For the past 15 years I have heard that the end of Voyager is, "hella disappointing," (regional dialect, you understand), and I have to respectfully disagree. Ok, I will concede that the Seven/Chakotay thing came on a little fast, but hey, it is a time travel episode. And speaking of, I think it is entirely appropriate for VOY to end with crazy time travel, Janeway crossing lines that weren't meant to be crossed, and BORG BORG BORG. More than any other series VOY has been about the Borg and getting to deal a blow to them and get home is the kind of thing you end a story with. Yes, it would have been nice to maybe have a bit more of them actually getting home, but honestly that would have probably been disappointing. Do we really need a Star Wars style medal ceremony or something? VOY ended like it ran and I think that makes this a solid final episode.
We open 10 years after Voyager complete her 23 year voyage home with Admiral Janeway watching news coverage of the event. Cut to a reunion of the crew in her apartment the next day. Kim made captain and the Doctor is married, but there is a not of sadness for those they lost along the way including presumably Seven and Chakotay as they are missing. Janeway gets Torres alone and hears that Korath has the thing she has been looking for. Later she is preparing to give a lecture to Barclay's academy class when she is called away, the thing is finally ready. Janeway stops by the Doctor and picks up a huge dose of an experimental drug before saying good bye to Tuvok. Next she visits Chakotay's grave before disappearing on a shuttle she arranged for.
Back in the present B'Elanna wakes up sure her baby is one the way, but it is a false alarm. Chakotay stops by the cargo bay and finds Seven has a picnic dinner ready to go and we learn this is their third date. In the mess hall Tuvok loses a game of kal-toh to Icheb before heading to sickbay for treatment. It seems he has a condition he is keeping secret from the captain. In astrometrics Seven is playing a game with Neelix but is interrupted by sensors telling her there is a a wormhole ahead in a nebula. In the future Tuvok isn't taking Janeway's departure well which alarms the Doctor. He talks to Barclay who can't help spill the beans on the plan. Janeway meanwhile arrives on a rocky planet for the thing, but Korath reneges on the deal and she is forced out. In the past Voyager enters the nebula but encounters a Borg cube and hides which seems to work. But onboard we hear them making plans to assimilate Voyager which are interrupted by the Queen.
After a meeting Janeway decides it is too risky to go after a wormhole and only Kim disagrees. Chakotay asks Seven on another date but she stops by sickbay first to have the Doctor disable her implants that impede her emotions. In the future Janeway returns to Korath's cave, but this time she isn't messing around. She agrees to all his demands but then steals the thing and turns on her hull armor. She escapes but is caught by Captain Kim and the USS Rhode Island. Kim tries to order her around, but it takes about 2 minutes before he is doing as told and helps her complete her plan. In the past Seven and Chakotay are beginning their next date when they are called to the bridge, a temporal anomaly has opened in front of the ship. In the future Janeway has also opened the rift but is under fire by Korath's Klingon ships. The Rhode Island arrives just in time to realize what she is planning and watch her ship disappear into the past.
In the past Admiral Janeway orders Captain Janeway to close the rift and after some resistance she complies. They spend a long time confirming she is who she says she is, and during the scans the Doctor detects a neural transceiver that turns out to be his design. Janeway is visibly startled when Seven walks in, but she resists telling her about the future. That night when she regenerates Seven is contacted by the Borg Queen who threatens to assimilate Voyager if they enter the nebula again and is then hit by a shock that knocks her unconscious. She wakes up in sickbay and the two Janeways are arguing about what it means. Future Janeway prevails for now though and convinces the captain to modify Voyager with the tech she gained through her years of fighting the Borg and they agree to go back into the nebula.
When they arrive they are met by strong resistance but Voyager's new armor is enough to stop Borg weapons and the new torpedoes destroy cubes in no time. In the center of the nebula they find a huge structure with Cubes flying around it. The admiral orders them into it, but the captain tells Paris no. She is pissed the admiral didn't tell her one of the six transwarp hubs in the whole galaxy was here and for some reason orders them out of the nebula. They have a meeting and over the objections of the admiral, Captain Janeway orders the crew to come up with a plan to destroy the hub since this will stop the Borg from spreading nearly as quickly. Future Janeway is hella pissed and goes around telling people her reasons starting with telling herself about Tuvok and how there is a cure in the Alpha Quadrant. She also tells Seven about what happens with her and Chakotay and how he can't handle the loss of her which leads to him dying.
But none of it works, instead though the admiral comes up with a plan to both destroy the hub AND get them home. Some time later the captain gives the admiral an injection before the admiral leaves on her shuttle. Seven and Chakotay have to work out Seven's fear of what the loss of her will do to Chakotay (this is exactly what I am talking about, this would have worked better if this relationship was longer than this episode). In sickbay Torres goes into labor but sends Paris to the bridge as they enter the nebula. The Borg Queen is startled to see Janeway in front of her, but finds that it is a hologram when she tries to assimilate her. Janeway taunts her that she won't be able to track her but the queen does and beams the real Janeway to her. But when she assimilates her something goes horribly wrong and the unicomplex starts falling apart along with the queen. Voyager enters the hub and shoots torpedoes back destroying the entrance and starting a shockwave that spreads through the conduits. Janeway taunts the queen until the entire unicomplex explodes.
The queen managed to send one sphere in after them though and it closes on Voyager. Since she did assimilate Janeway it has weapons that can damage the armor. Things look grim and Janeway gives some sort of mysterious order. In the Alpha Quadrant Starfleet has detected the transwarp conduit opening and Admiral Paris leads a fleet to stop the invasion. The sphere bursts through and they weapons are totally ineffective. But suddenly the sphere explodes and Voyager appears in the wreckage. Janeway is welcomed back by Paris and Barclay. Torres babies cries come on over the coms and Tom flies Voyager back to Earth.
Review: Probably the best adventure episode on all of VOY so that is certainly a good thing. The Chakotay/Seven thing wasn't great, but it didn't ruin the episode. A very VOY conclusion in just about every way. On to ENT...
8 out of 10
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