Tuvok is helping Kes develop her Psychic Powers, allowing her to hear Neelix's thoughts before her amusement severs the connection. Tuvok promises to help her control her emotional "outbursts" in the future. Kes arrives late to her shift at Sick Bay, where suddenly the crystalized remains of the Caretaker begin making a high-pitched sound. Torres investigates and discovers that the crystal is resonating with an outside source of sporocystian energy, leading Janeway to suspect that it's picking up signals of the Caretaker's wayward mate. Torres hooks the crystal up to some machinery to use as a compass, and they set off in search of the entity. On the way, Janeway agrees to Tuvok's suggestion that they work on developing a toxin to subdue the entity in case she becomes hostile.
The ship arrives at a Space Station that looks very similar to the Caretaker's array, though much smaller. Kim notes that the station is filled with Ocampa. But as the ship draws closer, they're fired upon. The station's commander, Tanis, orders the ship to go away, but Janeway introduces him to Kes, a fellow Ocampa, and Tanis agrees to meet with them on Voyager. Onboard, Tanis tells Janeway that Voyager has developed a reputation as a "ship of death," and that they're believed to have killed the Caretaker. Janeway denies all of this. He also reveals that his people's own caretaker, Suspiria, has helped them evolve, increasing their lifespan and psychic abilities. He invites Kes to join them, and Janeway urgers her to think it over. After Tanis returns to his station, however, he telepathically promises to deliver Voyager to Suspiria.
Tanis agrees to take Voyager to Suspiria's location. On the way, he teaches Kes how to move objects and raise their temperatures with her abilities. She demonstrates these abilities to Tuvok but becomes unable to shut them off, nearly burning Tuvok alive. But Kes continues learning from Tanis, who unlocks her ability to summon a huge firestorm that burns all of her plants. He tells her that soon she will evolve beyond her crewmates and be able to join Suspiria in a realm of pure thought.
Suspiria arrives on the ship looking like a little girl, and it turns out that she's on a mission to avenge her mate. She starts to destabilize the ship. Kes figures out what's happening and fights Tanis off using her new psychic powers. The captain uses Tuvok's anti-sporocystian weapon to stun Suspiria and lock her behind a forcefield. However, to Suspiria's surprise, Janeway grants mercy to her and Tanis, allowing them to leave unharmed. When they've gone, Janeway vows to seek out Suspiria in the future and convince her to take the ship home. Without Tanis, Kes's psychic abilities have greatly diminished, and she returns to Tuvok for training. She regrets the dark impulses that made her lose control of her abilities, but Tuvok assures her that everyone has these impulses, and Kes simply needs to learn to control them.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Aborted Arc: Suspira never appears again after this episode, ending any involvement by the Caretaker and his species in Voyager's efforts to get home.
- Arc Number: The ship is 47 hours from the location of Suspiria, a recurring number throughout the Star Trek franchise.
- Attack Hello: The Array greets our heroes by shooting at Voyager.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Kes. When he hurts Neelix, she turns her newly heightened psychic abilities against Tanis, and he's utterly unable to defend himself against her.
- Blood from Every Orifice: Tanis when Kes starts getting pissed off.
- Book Ends: The episode starts and ends with Tuvok instructing Kes.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The remains of the Caretaker that the crew retrieved in the pilot episode.
- Tuvok's anti-sporocystian toxin gets used before the episode is done.
- Creepy Child: Suspiria appears in the form of a weeping human girl-child, but quickly turns nasty.
- Cult: Although the episode doesn't get into it explicitly, the way Tanis describes life on Suspiria's station has all the hallmarks of a cult. He promises Kes that she can unlock her latent potential and live longer. He gives her an intense sensory experience and entices her to destroy something she loves, while trying to isolate her from her friends by telling her that she's better than them. And sufficiently advanced Ocampa get to go to "Exosia" where they experience communion with Suspiria in thought and energy.
