VOY: “The Gift”

Date: November 10, 2020

Season 4, Episode 2

Musical Accompaniment: more randomness on YouTube

Interstellar News: I went down the rabbit hole of SNL President videos.

TL;DR: Seven of Nine wants to go back to being Borg, but her human biology is starting to take back over and Janeway won’t put the crew in more danger by going back into Borg space. Kes’s telekinetic powers are growing and she’s excited about something new. The Doctor works on Seven to remove some of the implants, Seven helps get the warp drive back online, and Kes studies with Tuvok. Seven wants to be able to choose the Collective if she’s sober and Janeway wants to see what Annika Hansen will do once she remembers who she is, or was. Kes decides to leave the ship as she’s in a state of cellular flux. They barely get her onto a shuttle craft and out into space when she, and it, explode… but not before propelling Voyager 10 years closer to home as her parting gift. After being under the Doctor’s care, Seven now has hair, only a few implants, and has remembered her favorite color was red.

Favorite Quotes:

Janeway’s Jam: “I’ve got an Ocampan who wants to be something more and a Borg who’s afraid of becoming something less. Here’s to Vulcan stability.”

Janeway: I can tell by the expression on your face that you’ve got some bad news.

Tuvok: I have no expression on my face. However, you are correct. 

Oh silly Vulcan’s and their belief that they do not experience emotions.

“Unconventional but effective”: This episode is the last episode for Kes, I assume, and the first episode for Seven of Nine who is now disconnected from the Borg Collective. This was a great sendoff for Kes because she gets her moments with everyone who was important to her. She hangs out with the Doctor and impresses him with her new powers, she continues to be mentored by Tuvok, she has a wonderful moment with Neelix where there is some closure to their relationship, and she is able to talk with Janeway with confidence. This also shows that not all of what happened in “Before and After” will come to pass as Paris can’t marry Kes if she’s not on the ship or corporeal. I wish they had been able to do more with Kes’s character, because she had some fantastic episodes… I especially enjoyed “Warlord“. Kes is also able to leave the crew with a wonderful gift of being closer to home, although I’m sure Janeway is sad about all the side quests that were left undone.

Seven of Nine is absolutely going to be an interesting character for me. SHe keeps referring to herself as “this drone”, “us”, and “we”, even though she is no longer hooked up to the rest of the Collective. She was assimilated at such a young age and the Borg life is all she’s ever known, so she’s basically suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. Janeway sees this and makes the difficult decision to be Seven’s Power of Attorney, so to speak, until Seven is sober enough to make a decision for herself. I also think it’s mildly hysterical that Kim totally has a crush on Seven. This wasn’t as strong of an episode as the season opener, but that’s usually the case for a second episode and one where you’re trying to say goodbye to one crew member as you add a new one. I’m going with 6 Infinity Stones for this one.

TA Out!