might not have seen it. It's not just this scene, the previous one had near identical lines and event thefts too. Until these last few scenes the episode's tried to be different, with the exception of one little detail about the murders which was stolen from the beginning. If you didn't spot that, it's likely again you haven't seen the inspiration.

It doesn't excuse it though. Disconnected was half decent until this point. It's not like the episode was failing and needed fixing, what happened here was obviously laziness or heck, maybe Disconnected wasn't being written quick enough. I mean that Jessie/Morgan scene did reek of not solving the mystery quick enough so character guesses right-ism.

Jessie sighed, something in the cupboard caught her eye. She knelt down and she picked up a pen knife. She recognised it, it was the same pen knife that James had lost two days ago. She snuck out of the cupboard and she quietly snuck out of the quarters.

Yep we're in winging it territory now. The episode's pulling certain things from its ass so it can copy its inspiration word for word now. It was fun while it lasted folks.

"Hi, can you remove the forcefield?" she asked.

"Since it's you I think I will. You can watch him, I need to go and meet someone," Thompson said.

WHAT?

I mean yeah it's highly unlikely that Jessie would be a victim of his (and keep that detail in mind), but she's exactly the type who'd break him out of the brig. Fool.

He thought, "finally, I can meet Laura in the turbolift. Lets hope that James gets that stupid little cow Jessie. I'd get the blame but who cares, she'd finally be dead."

WHAT?

You get a personality now and that's it? Why does he want her dead? This never comes up again. If anything it's James he doesn't get along with. I know I know, that was written after this. Still, waaaaaaaah!? You're just making crap up so they can be alone together, admit it past Marill.

Jessie walked over to where James was. He was lying on the bed with his back to her.

"James, I've found your knife. It was in Janeway's closet.

WHAT KNIFE?

WHY DOES JAMES HAVE A PEN KNIFE, SO MANY QUESTIONS

Also I think that L'Arana is responsible for the four deaths. You haven't done anything wrong," she said

Funny thing is, James knows this already. That's not why he turned himself in.

I mean one of the reasons was because the MC of the inspiration did it. However the other reason ties in with the original aspects of the episode, so it's not all bad.

She sat down next to him, and she tried to turn him over to face her but he just pushed her hand away. "Oh come on, don't do this," Jessie said.

Oooph, that's gotta hurt

She stood up. "What has that s**t head, Foster, been telling you? You're not responsible for anybody's death."

JAMES IS NOT A KILLLLERRR Count: 6

Okay it's not the same conversation we've read 5 times already, and with the rest of the line I think she means "You're not responsible for your family's death." Unlike the previous versions of this remark, I could change the line so it means what I assume she means. It wasn't hard so no benefit of the doubt here.

"I don't want to hurt you, Jess," he said quietly. Jessie turned around again.

"Don't give me that crap. Why would you hurt me?" Jessie said.

"I've killed everyone else who's cared about me, why not you," James said.

1) God damn past me for writing an important character developy scene using quotes from something else. It's not a quotable/memorable line or whatever, but I know it's from the film and so I only see that character saying it, not James. My brain hates me.

2) Jessie's is half original, and thankfully the original half leads us to...

3) 

DAMN

"What makes you think you've killed anybody?" Jessie asked.

GOD DAMN IT JESSIE

JAMES IS NOT A KILLLLERRR Count: 7

Twice in one scene, exact same mistake. Stop using anybody, you look stupid!

Anyway exposition paragraph time and it's rough, but not in the usual way

"When I was three I ran away from my sister. She went after me. When the police found me and took me back to my parents, I found out that my sister was raped while she was looking. My dad hated me for it, that's why he started beating me. Then he was killed in a shuttle crash, maybe it wouldn't of happened if my sister was still alive," James said.

You probably know this but like many writers of "shows" I've changed a few things along the way when new ideas conflict with past episodes. Then of course when you look at the past episodes a reader/watcher would be like "oy, wait a minute!" James is one of them, even though he has been violent in older episodes, you can't argue that Season Two's been screaming at you to forget Season One James and accept the "new" one has been "this way" the whole time.

However this backstory right here, this isn't one of them. It hasn't been edited, it hasn't been retconned later.

I'm not bringing that up because it's rare for me to not change backstories. Throughout the ReReads I've spotted plenty of hints or even direct scenes/lines that prove later developments were in the pipelines even in the FANFIC DIMENSION era. However they're obvious to me, I'm not sure if they are to you. This paragraph though is direct and detailed enough it cannot be argued with, it's right there in literal black and white. A certain episode that references all of this didn't change a thing. It merely filled in the gaps.

"That's just stupid," Jessie said.

"It's not. I even killed my mother and step father. I told him that mum could take care of herself but she got murdered at the Trafford just because I said that. Then I dragged by step dad into the Marquis where he was one of the ones slaughtered. You see, everyone that cared about me was killed because of me," James said.

Oh James, you lost me. I feel for you, but you lost me.

You think your mother died because you did what, jynxed her? I don't get what you're saying here. I get that he blames himself for his mum's death, it's natural to think "what if I was there, I could've stopped it." What bugged me was that Tuvok and/or Foster did it in a "he didn't escort a lady and now she's dead, murderer" way. The way James has worded it though is odd.

Gah, read it again. I'm keeping above as it's really not written well. What else is new? I THINK James meant; "I told my step father she'd be okay, he agreed and didn't go with her. If he was there she might not have died/been targetted. It's my fault."

And then we have him insisting it was his idea to join the Marquis. It's almost like Tuvok was basing his accusations on James' personal logs and not the actual case files. Go back to the scene and then re-read James' "confession". It's worded so similarly. Shoddy writing... again what else is new?

"Shut up! It's not your bloody well fault! You didn't kill anyone in your family, do you understand me?" Jessie snapped. She tried to calm herself down. She sat back down next to him, he turned away from her. "I'm sorry I yelled, but it's the truth. Oh for god's sake, look at me," Jessie said.

Conflicted! Jessie handles this poorly and shouts at him as if he's an idiot, telling him to shut up, and as expected James retreats. It's not an out of character moment though, even if the last line isn't truly hers. She's rude but in a Jessie way. God damn. I'm gonna cheat like I've done once before, give her a point and take one away for this. Evened out.

He slowly turned to face her again. She saw that tears were starting to come down his face. She used her own hand to wipe them away. She stood up and she faced the door. He stood up, she turned around to face him again. They started hugging each other.

I'd like this bit a whole lot more if it was mine.

Every little detail here is ripped off. Including this

When they pulled apart James noticed that she had the number thirty four on her forehead.

