This is a strange episode and while I get that the Borg are weird, I don't think that is why it is weird. To me the stuff with trying to attack the Borg with a virus by letting the captain get assimilated to infect the collective was just fine. It was all the Unimatrix Zero stuff. First, the odd fake forest setting was an odd choice and would have been helped a lot by actually being filled outside. Second, I get why Seven is so bothered by Axum claiming to have been romantically involved with her for years which she doesn't remember. Also, how did this Unimatrix Zero come into existence? It has some sort of code that protects it from jamming even by the Borg Queen, but is a product of a random mutation??? Also, mutation? What? Borg are from all sorts of different species, do they really mean mutation?
We open with the Borg Queen, never my favorite, and she is determined to root our a malfunction of some sort. She interrogates a drone about some frequency for a thing called Unimatrix Zero but he refuses to tell her and she has him dismantled to get the information. On Voyager Seven is having a strange dream her her in a fake looking forest with a man calling out "Annika" to her. She wakes up and heads to sickbay since she doesn't usually dream. On the bridge Janeway and Chakotay pretend to be mad and Paris to get him on edge so they can reveal he has been promoted to lieutenant again. Harry is ignored as he points out he has never been promoted in these six years. They respond to a colony under attack by the Borg, but it is totally assimilated by the time they arrive.
Seven regenerates again and finds herself back in the forest which is apparently what Unimatrix Zero is. She is greeted by Axum, the man who met her earlier and he explains this is a place where some Borg with a mutation go when they regenerate and they are individuals here but forget it all when they wake up. She apparently has been going here as long as she was a drone, 16 years in her case. He also tells her the Queen is onto them and they need Voyagers help. Janeway decides she has to negotiate personally so she has Tuvok mindmeld her to Seven when she goes back. While there the Queen finds the frequency she needed and starts sending drones into Unimatrix Zero to assimilate the people there which makes them disappear but it is totally unclear how this would work if they are mutants. Or is she actually killing them and the assimilation we see them go through is a metaphor? Not really clear at all.
When she wakes up Janeway has the Doctor and Torres make a virus that lets Drones retain their memory (no clue how this is supposed to work, but she said it and they are going to make it happen I guess). They come up with a plan to inject it into a the central plexus of the ship which will somehow send it to all Borg and save the Unimatrix? Back inside Seven and Axum hide together and he puts his arm around her which she objects to and he tells her they were lovers for years. She is totally not into it. Janeway meanwhile takes the Flyer along with Tuvok and Torres to go after a cube. The Flyer is destroyed but they get aboard. And are caught and assimilated in no time.
Review: Presumably the virus will let Janeway and crew keep their memories and go about their mission or something which seems silly to send three important crew to do. I get why Janeway feels she has to do it, but why the others? Overall the episode just didn't work all that well for me.
4 out of 10
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