Marill Re-Reads "Saturday Night"

James/Jessie's Quarters:
Jessie was lying on the sofa, she heard a banging noise

Ok so it's either Jessie or she's next. Hmm, this is a tricky one

She slowly stood up, and she headed towards her room. The lights started to flicker, and after a few seconds they went off. Jessie tapped her commbadge.

"Rex to Security," she said. All she got was the sound of static. She heard the sound of somebody walking near by. Suddenly something hit the back of her head and she fell onto the bed.

This is just not her season

"I didn't think she would be capable of it," Morgan said. She didn't get a response, Kes was in a trance. She eventually snapped out of it. "What is it?" Morgan asked.

OH NO YOU DIDN'T. YOU HAD KES REVEAL WHO IT WAS OFF SCREEN WHILE JESSIE WAS LITERALLY MEANWHILE GETTING ATTACKED

I'M LAUGHING AND I DUNNO WHY

"Jessie, she's being attacked," Kes said.

Suddenly the misty place disappeared and Morgan found herself back in her quarters. She quickly sat up and tapped her commbadge.

"Janeway to Stuart," she said.

Oh dear, this ranks up there as one of the worst ideas to ever idea

Morgan and James ran through the main doors and they rushed into Jessie's room. They saw Jessie lying, barely conscious on top of the bed. They both rushed over to her.

No bloody gorry body comments, clearly Jessie garbage gifed back. Or the killer knew you were coming.

"At least she isn't as badly hurt as Naomi was," Morgan muttered. A nanoprobe burst out of Jessie's cheek. "Ok, I don't think that's suppose to happen," Morgan said.

UM, WTF

Seriously, I remembered Jessie getting attacked but I didn't remember this. Completely off my game now.

In: "Sickbay to Morgan, transporters aren't working. You're going to have to carry your patient to Sickbay."

"James, you take her, I'm staying here," Morgan said.

"Why?" James asked.

"She's still here," Morgan muttered.

Still being avoidy on the name, huh?

"All right, come out, I know you're still here," Morgan said loudly. The cupboard doors that were behind her suddenly opened and she was pushed onto the bed. A dark shadow emerged from the cupboard. Morgan got back onto her feet.

Interesting that you can't see the culprit in a small bedroom, but you could see how injured Jessie was, and the nanoprobe.

"There's no use in hiding yourself, I know it's you," Morgan said. The figure walked further forward, the light from the other room shone on her. It was Annika.

IT WAS................................................

MEANWHILE:

"Well Morgan, glad you stopped by, it saved me the trip to your quarters," Annika sneered.

"Why don't you give up while you're ahead, it'll save me the energy I need to kick your a**," Morgan said.

Morgan sweetie, we really need to work on your fight banter. It'll help you in your playarguments with James too.

Annika quickly pulled a knife out of her pocket and she slashed Morgan's arm with it. "Is that the best you can do?" Morgan asked as she held her left arm. Annika pulled out a hypospray.

AAAAAH

"Since I'm always the generous type I'll tell you what this is. It's a secret formula I've been working on. It re activates drones nanoprobes, but they end up going out of control in the end. There's no telling where they would erupt. Of course there is a high chance that the nanoprobes will attach onto vital organs. That could prove fatal. I doubt Jessie would last long if that were to happen," Annika said.

um

I have so many questions. For now though, ummmmmmmmmm wtf?

"You b**ch!" Morgan yelled and she punched Annika in the face. She stumbled backwards, and she bumped into the cupboard. Annika didn't seem affected by the punch.

"Nice try, Morgan," Annika sneered. She hit Morgan in the face and she fell back onto the bed.

Okay okay. I touched on this back in Voyager Conspiracy, but this calls for another intervention. Morgan and Seven always had the rivalry, and I know it came before I gave her the Slayer title and developed what that was. That's why I only judged the Conspiracy scene as if she was merely ex-Borg like Seven was. Here though, I don't have the "she might not be a Slayer yet" excuse. SO. What's up with this?

And if I remember the episode correctly, it's not just Morgan.

Yeah fine, Star Trek made Borg drones very strong. Seven could take on The Rock apparently. So yeah, why not? It's not like I had her in an epic hand to hand duel with Neelix. It's not that unbelievable. My beef though is I think Seven's, as well as Morgan and James' strength is inconsistent throughout the years, and some might call foul over Seven shrugging off a Morgan punch but knocking her down with one of her own.

I do anyway. I know that's not right. Later fights have her hit by Slayers and she most definitely feels it (and that's after another strength upgrade, in theory). Yeah it's an early season episode, so it's bound to get some things wrong. Gotta remember though, Morgan's the perfect Sue superhero. The fact she's getting her butt wiped is actually, well I'm not 100% complaining just nitpicking.

Annika put the knife on a table. She walked over to her and she sat over Morgan. She held her down using her right hand. "There's no need to resist Morgan. Don't you know resistance is futile," Annika said as she brought the hypospray closer to Morgan's neck.

If Morgan was like me, or I had Morgan's abilities... that line would give me the upperhand of pure rage. IT'S RESISTANCE IS FUTE-IYLE YOU DUMB COW

James: Hey, that's my notbadassatall but funny line

Suddenly the knife flew into Morgan's right hand and she pointed it at Annika's neck.

Yep, maybe she is my wish fulfilment self insert. Just get rid of the Craig denial and shippy stuff full stop and it'd be spot on.

"Don't even try it, Barbie. Get up," Morgan commanded. Annika slowly stood back up, Morgan quickly got back to her feet. "Security will be here any minute now so you might as well give up," Morgan said. Conveniently four security officers rushed into the room. "Take the Barbie away," Morgan said. The security officers took ahold of Annika and they dragged her out of the room.

ohsnap, she called her Barbie twice

Oh yeah, shrugged off a Slayer punching her in the face, but lets four Security chumps, none of who are James, to lead her to the brig.