Welp definitely packing it up folks. I think there's only one scene left that's of any value, the rest is Marill walking down a snow covered bank. So basically the story slips barely, gives up and catches the bus.

I mean come on, with what we know so far HOW DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE?

Just in case, SPOILERS for the rest of the episode, not that I think it goes there again since we're in ripoff territory now: First victim was someone James had an argument with and hit. Second was in the vicinity of him and so he found her first. Third, James was lured out by the ghost to find her. Fourth was a bit iffy as we dunno what the killer(s) intent was here, James just grabbed the victim to get them away with at least one person around to witness it.

It's clear, I dunno why I'm dumbing it down tbh, he's being framed for this. So why, WHY when he's locked up and cannot be framed anymore, do he/she/they pick Jessie to kill next? It's not like she's their only choice, Thompson left the "cell" open, so James could get out. No one's going to believe James killed Jessie. This whole suspect thing started because they thought he was being extremely overprotective of her. This is a dumb move. But what am I saying, we have to follow someone else's plot now, sense be damned.

"What number?" Jessie asked. Suddenly James saw a ghostly form step through the door, it had a cloak on just like the murderer.

OH OF COURSE CLOAK GUY IS A GHOST TOO. IT'S NOT LIKE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN MURDERED BY KNIVES, SLAMMED INTO WALLS, OR TAKEN OVER BY GHOSTS TO DO SAID THINGS.

NOPE. THE KILLER HAS TO BE ABLE TO ATTACK IN GHOST FORM NOW BECAUSE...

"The only person who could fight a ghost is another ghost, that's only way we're going to be able to stop him," James muttered.

WE CAN'T STAY ORIGINAL FOR TOO LONG OR PAST MARILL'S SKIN STARTS TO BURN.

I'm getting ahead of myself though. We've got this little gem before the last quote happens:

"We've got company," Jessie said. James turned around and he saw the ghost coming through the Jeffries Tube.

"Make that double," he muttered. Jessie continued to crawl down the tube towards Foster, then she got to the end.

I GOT RID OF THE MOTTO COUNT

I THOUGHT THE POINT OF THIS BABY AND KILLER ARC WAS TO SHED YOUR TEAM ROCKET ROOTS COMPLETEY

DAMN IT JAMES, I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU

Anyway, they get away from both the ghost who now doesn't need to possess anyone to do its work, or is just scaring them for s$$$s and giggles, and Foster.

"The only person who could fight a ghost is another ghost, that's only way we're going to be able to stop him," James muttered. He started fiddling with the phaser.

"What are you doing?" Jessie asked.

"Setting this thing to kill. It's the only way," James replied. He finished adjusting the phaser and then he pointed it at his own head.

Hey guys relax, it's not like he points a real gun at his head.... I'm as surprised as you.

"It's the only way I can save you," James said. He got ready to fire it. Jessie grabbed his arm and she pulled the phaser from his hands.

Then Jessie smacks him with it until he agrees on a better plan. The plot finally continues on the path it should've been and Marill only stops to whine at further HE'S NOT A KILLER comments.

"What do I need to do?" the Doctor asked.

"I need to be killed, temporarily," James said.

HAHAHAHA don't be silly, we're following a script now people.

And also... HAHAHAHHAHAHA. The Doc couldn't even do an abortion without having a crisis, but then again he was totally fine about harvesting James' organs via blackmail so I'm betting he'll be cool with this.

"I won't be dead for long. If you put a forcefield around me and remove the air for ten minutes, and revive me after another five, I'll still be all right," James said.

Doc: WOAH NELLY, YOU HAD ME AT "KILL ME". I'M IN DIRE NEED OF A HEART

"Haven't you forgotten, you only have one lung now. It maybe harder to revive you than you may think," the Doctor said.

OH YEAH DOC AND WHY IS THAT, HUH HUH

"You have to do it or you'll be trying to revive Jessie instead," James said.

I don't see why that's a problem. Lee was in a coma last we heard. I doubt we're killing off newly upgraded Naomi and super awesome Lilly. What a drama queen, calm down.

"I may be able to get rid of the ghost, if I'm one too," James said.

"I don't believe this is actually happening," the Doctor muttered.

HAHAHAHA, EVEN BEST EPISODE OF THE SEASON RESISTANCE HAS COPYCAT S$$$ IN IT DOC. GET WITH THE PROGRAM

JUST BE GRATEFUL YOU DON'T HAVE TO MAGIC UP A FREEZER TO DO THIS

"You've got to do it, or I'll deactivate your program and do it myself," James said.

That's a great plan, Jamesy. It's up there with violently kidnap a potential murder victim to save her whilst being a murder suspect, and pop party. NEVER FORGET

Doc agrees because he's missing a pancreas for his collection

"You don't have to do this," she said.

Whoops, forgot in all this madness

Jessie's Sin Points: +10

It's copying a film I know. Still doesn't change the fact that Jessie stops James from shooting himself in the head, doesn't berate him for it but instead says she has a better idea. Said better idea seems to be suffocate James for five minutes so he can have an epic bobble fight with a ghost, bring him back even though he had a lung removed a few days ago. Oh and there's no actual proof that this killer is a ghost. They're assuming. It could be like those aliens in Cathexis. James could be killing himself for nothing.

This scene could've been changed to be less copycat but it'd still be marked because Jessie would never be okay with James killing himself for her, even if it is temporary. Which isn't guaranteed because again one lung and instead of freezing him to death like the film, the episode's chosen the no air approach.

But still, it leads to this

"I do, I'm not going to let another person I care about die," James said. She kissed him lightly on the lips.

Now in the film it's a typical "we've only met yesterday" couple, so the killing themselves thing is even more baffling. I think it's a cheek kiss but I could be wrong. I react to it how I usually do with movie romances; eye rolls.

This though, much more weight there ... if you ignore the OOC'ness of Jessie earlier. This isn't Upendi or Fair Haven, they're not drunk. It's not a cheek kiss like all the others. She knows, or at least is convinced he's got feelings for her. She's been petrified about losing him lately. It's a meaningful sweet kiss and it melts my icy rage for the time being.

It's like your kid's trashed your house and drank all the Cherry Coke, but then looks at you with big pouty eyes, cute as can be. You soften, "aaaaaaaaw." But the house is still a wreck in the background. "NICE TRY, NOW GO WATCH JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE VIDEOS" The kid cries, calling you the worst mother in the world and THEY'RE RIGHT, I WOULD BE. BE THANKFUL KID THAT'LL NEVER EXIST, YOU'RE WELCOME

The Doctor and Jessie heard the doors open.

"Computer deactivate the Doctor, and disable his reactivation authorization," Foster said. The Doctor disappeared.

