Production Number 247

Summary
Janeway, Tuvok and Torres infiltrate a Borg cube in hopes of freeing the members of Unimatrix Zero.

The Review
This episode starts right where last season's cliffhanger left off, Janeway, Tuvok, and Torres have all three been assimilated into the collective. My short opinion: This was an overall good story which provided for an exciting hour of Borg, controversy and big explosions. However, it was not lacking problems.

Like I said, three crew members have been assimilated after what was seemingly a covert operation gone afoul. The whole issue of our three borgified crewmembers who were only "partially" assimilated was absolutely ridiculous. The plot tried to pass off the excuse of a "neural suppressant" which kept the voices of the collective from reaching them. I'm just going to throw out everything we know about the Borg and believe that that is possible, but even if it was possible, why is it that this is the first time we have ever seen it? I mean, take First Contact as an example. If a neural suppressant could stop full assimilation, then why didn't Picard have it administered to his crew? Or why isn't it so readily available on all border worlds where Borg activity is possible? This is just another example of Voyager making something up because they felt like it.

No matter how it is done, once the Borg believe they have assimilated the three, Janeway begins her work: A virus to be released into the cental plexus of the Borg cube which would make the inhabitants of Unimatrix Zero capable of retaining their memories in the real world. After minor troubles, the trio reaches the relatively unguarded plexus which maintains instant communication with all the other minds of the collective, anywhere in the Galaxy. However, despite their successes as they are uploading the virus, Tuvok, of all people, is beginning to loose control over himself. "The neural suppressant must be wearing off," chimes Janeway. Oh yes, the suppressant. I had almost forgotten. That must be why they never use it, it does a crappy job, especially in important plot development scenes.

Janeway orders Tuvok to remain in control, Tuvok dutifully replies.

At that time Torres has completed the upload of the virus, and yet when they try to make their escape, they are flanked by dozens of drones, the struggle that follows is almost pitiful.

Janeway is then hooked up in some sort of space-age-looking alcove that transmits a holographic human representation of herself to the Borg queen, seemingly placing Janeway "in" the room. "I know how vain humans can be," says the Queen. What follows is one of the classic little debates that makes me like Janeway, before the Queen seems to come to a conclusion. She shows an image of a cube, she also says she has lost three voices onboard before she initiates the auto-destruct. The ship explodes. She does the same to a sphere. Janeway agrees to help her in order to prevent her from killing more innocent people but she warns "You'll have to destroy the whole collective."

Meanwhile, Voyager has gotten ancy. Seven has been in contact with the people of Unimatrix Zero, who are now preparing for full-scale war. There were two interesting subplots here. Seven of Nine develops her first real relationship here, as in it didn't seem that forced, and we watch as it slowly grows.

As for Chakotay, with Janewat off-ship it places him decidely in charge, but Tom brings up that places him as the first officer. I think for a moment we saw a force in Tom that was powerful as he challenged Chakotay, as a first officer, about recalling the away team. But as quickly as it comes it goes.

As for the Queen, she has now developed a nanoprobe capable of killing all mutated drones. This forces Janeway to order Voyager to destroy Unimatrix Zero. However, despite destroying the unimatrix, the mutated Borg still retain their memories in the real world. In one final scene we see Seven and Axum, another Borg she had developed relations with, say goodbye to each other, however Axum pledges to find her.

As Voyager goes on the offensive to rescue their missing crew, they are surprised to discover a Borg sphere under the command of an assimilated Klingon named Korok comes to their aid. His entire ship is now under the control of members of Unimatrix Zero. In the following battle scene the away team is barely rescued as the Queen orders the Borg Cube's destruction from a remote location.

This was a good episode. Not a classic by any standard, but an entertaining hour of television. The plot flowed very nicely and was cushioned between action and suspense scenes. If every episode of Voyager were as good as this it wouldn't be a bad thing.

Rating: A-

Other Reviews
Jammer's Review
The Cynic's Review
TrekWeb's Review