Voyager Review: Unity
Primary Characters
- Commander Chakotay
- A bit of Janeway action, too
The episode entitled "Unity" was hyped for February sweeps as the big bad Borg episode. I never saw the add for it in reruns, so I don't know if they did that again.
Anyway, if you were looking for a rockem-sockem Borg adventure, forget it. The story begins with Chakotay's shuttle going landing on a planet. He's attacked, then rescued.
He discovers that ther are humans living on the planet. They say they've been taken from their ships. Chakotay is recovering from a head wound in the care of a woman named Reily. Everything's fine and dandy until he sees her with the back of her head open (or something like that) and discovers that they were all assimilated by the Borg.
The story line progresses and eventually reaches the point that Robert Beltran joins Brent Spiner in the prestigious list of the few who have slept with a Borg.
Now, the critique. I just have one question: why try to humanize the Borg? This makes no sense, especially after the huge success of First Contact. If the episode was supposed to bring those movie fans into the world of Voyager, it was a flop. People don't want to see the Borg being nice and friendly! They want to see the enemy!
However, I must admit that it was still a fairly good episode. Good acting, somewhat conflicting at times, a good ending (Chakotay, still linked to the Borg, is taken over and reactivates the Borg ship so the planet-side people can re-establish the collective consciousness), it had its moments. Whoever played Reily is to be commended. She was very good.
If it hadn't been "hyped" as it was, this would have been one of the better episodes. Still, it gets a 7, good, but not great.
Email: she@biomed.chem.uc.edu