Ohnoes the creepy guy who's been convinced James is a homicidal mass murderer who killed his family has arrived to screw up this flawless plan. I'm so shocked, i never saw it coming.

"I find graveyards to be very peaceful places," Foster replied.

Ohno, he's gonna flash his scars at her any second now.

"Son of a b**ch!" Jessie screamed. Foster jumped in fright but he still kept the phaser aimed at her. "Take me back to Voyager now! You bloody creep!" Jessie yelled.

At least Damsel in Distress has the excuse that she's handcuffed to a seat. What's your excuse Jessie? Phaser? Pfft

Elsewhere on the planet:
The ghost with the black cloak had attacked James' ghost.

I cannot begin to describe my disgust at this line. I can't even explain why it annoys me. FV is full of stilted narration. It still is.

James heard some bricks falling from a nearby building. He noticed that it was ready to collapse, so he got out of the way.

If the ghost killer did this, I'd be like WHY, WWWWWWWWWHHHHHY

James though isn't used to being one, so instinctual. I'll let you off Disconnected, that's your last one though.

The ghost didn't notice and he started laughing evilly. Suddenly the building toppled over and it landed on top of him.

Then he walks out as if nothing happened, BECAUSE HE'S A F$$$$$ GHOST

RIGHT!?!?!?!?!

James saw some of the cloak had ripped all over the place. A very familiar ghost stepped out from the rubble.

WHAT

Oh god

Ok, I'm basing this on memory so bare with me. In the film the ghost can interact with people and objects, that's how he can carry out the murders. The film is inconsistent about what objects can affect him. The MC decloaks him I think because he rips the scythe from him during the ghost v ghost bout, which I assume breaks the Death facade/illusion the guy was sporting. His identity was also revealed before this during the fight.

In that I could buy, it's stretching it though, that a building collapse might temporarily ruin his disguise. He could've been in a more solid mode to attack someone when it happened, I dunno.

Here. NOPE. The episode's hinted that the ghost needed other alive people to carry out everything. This makes zero sense and what's worse, it isn't even a copycat thing that contradicts my original material. It's a new way of doing it to avoid James having a fight scene. He could've done the same thing as the film MC quite easily. Or to hurry the story along as the ghost versus ghost scene is quite long and IMO drags; chase sequence, rescue Jessie's character from Foster, graveyard fight, identity reveal, ghost foreshadowing, another fight, decloaking.

Anyway this review is proving to me that Season Two needs a better way of doing these Re-Reads. I can't have them be bigger than current episode releases.

"I only got a score of twenty nine, I needed to kill more to add to my score. Now my score is thirty three," Sotjin said as he laughed. Sotjin picked up the scythe he had with his cloak. "I suppose if I destroy your ghost it may count as a point in my score," Sotjin said.

I should check if the count is right. In the film I'm sure they get it wrong. A later kill FV rips off doesn't get added to the total, I'm sure. I dunno when I noticed the mistake so it might be repeated.

Also doing a search for scythe; yep, this is the first mention of it. FU second half of Disconnected, you unoriginal chump of wasted potential. This could've been a great episode even in present day, but you couldn't help yourself could you!

ANyway because again I was for some reason allergic to making James fight people (even his kill and Lee punching was "offscreen" ffs), we get this instead:

"Oh my god, is that L'Arana behind you?" James asked. Sotjin turned to look but he didn't see anybody. He felt the scythe being pulled out of his hands. Sotjin's only option was to run.

Don't worry Sotjin, James can't do anything as long as the scene doesn't end.

The graveyard:
"Stop yelling at me!" Foster moaned.

Oops RIP Sotjin, again again.

Anyway cos I'm sick of quoting the barebones copying stuff, I'll sum the story that's ripped off. Jessie screams at Foster to disarmament, and beams back. Doc is reactivated to revive James, but it's too soon, James didn't get to finish the job in time, so apart from the obviousish killer reveal, that was for nothing.

Jessie then decides to recruit Morgan despite her recent brainwashing/possession, only Janeway is there. Jessie brings up the phantom convenient pen knife James had to have for the ripoff plot. Janeway's like wtf were you in my room for, instead of wondering why a knife was there (tho that's an issue I have with the film IMO too), and storms off to her room. Morgan follows.

Jessie waits. Morgan returns with Sotjin lingering around her. He's like I wanna kill her, even though 1) James isn't around to frame, he's probably getting organs removed, and 2) the incy detail that killing Jessie will ruin the James suspicion everyone has.

Sotjin calls Morgan Lara, which is a nickname for L'Arana we assume, but since he's talking to Morgan it only adds confusion.

Oh and suddenly Jessie killing falls into the revenge category, which I guess makes sense NOW after his offscreen fight with James. But beforehand James was nothing but a pawn and so it made no sense then.

Morgan makes it super obvious that she's possessed and/or hanging out with a ghost when she starts stroking Sotjin's cheek. Jessie's like um... ookay, but sticks around while they leave her alone again. Morgan/Lara grabs a knife.

Jessie meanwhile discovers Janeway murdered in her bed. And I'm reminded of a neat little detail at the beginning of the episode, when it was trying to be a different thing. James wasn't the only suspect at the beginning. They narrowed down the list to people hanging around at the time, James was one because duh he'd just left, but the other was Morgan. It seems so random or force Morgan into plot-y, but its a nice little clue that was so long ago you might've forgot.

Anyway Jessie's attacked by Morgan, only saved by closing the door in her face. But Morgan has a phaser and starts to shoot her way in. It works, and Jessie not only grapples with her, she gets the rifle off her. So nice one Jess considering Morgan's the super saiyan/Slayer/Sue at this point. Morgan/Lara is offended by this and chucks her into the glass table, because why else is it there?

Meanwhile James runs into Craig on route to see Morgan. There's a nice little foreshadow/hint to next episode when Craig can't forcefully pull open the main door but James does, not with Craig's help, the text mentions him moving away. They find Jessie but no Morgan..... okay some different stuff here, so quoting:

He moved away from the door, James managed to open it. They both saw Jessie lying where the glass table used to be. Craig and James rushed over to her.

"What happened here?" James asked.

"Morgan, she attacked me," Jessie said. 

So Morgan/Lara had the upper hand, was last seen beating Jessie with the rifle, but got bored, left and locked the door behind her? Sure??? Did past Marill forget how the character Jessie's using got out of this?

Suddenly they were all being attacked by phaser fire. They all hid behind the couch.

Oh, okay fine, she was waiting for them. Morgan/Lara still didn't kill Jessie when she could've.

More stupid incoming:

Craig picked up a container that was lying behind there. James noticed and he took it off Craig.

"What are you doing?" Craig asked.