"What on earth happened?" Kathryn asked.

"Kes told me that Jessie was being attacked by Annika, so I contacted James & security," Morgan replied.

I have complained about the "what happened?" *character recites the previous scene and adds nothing new* thing this series does before, right? I know I have, just thought I'd have it in writing so I don't rambly repeat myself.

"Long story," Morgan replied as she headed over to Jessie's biobed. Kathryn slowly followed. "How is she?" Morgan asked.

"She's just gone unconscious, other than that I think she's ok," James replied. Morgan gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"She'll be ok," Morgan said softly.

Just A Little Bit More: 3

Oh dear, I was gonna quote just to make fun of another repeat case of "gone unconscious" but these three lines were worth more than that.

A good portion of Season Two does try to paint the idea of a love triangle, and a square with Craig later (getting deja vu), between James, Jessie and Morgan. It really tries, and gotta give it credit for its attempt here. All while Janeway lurks behind them looking like this:

Now don't get me wrong, I hate love triangles. I guess I only started to after I wrote this, so karma bitches! Which reminds me, I promised "Gimme More" and its sequels didn't I? SOON. And no I never considered J/C and Seven as one, that was just... a slap in the face erasure, which stung after Shattered gave us so much hope.

But anyway, one of the reasons I like this one is that I did have a certain twist to it already planned in at some point. I've seen evidence that it was already planned in Games Resistance, but later episode YWF seals the deal.

The other reason is what you see here. You know James only has eyes for Jessie, Morgan supports that clearly even if she was aware of any crush if she had one, but they're still surprisingly close after a short time. No wonder Craig is jealous of him, and why Jessie briefly was threatened by her a couple of eps ago. Yet they have no idea mostly all Morgan and James talk about is them, and at least James finds the idea of Morgan liking him hilarious. The age gap, the likelyhood of past Marill dividing the main pairings she created. Their odds aren't great and still, jealousy reigns.

I like it, it's good stuff.

"I hope you're right, coz if you're not I'll kill that Barbie b**ch myself," James said.

If you don't believe him, you've skipped all the Season Two reviews so far, right?

"Murder is not an option," Kathryn said angrily.

Why so angry Janeway, you don't care about Seven, no one does, that's the joke. What are you really angry about?

Tom walked over and he scanned Jessie with a tricorder. He slowly shook his head. "She's gone into a coma," he said.

I'VE GONE TO TYPING IN ALL CAPS

Oh my god, really? Is this meant to be a joke? You might as well have said "Go James kill, we'll replicate popcorn."

"I don't know, in my opinion it's for the good. That virus will cause her a lot of pain if she was awake," Tom replied.

Oh yeah that virus. Bloody nasty, I can't believe I forgot about it.

Wait, it's for the good? You mean best right?

"Why aren't you happy?" Morgan asked.

"I know I don't like her but being happy she's in pain is just ridiculous. I can't believe you said that," Tom pouted.

Wow Tom, a rare moment of humanity and not douchebaggery. Still gonna need more to make up for the EEW DON'T BREASTFEED MY SON comments.

"I may know the cause of her actions," the Doctor said.

"Cause? She's insane that's why she did it," Morgan said.

"Morgan!" Kathryn scolded.

WTF Janeway? Yeah I know her hatred of Seven is more a Reboot Season One thing, but by Season Two everyone celebrates her dying. You know why, because she ruined J/C so why is Janeway of all people defending her. AFTER SHE ATTACKED HER DAUGHTER

"According to my detailed scan, she has a Cognitive Disorder," the Doctor said.

"Isn't that what Chakotay had in the Fight?" Kathryn asked.

*snigger* what?

This I've forgotten too

"Yes. It's possible that Annika keeps hearing voices that tell her to do what she's been doing," the Doctor replied.

"Oh come on, Doc, she was acting differently too," Morgan said.

"That's normal for somebody who's been affected with the disorder for five years," the Doctor said.

"If she's had the disorder for that long, how come you haven't detected it before?" Kathryn asked.

"I do not know, Captain.

OBJECTION

1) Didn't Morgan say Kes left the ship four years ago, after being threatened by Seven

2) Yet Seven's had this disorder for five years. Are you suggesting she had this while in the Borg?

3) Seven only started acting strangely after the Conspiracy fiasco. Even then she was relatively normal before and after Upendi, where she did seem to lose it.

4) I don't remember Seven/Annika ever acting like she had a multiple personality disorder since this episode, clearly since I don't remember diagnosing her with that or this cognitive disorder. The official reason was, I thought, a mixture of her treatment by the crew and her narcisstic "I'm perfect" personality clashing, and I'm sure she admits to changing to fit in since no one appreciated her before. But no, let's blame this all on mental illness and move on. not offensive, nosiree

"I questioned her. She started ranting about most of the female main characters. I think she's jealous of most of the new cast. Probably because they take the spotlight from her and or they've mistreated her," the Doctor said.

And this, and this. It's a fourth wall "condition". Annika was used to being worshipped, unique but perfect, and so getting all the attention. But Morgan comes aboard and hogs the spotlight that is hers. The others is simply a matter of there being more women=less attention. Though in Jessie's case, she's a proper MC so she may not be hated like Morgan, but still high up on Annika's list.

Dunno why she picked Naomi first though.

"Like Naomi, she was starting to get popular in episodes. And Jessie's one of the main, main stars," Morgan said.

"Exactly, and I think she went after you because you're another popular main character, and you've er, killed her before," the Doctor said.

Naomi was popular? What did she do besides randomly stalk Harry and get killed twice? I'm drawing a blank.

And btw, make your mind up. Annika's killing people because the voices tell her to, or because she's angry other women are more popular than her. Both probably.

