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The Raven - A highly opinionated review by Angel
"It's not as difficult as it looks," we hear Janeway say as the camera moves down in a room filled with paintings, statues and other art related nick nacks. "the first rule is don't be afraid of the clay." We see Janeway now, standing in front of a big window, a head shaped lump of clay on the table before her. "I fear nothing." Seven of Nine responds. "I mean, you can't concern yourself with making a mistake or whether the image you had in your mind is what's taking form in front of you. You just have to let your hands and the clay do the work. Here." Janeway says as she hands Seven a lump of clay. Seven looks at it with a look that says "why did I even agreed to come here?" "Go ahead," Janeway says. She sits down and continues "I think the nose could be a little stronger." Seven presses the lump of clay on the nose of the clay head then looks at Janeway for help. "That's a start, keep going." She says. So Seven fiddles a bit with it without actually changing the form and concludes: "This activity is truly unproductive. The end result has no use, no necessary task has been accomplished. Time has been expended. Nothing more." She steps back from the table. Janeway of course, does not agree. "That depends on how you look at it, doesn't it? I find sculpting helps me unwind, relax." "The concept of relaxation is difficult for me to understand. As a Borg my time was spent working on a specific task. When it was completed I was assigned another. It was efficient." Seven says, whilst Janeway undoes the damage Seven did to her sculpture and skillfully repairs the nose of Clay Dude. "Well, so it this," Janeway responds. "It helps my own efficiency to forget about Voyager for a while." Then she steps back from Clay Dude as well, looking at it with a look of desperation. "I'd be embarrassed to show Maestro Leonardo something like this, but I get a great deal of pleasure at working the clay, in creating something," she says with a smile whilst throwing a dirty cloth over top Clay Dude. Seven still doesn't understand (neither do I, actually) "But why here in this simulation among these archaic objects and this disorganized environment?" "Frankly, it's refreshing to take myself out of the 24th century every now and then." Ok, pause. Even though this sounds logical, think about this: have you ever felt the need to take yourself out of the 20th century? Neither have I. Oh well. Play. "And a little disorganization, can be very encouraging to the imagination. You might want to try it some time." "Are you suggesting that I create one of these holodeck programs?" Seven says, a little disgust coloring her tone. "You might find it interesting. It's a way of exploring aspects of yourself that probably didn't fit in to your life as a Borg. Imagination, creativity, fantasy." "I am uncertain why these things are necessary." "Well, they aren't necessary, Seven. But they are an important part of one's life, because imagination frees the mind. It inspires ideas and solutions and it can provide a great deal of pleasure. Human progress, the human mind itself couldn't exist without them. When I was a child I studied these drawings. I even built some of these models. Da Vinci was always a great inspiration to me." "He was a very busy man." Seven adds. "Oh yes, a prolific artist and a scientist as well. Far, far ahead of his time." Seven walks over to an early birdlike airplane, hanging from the ceiling. "That design for example," Janeway continues "He conceived of an airplane centuries before one was actually built. Seven?" Seven stares at the thing, mesmerized. We see her having a flashback of some kind. Borg chasing her, resistance is futile and all that. A raven flies through the screen. "Seven, what is it?" Janeway asks worriedly. "I don't know." Seven says, still staring at Da Vinci's airplane. (opening credits) Sickbay. Seven tries to explain what's been happening to her. Apparently it has happened three times now. Janeway is amazed when Seven says she sees a bird each time. "A bird?" "Yes, a large black bird flying toward me, shrieking, attacking me." The Doctor concludes Seven is having flashbacks from her assimilation. Janeway agrees, after all she was traumatized. "Traumatized?" Seven says, "I was raised by the Borg. I don't see them as threatening, why would I experience fear?" "I don't know," the Doctor says. Well, that's real helpful. Then he tells Seven she may eat again, which of course she finds inefficient. "And unnecessary, if you're lucky enough to be a hologram," the Doctor adds and Janeway's face when he says this is just classic. He gives Seven a list of stuff she is supposed to eat to give to Neelix. Janeway is being called to the bridge by Chakotay. Seven is still worried, but Janeway squeezes her