Collective

** (2 stars out of 5)

There's another broken Borg ship over there. Have you tried turning it off and on?

A space virus has killed 4,995 of them, leaving 5 Borg Babies in charge of one cube. They want to call their Queen Mum, and to that end they hold Delta Flyer's crew hostage, demanding Voyager give them the means. And/or cookies.

During negotiations, the confused drones agree that Captain Janeway may "transport one" and they lower their shields. So, instead of transporting all of the hostages, she GIVES the Borg another hostage by sending over Seven of Nine. This is some new form of clever plan I'm not familiar with. Or a fine way to get rid of 7 of 9, I guess.

The Lost Boys Borg are from the Brunali, Norcadian and Wysanti races. It's not important to remember which has what kind of funny nose unless your last name is Westmore. Their names are Icheb, Mezoti, Azan, and Rebi. They don't do anything very Borg-like, and they end up fine. Except for their stupid, belligerent leader, who died doing what he loved: being stupid and belligerent. And the sick little baby, who was seemingly not relevant enough for the writers to tell us what happened to her on screen.  Maybe the Equinox crewmen are looking after her- down in the root cellar. (Brannon Braga says she was cured and sent home. And I guess he would know.)

Dork overalls and Enterprise-D hand-me-downs for everyone. And Seven of Nine will be the den mother! Who better? She's got almost 3 solid years of arrogantly avoiding becoming human, so OF COURSE she should be in charge of babies!

"Collective" is under the impression that the audience wants new blood, and that may be true. Do they HAVE to be more Borg? Do they HAVE to be cute kids? Apparently so.

I, Borg

**** (4 stars out of 5)

On a chilly little world in the Argolis Cluster, a single survivor from the crash of a Borg Scout Ship is found. Prudent Mr. Worf recommends killing it, while Bleeding Heart Crusher badgers Picard into bringing it aboard for band-aids and cookies.

While Bev is trying to treat a hurt teen boy, Picard plans to infect a drone.

Borg don't eat: they have built-in replicators and recharge from wall sockets. So, no cookies, either.

Guinan, like Picard, has very little sympathy for any Borg. She fakes a leg cramp to win at fencing. "You felt sorry for me. Look what it got you." she snarls.

Bev & Geordi begrudgingly analyze Third of Five, name him Hugh, start feeling sorry for him. La Forge urges Guinan to listen to Hugh for herself. It becomes clear that the aching loneliness in Guinan's heart is also there in Hugh's.

Outside of the all-consuming swarm, the single locust is kind of nice guy.

La Forge completes an unsolvable visual puzzle designed to confuse all the Borg into total shutdown. (A deadly Rubik's Cube, if you will.) But he instantly regrets it.

Picard tells Geordi to un-attach himself. To use the admirable detachment of a 20th Century scientist tormenting a lab animal. Wait, WHAT? Admirable? 20th Century? Since when?

Guinan is not sure anymore. "If you are going to use this person to destroy his race you should at least look him in the eye once before you do it."

Picard finally meets Hugh, and playing the role of Locutus to the hilt, has a change of heart. But the Captain makes a major gamble that a natural born Borg's INDIVIDUALITY might be infectious anyway.

His wishes respected for the first time, Hugh would have chosen to stay with Geordi, maybe get a nice spot next to the EPS socket in the apartment with Barash, Jeremy, and Timothy. But so as not to endanger his friends, he rejoins the collective.

"I do not want to forget that I am Hugh." he tells Picard. And even after rejoining, Third of Five surreptitiously glances at Geordi with his human eye.

 "I, Borg" is great. Just great. What a wonderful twist in the Borg narrative. Futile, of course. But that's what I love about these people.