This is more like it, aside from the fact that I don’t care for a cliffhanger at this point. So the gang goes to one of those honeytrap planets (Which is visually a bit reminiscent of Xahea, with root structures visible from orbit) – and it’s interesting that they get strongarmed into it by Janeway given how badly this goes due to no fault of their own (Also: they land the ship rather than beaming down. How much you want to bet that the existence of transporters is going to be a Big Shocking Reveal?). There’s big trouble in the episode due to Dal’s irresponsibility but it’s a secondary sort of fault: his mistake is fairly modest, and for the most part he’s in the right. We get some manner of justification for Dal’s behavior last time: he’s just that scared of The Diviner that he wants to just fuck off into space forever and avoid everyone. It’s not the most satisfying explanation, but it’s something at least. And in this case, yeah. the planet is dangerous, going their puts the Diviner on their trail and allows Gwynn to escape.
There’s some interesting parallelism in what the planet chooses to show them: both Gwynn and Dal are show constructs of their parents, and in both cases, it doesn’t work. It’s pretty moving that Gwynn is clearly tempted by the construct of her father, but the fact that he is showing her affection tips her off. As desperately as she wants her father’s love, approval and appreciation, she knows when she gets it that it can’t be real. Of course, the planet also kinda whiffs it with Dal and Gwynn, both times telegraphing the fact that it’s a set-up and immediately giving up and switching to grabby-space-vine mode.
I also really love that Protostar’s Mysterious Third Engine is the thing the planet coughs up to tempt Zero. Pog is still pretty one-dimensional, with his temptation just being home cooking, but we do at least get the interesting blink-n-you’ll-miss-it drop that Pog’s youth was on a sleeper ship. That, obviously, could be the justification for a Tellarite in the Delta Quadrant (The planet is also described as being in Hirogen space, which is a big chunk of the Delta quadrant, but on the opposite side of Borg Space as the Kazon, which might be more evidence that things have been shaken up a lot since Voyager. Or it’s just a random name they threw out for the fans). Rokh, naturally, just wants to be cuddled by space-puppies, which is simple and lovely.
Now, as much as I like the symbolism in Gwynn rejecting her false-father, I do take issue with just how OP she is this week, easily escaping the brig, trivially circumventing the security lockout, and easily reprogramming Janeway. When they inevitably depower her so she can be a full member of the gang, it’s going to be weird. On the other hand, Janeway’s tone when Gwynn loses the ship feels like a hint that there might be more to Janeway than the training hologram she claims to be.
And then in the cliffhanger, the planet yeets the Protostar over the horizon. Which is pretty much the exact sort of silliness I want in my kid-friendly Trek, but a cliffhanger after episode 4?
Catching up. Maybe it’s just the broad characterisation needed for a kids’ show, but I definitely got the feeling that holoJaneway was knowingly going along with the “cadets” fiction with that line (“since you are… cadets…”). But then she gets locked out by Gwynn later so maybe not.