Date: August 11, 2021
Season 7, Episode 24
Music Video of the Day:
Interstellar News: I have to wake up stupid early tomorrow to go to my early as fuck dentist appointment that 6-month-ago-me thought would be a good idea. Spoiler alert: it won’t be. I am not a morning person.
TL;DR – Part 1: Voyager spent 23 years in the DQ before returning home. They’re at a 10 year reunion where Kim is a Captain, Naomi has a daughter, Tuvok is not well, and Janeway is an Admiral. The EMH has an organic wife, Paris is a holo-novel writer, Torres is the Klingon liaison, and their daughter is on a mission for Janeway. Apparently Seven of Nine died and Chakotay was never the same and has also died, so Janeway goes back in time to prevent it.
There are scenes in the past, which for everyone watching is just the continuation of the last episode. Torres keeps going into false labor, Chakotay and Seven begin dating, Neelix is virtually keeping in touch, and Tuvok’s condition begins to surface. A Borg superhighway appears and future Janeway makes her way to past Voyager.
Favorite Quote:
Chakotay: Crewman Chell’s asked about taking over in the mess hall full time.
Janeway: Neelix left some pretty big pots and pans to fill. Does Mr. Chell feel he’s up to the challenge?
Chakotay: Apparently so. He’s prepared a sample menu.
Janeway: Plasma leek soup? Chicken warp core don bleu?
Chakotay: If his cooking’s as bad as his puns, we’re in trouble.
Janeway: Oh, I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind giving his Red Alert chili a try.
I absolutely love and hate the puns at the same time.
“Where’s your sense of adventure? // I left it in that nebula and I’m not going back for it”: Part 1 gives me everything I want in a finale, kind of. In the skip ahead to the future we see what has happened to most of the gang. We don’t get to meet Naomi’s father, or see her mother for that matter, and we don’t really know what happened 10 years ago… aside from the fact that Kim was finally promoted past Ensign. The flashbacks, as they were, hint at what’s to come but it’s really hard to get invested in Janeway’s mission because no one’s life seems too terrible. Yes, it’s awful that Seven died and it killed a part of Chakotay… but what about all of the folks who died in all the missions before? Was it a mistake that Janeway made? Without knowing what happened, I’m unsure why she’s going back… but I am glad we got to see a “where are they now” type thing, even if Janeway’s about to fuck it all up.
TL;DR – Part 2: Admiral Janeway drinks tea (gasp) and tries to get Captain Janeway to go back into the nebula and take the conduit home now before bad things happen. Seven regenerates and gets a visit from the Borg Queen. Captain wants to destroy the transwarp hub while Admiral wants to use it to avoid 23 deaths and Tuvok’s condition becoming untenable. Ultimately, the Captain wins while the Admiral faces the Borg Queen with a pathogen that causes the Unamatrix to explode. A Borg Sphere chases Voyager through the hub, but are ultimately destroyed and Voyager is greeted by a surprised welcome party as baby Paris-Torres is born.
Favorite Quotes:
Captain Janeway: I want to know why you didn’t tell me about this.
Admiral Janeway: Because I remember how stubborn and self-righteous I used to be. I figured you might try to do something stupid.
Captain Janeway: We have an opportunity to deal a crippling blow to the Borg. It could save millions of lives.
Admiral Janeway: I didn’t spend the last ten years looking for a way to get this crew home earlier, so you could throw it all away on some intergalactic goodwill mission.
Captain Janeway: Maybe we should go back to Sickbay.
Admiral Janeway: Why, so you can have me sedated?
Captain Janeway: So I can have the Doctor reconfirm your identity. I refuse to believe I’ll ever become as cynical as you.
Self… make a note. Don’t time travel.
Janeway’s Jam: “Must be something you assimilated.”
Torres: “I’m so glad I could accommodate you.”
“Oh, the almighty Temporal Prime Directive. Take my advice. It’s less of a headache if you just ignore it.”: The second part of the episode is all over the place. The Admiral wants to tuck tail and go home, and again it’s hard to get behind her to all of this just because of Seven. Okay so there are 22 other people she’ll save by doing this, but how does she know anything will be different this time? There were lots of good and fun things, like the baby betting pool and the whole bit of Torres being in labor and being the feisty Klingon we all know and love. There’s some advances in technology, like the neural implant (a la “Alice“), and some good debates about what decisions were made in “Caretaker” and other pivotal moments throughout the series.
It also makes sense that Q wouldn’t help them get home if he knew what damage Voyager was going to deal to the Borg, but that also required the time travel stuff to work and now my head hurts. I guess what doesn’t quite work for me is the Admiral finally going with the Captain’s plan and being so ready to die when it seemed like her mission was to get them to go home. The second part of the episode just jumps around so much and while the ending is what I wanted all this time — they get home! — there’s no “where are they now” or anything like there was at the top of the episode. Did Kim remember he had a girlfriend? Does Tuvok tell his wife that he danced and had sex with her holographic image? Does Naomi meet her father? What happens to the other 5 transwarp hubs? I HAVE SO MANY MORE QUESTIONS. While I am so glad the crew got back with 23 more people than they expected, and 16 years sooner to boot, was it all worth it? Guess we’ll never know. It only took Janeway 7 years to get them home, but I’m still mad about Joe Carey and what they did to poor Kes, so no more rating for you Voyager! So there 😛
Next time I’ll tackle the last TNG movie, Nemesis, and then it’s onto Enterprise.
TA Out!
To Boldly Go Where Everyone Has Gone Before 