"This might come in handy," James said.

"How?" Jessie asked.

"I could try and trap our ghost friend in here," James said.

Lol if you think this is stupid, YOU ARE NOT PREPARED

"It's a plastic container, for some reason spirits can't pass through them," James said.

I told you. I'm guessing Doc harvested a brain before letting James go.

Just what the hell was James doing whilst ghosting around that he found this out?

Why plastic? Was that building made of plastic? Why did the container have to be plastic anyway? WHY FULL STOP? PLASTIC!!"!"

BECAUSE THE GHOST, HAVING BEEN INJURED YEP, RETREATS BACK TO HIS URN AND THE MC'S CLOSE THE LID, KEEPING HIM OUT OF THE ACTION FOR 10 MINUTES. IT'S A THING

Morgan looked over the couch and she aimed the rifle at them again. They managed to get away again. Sotjin appeared and he tried to get Craig. James rushed over as Sotjin tried to move himself into Craig's body. Instead he got himself into the container.

This bit's reminded me once more of Disconnected second half's complete disregard for the intended storyline, and it's pissed me off. I wondered in a braindead moment, what if instead of the PLASTIC container, he went into James instead. Then I mentally slapped myself. He can't, or he would've used him in the first place. The episode sets up everything nicely, and it's all ignored for this claptrap. I won't go into the details because it'll spoil the reboot (though I think I did years ago in History somewhere). Bugs me greatly, and plastic being ghost proof is not helping.

Disconnected insults us more by stating the obvious about the posessions because it's so vague and no one could've figured it out by now........*headdesk*

"I know it's a long shot but we could try and send him to the other side, using a chapel of some sort," Craig said.

"For all we know there is no afterlife. For all we know when we die we turn into ghosts and that's the end of it," Jessie said.

Stop trying to make any sense Jessie, that's not allowed.

Though we're forgetting James can see ghosts at the moment. Whether it's all or just these two bad guys, it's not clear. If it's the former, where are all the ghosts? FV has its own lore regarding death and afterlife, but it's not fully established here I'm sure (PLASTIC!) and yet so far nothing really's contradicted it (PLASTIC!), which is nice.

"Then since I'm the highest ranking person here I have decided that we should find a chapel," Craig said. He stood up and he walked out of the shuttle.

Jessie is like "oookay?" but goes along with it.

"I don't know. As soon as it left the bay I lost their signal, they could be anywhere," Harry replied.

"I wonder if they're on the planet," Tom muttered.

"Yeah right," everyone said.

Disconnected continues to insult our intelligence. I'm not amused and I don't even have that much.

What they all didn't know was that Foster was still in the city and he was watching their every move.

Of course, can't stray now. Hope you enjoy that hole in the head Foster. Thankfully the finale in the hospital (chapel here) is a lot shorter. We lose the flashbacks of Sotjin and Lara's killing spree, lots of wandering around a creepy place, Foster setting Sotjin free, and Morgan chasing the trio around with a phaser.

The three had made their way up several flights of stairs. Craig walked down a different corridor to James and Jessie.

God damn it Craig

It was Foster. He dragged her down the corridor. Jessie kicked him in the leg and she broke away from his grip.

You know for someone who's after James, Foster spends an awful lot of time trying to kidnap Jessie.

Foster arrived a little too late. He heard somebody coming up behind him. He pulled out another phaser and he quickly turned around. He saw nobody there. He walked around the corner again. He heard footsteps behind him again. He quickly turned around again and he saw James with his back to him, he quickly aimed his phaser at him.

Bad time to lose your stealth toes, Jamesy, but still wtf is with that paragraph? It hurts to read.

James saw Morgan had dematerialised in front of him. She was aiming the rifle at his head. He stepped backwards and he tripped and fell on a broken floorboard. The container fell to the ground and Sotjin escaped.

You had one job!

GET A LID THAT FITS, SHEESH

Morgan fired but the blast hit Foster in the head instead.

Can't say I didn't warn you, chump

The floorboard that James had fell on gave way and it made a few more collapse. He fell down and he landed on the ground floor. Morgan ran up to the edge. She couldn't see him because of all the dust so she ran towards the stairs.

Damn, James needs to go on a diet, Tom was right all along. But surely all the organs Doc's taken would've helped him lose a few pounds?

No sorry, you know once a character has a funny to me trope I don't let it go. Speaking of which, I wonder how Harry's coping with the gorry bodies overload. Bet he's having the time of his life.

The lift finally reached the bottom floor after getting stuck on the second floor. Jessie opened the door and she ran towards where James was lying. He was nearly unconscious. Jessie heard footsteps coming up behind her. Morgan used the rifle to hit her on the back of the head. She fell to the ground unconscious.

Oh yeah. MC's love interest was stuck in the lift on the same floor (well she could see that floor) as MC, saw him fall, got the lift working so she could go down the 3/4 floors to get to him. The second killer sneaks up behind her seconds later and knocks her out. Anyone see the problem? Other than FV blatantly copying said problem.

At least with Morgan you can assume cos she's the Supergirl of the series, jumped down the hole James made. It doesnt say that so I'm calling PLOTHOLE on it like I do with the film.

Morgan then kicked James in the head a few times. Before he lost consciousness he saw Craig walk up to Morgan, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. Then darkness came over him.

But who cares about that, it's uncomfortable flashback time!

Twenty four years ago, England:

WAIT: January 2377 - 24 = 2353. YOU FAIL

Ok ok, now I'm nitpicking. The event in question happened in 2352, so it's 24 and a half years ago. I'll allow it. I'm so nice.

"Debbie, you didn't give your little brother vodka again?" Susy asked.

"Of course not," Debbie said in an innocent tone. Her brother obviously looked a little drunk, then his cover was totally blown when he started hiccuping.

aaaaw??

Hurray, J/C aren't the worst parents anymore. Though we already knew Chakotay wasn't the worst dad, James' being the worst was common knowledge already.

"Debra, I don't want a drunken baby. He's bad enough sober," Peter said.

FU

"Oh dad, don't be mean," Debbie said as she picked up her three year old brother. "I think he's adorable," she said.

Ok, genuine aaaaw

Though I'm very put off with her being called Debra by her dad while the narration calls her Debbie, when before this she hadn't been named yet. It's like J/J's introduction in Hunters all over again. Neither are wrong but it's really offputting and unnecessary.

"Then you can keep him," Peter muttered as he stood up. He walked away.

FU

"Just ignore the old misery, sweet heart. I think he's cuter drunk," Susy said.

