Episode Review - Unity (Voyager, Season 3)

For those who are new to my episode reviews, you can find the post where I establish my point criteria here

Overview – Chakotay and Ensign Kaplan arrive on an unknown planet and are attacked. Kaplan is killed and Chakotay is injured. When he awakens, he finds himself under the care of Riley Frazier, a human from Earth. He soon learns that Riley, like all the inhabitants, is a former Borg drone. Their ship, which Janeway and Voyager have discovered during all of this, was suddenly cut off from the Collective. Since then, they have begun to fight among themselves. They help Chakotay heal by forming a mini-neural link that functions a bit the way the Borg Collective did. They request that Janeway and the crew of Voyager assist them in restoring the neuro-electric field generator on the Borg vessel to assist them in re-establishing the neural link and unite all of the former Borg on the planet. This is met by resistance from Janeway.

Score: 8/10 – As was eluded to in a previous episode “Blood Fever”, the Borg were going to become a major part of Voyager’s story. “Unity” takes the first real plunge down that path. What we get is a fascinating look into what life for a bunch of Borg who used to be united in a collective suddenly regain their individuality. It is interesting to note that this episode was designed to be an analogy to the break up on the Soviet Union, and it does bear some resemblance. There is mystery and danger and we see a side to being in the collective that we have never truly faced. It seems that for some, the unity found in the Borg Collective has some positive attributes to it, or at least for those who have been a part of it. Chakotay does have some great moments, and Robert Duncan MacNeil does a great job in the director’s chair. While we will not fully encounter the Borg until the season finale, this is a good way of getting our feet wet in what will ultimately become the best antagonist for Janeway and her crew.

Relevance – 3 points. A point is scored for taking the next step in the slow and steady Borg introduction. We went from discovering a Borg corpse to now finding a deserted ship and a word of former drones. The neural interface that they use on Chakotay will come into play in the fourth season opener, so that also scores a point. Finally, we see the death of Ensign Kaplan. Wait, who? Well, she’s the plucky ensign that we had seen filling in various roles in “Future’s End” and “Macrocosm” and never really got much to do or say. In the beginning of this episode, she actually gets some decent dialogue and action. That, of course, means she’s about to be killed. Like so many characters from Voyager, she was there and then killed, which led to a disappointing payoff. Ah, well. At least her death gives this episode a relevance point here.

Continuity - 1 point. Universe continuity is good here. Some plausible explanations for how the Borg have not reclaimed the damaged vessel are provided. Character continuity is not as clear cut. Chakotay gets duped a bit by Riley and the Cooeprative. We have sadly seen this trusting nature of Chakotay before, and like before he learns his lesson the hard way. Where I am deducting the point is due to a throw away line for Chakotay. When given the choice of accepting the linking into the collective or death, he mentions the “happy hunting ground”. In truth, I was surprised even when it first aired how stereotypical that line was. Chakotay did embrace his Native American ancestry and culture as he saw fit, but I don’t recall him stooping to such dated stereotypes, even in jest. I also have to take away a point for story continuity. I love the idea of many different species being assimilated by the Borg, and how they respond when they are separated from the Collective. There are many ways they could have incorporated Riley Frazier as a human into this. The writers chose to go with Wolf 359. I have to admit that this is one sticking point with me when it comes to continuity. The ship that wiped out the fleet at this battle was destroyed at the end of “Best of Both Worlds: Part 2”. There was no plausible explanation that anyone assimilated at this battle were sent back to the Delta Quadrant before the cube was destroyed. While I like tying things together, this one just does not add up for me. Yes, there are possible ways that this could have been accomplished, but I have yet to see one established in Trek canon, so the point is lost here.

Character Development – 2 points. Lots of development for Chakotay. As I mentioned before, he has been duped by Frazier, who some could suggest only did it as a last resort and was not truly malicious in her intent. This gives Chakotay a chance to really think about the ethics of her actions and how it might play out in the future. This episode also gave him a romance as well as a unique experience that will come into play in the near future. This is quite a good episode for Chakotay.

Social Commentary – 2 points. As mentioned, this episode was meant to parallel the breakup of the Soviet Union. Today, we see some even more startling parallels that make this episode even more topical today. The former drones desire to have the unity that they once had when they were part of the Collective. They think that if they get that unity back, they can still maintain their individual goodness. We see some similarities with the break-up of the USSR, and how some felt that things were better in their communist days (looking at you, Vladimir P). We see how the Cooperative quickly broke with their ethics to achieve what they desired, and Chakotay rightly wondered how long it would be before the Cooperative became more like the Collective. Well, the former Soviet Union seems to be working its way back to the old ways. Interesting commentary on how the nostalgia for what once was can cause us to make some of the same mistakes as was made in the past, despite “knowing better”.

Cool Stuff – 1 point. Seeing what happened to a bunch of former Borg is always interesting. Here, we see them several years after it happened. When we saw the effects of re-introducing Hugh to the Collective in TNG’s “Descent”, we see something quite recent. Seeing how the group evolved and how they tried to establish the Cooperative is an interesting foil to the Collective.

Rank – Captain (17 points). A solid third season episode with a lot of setting up for the Borg vs. Voyager. It’s always good to have some Chakotay time, and the concept of the former Borg trying to take the “best of both worlds” is a little ironic considering that we are dealing with the Borg here.

If you would like to read other reviews from Star Trek: Voyager, click on the link here.

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