About half way into this episode I started to get worried that it was going to be as straightforward as it looked and therefore also hella boring. I also liked that Seven was really worried and it turned out she was right, but for totally wrong reasons. Also enjoyed a look into what it is like to live in a society on the edge of Borg space where even if you survive the initial attack you will be harassed for ever until either they assimilate all of you or you find a way to fight back. And as much as Seven and Janeway were upset about Icheb being used to kill Borg, his parents do have a point that without space weapons they lack any other way to fight back. Still a pretty brutal thing for a society to do though.
We open at a science fair on the ship with Janeway looking at the projects admiringly. She is especially impressed with the oldest ex-Borg boy Icheb. He has become very interested in astrophysics and has been working in astrometrics with Seven a lot. Janeway pulls Seven aside and tells her they have located Icheb's parents and it is time for him to go home which Seven resists, but also agrees to be the one to tell him. She stalls for a while but eventually delivers the news which is devastating to Icheb. It gets worse when he learns he comes from an agricultural society without starships and with very limited technology. The captain gives him no choice though and he beams down to meet his parents. They don't get along at all and before long Icheb returns to the ship.
His parents are naturally devastated themselves and head up to Voyager to meet with Janeway. She encourages them to meet with him on the ship since he is more comfortable there. They plan a dinner for him while he talks with the other ex-Borg kids. They are all jealous that he gets to meet his parents but he is not so sure. At dinner he refuses to engage at first but after trying some food he opens up. The next day he heads down to the planet and spends time with his dad. He learns that while his people don't have space technology, they are very advanced at genetic engineering. That night he brings down a regeneration unit and spends the night with his parents.
Seven is very upset since she is worried the Borg will return and reassimilate him. Janeway tells her to stand down though but as she prepares to regenerate the ex-Borg girl tells her that the story about Icheb being assimilated wasn't true. Instead of being captured on the surface he was taken in a spacecraft. Seven investigates further and finally wakes Janeway. On the planet his parents are having a tearful conversation. The dad doesn't want to do what they have planned by the mom is dead set. When Icheb returns they tell him he is going back to the Borg and sedate him. Voyager returns after they have launched Icheb's craft. They get to him just in time but a Borg sphere arrives and they have to detonate a torpedo in Icheb's ship to escape. The Doctor finds that Icheb was genetically modified to produce the pathogen that destroyed the cube he was on and his parents were sending him back to do more damage.
Review: An episode with actual ethical quandaries? Actual plot twists that aren't super obvious from the opening? Actually interesting Borg stories? Looks like they managed to sneak a decent one in among the increasingly disappointing sixth season.
6 out of 10
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