Descent, Part II

Picks up rather nicely from the cliffhanger with everyone separated, Beverly at the conn and Data corrupted by a sociopathic brother. But Lore was easily my least favorite aspect. This episode got much more mileage out of Beverly onboard the fleeing Enterprise, skeleton crew and hiding from the Borg ship (in the Sun!). These scenes had all of the story's energy and tension.

7/10

TNG's last season opened with Data defecting to the Borg expatriates who are headed by his evil twin Lore. They've taken Picard, Troi, and LaForge prisoners.

Brent Spiner playing Lore looked like he was enjoying himself going a bit overboard in one of those mad scientist type roles as he fiendishly experiments with LeVar Burton.

Dr. Crusher is left running the Enterprise as she eludes the Borg and has some effective scenes. And Patrick Stewart finds he's made a good friend in a previous story.

-I never saw this episode since the begining of the century ,but all i can say about it is how great this episode is ,compared with any episode made since the end of Star Trek Voyager and Enterprise and if you want to see the epilogue of this episode you should watch the TNG movies and the first season of Star Trek Picard which is a pretty decent show and probably the last real Star Trek live show.

Enterprise ground crew searches for Captain Picard, Geordie and Counsellor Troi.

This episode is not as bad as it's made out, but it is an underwhelming finish to the first episode set up.

The show runners admit it didn't turn out as they wanted due to the multitude of themes they included. None of the scenes are particularly bad for me, there just isn't anything particularly interesting happening.

It flits between three plot threads and gives the most promising aspects of the story little screen time. Hugh appears and they do very little with the character.

The scenes with Data are not very inspired. It is a technobabble concept with a technobabble solution and the logic of how he turns evil and back to normal is dubious. However, it ends well with the strong exchanges he has with both Lore and Geordie. I like the idea the writers had relating to cults, leadership and the exploitation of the emotionally vulnerable, but I'm not sure the concept of Lore controlling Data's network lends itself to those themes.

The scenes with Dr Crusher are contrived but well done nonetheless. Gates McFadden acts the part of a temporary commander well.

Brent Spiner makes the best of the material he has, likewise Patrick Stewart and the others.

There are two issues at work here. The future of the Borg (disconnected) and the futures of Data and Lore. Data has been neutralized and a chip producing negative emotions installed. He has hooked up with Dr. Soon's miscreant throwaway child, Lore, who has become a threat to the Universe by engaging independent Borg (the product of Hugh's leaving the hive). This is mostly about Data and his ability to function (not unlike the Borg with his analytical side butting up against the good side). The problem for Lore is that he is unprincipled and evil and has no redeeming qualities. He destroys everything in his path for power, and because he is so transparent, he alienates those he must enlist in his schemes. Data begins to see the illogic of these actions, and while he longs to experience emotions again and to advance his humanity, there are things within him that block the pathways. Simply stated, he is only partially sure of things and that becomes a dilemma for him. This is a neat episode, even if one is concerned only with the fate of the crew members and Captain PIcard.