I did mention that this flashback hasn't been retconned, only filled out later, right? This will always be an accurate flashback, I wanted it so. Although the drunken toddler bit is played for laughs far too much, so not sure how much of that I filtered out in the later version. Don't misunderstand, Debbie/Debra still gives her kid brother booze in front of her parents. It still happens, the scene's presentation allowed for bits to be skipped. And I only insuated the reason why she does it in a later version, dunno if I flat out said it. The reason is chilling, it's not meant to be funny, which is how this scene tries to present it as, hence my issue with it.

"I tell you what, why don't I get you and James an ice cream. I'm sure you can handle him for five minutes," Susy said.

"That's a great idea, mum," Debbie said.

"Great" ideas run in the family I see.

Oh Marill. Bad, bad. Hang your head in shame.

Susy walked off leaving Debbie holding her drunk little brother. She put him down. "Why don't we get you some more vodka then," Debbie whispered in his ear.

Sheesh, I'm reminded of James ordering vodka seemingly unmixed in the last episode and I feel bad about making fun of him for it. I doubt it's intended how I just read it but still.

She headed over to the picnic basket and she started to look through it. She didn't notice her little brother run away from her.

:(

Thirty minutes later:

I... this feels like a mood killer. Way to go.

Also 30 MINUTES LATER?

Read through the flashbacks in Dark Clouds, obviously of this part because Part 3 is a time sink, and you tell me if all that happened in 30 minutes. I'm willing to bet it didn't and this scene wouldn't have happened immediately after. Think about it. GOD DAMN. I'M SORRY BUT THAT LINE'S GETTING NUKED, THIS S£££ IS IMPORTANT.

Susy and Peter were sitting in the police station. All they kept hearing from police officers was how bad parents they were. They both tried to ignore the comments.

BITTER "HAHAHAHAHA"

TRUTH HURTS, DOESN'T IT? PS PETER: FU

The main door opened and they both saw a police officer holding James, coming towards them. Susy jumped up and she immediately took him off the officer.

"Thank god you've found him," she was saying as she hugged her son.

Aaaaaw.......

"Where's Debbie?" Peter demanded. The officer's face dropped.

FU X10

It's a tad subtle, notice how only Susy reacts to James being found. Peter only asks about his daughter. F$$$$$ brutal

FU

"Follow me," he said. He walked down a corridor. He reached a door and he stepped inside it.

Susy and Peter saw in shock that their fourteen year old daughter was lying in a morgue.

Fair enough the parents are brought here, identifying the body and whatnot. Susy though brought the three year old with her. yeah

"I'm afraid a few of our officers found her in a nearby street, the doctor believe she was raped. I'm so sorry," the officer said. He walked away.

Ohnoes wrong detail detected!

I don't know why either. There's two possible reasons, and for once it's not me forgetting this and retconning it (I would've edited it, gawd!).

1) This is James' memory of the events. Parts are already missing *spoilercough* from the flashback, and yeah no one would remember a conversation from when they were 3 word-for word. Even if it was a traumatic event. Though it's off James remembers rape being mentioned, it's not a word he should know then, so remembering it at all is a bit fishy. Meh 16 year old Marill wouldn't have thought of that.

2) The culprit moved her... Okay nm, there's only one reason. There wasn't time for this scenario and it doesn't fit.

Peter took his son off his wife.

NO, WE NEED INCOMPETENT POLICE GUY BACK

He took him over to Debbie's dead body. "See this son, you did this. I hope you live with this for a long time," Peter said in a cold voice

FU

All that he could hear was his wife crying her eyes out.

NO SERIOUSLY, FU PETER TAYLOR

Sigh. I make every re-occuring character have something, even a smidgen of redeemable qualities so they feel more realistic, have more depth to them, some readers can like them, people can debate their actions... make them less cartoon villain (though I do like some cartoon villains). And yes, I did try with Peter Taylor but not for another two seasons. Even then he was still f$$$$$ terrible. Vagueish spoilers, he's just a weak, insecure man who intentionally chose the wrong path because it was easier for him and blames everyone else when it doesn't work out for him. I hate this guy and it's rare I hate my own characters. But at least S5 made him more human, I guess *twinge*

SO YEAH FU

The present:
James woke back up. He could see Morgan standing over him with the phaser rifle aimed at his head. Craig was just laughing as he was holding Jessie back.

It's make or break time after that flashback. He will either crumble, too shook from the memory or be motivated to badass.

The film's flashback was to show that the killers were responsible for the MC's wife's murder, and you can see none of that crap happened here. No, this scene's here because for a brief moment I remembered the bloody point of this episode was James being forced to confront his issues, his self-hating belief he's only a no good murderer, and save the day. No he doesn't instantly get over it but it opens the door to his character arc for the remainder of the series.

Morgan pressed the trigger. Nothing happened. She lost her temper with it. She started kicking James again. She then put the rifle at the front of his neck and pulled him to his feet using the rifle. She pulled him backwards with the rifle still at his neck. She held him there until he stopped breathing. She pushed him to the floor.

Yep, momentarily shook or hesitant, and it cost him dearly. Or copying off film-ist. Bit of both?

She threw away the useless rifle. She kicked James one more time. She walked away, she saw a large needle lying on a cabinet. She showed it to Craig. He shook his head. Morgan looked around again, then saw a fire axe in the wall. She pulled it away from the wall and showed Craig it.

For a moment there I was wondering where Disconnected's bloodlust ran off too.

"Oh yeah," he said. He pushed Jessie into the wall. She fell to the ground. Craig then held her down as Morgan got ready to use the axe.

Then James' ghost appeared and he pulled L'Arana out of Morgan.

I hated this film's finale, FYI. Dunno why I copied it. I'm sure there was a better way already planned that showed James hestitating due to fear of hurting/killing Morgan and/or Craig, but because things get worse from his inaction he realises he's better off trying, and so saves the day. Trouble is I haven't a clue what it was, it's gone. This shoddy copycat version of the penultimate scene is all I remember.

Anyway like the film, James drags L'Arana to the tunnel leading to the Afterlife, luring Sotjin over as well. All three are whisked off. L'Arana gets away and is reunited with Sotjin, fortunate for James as the killer lovers are eaten by the Hell snake while he reaches the end. I dunno if you remember my remark that the episode had so far not confilcted with FV's death/afterlife lore. Well yep, forget that. This scene spits on it. I wanted to avoid explaining the lore, it's not really spoilers since it's only shown not told in the series but this... yeah:

Vagueish Spoilers: Simply put, good people are rewarded and go to a "Heaven." Bad people though it's complicated. Some are given a second chance to redeem themselves and become ghosts. Fail and they're erased, reincarnated anew. The worst of the worst are usually instantly reincarnated. It's a punishment and a third chance at redemption. Although the actual person who commited the crimes is technically gone, their replacement (who is a completely new person) is judged similarly, so they gotta prove themselves to earn the "Heaven" admission, unlike new souls who are good on the first try. It isn't infinite either. Too many retries and what's left of your soul is erased completely. Actual Spoilers; James is a last chance soul. Foster foreshadowed it somehow. He's had two past lives so far we'll "see" later.

