This is the first two parter that I actually don't remember. I do remember there being a followup episode to I Borg, but I had totally forgotten it was a season finale. I suspect they decided to do another cliffhanger since by now DS9 was in full swing and they wanted to fight rumors/actual plans to cancel TNG. As always it is hard to judge a two part episode by the first half, but this one certainly seemed better than I remember. I somehow totally forgot the non-cube super Borg ship they introduce, but for whatever reason the scene with Lore and Data on the platform above the Borg was super familiar.
The episode begins with Data playing poker with Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking. The three of them bicker a bit, but for some reason Hawking seems to be having a great time (clearly because it is actually Stephen Hawking who is actually having a great time being on Star Trek). He ends his simulation when the ship goes to red alert. They are heading to an outpost that reported being attacked and then went silent. When they arrive they find everything quiet and a strange looking ship orbiting the planet. They beam down and find that everyone in the outpost has been brutally killed. Data opens a sealed door and finds a Borg hiding. Three other Borg jump out and kill a security officer before being killed themselves. Data engages two Borg in hand to hand combat and becomes enraged and them enjoys killing one of them. Meanwhile the ship has opened fire on the Enterprise and before they can return fire it disappears into some sort of subspace wormhole thing.
Rushing to help another outpost under attack they again encounter the strange ship. It fires at them, but instead of doing damage two Borg appear on the bridge and start fighting. Both are hit with phaser fire but they discover one of the Borg is alive and Dr. Crusher manages to heal it. Data meanwhile has removed himself from duty to try and figure out his emotional outburst. Troi encourages him to explore what happened so he creates a simulated Borg and tries killing it over and over to see if he can get it to happen again. Meanwhile Starfleet has sent Admiral Nechayev to take command of their operations and she puts Picard in charge of one of the taskforces after yelling at him for letting Hugh go without the virus that would have wiped out the collective. Picard interrogates the Borg survivor who tells him they are now individuals and are no longer interested in assimilating inferior organisms into their collective. It seems someone, they assume Hugh, has changed their society dramatically.
The Bord, Crosis, gets Data alone and asks him about the emotions he felt when he killed the other Borg. Data admits he enjoyed it and Crosis asks him if he wants to do it again. Data says yes and to be extra creepy agrees he would kill Geordi if it meant he could feel again. On the bridge they detect a shuttle has left the ship and turned off the tractor beam first. It seems Data and the Borg have escaped. They make another transwarp conduit open but the Enterprise follows them through. They find the shuttle on a planet eventually and Picard beams down with most of the senior staff leaving Dr. Crusher it charge. They eventually find a building which appears to be unoccupied. They make their way inside and are somehow surprise when a bunch of Borg pop out everywhere. Then an android walks out, Picard thinks it is Data but Troi recognizes Lore. But Data then joins him and Lore tells them that together they are going to destroy the Federation.
Review: They are trying pretty hard to best The Best of Both Worlds and didn't really succeed, but they did manage to make a tense and exciting episode. I was going to make a joke about bringing Troi on such a military type mission, but she did figure out it was Lore long before Picard so I guess that is why.
7 out of 10
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