Star Trek: The Next Generation 7.01

Descent - Part Two

Lore and Data, but mostly Lore, explain in vague terms how things have changed. They also reiterate their intent to wipe out the Federation. 

The Enterprise, under the command of Doctor Crusher, starts beaming up away teams. They get most of the crew back aboard when the Borg ship attacks. The Enterprise returns fire and starts to leave the area and head back to Federation space. Worf and Riker remain behind on the surface of the planet.

Doctor Crusher plans with her crew to see how they can covertly return to the planet. A group of Borg, led by Hugh, capture Riker and Worf. Hugh and his followers don’t care for Lore’s brand of leadership or what he has done to some of their comrades.

Data starts to work on converting Geordi into something less than human. 

The Enterprise returns to the planet and attempts to beam up the remaining crew members. They get all but six of them before the Borg ship attacks once again. Ensign Taitt, the acting science officer, suggests that they could use metaphasic shielding to help them escape from the Borg ship. Doctor Crusher likes the idea and orders the ensign to proceed. The Enterprise escapes into the corona of the star around which the planet orbits. The Borg are unable to follow the Enterprise and for the moment the Enterprise and it's crew are safe.

Data starts to have doubts about what he is planning to do to Geordi. Lore starts to have doubts about Data’s commitment to their cause. Worf and Riker, with some help from Hugh and his followers rescue Picard and Data. Lore gets away but Data catches up to him and deactivates him after shooting him in the back.

Thoughts

Benito Martinez played the part of engineering officer Salazar. This is the only episode of Star Trek in which he has appeared. It was one of his fist half dozen screen credits. I know him best from The Shield.

The metaphasic shielding, the way that Riker and Worf team up with the Borg led by Hugh, and the technique used by Ensign Taitt to destroy the Borg ship are all examples of how corners were cut in this episode. My point is that some things in this episode were rushed.

The Borg initially seemed damned near unstoppable, when they first appeared in 2.16 Q Who. At this point they seem fairly vulnerable. There was still no mention of the impact of the sleep command from 4.01 The Best of Both Worlds - Part 2.

This episode delivered more or less what I expected it would. I don't hate it but I also don't love it. It's okay. It was fun. I'm glad that I can say that I've seen it but it's not going on my list of favorite episodes of this show. I'm not sure that there is any two-part story from this series that I would call a favorite.