So Sotjin and L'Arana going to hell NOPE, unless you want to argue the snake is the reincarnater (I don't. This is ripped off, it'll be Hell). James going straight to Heaven. Nope, sorry. He's not even close to redeeming himself, if he does at all.

But who cares, FRIGHTENERS, WHEEEE!

Now the next part is a touchy scene I regret inserting in. What a surprise it's a ripoff scene. It's been retconned later as something that James' gradually forgotten since he was dead during it. I like to pretend he hallucinated the whole tunnel segment during his "revival".

James heard voices coming from behind him. He turned to see who it was. It was Debbie and Susy. They were both the same age they were when they died.

(snip)

"But it's not your time. From what I heard I'm due a grandchild in a few months," Susy said.

Yeah it doesn't work like that Susy.

"I thought you'd hate that idea, since Jessie's the mother," James muttered.

"I don't. Before you go back I just want to say I'm sorry for trying to get you to marry Dannielle," Susy said.

1) hahahaha

2) Anything else you'd like to tell him Susy? *cough*

"Don't you mean the cow," Debbie said.

Sue me, I like Debbie but this does have some weird implications. Doesn't Debbie have better things to do in the afterlife than spy on her brother's life? Hopefully she knows when to look away *cough*lovespells*cough*

"Debbie, isn't there something you need to tell him?" Susy asked.

"Yeah. I just want you to know that it wasn't your fault that I died. 

WAAAAAAAAAAAIT

God I hate this development. You introduce something that could haunt James and affect his development for longer than one episode and then you resolve it in the same episode? FU. I know this was here, doesn't mean I can't be mad about it.

Let's see how wrong it is, although I don't remember Frighteners MC being told his wife's death wasn't his fault.

"Yeah. I just want you to know that it wasn't your fault that I died. I was raped by a guy that had been stalking me for months. It was going to happen anyway. Just remember I don't blame you for what happened, don't let it bother you again," Debbie said.

Well, it could've been worded better. Yep, nothing factually wrong there.

"Oh, one more thing. You were a really cute drunk kid," Debbie said.

Oh Debbie, why?? Really, why? I'm sure this is so important James' personality will do another 180.

"No, but it had to be said. I don't mean that you're still not cute, cos you are. I know a lot of the girls on that ship really like you," Debbie said.

"Debbie!" Susy snapped.

"I think you'd better go before Debbie keeps you up here for ages trying to get you to go out with some of her friends," Susy said.

"I'm not that mean," Debbie said.

Tearful meaningful goodbye is long overdue.

"Er.. okay, it was great to see you again," James said.

"Same here," Debbie said.

"Bye, and be happy," Susy said.

I've seen worse

"Jessie, he's gone," Morgan muttered as she tried to pull Jessie to her feet. Jessie slapped her hand away. Morgan stood back up.

"Don't worry, she'll come around eventually," Craig muttered.

They both watched Jessie crying over her dead best friend's body. They didn't know what else to do.

Beam him to Sickbay?

She sat back up and she tried to wipe away her tears. She placed her hand on his face and she kissed him on the cheek. Her other hand kept a tight grip on his hand. She felt his hand moving slightly. She used her other hand to check his pulse. It was returning to normal. He began to wake up. He looked up at Jessie who still had tears coming down her face. He tried to sit up.

Oh look another miraculous James wakes up after being dead for five minutes. Two (wait, THREE!?) in one episode, wow. At least we see Jessie around for this one.

A much later thought occurs to me; Seven has one but James is probably just as or a lot worse, or slightly less bad. I DUNNO, THAT'S WHY I WANT TO KEEP COUNT, SUE ME!

James Dies Count: 3

LET THE DEATH BATTLE COMMENCE

"What are you crying for?" he asked. She pulled him to her and she hugged him tightly.

"I thought I'd lost you," she managed to say eventually.

Come on James, you knew you were dead. Forgotten already? Does this mean I can delete that weird Debbie reunion? YES? OKAAY!

"Refresh my memory, how many times has he died in this episode?" Craig asked. Morgan shrugged her shoulders.

TEN MILLION

All right three, but whatever

"Cool? I was thrown into a console on the wall and I had my neck snapped, it's really painful," Naomi said.

You remember your neck snapping? Whut?

"Well it couldn't be as bad as punched in the face by James, he can really punch hard, I see why Tom always had to go to Sickbay after being hit by him," Lee said.

Yes, always

Foreshadowing?

Jessie, James and Morgan walked into the room. They saw Foster's ghost sitting next to his twin brother, obviously his brother couldn't see him. They all waved at Foster. Everyone on Tani's table looked confused.

OH LOOK, IT'S GOOD FOSTER. HI GOOD FOSTER

YES I'M IGNORING THE GHOST PART, SSHHHHH, IF WE IGNORE IT SEASON THREE BECOMES LESS EDGY

"How can you see ghosts?" Tani asked.

"I've been able to seem them since I died for the first time in this episode," James replied.

I SAID SHHHHHH

Another s$$$ thing stolen from Frighteners. This was never the intention. Basically James was only supposed to see those particular ghosts. There was a neat plot reason for it, but who cares FRIGHTENERS

You'll see when I ever get to Reboot Disconnected.

"Quote from The Frighteners, when you go through a traumatic experience it alters your perceptions," Jessie replied.

WELL AT LEAST WE'RE BEING HONEST ABOUT THE RIP OFFS NOW, THANKS JESSIE

Will these bloody episodes get any longer?

NOPE the rest of the series is Hunters length

Will the kiss between Morgan and Craig be explained this time?

IT ALREADY HAS, DUH, HERE REQUOTED:

Was Foster the only one who permanently died?

NO, THEY'RE ALL DEAD. THIS IS HEAVEN/HELL, TAKE YOUR PICK

What was the whole point of the flashback scene?

WHICH FLASHBACK SCENE? The Debbie one? OMG WTFBBQ FHSRTUT7R88968I685OI7KILLME

Will these episodes stop finishing with rhetorical questions?

I hope for your sake that last question was rhetorical, because OHYEAH the half decent original flashback to an important traumatic event in James' life, which was part of the plot before you started basterdising the Frighteners script, was TOTALLY RANDOM, UNLIKE GHOSTS COSTUMES BEING RIPPED BY REAL BUILDINGS AND PLASTIC CONTAINERS. FU

Find out the answers to at least two of these questions next time on Fifth Voyager.