"By accident! I dropped that chain-saw by accident," Morgan pouted.

"Why did you have it in the first place?" Kathryn asked.

"I was just trying to scare her," Morgan replied.

I think I see the moment Upendi was commbadge fiddled folks.

"What about Dark Frontier? You beamed her into space," the Doctor asked.

"As a joke, I beamed her back afterwards. She was only dead for a few minutes," Morgan replied.

Normally I'd disagree, but that s$$$ was funny

"Never mind. Anyway the point is that I've got the perfect treatment," the Doctor said.

"Euthanasia," James said.

"No! I couldn't do that," the Doctor cried.

"I didn't say you'd be doing it, I'll do it," James said.

James worming his way back into my good books. Good boy

"I've programmed a Mental Hospital, or a Nut House as Morgan calls it. Since Annika would be the only patient, treatment should be quicker," the Doctor said.

James: *prequel triggered*

Kathryn: SSSHHH OMGSPOILERS

"What about the reset button?" Morgan asked.

"That won't work in this case, I think the writers want to make her suffer," the Doctor replied.

Nah, she'll be cured by the end of the episode. pfftsnigger

"Why? Give him a chance, he could lose his best friend!" Morgan snapped.

"You know that will never happen, this is episodic TV!" the Doctor yelled.

Haha only in Marill's fevered delusions

"Sorry mum, it's not my fault that the Doctor only cares about Annika because of his infatuation with her," Morgan said.

"Oh come on, Morgan. The whole crew knows about your infatuation with a certain someone," the Doctor said.

OH SNAP

"I bloody well hope it's a rumour," Kathryn grumbled and she walked out.

;) ;) nudge nudge

"Does anybody else want to storm out?" the Doctor asked.

"I wish I could, but I'm on duty," Tom said.

ooph forgot you were there. That'll be a problem later.

and woah, he didn't comment on the Doctor's Morgan/James accusation. holymoly

A week later

(SNIP)

"Yeah, what's up?" Lilly asked.

In: "You've got a problem. Annika has escaped, she beamed aboard your ship."

Excuse me, I'm sorry. What?

Doctor: The writers need to waste most of the following week so they can get to the next Saturday

Apart from the title, I don't see why Saturday has to be murder day.

"Oh crap! Emma, wake up!" Lilly yelled. Emma quickly woke up and she sat up.

"What? Is it dinner time already?" she asked quickly.

pfftsnigger

"For the first time so do I," Lilly muttered. She heard some commotion coming from the station where Emma was. A few seconds later Lilly was hit in the back of the head and she lost consciousness.

Oopsiedaisy

Of course Lilly was on the kill list, is anyone surprised

I am. She didn't seem to target Morgan until she was forced to. What's up with that?

And why has Jessie gotten the honour of the nanoprobe attack? Naomi was stabbed.

In: "Janeway to Deck Five, Annika has beamed back to Voyager and she's on your deck."

Well.....

The Doctor disappeared as the lights went off. The consoles still generated some light. Annika walked through the doors and headed over to Jessie's biobed.

What the hell? You already got Jessie. Its your fault you picked the slow way. Again I ask, why did she get the slow death when the others didn't? Yes I know, you need to have nanoprobes but I'm sure Annika can remedy that problem.

 Somebody pushed her into the wall and she fell onto the biobed. She quickly got back onto her feet.

OH BIG MISTAKE ANNI, YOU DO NOT TRY TO KILL IN THE SHADOWS. THAT'S JAMES' DOMAIN. YOU'RE F$$$ED

"I should have known you'd be here," Annika muttered when she saw who it was.

"You're not going to touch her while I'm here," James said

James Badasses Off Screen For Our Sins: 1

YES ANNIKA YOU SHOULD'VE

James said as boldly as he could.

Wait, are you still doing this coward bollocks? You give him that line but make him say it fearfully or doubtful or whatever the hell that is? I HATE MYSELF

"Ooh, I'm shaking," Annika said sarcastically, she grabbed a hold of his arm and she pulled him into the wall. "Sorry, chump

CHUMP, THAT'S MY WORD, YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO USE MY WORD, BOOOO

And what is this, what is this. A James fight scene we're reading? PINCH ME I'M DREAMING.

He's gonna lose isn't he?

"Sorry, chump, but you're no match for me. Besides, you're not the kind of guy who'd hurt a woman," Annika said.

Oh, so I wasn't reaching. The stuff with him running from Tani was foreshadowing? I'm dumb, it probably still wasn't. The "foreshadowing" was Morgan's conversation with him about training. NM

"Guess again," James said and he hit her in the face. It made her stumble backwards and she crashed into the console behind her. She looked shocked as she felt where she'd been hit. A bit of her hair had fallen out of place too.

WOOOOOO JAMES DOES VIOLENCE AND WE CAN READ IT! AND I HAD THE PERFECT EXCUSE NOT TO SHOW IT, THE LIGHTS WERE SWITCHED OFF, AND STILL. TODAY IS A GREAT DAY

Oh I'm gonna miss my off screen jokes

JUST KIDDING, I'm still gonna do them and I doubt that he's never gonna do it again

"How dare you damage my perfection, now you'll pay!" Annika screamed, she brought out the hypospray again.

BRING.IT.ON

"God, you're just like Janeway," James muttered.

"How dare you compare me to that old hag!" Annika yelled.

"Yeah, I think I kinda insulted Janeway by saying that," James said.

OHSNAP, I'M GONNA GRAB THE POPCORN

"That's it, I wasn't going to kill you but I have no choice now," Annika said angrily. She got closer to him but he just hit her again, making her fall to the floor. James walked over to her, and he kicked her a couple of times.

Bloody hell, when will people learn. Don't f$$$ with Jessie. James will return the favour, and he ain't hiding in those shadows no more.

