The Gift

DVD, Voyager S4 (The Gift)

We continue where we left off, with a sleeping Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of, etc… Except this time she's vertical rather than horizontal (which is an improvement of sorts, though it hasn't sweetened her bad temper at being caught in the grip of lowly humans), in the midst of the Borg alcoves and paraphernalia left behind by the pale and pasty-faced ones, and a creepy place it has remained, perhaps even more so because only one Borg remains, and a Borg alone is somehow more disturbing than a whole herd of the mindless creatures, though it was probably a reassuring architectural environment for Seven (as she's not yet called). And so begins the battle for one woman's soul, a girl that had been abducted at a young age, it's speculated that she and her parents may have been the first humans to have been encountered by the Borg (having last made contact with Deep Space 4, a location previously mentioned in 'The Chase' on 'TNG'), unless we're counting the 21st Century humans, although of course the Borg never made it down to Earth in 'First Contact' so they didn't actually meet any - until 'Enterprise,' where 22nd Century scientists did find some leftovers, but that was created years after this episode so they had no idea, and it was covered anyway because no one ever knew they were Borg so Janeway wouldn't even have found reference in the Starfleet Borg files!

I wonder if it was too early to be giving even this many details away about the new cast member, except that I realise too many modern series' and films are intent on withholding information in the hopes mystery will keep people watching. And it seems to work, but can be infuriating as it becomes more important than character development and story, the idolised special ingredient which should be just one of many in the cooking. When I think of it that way I'm glad they went the route of not hiding too much, but giving us a taste of who this person is and why we should care. Because it isn't a serial, despite a serialised nature in terms of characters developing and growing, and the constant search for and drive to get home as the series' core concept. The humanisation of Seven's aesthetics was too quick, as we might have had several episodes where she gradually became more human-looking instead of the metamorphosis taking place largely across one episode. I can see why they wanted to get to her standard look on the series in case people were scared off that this ugly, scary-looking horror film monster was going to be what confronted them each week, but going from that to supermodel was too much. From the makers' perspective they'd had two episodes with the Borgified Seven, and having already released cast photos revealing her human visage, they probably felt it was necessary to get to that point as quickly as possible, thereby missing an opportunity for physical rehabilitation across the season, belying the psychological difficulties, and perhaps making it appear too easy to be liberated from the Collective?

It could be said that it was also a cynical move to attract their chosen demographic by pouring the poor Jeri Ryan into the extremely tight-fitting silver catsuit that became infamous for almost making her faint. It certainly was striking, and showed the intent to shake things up on the series which they'd already done each season by adding to the drama and action, leaving behind old enemies, and going beyond even their Delta Quadrant allies' knowledge. I suppose we should have expected nothing less from the Doctor, who takes credit for the design of her outfit, both for rehabilitation purposes and aesthetics. It's believable that they could stimulate her hair follicles to grow a fine head of golden hair, and it's probably more dramatic than having her remain bald, as it's such a strong contrast between her Borg look and human. But if we thought her problems were over by the regrowing of her hair and the wearing of a somewhat old-fashioned outfit (old sci-fi often seemed to think the future was about the wearing of tin foil, as well as women in tighter clothing, whether that were futuristic space dramas or the contemporary-set 'The Avengers' with Emma Peel's catsuit), her malice and cunning were just beneath the surface and would continue to be a threat.

Harry Kim, acting a little green even after three years in space, with various female difficulties (though it hadn't quite become a running joke yet in the same mould as the annual torture of Chief O'Brien on 'DS9'), gets a taste for the drone's deceit when she seizes upon a chance to contact the Borg and sends the Ensign flying into a security guard, a scene apparently setting him up to be her admirer before she'd even adorned herself with silver threads. She later admits to Janeway she'd intended to assist the crew in removing the Borg modifications to the hull, but had seen an opportunity for escape and taken it, so there's a strange mix of compliance and rebellion that demonstrates the confusion of the kind a teenager may experience. But she's not just any 'teenager,' in the case of her position she's also a drug addict that's being forced to go cold turkey against her will. These themes of Mother/daughter angst and the horror at having to accept a new way of life are what makes this a compelling episode. It doesn't have the same kind of urgency and danger (though there's a tinge of that when Seven turns on them, or Kes' powers increase to dangerous levels), and it's not completely fulfilling given this is Kes' last regular episode, but it was better than I thought it was. It is a direct continuation of the situation Seven has been put in and we see it from both our crew's perspective and her own (literally in the case of her first person enhanced visual acuity and disorientation sequences).

If the catsuit was a statement of intent to drive up male viewership in the easiest and laziest way possible, we're reassured that this is an actress who wasn't cast purely for her looks, but can act, and act well. Her range of reactions and mood swings, our sympathy for the psychological and physical pain she goes through bonds us to this intruder in the happy Voyager family, with Janeway as dedicated to saving her as she was in her decision to strand the crew in the Delta Quadrant in the first place. She's both stern and sympathetic, giving tough love, and both performances are powerful in their intensity and reality. Seven was designed to introduce greater conflict into a series that was trying to be like 'TNG,' which itself had hard rules about no conflict between the Starfleet characters, under Gene Roddenberry's express desire to show unity. So instead of branching out and incorporating the Trek ideals, while also experimenting with the formula (as 'DS9' did so effectively), they brought conflicts to a speedy resolution, which is a laudable goal in itself, but denied more satisfying resolutions over time. Adding Seven into the mix brought back that potential in a way that was both rewarding and hopeful, in line with the ethos the series aimed to emulate. In short, bringing aboard a human-turned-Borg and try to return her humanity to her, was a masterstroke of genius, at the same time continuing the tradition of the outsider commenting on human society and experience, just like Spock, Data, Odo and the Doctor.