arm and tells her she'll help her through this. She pats her arm a couple of more times and leaves sickbay. Janeway negotiates with a species called the B'Omar to obtain passage through their space. They are quite unhelpful, plotted a ridiculous course. Needless to say, Janeway ain't happy. What follows in an entirely too cute scene with Seven learning how to eat, taught by Neelix. But soon she experiences another flashback, goes berserk and attacks Neelix. Meanwhile, Janeway is still trying to negotiate with the B'Omar who are anything but helpful. Chakotay calls her to the bridge and Tuvok tells her Seven has gone insane. Seven's Borg shields have re-asserted themselves and she's walking though force fields and immune to phaser rifles. She grabs a big gun and shoots a bunch of security people. To make a long story short, she steals a shuttle craft and leaves Voyager. She heads for B'Omar space and goes into warp. She's gone. Janeway of course, is horrified. The B'Omar ain't happy either. Janeway tries to convince them to give her permission to follow Seven in their space. But the B'Omar tell her they will destroy Seven as soon as they find her. Voyager is too stay out of their space altogether. Janeway is lethal. The captain has a security team scan cargo bay two. She wants to know why Seven left. B'Elanna finds a Borg Data link, basically Seven's diary. Harry offers to translate. Chakotay tells Janeway the Doctor wants to see her. As they walk toward sickbay, Chakotay bags on Seven and concludes: "Maybe at her core, she'll always be part of the collective." "No," Janeway says, "I won't accept that." Course not, love concurs all. Janeway is determined to find Seven and bring her back on Voyager. Doctor says Seven has regenerated 13 percent of her Borg implants because of dormant nano probes that re-asserted themselves or something. Doctor doesn't know why it happened but he proudly presents a hypospray that needs to be given to Seven to return her to normal. Meanwhile Tom and Tuvok have found a way to bring a shuttlecraft into B'Omar space without being detected. Janeway gives Tuvok the Doctor's Magic Hypospray and sends him and Tom on their way. Why she doesn't go herself, we will never know. We see Seven having some more flashbacks. Then she kills a bunch of B'Omars. May I take this moment to tell you Seven looks incredibly cute when she's determined. Tom finds Seven's shuttle and when they get there, Tuvok
asks to be beamed on there to give Seven the Magic Hypospray. Of course, this
doesn't work. Seven intercepts him and knock him out. Then she kills Paris'
shuttle. Meanwhile on Voyager. WHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Captain has gone bonkers. She is standing INSIDE Seven's alcove, ready to regenerate. Boy, this woman is in love. Harry walks in and carefully asks if he's disturbing. He tells her what he's found in her log entries. Janeway looks over the padd, finds the hallucinations about the bird. Big black bird... "Raven!!!" Janeway calls out. "she's describing a raven!" Nobody knows what the Captain is on about. She was just regenerating, anything could happen. Tuvok is still trying to help Seven, tells her he'll go with her to where she is being beckoned. He is convinced there's no Borg on the surface of the planet. Seven lowers the force field. Janeway finds Paris and he tells her he found a planet where he detected some strange readings. They suspect that's where Tuvok and Seven are. Which is correct of course. Seven is scared and Tuvok tells
her once again they can go back whenever they want. Then they detect a
Federation vessel, half assimilated by the Borg. It crashed there about 20 years
ago, Tuvok adds. They board and the thing looks familiar to Seven. They find the
homing beacon. Seven is having more flashbacks. You guessed it and now we see it
confirmed. This is The Raven, the ship Annika Hansen and her parents were on
when they were assimilated. The episode ends where it began, in Da Vinci's Studio holodeck program. Janeway enters "There you are!" she says and we see Seven stand on a higher platform staring at the airplane. Janeway tells Seven the Doctor can adjust her so she won't receive any more homing signals. "Thank you," Seven says "I hope you don't mind that I activated this program." Mind? Have we ever seen the Captain mind about anything? I didn't think so. "Not at all." The Captain says. Of course the Captain is not the only one who's smitten. Seven has taken her advice to heart and started imagining about stuff. Ain't that cute. Janeway tells her there's information about her parents in the Federation database that Seven might want to look at to 'encourage her imagination.' "Perhaps I will. Someday," Seven says. "Goodnight, Captain." Seven leaves and Janeway stares at her as she goes. I'm sure she'll have sweet dreams tonight. The End. |