"Listen Barbie, if you mess with Jessie, you mess with me," James said.

OH YEAH

"Ooh, do you see me trembling," Annika said

YOU'RE AN IDIOT

and she used her right leg to kick him back. He stumbled into the wall. Annika managed to pull herself back on to her feet. She brought out her knife and she walked closer to James. "Don't mess with me, you're out of you're league," Annika said.

Now now Marill, she beat Morgan at least twice. She could defeat James, you never know. You're just laughing cos he's actually doing some damage to protect Jessie. Oh and he killed someone before, for Jessie.

No you were right the first time.

"Really, I guess you're..." James said. He hit Annika more forcefully and she fell back onto the floor, her knife slipped out of her hand. "Wrong."

Jesus, you know I'm enjoying this far too much, that's obvious BUT this reminded me that Morgan's punch didn't even faze Seven. Yet here's James not only laying the smackdown, but he wasn't even at his full power. Morgan's gonna be pissed and yet envious he got to do this.

I imagine some may think this is a sexism thing. Oh James is doing better than Morgan because he's a man and she's not, and his "victim" is a woman. Nope. In the early days, and you've seen evidence already, the series kept bragging about Morgan while putting him down. She's stonger, she's more experienced, he doesn't even know about Game Slayers etc... Also Jessie would and could slap around any male of her choosing, unless he was being rapey :( (FU Simon). All of the male characters, including James, were potrayed as weak.

So yep, not using the Sexist Crap counter here, because I know that's not what this is about, even if I am legitimely shocked. I knew James VS Annika happened in this episode, but I really thought it would be over quicker than the Morgan one. No, this is fuelled by rage, once more caused by someone doing harm to Jessie. This is James' storyarc in a nutshell. If I swapped the genders this scene would be almost identical, only Annika's "dont hit girls" taunt would be missing.

ANYWAY I "know" how this is gonna go, but for now I'll enjoy the ride. "Know" as in think, my memory's been wrong a bit so far.

Annika brought her left hand to her face. She felt dampness under her nose. It was bleeding heavily. Her right hand reached the knife but James stood on her hand. "I wouldn't try that, if I were you," he said.

Hnngggggggggggg *munches popcorn*

All right, I'll make you a deal. Have a change of heart with your son in this episode, error of your ways realised and feeling s$$$ about it, then I'll forgive you forever.

"Fine, what about this?" Annika said as she pressed the hypospray into his leg. He stumbled backwards and a few seconds later he collapsed. Annika pulled herself back onto her feet after picking up the knife with her left hand.

Yeah. I figured he'd lose. But DAMN, THAT FIGHT. I ENJOYED THAT VERY MUCH.

I joked he'd lose because the only part of the fight I had read was her actions, he was only being struck at. Once he fought back though, all bets were off. I just remembered my vague memory way back during the Morgan fight that he had a fight with Annika that ended badly, so that memory was always on my mind. Still doesn't change anything, loved it.

She walked over to Jessie's biobed. She looked back over at James. "Want to watch?" she asked.

OH S$$$$ 

She raised the knife into the air and she brought it back down and it went straight into Jessie's stomach.

"That was fun," Annika said a few seconds later. She walked out the door.

OH HELL NO

THAT'S JAMES' REWARD FOR BEING A BADASS? IT WAS ALL FOR NOTHING? OHMYGOD. THAT'S DARK MAN, DARK. NO WONDER JAMES HAS ISSUES. EVEN WHEN HE EXCELS IT STILL GOES HORRIBLY WRONG, AND THIS IS HAPPENING AS FAR BACK AS SEASON TWO. THIS GUY CANNOT CATCH A BREAK! I'M SO CRUEL TO HIM

Ok caps lock off, scene over. I gotta, I gotta... wow. Okay. Just getting my thoughts together, and yes you must see my struggle. All jokes aside that scene is a triumpth for its age. The only thing I can pick about it was the "as boldly as he could" line. I'm not being biased, read the whole scene, it does not fit there. He's not scared of her, not even close. He knows he can handle her, he has no doubt he'll win. I'm sure no one would disagree it didn't fit in the scene and needed to go, so it has.

But anyway. Yeah, I have no other complaints. It not only is enjoyable to read, and I'm probably biased there because I hate her, but it's unexpected in various ways and ties in with James' storyarc. It's all good.

Firstly, the series has been teasing a proper Morgan and Seven face off for some time. It hasn't delivered. Every time they've done so, it's been poor, rushed and dare I say pointless. You'd never expect for one second that the big fight would be Annika VS James, and that he'd do better than Morgan did. She's the perfect Sue, and Annika humiliated her, she laughed off her punches. But here, Annika could barely defend herself let alone fight back. You've been told a lot that James seriously levels up when Jessie's in danger and/or hurt, you haven't seen it yet, and the times you could have seen it, it's been teased via off screen f$$$ery. Finally, he shows what an absolute monster he can be, which makes Morgan's piffley attempt earlier look even worse. No one would expect this scene, not even me.

Secondly, I've been laughing away at my own OFF SCREEN LOL jokes all season but that didn't mean there wasn't a problem behind the joke. I seemingly wanted James to be like this, but never had the stones or couldn't do it without laughing, cos my mind only remembered Hunters and stupid stuff like Demon where he cowers behind Jessie. I dunno. Not only was his upgraded violent streak hidden in between scenes, or "next thing anyone knew"'s, the cast were acting as if it was always this way. In a nutshell it was a piddly mess, almost like I was having second thoughts.

This scene was pivitol, it clearly had a hand in making James who he is now. It's a shame I forgot its details. It really is, cos here I let my doubts go and unleashed the character I wanted to have.