Which two questions? I can see all but the random backstory flashback being answered. Eh, whatever, this review's far too long, time to end it. RESISTANCE IS NEXT, YAY

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Counter Results:

One-Off Counter JAMES IS NOT A KILLLLERRR Count: 7

Muttered Count: 63 (259)

Sexist Crap Count: 1 (7)

Jessie's Sin Points: Earned 11, Lost 6 (4)

Morgan the Sue Count: 0 (13)

Seven/Annika Dies Count: 0 (7) I THOUGHT SEVEN WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE IN EVERY EPISODE, AND THIS ONE HAS A MURDER SPREE IN IT? OMG

*NEW* James Dies Count: 3 (3)

James Kill Count: 0 (2) um, do Sotjin and L'Arana count? HALP

Marill's Playing With Her Dolls Again: 3 (14)

OMG ME TOO! James' Out Of Character Bulls***: 1 (11)

Just A Little Bit More: 2 (7)

Lilly Ex Machina: 0 (1) I think this may have to go. We'll see after her episodes Dimension Jump and F9 if there's any point of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Score:

Negatives:

1) Poor opening.

2) The Tolg info Morgan has is made up convenient bulls$$$ so nobody would suspect Sotjin, or L'Arana, for the murder of the other Tolgs. Though come to think of it, none of that setup makes any sense. The Tolg decimated the planet, leaving only 30 odd people intact enough for assimilation (again, I'm going by Sotjin's exposition. I honestly don't remember what the truth was), leaves them behind all disconnected but still dead, L'Arana and Sotjin then decide this is the best time to rack up a kill counter, L'Arana's body falls leaving Sotjin hoping someone will answer the distress call to relieve his boredom. It'd make more sense if the Tolg came after the killing spree since the duo kill pretty messily, assimilated everyone else, dumped Sotjin and L'Arana since they couldn't be controlled and left.

I have a theory that I'll use for the reboot. There's little evidence of this, especially because the plot takes a nosedive into the Copy pool, so there's little point in mentioning it, especially since it'll spoil it.

3) Sotjin has weak lifesigns. He's dead. Next!

4) God damn the "HILARIOUS" sequence where Doc and Tom guilt and blackmail James into donating a lung. Then later the procedure kills him, and neither apologise for forcing him into doing this. Bad enough it "earns" two points. (2)

5) That bloody Craig and Morgan kiss scene is so off, that even though Morgan isn't possessed until after this (the earliest hint I can see is directly after the kiss), I wouldn't be surprised if this was L'Arana kissing Craig to mark him for Sotjin's use. I don't care about this one spoiling the reboot, I damn well am thinking of doing this even if the kiss was meant to happen. It's how and the style of it. Compare it to James and Jessie's later, yeah.

6) Sort of related to 4 but the baby secret is treated like a big joke and at the same time, James is constantly blackmailed and/or labelled as a monster for this happening and being a secret. At the moment he hasn't done anything wrong in relation to this. There was something just last episode they can call him out for, sheesh.

7) Random useless scene with characters discussing their actors.

8) James dies and no one cares. I don't see Jessie mentioning it at all later, making me think no one bothered or dared to tell her.

9) Yes I get that the first victim needed to be someone James had argued with, and even smacked, my problem is was Lee picked randomly out of a hat? He happened to know the secret because a report was left on a desk? In fact all of the murders feel random, and what's funny to me is that all of the victims James was accused of killing ended up being demoted from main cast to re-occuring guest stars. So to me now it feels like I avoided putting the main characters in danger until s$$$ hits the fan.

10) All of the kills are OTT bloody. In the movie this ep ripped off until Janeway/the mother dies, the victims all have their hearts squeezed until they die (well with the exception of the previous victims. They were all shot). Told you Season Two was needlessly violent.

11) JAMES WOULDN'T KILL ANYONE, excuse me while I laugh bitterly

12) I could've done without the constant completely wrong "James violently reacted everytime someone was a big meanie to Jessie" retcon to advertise the prequels and explain away Interactions ending.

13) Despite the Seven (oops Annika, keep forgetting) must die in every episode promise in the last episode, in a murder mystery episode she isn't a victim. I don't even remember seeing her.

14) I know the episode is fuelled by paranoia with James' recent kill, but Tuvok shouldn't really be falling for it and with such sloppy unproven facts. James probably killed his sister, but she was raped when he was 3, so probably not (SO WHY HUMOUR IT), did you know he was in love with you NOW KISS. This might be the biggest problem to fix come reboot time.

15) L'Arana's speech to James in the shuttle regarding her motives is just so... blah, painful. It's written in ott villainese, that's the best way to describe it. I'm bad, btw I'm bad, look how bad I am. Sotjin might be 2 dimensional but at least he made bloody sense.

16) From when James turns himself in, the plot follows Frighteners' and when it does it ignores the more original elements that came before; James being framed, the ghosts needing to possess to act out their kills, James only seeing the ghosts doing the murders and no others, and the actual resolution to this being lost to time and bad memories.

When I say it ignores these things, I really mean it flat out insults/contradicts them all for the sake of following The Frighteners; the killers choosing someone who no one would believe James murdered (Jessie) because the film's love interest was simply next. the Tolg element being erased as nothing like that was in the film so left unresolved. James can see all the ghosts just because he died (I'm assuming 20th times the charm?), because the MC and later the love interest only can because of traumatic experiences, and we gotta have that GASP funny reveal at the end too. Cloak guy being a ghost instead of Craig/Sotjin because Frighteners killer was only a ghost doing the killings himself. The pen knife=smoking gun that Morgan's behind this.

Disconnected definitely shouldn't have ended with a Heaven tunnel, Hell snake and James being chatted up by his sister (gross). This episode's a goodie, or it would've been if this hadn't have happened. PS PLASTIC CONTAINTER! (2)

17) The heart to heart in the brig could've been a good scene. Yes this is related to 16 BUT the scene stll should've taken place and it's an important one, like the sister reveal earlier. It follows the Frighteners script so very little of it is a genuine J/J moment. My reason for marking this though is; James explains the sister thing far too quickly, despite the fact he's avoided telling Jessie for decades. This is not in the Frighteners script. The MC does not tell the story about what happened to his wife, unless I'm remembering wrong. James tells Jessie about Debbie because she heard about it earlier, that's all, and how does he know that she was told, he escaped before that scene. It's lazy. Could've easily been resolved by Jessie herself bringing it up.

18) It's Frighteners related as well, however the suicide scene so James can "fight" Sotjin is too OOC (for Jessie anyway) and dumb for (more) words. I've said my piece, I hate it.

