VOY: The Gift

         This episode really only exists to give us a transition from Kes to Seven of Nine and pretty much the entire plot is about these two things. Having read that the plan wasn't for Kes to leave but instead for Kim to die explains why she went from being a bit psychic to being able to move things with her mind and almost destroy the ship in such a short time. Presumably that arc was supposed to gradually unfurl throughout the series but instead we get it all up front here. We also get the most actually romantic scene between Neelix and Kes that I have ever seen which is nice and something that would have been welcome much earlier in the series. I am still on the road and my typing is keeping my wife awake so this is going to be a quick summary, but luckily it is also a straightforward episode.
         We open with the Doctor telling Janeway that Seven is rejecting her Borg implants and that he needs to start removing them. They awaken Seven and she hates the idea but Janeway doesn't care and orders the Doctor to do it anyway. In sickbay Kes manages to grab a hypo with her mind and then later destroys one of the implants with her mind saving Seven. Seven wakes up and is pissed but also seems willing to help remove some of the Borg tech to help get the warp drive back online. But instead she tries to break into communications to contact the collective. Tuvok and Kes meditate together and Tuvok realizes Kes is seeing deeper into reality that anyone he has ever known about and also starting to change into something other than what she is. Seven gets thrown in the brig for what she did but Janeway ties to remind her of her humanity. Kes has a final dinner with Neelix after telling the captain she is leaving the ship but starts losing control of her transition and is forced to leave in a shuttlecraft. She changes into pure energy and sends them 9500 lightyears closer to home in a few seconds before disappearing. We end with Seven in the form she has through the rest of the show with only minimal implants. She agrees to not contact the collective again and even seems to be regaining some humanity. 

         Review: A necessary episode and certainly a better end than Tasha or Jadzia got so that is cool, but still a little weak as an episode. The better character handling though gets it at least up to:

5 out of 10