Descent, Part II

Predictable and unimaginative. The writers drew water from this well one too many times.

-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.

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.

This is the STTNG show's final note on the Borg. Final Borg episode here. A mindless android leads them now. And loses to the Federation, unsurprisingly. Remember how the ruthless robotic Borg started off in season 2 ? Five years earlier ? Almighty alien Q offered our flagship crew a glimpse into the Federation's doom. He catapulted the Enterprise at a Borg cube light-years away that set course for Federation space. Just to let Picard and his crew know what they'll be dealing with. An alien race that expands by forcefully turning all other races into one of their own. Their own zombies, with chips and gear implants. They won't quite die after that assimilation procedure. The victims are then forced to live a life as a mindless drone. As part of a huge Borg hive, with instant instructions. That's how scary the Borg started off five years earlier. You could tell early that the writers were about to screw this brilliant idea up. Episodes that featured the Borg diminished the race to a level that even a well-endowed SciFi show lost its credibility. The Federation always just beat the Borg. Easy. In the same episode. Bad move by the writers. To retain the scare of the Borg, they should have kept Locutus of Borg, i.e. The assimilated captain, for a few seasons. Picture the Enterprise keeping bumping into their old now-robitic captain over and over. Punch to the guts. But that's what I was wanting to see. That didn't happen. And STTNG concludes with Data's evil twin Android leading those Borg into their defeat.

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.