Thirdly, and this might contain spoilers. James' character arc is full of examples such as this scene. We've seen it already. A few episodes ago Jessie died in his arms, then a couple later a man sexually assaults her in the next room and while true he gets there before it can get worse, but what'll weigh on his mind is "I wish I'd gone in sooner." Here he tried to protect Jessie, did so pretty well, but was taken down and forced to watch. And it's not just Jessie. You'll see it in the prequels and later. He'll try his best but it very rarely ends well for him. Even when he does succeed, it's usually not without a lot of suffering. And usually to succeed, he has to play dirty or make the heavy decisions, and gets nothing but flak for it.

Oh god look at all that text. At least it's for a scene I enjoyed. It's usually the other way around haha. Moving on.

Five minutes later:
Tom, Tuvok and his security team arrived in Sickbay.

GREAT TIMING CHUMPS

"Commander, she was stabbed a few minutes ago, if I don't put her into stasis I won't be able to revive her at all," Tom said. A force field appeared around Jessie's biobed after he stepped away.

Well, at least James stalled this until they got there. Right? RIGHT

Right. I imagine if she did this earlier, she'd be a goner.

He then rushed over to James, who was unconscious. Tom scanned him with the tricorder. Tuvok walked over too.

"He has the virus that Jessie has," Tom said. His tricorder started making beepy noises. "Ohno, we need to get the Doctor on-line now! One nanoprobe has attached onto a vital organ, he's bleeding internally," Tom said.

SEE. Get used to this. James is constantly rewarded for doing the right and/or badass thing with mortal wounds.

Naomi tapped her commbadge as a fight started between Annika and Morgan.

Pressure is on Morgan. Can you not only do better this time, but also follow James' fight? We'll see. We'll see.

Morgan pushed Annika into the wall, leaving a dint in it. Annika struck back with the knife, she stabbed Morgan in the leg. Morgan fell backwards into the nearest table. Annika then used the knife to cut Morgan's neck. She collapsed onto the table. Tani and Naomi watched in horror as Annika continued to use the knife on Morgan, even though she was already dead.

NOPE

NOPE

NOPE

NOPE

WHAT'S GOING ON?

"The b**ch!" Tani screamed and she rushed over to where Annika was and she punched her in the face. Annika barely got hurt from the hit, and she used her arm to smack Tani in the head. She fell to the floor. Annika stepped on Tani's stomach.

Come on even Tani did better! see fuelled by rage, Watcher was right... but hey can't have rage without compassion, so half right

"Don't try it," Annika said. She stepped off Tani and she headed over to Naomi.

Suddenly she just collapsed.

BOOOO, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 Naomi saw immediately what happened. There stood Craig and other security officers at the door. She saw Craig was the one who shot Annika

Well didn't see that one coming either.

He dropped the phaser and he rushed over to Morgan. The security officers rushed over to Annika and they dragged her out of the room. Naomi went over to Tani and she helped her up.

Only I can write stuff like this so boringly

YES THAT'S A WORD

GET READY FOR A SEASON ONE ESQUE LAUGH, READY? NOT PREPARED I ASSURE YOU:

In: "We're having trouble re-activating the Doctor, Craig. We have enough dying patients already."

"Please, you've got to help her," Craig said.

In: "Beam her here, I'll do what I can."

Craig went over to the console near the galley and he pressed a few buttons. Morgan beamed away.

Captains Log Supplemental: Everything is back to normal.

WHO PRESSED THE RESET BUTTON? WHY DIDN'T YOU DO IT SOONER

CHUMP

Yep. After James lost by technicality and Morgan via whoknows she lost her Sue powers? I noticed I had written myself into a corner with no one left who can stop Annika since she had killed Morgan and left James on death's door. Trust Craig to run in and shoot her, problem solved! Ohnoes people are dead and the weekend's almost over, press the button. POOF fine.

Episodes are long these days and its a problem, since long episodes take much longer to write, but you wanna know why? Because I don't do s$$$ like this anymore. It's bloody worth the time.

Oh and you know what pisses me off the most about this one? Not only does the dramatics of James and Jessie dying in Sickbay, then Morgan in the Mess Hall, get resolved in a flash. The scene that follows it is a f-ing Pokémon training battle.

YES

I'M SO ANGRY

Yes, that solves the dilemma of Morgan and James not wanting to fight each other but this episode clearly shows that at least Morgan needs practice. No wonder she got owned TWICE if this is what she meant by training all along.

I'd delete it but unfortunately the soap opera dramatics take place directly after. If it wasn't for the Smog Attack/snog mixup, I could delete it all together. damn. maybe later!

Oh and spoiler alert. Morgan loses the match against James. If she were eager to prove herself in someway after all that, she failed miserably.

"Maybe I'll try a snog attack," Tani said as she looked at James. Jessie punched her in the face and she fell onto the floor. "Ow, what was that for?" Tani moaned.

See, can't get rid of a beauty like that. Torn. That's a very Jessie thing to do, but OTT? Hmmm... let's see what happens after.

"Just leave him alone, he doesn't like you so buzz off!" Jessie grumbled. Tani stood back up.

Yeah. I'm with Jessie on this one.

Jessie's Sin Points: -1

Tani needs to take a hint. Excessive yes, but remember she still owed her one after the whip chase.

"Well, I'm not the only one who has a crush on James, and I doubt you'd be able to get away with punching her," Tani said and she stormed out.

"And you're not going to get away with spreading that rumour!" Morgan yelled and she ran after Tani.

Oh yeah, why is Tani still hanging out with Morgan if they're fighting? Is she that desperate for James?

Just remembered, there was a part within the Pokémon match that I skimmed. I'll quote it because I'm honestly baffled.

"This should be interesting," Jessie muttered. Tani nodded. Lilly wasn't listening, she was fuming over something. Tani and Jessie noticed.

Hmmmm. I'm stumped. Maybe Lilly really hates the Pokémon battle being chucked in after almost dying scenes too.

