Infinite Regress

Jerry Ryan is a talented actress but was only given limited breadth in the Voyager series. In this ep though we get to see her talents and she delivers. Otherwise the ep fits in the lines of the typical series ep.

When this episode started I was skeptical; but as it progressed, I found it interesting. I was only familiar with Jeri Ryan from Leverage, and I didn't like her. Not sure why; I just found her annoying, so maybe it was just the character she played. Watching her on Voyager, I decided she wasn't so bad and I was particularly impressed with her acting in this episode. She was a great Klingon, and I loved her Ferengi impression, it was perfect. The other characters were also well done; each one was well defined from the others. The technical parts of the story were as usual, hard to follow and somewhat non-sensical, but overall it was a much better episode than most.

When Seven begins to exhibit mega-personalities (from those who were absorbed by the Borg), her life is in danger. It happens when a Borg device nears Voyager. The problem is an aliens species that has every right to get revenge on the killer bees, and the doctor's inability to curtail the problem. There is some of the usual tenuous science (or lack of it), but it is entertaining. We get to see Seven begin to appreciate the efforts of the crew, putting their own lives on the line. One positive is that it is a logical step to imagine that Seven is filled with all the details of the collective and its victims.

Seven of Nine starts to hear voices and display varying personalities.

This is a reasonably good episode with a memorable turn from Jeri Ryan. The writers give her the opportunity showcase great range with an episode that further humanises her character during the journey back to individuality.

The best scenes involve Seven either in multiple-personality mode or exchanging dialogue with the character Naomi Wildman. I also enjoyed the pivotal mind-meld sequence which is very well made by the film crew and conveys what is happening with visual storytelling.

I was not particularly intrigued by the scenes involving the main antagonists, the vinculam and associated technobabble, but the main focus is on Seven.

Ryan is on top form along with Robert Picardo. A young Scarlett Pomers also makes a good contribution.

Until this episode I was always a little doubtful about Jeri Ryan's acting ability, wondering if she could only do one note: Imperial bitchiness. Not that I don't like her Borgian disdain for non-scientific and imperfect humans. Or that high-minded carriage of her cat-suited Barbie-doll body. But in this episode, as her Borg implant fractures her into multiple personalities, she gets a huge range of characterizations to perform, and she handles them well. And this script has a handful of clever complications en route to her healing that make it an enjoyable installment. It ends kind of quickly, but it is one of the better episodes, IMHO.