Just as Janeway is trying to negotiate passage through the space of some particularly tetchy aliens, Seven of Nine goes AWOL.
This episode gives us Seven of Nine's backstory. It's quite early to be doing that, considering this is only her sixth episode. But one advantage of that choice is that it provides an explanation for how Seven managed to be assimilated by the Borg before Q brought about Starfleet's first official encounter with them, considering her age and how long she was a drone (and not counting Enterprise's encounter with the Borg, which had not been written yet!).
Seven runs away and ends up reliving her assimilation on her parents' ship, The Raven. It's an awfully big coincidence that her parents managed to fly their ship all the way out to this obscure corner of the Delta Quadrant nearly sixty light years away from Earth,* which Voyager just happens to be passing rather nearby, allowing Seven and her rescuer Tuvok to be physically on her parents' ship, but hey ho, sometimes that's story-telling!
Seven and Tuvok are one of my favourite non-romantic crew pairings (mind you, I could totally have bought a romantic relationship between them if not for Tuvok's wife) so any episode that features them together tends to be one I like. You would think that they would be an awkward pairing, since both are driven by logic over emotion and tend towards a stoic, reserved, and very professional manner when on duty. But somehow it works. There are enough subtle differences between them that the pairing isn't completely one-note.
Tuvok is also an interesting choice for the character who must persuade Seven of Nine to return to Voyager. As the least emotional character on the ship, his arguments are rooted more in logic, even when they refer to emotion, such as when he points out that she is reacting to things in a more human way than she did before. This means that the scenes on The Raven have a coolness and a calmness to them that contrasts nicely with Seven's brief regressions to childhood. Tuvok has also been well established as an effective parent and parental figure, which works well in this context.
Seven's confusion over her memories of being frightened on a Borg ship, when her adult self considers Borg ships to be home, is a nice touch, and her confusion over Janeway and the Doctor's characterisation of her assimilation as trauma is nicely done too. This episode is one of several that really makes the most of Seven's unusual backstory and creates really compelling storytelling from it.
I also love the surreal nature of parts of this episode. Voyager was always rather good at incorporating surreal or unsettling elements into its stories, and this is no exception. Seven's visions of birds flying through the corridors of a Borg ship and fragmented memories of her own assimilation are very well done. The episode was one of eight Voyager episodes directed by the great LeVar Burton, aka Geordi LaForge, and the teleplay was written by Bryan Fuller. Both writing and direction create a compelling, multi-layered story – I especially love the way Seven's dialogue becomes child-like when she is re-living her childhood memories, and she ends up re-enacting that experience.
The B story involving the somewhat mardy Aliens of the Week (the B'omar) is pretty forgettable, but that doesn't really matter. They're just there to provide some dramatic conflict and give some urgency to the crew's attempts to recover Seven of Nine, and they do that job perfectly effectively. Their design is kind of fun too, sort of weirdly reminiscent of Tron, but not quite.
*Voyager was originally flung 70,000 light years away, but has been travelling homewards for three years, and Kes flung them 10 years' closer.
Bits 'n' pieces
- Da Vinci's workshop is one of my favourite of Voyager's recurring holodeck hangouts, and works particularly well as a location for Janeway and Seven's conversations about art and humanity, as well as providing a useful visual to kick off the raven imagery.
- Poor Neelix's reaction to Seven's abrupt revelation and detailed description of the assimilation of a small group of Talaxians is rather chilling, and Neelix, who continues trying to help Seven re-learn how to eat with cheerfulness and friendliness despite being quite thrown, is at his best here. The character can be deeply compassionate, and when used as a friend and guide this way, he works really well.
- The shipping news: B'Elanna teases Harry about being upset over Seven's apparent defection. Which is rich coming from someone in a semi-secret relationship with the ship's pilot/nurse.
- Seven gets her brown catsuit in this episode. While still a catsuit (she would have to wait until Picard to get proper clothes on a permanent basis) with ridiculous high heels, it's an improvement on the silver one as it looks more practical and less sculpted.
- You'll notice when you get to the rating that this is another highly-rated episode for me. Season four of Voyager is about 90% episodes I truly love and genuinely think are among the best the show ever produced; I'd say season four is the best season overall. And then there are two episodes that crop up at random points that I absolutely hate and would put in my top five worst episodes of Voyager. So that's something to look forward to!
Quotes
The Doctor: I'll draw up a list of nutritional requirements. Take it to Mr Neelix in the mess hall. I hesitate to inflict his cooking on you, but it will have to do.
Harry: Apparently she finds my behaviour easy to predict, whatever that means.
Janeway: Don't take it personally. Coming from Seven, that's probably a compliment.
A story about a traumatised character who doesn't understand that they're traumatised is really interesting. Four out of four hallucinatory ravens.
Juliette Harrisson is a writer and content creator. Check out her books here, or her Patreon here.
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