None of her later dialogue clues me in so I'm at a loss. Was this scene edited down or something?

Tom and B'Elanna were forced to put headphones on because Duncan's crying was giving them a headache.

"Tom, what should we do!" B'Elanna yelled.

"What!?" Tom yelled back. B'Elanna pulled off his headphones.

I dunno. Feed him, change him, stop telling him his dinner options are icky, bathe him, give him a cuddle, Tom's an asshole. PASS

"I don't know, according to Morgan Duncan was really quiet when Jessie & James were babysitting, maybe they should come over," Tom said.

Is this a moment of redemption. please?

"Well if she did, I wouldn't blame her," Jessie said.

"Why's that?" James asked.

Huh? What's going on? Who am I?

Had to skim backwards, they're talking about Tani's rumour about Morgan. Weird for you to humour that Jess.

"Well, er," Jessie muttered and she started to go red.

"What?" James asked.

"Because you're such a nice guy," Jessie said.

I hope not a Nice Guy TM, those are the worst

She thought, "good recovery."

Yes Jessie, it is. He won't see through or object to that.

"Jess, people don't develop crushes on people because they're nice to people," James said.

I'm not really an expert in this field, but yeah it's usually OMG THEY'RE SO HOT! Or in James' experience, OMG HE'S SO TRAUMATISED HE'S COWERING FROM MY ADVANCES, THAT'S SO HOT

Knowing him he's probably saying "lawl Jess, crushes are when people are hot. I'm not hot, therefore no crushes."

"Jess, you're holding something back," James said.

"Er, that's what you think," Jessie said.

Why do I have this familiarity with the "that's what you think" line? Like it's from something, I've even got the way it's said in my head.

She thought, "I really need a convenient thing to happen right now."

In: "Torres to Rex & Stuart."

In: "Can you and Jess come over, Tom said that you actually got Duncan to be quiet, that would be handy right now."

Careful what you wish for

"Yeah, I'll come," Jessie said and she rushed out.

"Me too, she's not going to get away from me," James said and he followed Jessie out.

That sounds a little, worrisome

Tom and B'Elanna felt like jumping off a cliff on the holodeck. As soon as Jessie & James had came into the room Duncan had stopped crying.

"How do you do that?" Tom asked.

"I dunno," Jessie muttered as she held Duncan.

daaaaaaw

"Maybe he doesn't like Tom," James said.

Well he does faint at the sight of blood, so why not, Tom hate is inherited

"Can you look after Duncan for tonight? We really need a break," B'Elanna asked.

"Sure thing," Jessie said.

Well there you go. No demands for double then quadruple pay. No whining, no nothing. Just acceptance, even willingness. It's not like she's trying to avoid the conversation with James, he's there. And all it took was one evening of looking after him.

Phew, I was hoping I wouldn't have to wait until the next episode for James & Jessie to calm down and give the innocent baby a chance

"Yeah, yeah, you'll try anything to get me to go away and forget what you said," James said.

"Look, I was just paying you a compliment," Jessie said.

Sigh James. LET IT GO, LET IT GO... SOMETHING, COLD DOESN'T BOTHER ME. I DUNNO I ONLY REMEMBER ANNIKA'S VERSION

Haven't you learned anything from Holo Q?

"Well I don't know what you were complimenting me about. You said you wouldn't blame Morgan even if she did have a crush on me," James said.

YOU'RE LIKE A DOG WITHOUT A BONE, OH... oh that reminds me, I still haven't posted those videos

I can't say I blame him, not because she deserves to be hounded like this or anything. This is just me being unable to let the conversation naturally flow. Sure let Jessie blurt out "can't say I blame her if it were true." An awkward "what" from James, her extra awkward and avoidy "what?" Then hurry out. Call to Duncan. James repeats "what" after Tom/B'Elanna are gone, Jessie's off her guard and scowls...

Ok fine I've been writing these two for 16 years, it was only a few months at this point. Obviously I can do it better now without making James look like a pedantic little boy who is poking her arm with a stick.

"Fine, as long as you promise that, a) you don't tell anyone, and b) you don't make my life a living hell for repeating it," Jessie said.

I wouldn't doubt him doing B after this conversation

"Fine, well I, er, still think you're cute. There I said it," Jessie said.

Woaaah, slow down Marill. We still got many episodes to go, don't chuck all of the material in one episode!

"Well thanks," James said and he started laughing.

"You promised!" Jessie grumbled.

You know I can make James laughing because he finds the idea of him being cute or crushed on so unbelievable, without making him seem like he's laughing at the women instead... but no, I fail twice in one episode. Good one.

"I didn't promise that I wouldn't laugh," James said.

Oh, don't ruin the earlier scenes

"Oh, I give up. Mention this again and I'll hit that cute face of yours," Jessie said.

"Whatever you say, Jess," James said and he tried to stop himself from laughing anymore.

Sigh

I only know that's why he's laughing, cos I'd do it too. Or make a joke. Both. I imagine I'll offend someone some day, if I haven't already. Fine, I'll allow this. James is doing this and yeah, lucky for him Jessie's quick to forgive him.

Oh it's over. Well at least Jessie was making an effort, right folks?

Will Annika ever get out of that Nut House? Will she be just as annoying as she was before? Will Tani spread anymore rumours? Will that annoying reset button ever break? Will we actually hear more of Neelix's dodgy movie? Find out the answers to all of these questions next time on Fifth Voyager.

No, gradually everyone will be chucked in there so the Doctor can become the ECH and steal the ship

Nah. She'll come out, start sparkling and spouting lines like "do I dazzle you," fall in love with Damien, kidnap Kiara, have a Round 2 fight with James which'll be hilarious, and a Game Cube will land on her heel.

