The Gist: 7 makes a few adjustments to her alcove so she can assimilate information while she regenerates. We find out later in the episode that, because she is no longer a drone, she is not capable of processing and properly analyzing such large quantities of data so quickly. As the episode unfolds, this oversight leads to her becoming a rampant conspiracy theorist and successfully convincing Chakotay, then Janeway, then herself of 3 different and equally speculative conspiracy theories. In the end, Janeway makes a touching speech about 7 having trust for her and it's a happy ending with a nice lesson about not getting sucked into conspiracy theories.
The Analysis: Big Voyager fan here and that is the reason I don't like this episode. I love all three of the characters involved in this episode but I feel like they were done a disservice by lazy writing. The only reason it even gets a 3 from me is because I do like the underlying message which is even more important now, 24 years later: Over-saturation of information is not always a good thing, and proper analysis is important.
That being said, the writing for Janeway and Chakotay's characters in this episode is not consistent with the development of the characters and their relationship over the previous 5 seasons. It is far too easy for 7 to convince the two of her wild theories. Also, 7-of-9 accidentally going rogue feels like a lazy, fall-back premise for an episode. It's already been done a few times at this point.
The whole episode feels forced, awkward, and not believable from almost every aspect. Even the acting feels forced, you can tell the actors are struggling with the premise of the episode. This especially comes through in Jeri Ryan's performance. Furthermore it did nothing to advance the character development of the three that were highlighted. If anything, it actually did damage. While 7's behavior can be justified, kind of, because of the oversight on the use of the alcove technology, the Captain's and Chokatay's behavior makes absolutely no sense.
If you're in to skipping episodes, this is definitely one of them.
The Analysis: Big Voyager fan here and that is the reason I don't like this episode. I love all three of the characters involved in this episode but I feel like they were done a disservice by lazy writing. The only reason it even gets a 3 from me is because I do like the underlying message which is even more important now, 24 years later: Over-saturation of information is not always a good thing, and proper analysis is important.
That being said, the writing for Janeway and Chakotay's characters in this episode is not consistent with the development of the characters and their relationship over the previous 5 seasons. It is far too easy for 7 to convince the two of her wild theories. Also, 7-of-9 accidentally going rogue feels like a lazy, fall-back premise for an episode. It's already been done a few times at this point.
The whole episode feels forced, awkward, and not believable from almost every aspect. Even the acting feels forced, you can tell the actors are struggling with the premise of the episode. This especially comes through in Jeri Ryan's performance. Furthermore it did nothing to advance the character development of the three that were highlighted. If anything, it actually did damage. While 7's behavior can be justified, kind of, because of the oversight on the use of the alcove technology, the Captain's and Chokatay's behavior makes absolutely no sense.
If you're in to skipping episodes, this is definitely one of them.