MONDO EXTRAS

Devious Dude tells Rettick, the Kazon, that this should prove his loyalty to him. "We'll see," Rettik snaps, and hangs up to go mat more of his hair. Yeah, the Kazons suck as the big bad aliens, and the Vidiians are far more in sync with the freak factor. More effective, even, than the Borg -- especially if what I've heard about the Borg neutering in this series bears out. No, I loved that we were dealing with aliens who developed a technology specifically designed to locate and extract organs from other beings. It's like their dearest dream was to live the life as an urban legend. They just forgot the bathtub and the bucket of ice.

Sickbay. The Doctor tells Janeway that Paris is mutating, and that his DNA is rewriting itself. The mutations have nothing to do with the previously mentioned enzymatic imbalance in Paris's cerebellum, and the Doctor has been unable to reverse the effects. The Doctor explains that some of Paris's organs have atrophied and been reabsorbed by his body, while other foreign organs are appearing. For what it's worth, Paris's brain is still nominally intact, and Paris still recognizes the Doctor and the ship and knows who he himself is. Janeway wants to talk to her pet pilot. The Doctor warns her that Paris's personality is erratic and unpredictable: "There are moments of lucidity interspersed with almost...deranged behavior." Sounds like every recapper who ever worked for TWoP.

Janeway walks over to the examination theater. A lumpish figure in aqua pajamas rolls over and looks at her. Parisite's fingers have fused together to form a webby claw. His head looks more bloated than usual, and his skin appears to be peeling off in post-sunburn sheaths. One eye is a dead, milky blue-white. "Pretty disgusting, huh?" Parisite asks Janeway. Janeway sternly admits that Parisite has looked better. Parisite says that he feels like a lab experiment gone wrong. Janeway assures him that the Doctor is trying to put him to rights again. Parisite doesn't see why they're bothering: "What I'm becoming will probably be better than who I was." Janeway is gaspy in her refusal of that fact. Parisite snarls, "Admit it. Part of you will be glad to see me gone -- I'm the Maquis traitor who sits on your Bridge and insults your uniform, remember?" Now, I know it's not the most flattering cut, but does Tom really sit there and go, "Nice pants, Captain -- when's the flood?" Parisite then starts on a rant about how his mutation is probably going to end up being good for him and that they shouldn't be depriving him of it: "How do you know this isn't the best thing that ever happened to me?" I do know that the piece of yellowed skin sloughing off your scalp isn't the best thing that ever happened to that medi-bed. One side of Parisite's mottled and swollen head is pulsating. He reminds me of a Mad Ball. Tell me Janeway's not getting with that.