Yes, she'll tell everyone that James actually got into a battle and was seen doing so. Everyone will laugh and tell her to stop drinking

I have a feeling it'll make at least one reappearance

Dodgy, it becomes the 1 and 2 top grossing hits of the year. Don't you dare mock such genius.

Oh and as promised, the fruits of my writers block labour. The Stalker Chronicles:
(and in true Marill fashion, two of the vids were rebooted, so you know this is def me)

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

Counter Results:

Muttered Count: 55 (534)

Sexist Crap Count: 1 (11) I'm giving the Craig rescue a one, I can't get over how out of nowhere it is

Jessie's Sin Points: +1 and -2 (6)

Morgan the Sue Count: 0 (16) I should give her minuses for this one, wowee

Annika Dies Count: 0 (8) IT WAS CLOSE FOLKS

James Dies Count: 0 (3) IT WAS ALSO CLOSE FOLKS

James Kill Count: 0 (2) TOO MANY CLOSES, CAN'T DEAL HALP

James Badasses Off Screen For Our Sins: 1 (13)

Marill's Playing With Her Dolls Again: 3 (19) Oops, I forgot about this. 1 for Morgan pushing James/Jessie, 1 for Tani's shipping, 1 for James' pedanticness at the end

OMG ME TOO! James' Out Of Character Bulls***: Removed. The Counters are definitely too James-ful, something has to go.

Just A Little Bit More: 3 (10)

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

Score:

Negatives:

1) It starts out semi entertaining enough, but the Bagamon filming descends into Tani chasing James around with a whip, twice, and even Jessie doesn't help him. As well as hints that Tom has straight up tried to murder James and Jessie via the Holodeck (and again may I remind you, he doesn't know about the baby drama). None of it really has anything to do with the episode. It's a stretch that James was victimised and didn't fight back against Tani to trick you so you'd think he wouldn't fight Annika.

2) Oh yey Bobby is back. Yeah I know it's a tribute to cancelled episode Memories, but no one else would know that. It looks completely random and of course its pointless.

3) The Morgan/James teasing that turns into the pair once more arguing about their respective crushes DRAGS ON, as it always does. Then it drags on further so Morgan can ramble on about training/fighting best friends, projecting her Tani stuff onto James and Jessie. I mean yeah it's obvious what I was intentionally doing there. Doesn't change the fact it's super snore.

4) James and Jessie are supposed to be conflicted on the birth of the son they didn't remember making, or consent to keeping, or consent to making while we're using that word. Fine. But the way Duncan's talked about is awful. Demanding more pay, planning to buy booze with it to get through the babysitting, being lumbered with him. God. I tried to tell myself they get over this very soon and become besotted with him, as they should, but... that was painful to read.

5) Samantha's apparently only brought back to find her daughter murdered. Nice.

6) Claire and Evil C brick throwing.

7) Duncan inherited Jessie's (and James') blood fainting. Thankfully (I hope) that's never insinuated again, and that he only dozed off as babies do.

8) Why was it called Saturday Night? The story forces all of the violence to happen on Saturdays so the title still works, so why!?

9) Tom's EEEW don't breastfeed my kid, grossy, insult. Since the girls didn't get it, he made James explain it while he was gone so they wouldn't miss out on being objectified.

Admit it Tom, you're one of those prudes who think its gross but if Jessie took her top off you wouldn't complain. Jealous of "your own kid", now that's gross.

10) Naomi and Lilly have a rivalry since.... when?

11) It's a bit risky of Kes to communicate with Morgan, which makes her pass out, to warn her about Annika's killing spree when Morgan would be numero uno on her kill list. Just saying. Also while it did create the fun little reboot and S5 crossover scenes eventually, the Seven threatening Kes accusation at the time had so many holes. It was clearly a way to make her more villainous AND a retcon to make up for Kes' disappearance at the end of Aggressions.

12) Sure Seven wasn't meant to survive Season One and the C/7 inspired me to keep her, and extend the Morgan rivalry until the day one of them dies (and beyond, lawl), so of course nothing about this storyline was really planned in advance. I mean duh, the whole episode was a replacement. I'd say that's why there's so much random other stuff going on, but that s£££ happens all the time anyway.

But anyway my negative point here is Seven becomes a little deranged, mainly toward Morgan, because nobody likes her and she's a narcissist who thinks she's better, blahblah. She didn't hear voices or have any detectable illness. Seven's issues were a product of her environment. Changing, or rather faking a medical reason for her to act on her jealousy and murder people (which def wasn't in the original plans, only a fight to the death with Morgan) is not only wrong, but it's ableist as hell. And I'm not someone who complains about that. Its gross.

Also the timeline doesn't fit. I doubt the Borg would have let Seven live with a disease like the Doc described. She couldn't have had it a year before Kes left the ship. It makes zero sense.

13) Was she saving Morgan till last? It's not clear. She picks Jessie second after Naomi, but never targets Morgan. She only has encounters with her because Morgan picks a fight with her, both times. It's a bit off, and again WHY SATURDAYS?

14) Annika of course waits exactly one week to escape. Nothing happens in between. Of course not. And it's not to get a new victim, like Morgan, no. Jessie wasn't dying quick enough.

15) Morgan VS Annika #Round 2 is bad and I should feel terrible. Morgan barely lands any damage in Round 1 and hands her over to Security, then James steps in and makes Annika his punching bag. You'd think Round 2 Morgan would make up for her earlier mistakes or at least take advantage of Annika's injuries from her previous bout. Nope. Annika kills her in one paragraph with little effort, how embarrassing.

Sure it's nice that the Sue character loses once in a while, but not like this, not like this. She can't look James in the eye and claim she's better, more experienced than him now. Not when Annika humiliated her like that.

