#PaxFedVGRewatch-along with #MissionLogPodcast and #TheDeltaFlyers comes to a fork in the road... and takes it, in "Deadlock". Voyager and everyone aboard is duplicated - though, to paraphrase Odo, I don't think the universe is ready for two Kathryn Janeways.
Until now Voyager hadn't had many high sci-fi concept episodes, and the ones it had (*cough*Threshold*cough*) didn't always turn out well (*cough*lizardbabies*cough*). But "Deadlock" sees the writers and cast kick things up another notch.
"Deadlock" has one of Voyager's longest prologues (TBH it could have done w/o the mess hall scene at the beginning), leaving that much less time for the main story - yet Brannon Braga's writing and David Livingston's direction ensure little time is wasted beyond that.
I'd forgotten how bleak the situation was aboard the "first" Voyager early on, or aboard the "second" Voyager later (with the Vidiians harvesting the crew's organs as they went). But it all sets up a satisfying payoff at the end.
"Deadlock" is a mind-bending, rip-roaring thrill ride of an episode, and my favorite of #StarTrekVoyager so far on #PaxFedVGRewatch. Janeway's sage words for Kim at the end pretty much say it all: "Weird is part of the job."