- Easily Forgiven: Rather than castigate Kes for nearly getting him killed, Tuvok advises her to treat the incident as a learning experience and remains committed to instructing her because the incident certainly demonstrates that she needs to practice her control. He even forestalls her apology by saying that guilt is not a particularly useful emotion.
- Evil Feels Good: Kes receives a taste of this when her new mentor shows her new heights of her power and she ends up burning all the plants in the hydrobay. She confesses later to Tuvok that this power felt good, even though she knew there was something bad about it.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Suspiria's child-avatar when she starts getting nasty (courtesy of a voice-over by Majel Barrett).
- Failure Is the Only Option: It's only season 2, which means the crew is not going to succeed in persuading Suspiria to yeet them back to the Alpha Quadrant.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: A later episode reveals that the Kazon have been damaging Voyager's reputation to prevent them gaining allies.Tanis: Captain, are you aware of how your ship is regarded? That when Voyager appears people fear destruction.Other Ocampan: Your ship is known as a ship of death.Janeway: (incredulous) What?Tanis: You've established quite a reputation. You killed the Caretaker, declared war on the Kazon, raided planets for their resources...Chakotay: None of that is true. We've never attacked anyone except in self-defense.Tuvok: And we did not kill the Caretaker. He died of natural causes.
- Innocent Flower Girl: Inverted when Kes burns up all her flowers... and likes it.
- It's a Long StoryTanis: What would an Ocampa be doing on an alien starship?Kes: It's a long story. But I'd like to know what an Ocampa is doing on an alien space station.Tanis: That is also a long story.
- Layman's TermsTorres: We've placed the remains in a hexiprismatic field, Captain. The next time it responds to sporocystian energy, the field should give us a heading to the source.Janeway: You're using the remains like a compass.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: It should be no surprise that the entity is malevolent upon hearing that her name is "Suspiria."
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Tanis gives Kes the powers needed to interrupt Suspiria long enough for Janeway to grab the anti-sporocystian weapon.
- Oh, Crap!: Kes is initially happy to sense Suspiria, but is then horrified to sense her malevolence.
- Power Incontinence: Kes suffers a terrifying instance of this when she accidentally starts boiling Tuvok's blood while trying to push her abilities.
- Pragmatic Hero: A minor but important example; Tuvok notes that the Caretaker was a powerful entity who could have easily done them great harm if he'd been so inclined, and so is given permission to study the Caretaker's remains and devise a weapon that could be used against Suspiria if she proves to be hostile.
- Previously on…: Majel Barrett reminds us of events in "Caretaker" ten months ago.
- Pstandard Psychic Pstance: Tanis making contact with Suspiria.
- Psychic Powers: Telepathy & Telekinesis
- Rain of Blood: Janeway is trying to communicate with Suspiria when she feels blood drip onto her shoulder. She looks up and sees Tuvok and B'Elanna suspended above her head.
- Revenge Myopia: Suspiria believes that Voyager killed her mate, and isn't interested in listening to Janeway telling her otherwise.
- Screaming Woman: On seeing Tuvok in convulsions, Kes delivers a terrified shriek.
- Space Station: A smaller Array houses the Ocampa colony.
- Starfish Alien: Suspiria is a "sporocystian lifeform".
- Status Quo Is God: In the end, the ship is right back to square one, and Kes's psychic abilities have returned more or less to where they started.
- They Were Holding You Back: Tanis urges Kes to abandon the crew to whatever fate Suspiria has in mind for them. He doesn't know Kes very well.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: When Tanis assaults Neelix, Kes snaps and attacks him, taking him out of the fight quite easily.
- What Measure Is a Non-Super?: Tanis is only interested in Kes, and even though the crew's behavior doesn't match their "ship of death" reputation, has no interest in the possibility that Suspiria might be wrong in judging them guilty of killing the Caretaker.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We never see Suspiria again.
- You Are Not Alone
- You Leave Him Alone!: Neelix yells this when Kes' new mentor is pushing the distressed girl to come with them and not worry about the fate of the crew. It doesn't work, but seeing him thrown backwards causes Kes to get dangerous.
