Janeway, Torres and Tuvok attempt to free the Borg of unimatrix zero while the Borg Queen works to halt the insurrection around her drones.

There was so much potential here, but I really felt that it was wasted. Remember when the Borg were threatening? Well now you can be assimilated by one but remain an individual, so no harm done. And this is my first problem with the story. Not one of the Voyager crew seems to be bothered about the things done to a Borg. Even at the end Janeway’s only real problem seems to have been some spinal clamps. This sounds horrible, but she’s sitting in bed drinking tea as if she doesn’t have scars and holes all over her body. Surely it’s an unpleasant experience even without getting the ‘full Picard’?

Then there’s the Borg Queen. She could easily assimilate the Voyager away team if she bothered. She could assimilate or annihilate Voyager with ease, yet she doesn’t. A few photon torpedoes seem to suffice alongside a nice chat with Kathy. Furthermore, she fails to realize that she could easily infect her wayward drones with another virus once they return to their alcoves to regenerate. And I still don’t buy that the drones susceptible to Janeway’s virus can take over a fleet of spheres and fight the rest of their kind. If many of them are alone or almost alone in spheres or cubes, or even if there’s a small group, they’re little match for the rest of the Borg on board the ship. Or the Queen can destroy vessels as she sees fit. It doesn’t bother her. There are plenty more potential drones out there; it’s just a setback to Borgkind.

It all seems to be a massive waste of time. There are billions of Borg, and they should have no trouble finding and killing any individuals among them. So what else is there? Well, the romance between Seven and another Borg seems forced and unconvincing, mainly due to her paramour having the charisma of a baked potato. The only good aspect of this is her conversation with the Doctor, who still clearly has feelings for Seven. Paris’s ‘promotion’ to first officer doesn’t really enable him to do anything, and the battles are stupid, as with the battering Voyager takes it should just fall apart. It ends too quickly and easily, everything’s back to normal and the crew go on their way. Tragic, as it could have been all exciting space battles and fighting against the Borg.

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