Seven might have to face Death
| Production Number 566 |
Summary
The Review
And so, after just last week pulling off a huge battle with the Borg, we see that this week we have no reminders whatsoever that anything at all happened. Voyager is in tiptop shape, as usual, we have the Delta Flyer back, and Janeway, Torres and Tuvok have no scars emotionally or physically from their recent assimilation.
Just a standard episode of Voyager.
Mezoti, Rebi and Azan are leaving Voyager to live with a family from the home planet of the twins. Icheb is staying behind, and he seems quite determined to do so. In a scene which placed Icheb with Seven in a corridor on Voyager we see the first true sign that Seven is not happy with the children's decision to leave, because she starts to cry. When Icheb becomes concerned, she simply insists it is a glitch with her ocular implant.
In sickbay the Doctor examines her. We discover that he has recently had an upgrade involving a set of emotional subroutines. The standard entertaining argument insues. The Doctor seems to be passing off to Seven the idea that emotions are not a bad thing, and she shouldn't be embarrassed to develop them, but Seven insists it was a, "technological malfunction." If that will be the case, then the Doctor persuades Seven to keep him informed on her situation.
Meanwhile, we might be having another Wesley Crusher. As Seven enters Astrometrics, she discovers Icheb wishes to apply to one day become a Starfleet Officer. I won't go into detail about why I don't hope they turn him into Wesley Crusher, I'll just let you go watch TNG again if you don't understand why that's a bad thing.
Seven notices she's malfunctioning again somehow, note she's supposed to keep the Doctor informed, and decides to regenerate in her alcove, but discovers her malfunction won't let her regenerate. I really think the writers played this a bit out of character. Even if this is Seven, she would have realized atleast on some level that she needed help, even if for no other reason than to simply 'maintain efficiency.'
A few scenes later, we notice things have gone wrong. There's a pretty neat little graphic where Seven has her skin tear down the side of her face and kneck. I thought it was effective as it truly was alarming. In Sickbay the Doctor diagnoses her cortical implant as the cause. She needs a new one, no and's, if's or but's.
Being her standard hero self, Janeway sets off to go see what trouble, erm, excitement, erm.... Well you know.... The important thing is that Janeway's going somewhere. In a downright crazy and drastic plan she has the crew investigate a borg debris field. I can't help but wonder if she would go to all this trouble if some little Ensign in Engineering were dying...
I'll take this moment to side-step out of the story and mention something related to it. I was reading a review yesterday (while still formulating THIS review) from the Cynic's Corner. The link to that very review is at the bottom of the page, as always. He mentioned the fact that we DID happen to sorta have a Borg rebellion last week. I mean, come on, what are the chances some Borg rebel ship isn't flyin' around nearby? For the heck of it try and flag one down and see if they'z got'z a spare cortical implant. You get want I'm sayinz? :-) (Thanks to the Cynic for that paragraph, without that review this review would be one paragraph shorter)
So, of course, things can't be that simple. In the debris field Janeway get's trigger-happy and sorta gets some aliens POed at her. Normal day in the Delta Quadrant. Add to that once things calm down that this cortical implant won't work for Seven, what a surprise.
The powerful part of the story was here, for a brief time, Seven was attempting to deal with the fact that she might very well die. In one scene there's a discussion with Torres about that very topic. Quite enjoyable.
Meanwhile, Icheb has been watching and waiting, and now has formulated a plan he thinks will work. Arguing with Seven, he insists she can use his cortical implant, while he could survive without it because he left the maturation chamber too early for full assimilation. He managesto convince the Doctor, but Seven is unsure. Determined, Icheb disconnects his implant. Angry, Seven still seems reluctant, but the Doctor intervenes, "Someone had better use the damn thing. If it stays disconnected much longer it won't do either of you any good."
Regretfully, Seven accepts.
The end was to of course be expected. We knew all along Seven would live, but just because you know what's going to happen doesn't mean that you don'ty want to know how they get there. I thought it was an entertaining episode. Enjoyable, and a little intense. One great hour of television.
Rating: A
Other Reviews
When three of the four Borg children leave Voyager, Seven has an emotional response. This causes her to need a new cortical implant, or she will die.
I wouldn't say that this episode is a favorite, in many ways it was down right weak, but if someone had the option to watch it, I'd recommend it as a good hour.
Jammer's Review
The Cynic's Review
TrekWeb's Review
