The writers of Voyager seem to enjoy the idea of making all the enemies of the Federation actually be alright people. TNG did this a bit already with the Hugh episode so the idea that Borg are really alright creatures when separated is an interesting thing to explore. I can't help but wonder if they had already decided to replace Kes with Seven of Nine and this episode was meant to set up the idea of an ex-borg joining the crew. It seems like Chakotay being joined to a collective consciousness would affect how he felt about a Seven of Nine but I don't recall that being a thing. But then again I don't remember much of this part of Voyager so we shall see.
We open with Chakotay and short live ensign Kaplin on a shuttle scouting the Nekrit Expanse. They detect a Federation hailing frequency and head towards it, but find the signal coming from a planet. After landing the shuttle they embark to look for the person who called them but are soon attacked. Kaplin is killed and Chakotay badly hurt. Back on the ship Paris is complaining about being bored until they encounter a borg cube. Luckily for them it is dead so Janeway sends Torres and Tuvok to look for information. They try getting things working but find a dead borg which they bring aboard. Back on the planet Chakotay wakes up and is greeted by a human woman. She says she is there to help him but something strange is clearly going on. He escapes and discovers he is in a colony of ex-borg. He finds the woman, Frazier, and she insists they were only keeping it a secret from him since they know people don't trust borg.
She is of course right but Chakotay can see they are trying to build a new life, but there are problems. Without the mind link various factions of borg emerged after the cube was disabled which is why there are now rival factions on the planet. Chakotay still badly hurt though and the only cure they can offer is to join him with the link to give him mental energy for healing. After much hesitation he agrees and finds he can see the thoughts and memories of the other borg while link. Afterwards he meets up with Frazier with whom he is still partly linked and they have crazy psychic sex. Voyager tracks him down and he realizes he knows what she wants. He brings Frazier to meet Janeway and she tells the captain that she wants to turn on the mental beacon on the cube to link all the ex-borg on the planet again so they will stop fighting, but Janeway refuses. She does let Chakotay take supplies down though and on the way back he phasers Torres and makes his way to the cube where he turns it on, it seems his link with the borg on the planet still works without the implant. The borg on the cube wake up as Voyager prepares to flee but it self destructs before it can hurt them. They are hailed by the new Borg Cooperative they have just helped create who apologize for using Chakotay and break the link completely as Voyager flies off.
Review: I really liked that they examine what the advantages are of being part of a collective consciousness for the individuals which is an interesting idea. Up to now the borg have mostly been seemingly mindless in their actions other than the endless drive to assimilate.
6 out of 10
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