16) I'm sure it was only done so Craig can swoop in and save her. I didn't mark James' battle as sexism because his fight was 100% in character and rage fuelled, it had nothing to do with his gender. He didn't even save the so called damsel in distress, so yeah. The point of that scene was to show FINALLY how dangerous he is when his love interest is in trouble.

Morgan's loss doesn't have any significance at all. The episode was nearing the end and it was clear I was in a hurry to finish. They already had a lame fight where she did badly, couldn't she have won it? Maybe with Tani's help, since their falling out was in the episode a lot. I don't remember Craig ever being an important part of this episode, so yeah. His rescue comes out of nowhere, and I can't help but go there, you know.

17) Ohnoes James is critically ill. Jessie has to go into stasis or she'll die. Morgan's had her throat cut, please beam her to Sickbay. Ok. Captain's Log everything's fine. POKÉMON BATTLE F$$$$ OFF

18) Still bad enough for a separate point, Pokémon battle. If it weren't for the Pokémon part I'd get behind this scene 100% Why? Morgan's itching to take James on and train with him, and gee I wonder why!?! Neither of them fought Annika with Pokémon, so did she pick Pokémon because she wanted to beat him at something? THAT WENT WELL, SHE STILL LOST

19) I could've done without a more obnoxious version of the "why did you kiss my cheek" AND "what do you mean I'm dateable even as a Borg" dramatics from the first season.

20) It's nice that Jessie and I guess James show up to look after Duncan with no argument, or demands for payment, within the same episode as those crimes. BUT James doesn't really do or say anything but pester Jessie. Ruined it for me especially since she seemed more than settled with holding the baby, despite all the fears she had.

Sub-total: 20

Positives:

1) And so begins the Morgan/James 'ship, started by none other than Tani. It's interesting, got problems sure, but the Tani and Morgan fallout does what it set out to do, and it's surprisingly quite a lot. My only problem with it lies in a much later episode, so no probs.

It must've been awkward for me to write as well. Morgan and Tani were childhood best friends, but at 16 a misunderstanding and with it jealousy causes a rift, and one makes it her mission to humiliate the other. It was planned before Games Resistance which started it, the hints are there in Season One, but I wouldn't have related to it until this episode.

It is different though, very, just the bare basics. Plus Tani does still care about Morgan, as evidenced in the final scenes, which is a nice thing to add.

2) For a while I thought Jessie had died for real in Interactions. But no, that stupid breastfeeding joke revived her. I was starting to get worried.

3) Morgan looking after Duncan was super sweet. omgforeshadowing

4) The nanoprobe virus is shocking, and quite clever. Annika's main rivalry is with Morgan, who basically made her share her ex-Borg crown. When the series developed James and Jessie joined the club too, and yeah they were already pretty big leads before this. Sure she hates sharing the spotlight with anyone, but the biggest offenders are the ex Borg characters. Fitting punishment in her eyes.

5) I'm okay with Morgan VS Annika #Round 1 being in mainly Annika's favour. It's still a fight, and it's nice to see Morgan not perfectly winning it. She's gotten a lot of flack from me since Love Spell for the perfect superhero stuff. A later scene helps show Morgan's imperfection here by not making it look like a Worf Effect moment, basically making Annika far too powerful that she can take down EVEN Morgan. She just wasn't good enough, simples.

6) Morgan's brief comfort of James, in Janeway's line of sight who later is pissed for no real reason *cough*, is a thing of beauty.

7) Not only did James get into a fight that actually described him doing stuff, he dominated and damn he was brutal. It was a good fight. And usually I say "for Season 1/2" but not this time. That was a good fight, full stop. I really enjoyed it. I honestly didn't think I wrote any good fights until Season Four/prequels. wow. It'll also be another "failure" in James' eyes, as despite his efforts, Jessie is still stabbed in front of him... again! This only adds to his insecurities and boy do I love character development.

Not only am I giving it a point for finally showing what James can do instead of telling, but I'm giving it two for how good it was. (2)

I also love how this happened after the season's been bigging Morgan up as the bestest most experienced, and putting James down as the rookie despite the stuff we've (not) seen him do. Even with those things he's still got to compete with Morgan, who's telekenetically stealing weapons in every fight, having showy battles with the Borg Queen, throwing aliens around and jumping around turbolift shafts. "So he's got a mean right jab, yawn, wake me up when he can do that s$$$". And then Saturday Night comes along and have him not only fighting off Annika but putting her on the defensive, while Morgan gets owned in five seconds, after he's already injured her. It's clever, and if it weren't for the prequels would be a half decent "oh s$$$" moment.

Now I'm not putting down Morgan and bigging him up here. It's a clash of styles. Morgan was back then more flashy, clever and relied too much on her new skills, which worked for her quite a bit. James has a brute force style and isn't going to be doing gymnastics Power Rangers style fighting (Holo Q says "see!") anytime soon, or at all. Both styles have their advantages and disadvantages, and all Saturday Night was really doing was proving James can be as formidable as Morgan despite the series telling/screaming at you otherwise.

8) It didn't take more than one episode to fix the ohnoes Duncan crap J/J have earlier in Saturday Night. Yeh Jessie was looking for an out, but considering the big stink they both made about it earlier, you'd think that was where she drew the line. But no, she went, held the baby and was more than fine with staying, and on her own too. It's nice, I was dreading more of that crap for a few more episodes. The earliest cute moment with them and the kid I remembered was Kiss of Death, so yeah nice.

Sub-total: 9

Marill's Rating: 31%

Rankings So Far:

#1 Resistance: 53%
#2 Disconnected: 40%
#3 Interactions: 37%
#4 Saturday Night: 31%
#5 Games Resistance: 29%
#6 Thrown Key Part 2: 23%
#7 Dimension Jump: 14%
#8 The Love Spell: 10% STILL A CHUMP

Not bad. Did better than I thought.