B'Elanna finds out she is pregnant, but when she discovers that the baby will have Klingon traits, she is determined to stop it being treated the same as she was.

With no guest stars beyond a fleeting appearance by Icheb and no visiting aliens, the main focus of the story is on the characters of Tom and B'Elanna as the latter attempts to get past some of her long-held concerns about her past. Roxann Dawson gives a fine performance as a woman with some old issues that badly need addressing, but it has to be said that her hatred of her Klingon side has been dealt with enough already without having to go over this ground again. The script also pushes her much further than seems likely. However hormonally charged her actions may be, B'Elanna is one step away from a complete nervous breakdown by the end of the episode, allowing Roxann Dawson to show some strong emotions yes, but not without seeming rather out of character.

The biggest problem lies possibly more with me than the story, that being that I just don't see Tom and B'Elanna as a couple, especially not husband and wife. There's no chemistry there and the writers obviously thought prising them together would help the characters. When Worf and Jadzia got married or Odo and Kira hooked up, there was real power in their relationship. Tom and B'Elanna seem to have settled down together because there's no-one else on the ship they quite fancy. Without any kind of believability I'm working an uphill struggle all the way. It's also the way the episode happens, with the baby arriving just as suddenly as the pair's marriage.

The opening of the episode becomes increasingly sickening as the crew hugs and cuddles, offers names and volunteers to be godparent. Then it gets serious as we get some heavy-handed 'message' writing about the horrors of genetic manipulation, racism and various other concepts. Having flashbacks to B'Elanna as a kid isn't entirely necessary and just paints her as a stupid and ungrateful child and although her poor childhood does provide some background to her problems, she stills goes way beyond overreacting, and by refusing to talk to Tom she doesn't help the situation.

In the end it's merely the tale of B'Elanna going gradually crazy, and there should be a lot more thought put into it than that.

**

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