For all the trouble they have with the holodeck it seems like there should be way more episodes about problems with the transporter. They had two in TNG and one in VOY before this one, but none that worked as well as Drone. It also really worked for me because it addresses something I feel like they ignore way too often, the amazing piece of the future they possess called the mobile emitter. They should be mining it for new power management tech and all sorts of things like that every chance they can get, but no, they just use it to allow the Doctor to walk around. But using that tech would be altering the timeline you say! Sure, but so is having a holographic doctor walking around retaking ships from Romulans and all that. And none of this is even touching how awesome One is as a character. First he learns to be himself, then he learns to care, and finally he learns how to kick ass. Oh yeah, and something about self sacrifice in there too, but wasn't it awesome when he beamed into the borg sphere and flew it into a nebula!
We open with the Doctor rudely walking into Seven's cargo bay unannounced and then making fun of her for practicing smiling in front of a mirror. She joins Torres and Paris along with the Doctor on a mission to survey a nebula but something goes wrong and they need to go through an emergency beam out. Everyone seems fine except the Doctor whose emitter fails shortly after arriving. Torres takes it to the science lab and the next morning the Doctor wakes her up to fix it and then calls her in the shower to bug her about it more. (The Doctor really manages to be the Neelix of this episode.) In the science lab we see the emitter sprouting borg looking probes. Before Torres can get to it some guy walks into the science lab and gets probed in the neck by the emitter. The emitter thing gives off a borg forcefield which they detect from the bridge and send a team to investigate. Seven recognizes the device it has built, a borg gestation chamber, and it has a young drone inside.
Of course since this is TV the drone develops super fast and before they know it they have an adult drone with all sorts of extra high tech metal armor and the emitter as an implant. After a rough start where he tries to download Seven's mind she teaches the drone to interface with a borg data cube and it knows who they all are suddenly. There is a lot of awkward growing up stuff as the drone learns to be an individual and even picks a name, One. The one thing they don't tell him about is the Borg. Seven is worried the allure of perfection will be too much for him.
They don't have much choice though because when One regenerates his body generates a transmitter which sends a signal which contacts the collective and they send a scout ship to find him. Seven and the captain give One a crash course on who the Borg are and when he sees that Seven doesn't want to rejoin the collective and how afraid of being assimilated the crew are he agrees to help. One enhances Voyagers shields and weapons, but it isn't enough. He beams himself into the sphere and takes control flying it into an unstable nebula crushing the ship. He seemingly allows himself to be hurt though. When he gets back to Voyager he tells Seven the collective knows about him and that he must die to keep them all safe. Seven tries to talk him out of it, but he dies in front of her.
Review: I really liked this episode. Not quite as good as Living Witness, but it the same group of really outstanding Voyager episodes.
8 out of 10
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