“Stay Tuvok.”
“Unimatrix Zero” part 2 doesn’t rise to the level of a bad episode, but it’s not a good one. It has a handful of good moments, some annoying ones, and far too many that elicit no emotional reaction whatsoever.
The good
Part of me is like, “Can two men be captain and first officer? Is that … allowed?” But I genuinely enjoyed Chakotay and Tom’s interactions in these roles. They had the weight of personal history behind them, a relationship founded in animosity and disrespect, which has evolved into mutual regard.
I also enjoyed Janeway’s interactions with the Borg Queen, aside from the bit where Janeway spits, “I don’t negotiate with Borg.” Ma’am, have you, uhhh, seen “Scorpion” parts 1 and 2? It was a whole thing.
The Borg Queen kills her own drones by the tens of thousands, applying classic abuser logic: “look what you made me do.” She has selected Janeway to be her new archenemy, and doesn’t seem to realise that Janeway is just not that into her. (No one can hate Kathryn Janeway as much as Kathryn Janeway herself.) It’s basically the Sisko/Dukat relationship except the dialogue’s not as good and there’s less sexual tension.
For her part, Janeway isn’t falling for it, although she cannot help but be moved by the deaths of the drones, and and her holographic eyes fill with holographic tears. It’s a great scene for Mulgrew and Susanna Thompson, and by far the most compelling in the episode.
the bad
Everything with Axum and Seven, but especially the part where she gets swept up in his anti-Borg trap and needs rescuing. Classic “put the lady in her place” writing, and I hate it.
Seven thinks she has developed romantic feelings for Axum, and no one is in a position to tell her about comphet, so she has to go along with the awful plot. He promises to come and find her, even though he is way over on the other other side of the galaxy. I like to picture him turning up sometime after season 3 of Star Trek: Picard, all, “Honey! I found you!” and Seven has to explain that her days of dating men are behind her, and also she doesn’t really experience sexual or romantic attraction, sooooooooooo…
The fine
It’s a bold move to write a long scene where the Borg Queen interacts with a child actor, and an even bolder choice to write mediocre dialogue for a mediocre child actor. I don’t follow the logic myself, but there we are.
I do follow the logic of having Tuvok struggle with being actually-assimilated instead of just pretend-assimilated like B’Elanna and Janeway, but we get no follow-up or glimpse of the aftermath because this episode cares more about Seven’s groomer boyfriend than the best and most important character in the franchise.
The pleasant surprise
I expected to be annoyed (again) that Janeway, B’Elanna and Tuvok are assimilated and experience no significant side effects or trauma. And that does feel both implausible and like a missed opportunity — not unlike the end of Star Trek: Picard season 3.
But I will say that this is an opportunity to do something new and different with the situation, and we get the scenes between Janeway and the Borg Queen instead. It’s not nothing! I think if this two-parter had been overall better, I’d have no complaints about the assimilation fake-out at all.
Other observations
- I don’t quite know how this is possible, but Jeri Ryan looks alarmingly thin in Seven’s civilian outfit, as opposed to looking merely slim in the much more revealing catsuit. I suspect she’s wearing a padded push-up bra in the former, so her waist and hips look disproportionately smaller.
- The story ends with Unimatrix Zero shut down, but pockets of freed Borg controlling cubes and spheres across the galaxy. Don’t worry, we won’t be hearing about that ever again.
- There’s no follow up on the Queen threatening Harry in part 1. Don’t worry, we won’t be hearing about that ever again.
In conclusion
Season 7 opens with more of the same creative burnout that marked so much of season 6. It’s not a promising sign! Two liberated spheres out of five.