147 – Unimatrix Zero, Part 2

Grade: C+

Summary

In this conclusion to the Unimatrix Zero storyline, Janeway, Tuvok and Torres have been assimilated into the Borg Collective. Thanks to the Doctor’s neural inhibitor (or whatever), they actually retain their individuality. This enables them to introduce a harmful virus into the Collective and help the Borg who have been visiting Unimatrix Zero to rebel against the Queen.

Commentary

The final season of Voyager is not off to a fantastic start. During this finale, several characters promise to keep in touch, but this being Voyager, we have plenty of history proving that one episode rarely has anything to do with any other episode. For Unimatrix Zero, however, this is pretty bad. This episode really should have drastic effects on the Borg, but there’s no way Voyager ever takes any risks or does anything out of the ordinary.

Here’s an example. Tuvok gets assimilated. Borg Queen has access to Voyager’s shield frequency. She disables Voyager’s shields and then punches a hole through the ship with one of her torpedoes. Why didn’t they change the command codes after Tuvok left the ship? And why didn’t Voyager look destroyed in the rest of the episode?

I didn’t like the Doctor in this episode either. He’s obviously jealous that Seven has a boyfriend in Unimatrix Zero. It’s rather disturbing. I’ve always thought the Doctor was more of a father figure than a romantic interest for her. Besides, why should a hologram be capable of jealousy? And should a doctor even want a romantic relationship with a crewmate? Well, whatever.

The storyline is pure fluff. Not much character development here, but lots of what producers think we want to see – explosions, Borg mayhem, crazy scenes, Janeway vs Borg Queen, etc. Not much of this is very interesting to me. We’ve seen it all before a hundred times. Let’s try something new for a change.

Of Note

In this episode, Axum (not Zaxum, as he was originally named in the previous episode) says he’s on a ship patrolling the fluidic space border. There’s only one problem. There is no such border. Fluidic space appears whenever Species 8472 creates an opening into normal space. Well, maybe Axum meant he’s patrolling a place where a hole previously appeared. Whatever. Stupid episode anyway.