This episode marks two major changes in the show, and I am not talking about Seven of Nine. First of all is the point after which I am sure we never have to deal with the Kazon again and that is a super good thing. It is also the point where Janeway breaks a little and is a bit unhinged, especially when it comes to issues of morality, for the rest of the show. On this watch especially it seemed pretty obvious that Chakotay was right and that they should let the Borg fall. Also, honestly the idea of settling down somewhere seems more reasonable than continuing a 70+ year flight home. This is especially true since they have yet to have any of their major jumps across space that significantly shorten their journey. In some ways Janeway is proven right, but not in many others.
The episode opens with two Borg cubes being destroyed by a mysterious energy weapon. Cut to Janeway talking to Gimli, I mean Da Vinci played by John Rhys-Davies. She talks him into a collaboration before she is called to the bridge. A probe they sent out a few months ago has disappeared, and the last thing it showed was Borg. She calls a senior staff meeting and they discuss the situation. She feels they have no choice but to plow through Borg space since it is so vast. Especially since there is an appropriately named "Northwest Passage" through that appears to be clear of Borg. In sickbay the Doctor explains to Kes that he has discovered the first step in assimilation, the Borg inject their victims with nanites that infect their blood and start taking over the body. Kes has a vision of a pile of Borg bodies just as they encounter a large group of Borg ships. They don't attack though and after a quick scan fly onward.
Chakotay and Janeway have a talk where he promises to be on her side no matter what. They both get called to the bridge with interesting news, all 15 Borg cubes that flew past have been destroyed. They fly in to investigate and find a living ship jammed in a cube. Chakotay leads a party to investigate and finds the cube badly damaged and one of the new aliens on board. They manage to get some data on them but Harry is badly hurt by the alien as they beam out. The alien ship powers up and they just barely escape. From the Borg data they learn the Borg call the aliens Species 8472 and know almost nothing about them. Also the Borg as badly losing the fight. In sickbay Kim is in bad shape, the alien cells in his wound are eating him from the inside. The Doctor has an idea though, modified Borg nanites seem to work great.
Janeway has an idea and proposes it at a staff meeting. She wants to trade the tech to kill 8472 in exchange for free passage through Borg space. Pretty much everybody thinks it is a bad idea. After the meeting Chakotay and Janeway have a private talk and Janeway tells him she thinks this means he doesn't actually have her back. They go forward with the plan and fly straight to a Borg planet. The Borg seem interested and beam Janeway onto their cube to negotiate but 8472 appears out of a quantum singularity and destroys the entire Borg planet throwing the cube and the still tractor beamed Voyager away in the shock wave.
Review: Kes and her visions seem to be getting play mostly because I am sure they knew by now she was leaving the show. I remember not liking what Janeway did after this, but I am going to try and keep an open mind as we enter the next season and the next phase of the show.
8 out of 10
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