Wanderlust

5.23 — “I, Borg”

5.23 — “I, Borg”

Plot: Life signs on a long range scan bring the Enterprise to a crashed Borg scout ship with one survivor. Picard gingerly agrees to take the young Borg, called Third of Five, aboard the Enterprise for medical aid. Picard and other members of the crew are forced to confront how they feel when, separated from communication with the Collective, the Borg starts to display signs of an individual personality and a conscience.

Thoughts: Teleplay author René Echevarria also wrote “The Offspring” (TNG 3.16), about Data’s short-lived daughter Lal. That makes sense, right? This is a sensitive piece of work full of fine acting. It also happens to be the best Geordi episode we’ve seen in quite a while.

Guinan not initially being the empathetic one effectively inverts expectations. This literally gave me chills, and underscores the singular importance of the Borg within TNG.

The question arises, does the move to humanize a Borg individual have the effect of defanging TNG’s best villain, and making it less formidable? Jeri Taylor is quoted as saying that after this episode “the Borg would never be the same again.” Yeah, but… this is a great episode. It explores what is great about the Borg: the idea of the Collective; not the opportunity to stage boring massive space battles.

What is more Star Trek than learning about your enemy, finding he is not as different from you as you thought, and discovering that your values require peaceful resolution instead of continued conflict? This is a rare Star Trek episode worthy of TOS which I cannot trace directly back to an original series model. Well done.

I am confused, however, about the plan to use Hugh to upload a virus into the Collective, because wasn’t this already done at the end of “The Best of Both Worlds?” I’m aghast that, after all is said and done, they allow Hugh to return to the Collective, for the sake of the ship’s safety. This is very gallant of Hugh, not so gallant of the Enterprise crew.

At the point at which they are sending Hugh back, why not upload the virus? It’s okay, I guess, to send Hugh back to be assimilated, but not to enlist him in a plot to liberate (or destroy) the Collective. Because using him as a weapon is far worse than just sacrificing him for the sake of the ship’s convenience.

4.5 of 5, because Third of Five is not a high enough score.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/I,_Borg

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One response to “5.23 — “I, Borg””

  1. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    Hahaha.  This episode has a great title… harking back to Isaac Asimov’s “I, Robot” series, as well as the significance of the personal pronoun “I”.  I would rank this as the best episode title since TOS.

    Yes, I like this episode very much.  The actor who plays Hugh is appealing and believable and also does a good job of changing his gait for different levels of “Borgness”.  His recognition of Picard as Locutus is also super-cool, and Picard displaying a rare childishness/loss of perspective (it’s hard for Patrick Stewart to act this all that well I think, since he has such tremendous natural dignity).

    I definitely think that returning Hugh to his original state at his request (particularly given that Enterprise likely does not have the power to save him) is far less obnoxious than deliberately infecting him with a virus against his will and without his knowledge.  It hinges (as many episodes ultimately do, or should) on allowing the being to make his or her own choices.  Also, while hokey, I do think that Hugh’s sacrifice has positive meaning for him and his people if it allows them to be exposed to a new idea.

    Yes, very good episode overall.  Not perfect (I think there’s not enough dramatic tension for it to count as perfect in my book).  But very good.

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