19) Yes they know the ghosts did all the killing blah blah, still doesn't change the fact that the suspicion element to the episode is blinked away (shrugs are too long) so we can have a nice rushed happy ending. Bluergh.

Sub-total: 21

Positives:

1) I mentioned many times Disconnected actually had a half decent premise, inspired by The Frighteners, to develop or rather kick start James' character arc. Until I got lazy the episode followed it well, and I enjoyed it. This is why I got so mad at it. If it were I dunno, Too Q or Prepare For Trouble I wouldn't have rallied against it so hard because they weren't meant to be best episodes ever. Disconnected though had the potential to be a classic, it's a shame. Still doesn't change the fact that from when the first murder happens till about when James turns himself in, it was a good episode.

2) A lot of the time James puts on an air that he doesn't care that he's killed people, hit them etc... It's usually their fault; "they deserved it." However it actually bothers him and he wants people to hate him for it, punish him etc. If he acts like an unfeeling monster, people will treat him as such. If he acted remorseful, it would ruin that. Late Season Five episodes describe this better. Disconnected has a couple of scenes showing this and it's nicely done. It's also pretty interesting that he doesn't want to be blamed for the murders here, which would help with his self-punishment, and yet he's convinced his family's deaths are all his fault despite the obsurdity of them all.

3) I kept making fun of him for it but James constantly digging himself deeper with his remarks during the interrogation, but it's in character for him (see point 2). It fits the plot and doesn't seem too forced. This story wouldn't have worked if Sotjin had picked anyone else. James was the perfect pawn for him.

4) I figured I'd rethink my opinion on this, I didn't. The basic idea of one episode after Interactions, James being framed for a murder spree by two serial killers that haunt him, which eventually gives him the kick up the bum he needs to stop moping around and realise that even though he's done some bad s$$$, he can still do good and eventually redeem himself, is still A+ in my eyes. And not in a "Worse Case Scenario is a 10/10 episode for a Season One entry, but..." way, but in a whole series perspective. It's again why I judged it quite harshly for going down the lazy route.

5) It's shoddily written over and over again, but I gotta commend an early series episode for hammering in the point that James' motivation for his darker side (and thus his biggest weakness) is his love for Jessie. I'm surprised I didn't out squick myself before the half way point. S2 definitely seems more open on the shippy front.

6) The clues regarding Morgan being possessed were for the most part a little clever - for past me. Morgan's been very bloodlusty in the past saying things like "the aliens attacked us, they must die", so when she starts yammering to Jessie about murderers being cool, I at first didn't really bat an eye. I complained that Upendi Morgan was back sure. But then I remembered an earlier also weird scene and remembered her role in the episode. The best one for me (and even then I'm assuming this is correct, could be wrong but I doubt it) is when Morgan is called in for questioning because she and James were the only ones around when Lee died. This could've easily been Morgan being shoved into the plot because she's the writer's pet, the Sue who must be included at every opportunity, that's what it looked like. Only it was a clue. She was the one who killed Lee, knowing that James had already hurt him and left moments before, and seemed to be possessed during said interview scenes. I like it way too much.

7) Morgan clearly isn't possessed the whole time. I dunno, I see some differences like in the Conference Room scene (proved after when L'Arana walks in to taunt James and make him look more guilty, I assume). She seems more irrational when I think she isn't, while when possessed even though she's "murders yay" she seems a bit more subdued. Could be just me.

8) Dat Debbie reminder when James finds Lilly's body, god... the last time I read this I didn't have Dark Clouds on my resume so this hit hard. I imagine some may find this a negative point as this and the later flashback have no explanation for them happening. There really isn't anything other than Lilly's corpse did remind James of his sister, and what he imagined happened to her. Remember he last saw his big sister on a f$$$$ metal slab in a police morgue at three years old. Sure Debbie wasn't stabbed, or throat sliced (though SPOILERS another member of his family was), but she would've been a mess, enough to traumatise anyone, let alone a kid.

I'm not 100% on this but if Tuvok and Foster interrogated Jessie about his family's deaths, and with the brig scene later, they likely confronted him about them as well, which'll be why he's the way he is in the Flyer and later the brig. It'll be on his mind already. But yeah, for me this bit is a positive moment but I'd understand if people called foul.

9) The Resurrection foreshadowing.

10) I adore the James has a sister reveal. It wouldn't be such a big moment if it wasn't being revealed to an ignorant Jessie. She should know this, they're best friends, but she didn't. Then it got even worse when her death and how she was murdered came up, the suspicions that followed. God, when Disconnected gets things right, it shines. (2)

11) Like 3, James' actions keep backfiring on him and making him look even more guilty. They're all rookie mistakes as well. It does make you wonder why no one doubted him because of this, cos if James really did kill these people, how could he be so incompetant afterwards? He's a hacker, so after killing Lee why didn't he erase his "footprints". If he killed Lilly, why linger over her body? If he killed Naomi and hurt Morgan, why again would he stick around? When he apparently picks Emma, why do it with two witnesses? Only then to turn himself in (again this is the only correct thing he does. I won't give it a separate point though, it's clearly a Frighteners theft). Looking at it from both sides makes me appreciate this way more. Like 3 he's not out of character doing all this. He's an act first, think later character, as impulsive as they come.

12) James' backstory is explored quite a bit in this episode, even if it is at times done so quite sloppily (the brig scene is really the only example of slop I can think of). Everything there had been planned for a while and hasn't been changed since (except for the "ickle" details like 30 minutes later and being found in the street, both of which make no sense considering the facts I knew about the murder even back in 2001). That flashback to when Debbie died is brutal; dad showing no love or care, only resentment for his son and then telling him Debbie's death was his fault and he should live with it forever, FU PETER TAYLOR. It's even worse knowing that James took his father's "advice" to heart.

You know it's actually quite daring in a "OH NO YOU DIDN'T" way that I tried to get readers to feel sorry for James with his crappy past, one episode after he killed someone and shrugged it off. You know he's messed up but now you have a good idea why. Sheesh.

13) I hate the scene and circumstances leading up to it, but the little kiss Jessie gives James before he suicides, it's tooth achingly sweet. It's the first one they've had (release order wise anyway) that's not under the influence of anything, and one episode after her panicking over losing him to relationship drama.

Sub-total: 14

Marill's Rating: 40%

Rankings So Far:

#1 Disconnected: 40%
#2 Interactions: 37%
#3 Thrown Key Part 2: 23%
#4 The Love Spell: 10%

Enjoy the top spot Disconnected, you'll be dethroned next time. I guarantee it.

I'd be surprised if I eat my words later. Very.