VOY: “The Raven”

Date: November 15, 2020

Season 4, Episode 6

Musical Accompaniment: Some more Skyrim music because… dragons.

Interstellar News: There was a tornado warning and lots of rain, but all is now well.

TL;DR: Janeway and Seven are in da Vinci’s workshop working with clay when Seven has a flashback to when she was assimilated. The Doctor checks her out and it might be PTSD, he also wants her to start eating solid food. Janeway meets with the B’omar to try to gain passage through their space, but there are conditions and they try to negotiate a course. Neelix prepares food for Seven but then something pops out of her hand and she turns back into her drone self and needs to get back to the Borg, so she steals a shuttlecraft. The B’omar believe this was Voyager’s plan to get into their space, the EMH develops something to stop Seven’s transformation, and Tuvok and Paris sneak across the border to track Seven. Tuvok beams aboard Seven’s ship and they eventually get to Seven’s childhood ship and realize there was a Borg homing beacon on it that called to her. They come under attack by the B’omar but Voyager and Paris save the day and the EMH deactivates an implant so this won’t happen again.

Favorite Quote:

Tuvok: Are you all right?

Seven of Nine: I am undamaged.

Seven has the best way of saying things.

“Looks like there won’t be any shortcuts this time.”: So I have a few problems with this episode, but I did like it more than I disliked it. Why would the Borg install a homing beacon on a ship that is no where near their space when no one will be there to greet them? How did Seven’s parents even get into the DQ anyway? Wouldn’t the Borg technology stunt Seven’s growth or, better yet, why did they even assimilate a child? So many questions. I have figured something out, though, Neelix is Italian. He loves food, he loves to talk, he shares this love through his food and thinks that eating will make you feel better and eating should be an experience. He’s all but appalled when Seven thinks eating should not be a big deal, it’s just for sustenance after all. Neelix also doesn’t skip a beat when Seven reveals that Talaxians have been assimilated before.

Speaking of which, how have the Borg never assimilated any Vulcans? We found out they assimilated a bunch of species at Wolf 359 in the “Unity” episode, I mean they even got their hands on a Romulan, so how did all of the Vulcans go unscathed? Janeway does her best here to not only try and get the crew home faster by negotiating with the B’omar but also to take care of Seven and not sacrifice any of her crew to an alien species. Tuvok and Paris actually get their chance to shine, though, as Paris does some fancy piloting and has Tuvok’s back no matter what, and Tuvok does a very un-Vulcan thing and follows his gut. He’s not sure what’s happening but knows he needs to be there for Seven, even after she neck pinches him. For all of that, this episode earns itself 6 nice, cold glasses of Manhattan Special.

TA Out!