S3 E26: Scorpion, Part I

Voyager has reached Borg space, for real this time, and it is vast. By sending out probes, they detect a corridor of space that is Borg free, but that's just because the Borg are being decimated by a new threat - which they have designated Species 8472. After Voyager's first encounter with the new enemy leaves Kim dying from a wound infection that is eating him alive, the Doctor discovers that their only hope for a cure is Borg nanoprobe technology - which he can't replicate fast enough. Janeway chooses to try to negotiate with the Borg for safe passage in exchange for the new 8472-beating nanoprobes. Her negotiations are cut short by 8472 showing up and destroying a whole Borg planet, leaving us with a cliffhanger as a cube, with Voyager in tow, flees at top speed.

This was my last first-run Voyager episode. I had already not watched half of season three, but tuned into the season finale out of a sense of duty more than anything else. What I saw disgusted me so much that I never watched again. When I was a kid, I'd watched TOS reruns with my dad (Shore Leave was my first episode ever) but when TNG first came on he was pretty suspicious of it - and, considering that the first two seasons were so bad, he had good reason. We started watching a little more regularly in the third season (probably the most underrated season in all of Trek), and by the time Best of Both Worlds showed up, we were absolutely riveted to the TV. I vividly remember my mom telling us that dinner was ready during that episode, and when we didn't come immediately said "I thought you didn't like this show that much."

"We do now."

So, long story short medium-length, Best of Both Worlds, and the Borg in general, have a lot to do with getting us into Trek in the first place. In my Unity review, I went into some detail about one thing I loved about the Borg - their lack of outright villainy or ill-intent. In this episode, they also lose their ability to analyze and adapt to threats AND can you can now negotiate with them, both of which drove me crazy. The line along which the Borg adaptation works required ingenuity and unpredictability from the characters facing them, but still allowed for the ability to defeat them (at least temporarily). The scene with the poor, hapless drone, repeatedly trying to assimilate the 8472 ship without success, and without adapting his strategy painted a pretty pathetic picture of what the Borg had become.

This time around, I wasn't bothered by those things as much. Voyager needs to go through Borg space to get home, and having a threat that can distract the Borg from Voyager's presence is a completely credible way to let them through without weakening the Borg. After all, the Borg have a history of ignoring non-threats, and they know enough at this point that even a lone Federation ship could easily be more trouble than it is worth. I would have been happier if 8472 had been more of an even match, or even just barely kept ahead of the Borg's adaptation, but that isn't a big deal.

What is a big deal to me is Janeway's behavior in this episode. She calls this senior staff meeting to discuss her plan of action, and when her trusted first officer stays afterwards to professionally present his misgivings about her plan, without showing any sign of dissent to the crew, she starts acting all melodramatically about standing alone. What? What?! It's entirely her prerogative to disagree with his suggestions and continue to follow her plan, a plan with which I happen to agree - the Borg in this case are definitely shown to the "the evil you know" - and as long as we're assuming that they can be negotiated with, then her plan is definitely sound. But to have her, the Federation captain of a Federation ship, behave like a spoiled child, one who throws a fit when people don't want to do what she wants to do... it is one thing to want her to be her own character, distinct from Picard and Sisko and Kirk, but this is just plain character assassination.

Watchability: 3/5

Bottom Line: Reasonably exciting to watch, but it has none of the Borg philosophical magic that made Unity so great. This is the single highest rated episode on the Global Episode Opinion Survey for the entire Voyager series, and I can't see why.