"Alice"
comments? pforooghi@compusmart.ab.ca
I’ve always believed that if you don’t have anything nice to say about something or someone, then don’t say anything at all. If I were to apply this rule to my review of "Alice", then I’d have to leave the page blank. What a clunker! In my opinion, "Alice" was the second worst episode of the season, with the worst episode being the mother of all abominations, "Spirit Folk". The guest actress was dreadful, the premise absurd and unbelievable, and Tom Paris was his usual annoying, insufferable self. One could make the argument that Tom was treating B'Elanna so shabbily because his mind was being controlled by Alice, but then that would beg the question: How was his behavior under these circumstances different from how he normally treats everyone? Not much different.
I’ll admit, I don’t like Paris. In fact, he is my least favorite character on the show. I think he is an insensitive, immature, egotistical jerk. Yet despite my strong antipathy towards the character, I would be willing to put my negative feelings aside if the writers ever came up with a decent episode for Paris. No such luck. Every Paris episode I can think of- that I have seen, that is- has been atrocious. The only mildly interesting and entertaining episode to me was "Vis a Vis". All the others left a lot to be desired, including this one.
Therefore, given my distaste for "Alice", I give it one comm badge, which is more than generous. Here’s hoping for better Tom Paris episodes next year, though somehow, I doubt it.
