Scorpion, Part II
As you'll recall, I thought that part I of "Scorpion" was unspectacular, but entertaining -- although it raised some troubling issues (like the need for a replacement for the Borg, etc.) How did the always-dangerous concluding half do? Well, that's a bit harder to say. There were promising bits here and there, but it still fell prey to the problem of having a quick solution which completely deflates the interest set up in the first half.
The central dilemma for the characters in this episode, as it was in the last, is whether or not it is justifiable or wise to make a deal with the Borg, given the inherent nature of the Borg. (Hence the name of the episodes, from the little parable Chakotay tells Janeway. Incidentally, this same parable is used to far greater effect in the excellent movie The Crying Game.) In the first episode, we got a little bit of Janeway and Chakotay arguing about this approach, and we get some more of that in this episode -- and, of course, I always think conflict is good. I'm less satisfied with how the conflict is resolved here, however. Seven of Nine argues that these differences of opinion are the weakness that will lead to humanity's downfall. In a sense, Janeway nd Chakotay agree -- they feel they must come to a compromise in order to survive. Now, as a model for human behavior, this might be a wise philosophy. On a Starship, this is nonsense. Chakotay doesn't have to agree with Janeway. As Kirk pointed out now and then, a ship is run by one person, not by a committee. A captain takes into account the advice of the crew, but in the end, the decision is his (or hers). Now, of course, the way this episode was written, the compromise position was the correct route to take -- but that's just because Chakotay's and Janeway's positions were each too extreme to be workable. So while the writers want to show the true nature and strength of human unity, I don't think it really works here.
The other major element of the plot is the conflict between the Voyager, the Borg, and Species 8472. While this provides for some really keen special effects sequences, it really falls quite flat, as the plot falls victim to Voyager's habitual failing, the technobabble fix. As presented in Part I, Species 8472 were scary, implacable, nasty (and derivative) critters who threatened to destroy the Borg and everyone else. By the end of this episode, thanks to some able fidgetry and gadgetry by the Doc and others, 8472 have been banished forever -- and quite easily. Once the mini-Borg thingers had been synthesized by the Doc, all the rest just happened too quickly and easily -- the weapons were tested in "fluidic space" against the critters, and worked (albeit somewhat slowly.) Sp. 8472 were then warned to get out of our galaxy, refused, and were blown to bits by the new weapon (but very, very quickly this time, for no adequately explained reason.) All of this lacked any real interest or excitement, and felt like going through the motions. It also felt like a cop out. Now, as I said before, I don't think the Borg needed replacing as the big bad guys -- and now that Species 8472 has been sent back home whimpering, the Borg and back on top of the baddie heap. But this only serves to make the whole set up in part I seem completely pointless -- these were just 2-episode disposable baddies, and not nearly as important as they were made out to be. This feels like a reset button. Or, more accurately, an attempt to hit the reset button, for some things simply cannot be reset. The fact is, the Borg had their asses kicked by Species 8472, and needed Voyager's help to survive. That significantly diminishes them as adversaries, whether we ever see the ‘72's again or not. Yet another example of Braga & Co. screwing with the Borg until they just don't mean anything anymore.
There were a couple of other rather abrupt mini-reset buttons in the midst of the episode. The first was Harry's miraculous cure. One of the cliff-hanging elements of the finale was Harry's fate -- would he become a vegetarian entree, or would he survive? Well, as we find out only minutes into the show, in quite undramatic fashion, he'll be just fine -- and doing not a damn thing for the rest of the episode. That felt awkward, sloppy, and unrewarding. In the middle of the episode, Janeway is injured, and because of neurological problems, must be put into stasis while the doctor tries to find a way to save her. The crew don't seem particularly concerned about this -- presumably, they've seen the script and know it'll all turn out fine. In fact, Janeway stays out of the action just long enough to allow Chakotay time to violate her orders. As soon as this is accomplished, Janeway is miraculously cured, and just pops up out of her sick bed. Again, nothing dramatic about any of that -- no real sense of danger when she fell ill, no particular relief when she recovered. It was an obvious plot machination, which was intrusive and uninteresting. Again, sloppy, sloppy writing.
Another question raised by this episode is the extent of Borg space. The deal Janeway strikes with the Borg seems to indicate that it is possible to get through Borg space in a relatively short period of time -- a few weeks, it seems. This, of course, makes no sense. If the Borg have been conquering worlds non-stop for hundreds of years, it is completely illogical that their territory would be so small. (Hell, the damn Kazon managed to conquer so much territory in 70 years that it took Voyager 2 years to get through it.) Again, this diminishes the sense of danger that we ought to get from being in Borg space. And, of course, in "The Gift", Kes sends them 10 years worth of travel on ahead, which is some unspecified distance outside of Borg space -- and yet we know, given statements in the press, that Voyager will still run into the Borg. So is Borg space weeks across? Years? Does anyone involved with the show know? Now, I don't care what the exact extent of Borg space is, but the difference between weeks to cross it and decades is pretty big, and I think we, the viewers, need to know what the truth is, at least in general terms. But clarity doesn't seem likely to be forthcoming.
The other big event in this episode, of course, is the introduction of the new character, Seven of Nine. As others have said at great length, it seems painfully obvious that this character was created to provide really big boobs for the young male audience to gawk at. And, on that level, the character is clearly successful, as anti-grav technology seems to have been applied, by the 24th century, to women's undergarments. But what is there to her character, beyond enormous breasts? Certainly, the character has potential to be interesting, I suppose. There is the problem, of course, that the ex-Borg is no longer a unique figure -- we've had Hugh, we've had the colony in "Unity", so the idea of being ex-Borg isn't going to be enough to sustain this character. It's hard to say too much more about the character just yet, we'll have to wait and see. Her introduction at least was certainly logical -- Janeway's request for a Locutus-type figure to mediate between the humans and the Borg was clever and made perfect sense. What makes less sense is that Seven of Nine's voice lacks the distortion characteristic of Borg voices, even Locutus'. This is annoying. Other than that, at this point, she simply seems to be a Borg. We'll get to see a bit more (in more ways than one) in next week's "The Gift."
So, how was "Scorpion, Pt II"? In some ways fairly mechanical, with plot points resolved with a workmanlike efficiency -- but not much flair. The Borg are returned to the top of the evil-doer roles, but they are more tarnished than ever. There were some truly inspired space-battle scenes, providing wonderful eye candy -- tho the battles themselves had problems with internal consistency (Borg ships being easily destroyed by ‘72's weapons, but the Voyager resisting them; ‘72's first being destroyed slowly by the new weapon, then instantly, some more beaming/shields-up problems.) What does it all mean for the new season? I have no idea. We'll just have to wait and see how things develop over the next few episodes.