Hold up there, we already had a character to do that on the series: The Doctor. You might even say Tuvok shared that role, though he was much more buttoned down, being a full Vulcan, and even Neelix had that element to his wanderer fallen in with this group. To go further, B'Elanna Torres with her hated Klingon heritage and Maquis past, and Paris, a former offender, had that potential also. So a good half of the main cast were already in prime position to provide the outsider viewpoint, and perhaps they had over the years, to varying degrees, but as noted before, much of the differences had been ironed out early and things were generally pretty smooth on the good ship Voyager at this point, notwithstanding Chakotay's reservations with some of Janeway's decisions (it might have been useful for his character to have a strong anti-Seven stance, continuing his attitude against allying with the Borg - just when he's got over that, she brings a Borg aboard permanently, and then Seven could have won him over, perhaps initiating a more organic friendship between them, instead of the way things actually went…), so the time was ripe for a source of internal dissension not really seen since the elements of the Maquis and Seska's clique were causing trouble in Season 2.

The big question of the episode is whether it's right for someone to be forcibly saved from their life when they don't wish to be. Is it better for a drug addict to have their freedom on the streets, and the choice to destroy their own life, rather than a forced rehabilitation against their will? I think the answer is pretty clear that Seven isn't thinking as clearly as she would be if she didn't have the Borg programming that had provided a haven most of her life. She's fearful of an unknown world outside her considerable comfort zone of mindless service to the Borg, terrified of being alone after having the countless billions of voices in her head, a clear purpose and function, designation and routine. To have the possibility of freedom thrust upon her is too much to take. She even says that she's small and your heart goes out to her as she struggles with the alien concepts that were once her birthright, but were taken, surgically removed from her, to become Borg and know nothing else. Her world is shaken to bits and she'd rather die than accept that. Early on I was wondering how far they had gone to accede to her wishes: did they do everything in their power to keep her Borg implants working or did they use the rejection of her human biology reasserting itself over the cybernetic as excuse to make her like them? That's really at the heart of the story: is it right to change someone from being different to being like us, even if we know it's better for them?

In the case of the Borg they had already done that to her, taking what she had, so it's really a case of restoring her to her original condition, or the potential that condition held for the best life possible. In that way it's almost a commentary on sin, and whether people should be allowed to live in the darkness which they're comfortable with, or introduced to the light, as painful as it could be, but ultimately saving their soul. Janeway isn't God, for sure, but wants the best for this human who has marched unceremoniously into their lives. She's the sort that will interfere in the cause of right, but even if she wasn't, it wouldn't be safe to do what Seven wants, and leave her on a planet with a transponder to alert the Borg, because that would also alert them to Voyager's general location. And her implants are being rejected, her true nature, despite it being against her mind, is taking over, survival is kicking out the Borg from her system. If the question of the right to destroy your own life wasn't enough, she also has to deal with the similarly difficult issue of identity. Being part of the Collective had been enough, and the identity she lost to them, Annika Hansen, was a child, while she is no longer a child. Yet she hasn't been allowed to develop mentally, and can't see beyond her 'programming.' When it comes down to a decision being made, Janeway takes the initiative.

Isn't it a bit fast for the Borg technology to be rejected? She'd been assimilated for years, and we've seen others isolated from the Collective before (Hugh, the best example, though Captain Picard was another, and even the ex-Borg of 'Unity'), and they didn't immediately begin rejection proceedings! It all makes sense when you consider the influence of the Borg Queen and how her wishes play into the scenario, making sense of such rapid advances towards regaining humanity. Yet the adaptation does stop suddenly at a point - Seven never really regains her full emotions (though advances are forthcoming eventually), and remains reliant on the remnants of her Borgification for survival, so her biology can only go so far in saving her. This makes sense from both a story perspective and for drama, because if she continued to develop at that rapid a rate as in this episode, she'd have become fully human in a couple of episodes, no problem. But it's her struggle that provides appeal, that's what we want to see each week. And it does make logical sense, too, as her initial rejection of the implants was from isolation, no longer having the dependence on the Collective and its technology. So everyone's happy… except Seven.

Rapid development is the name of this episode's game, and while Seven had to metamorphose for the sake of getting us to the baseline of what we could expect from the series from this point, Kes, too, had to make her change and departure because they didn't want to keep her on. In truth she could easily have remained part of the cast - this episode doesn't feel overburdened with characters, and while some got short shrift (Paris and Torres, for example), the mix was a good one. As this was Kes' final regular appearance on the series it was fitting that she spent most of her time with the three she was closest with: The Doctor, Tuvok and Neelix. I'd forgotten that they had dealt so well with her, remembering mainly the changes she was going through and the ultimate destination, so it was a pleasant surprise to see that even Neelix wasn't overlooked as he had been after their break-up in Season 3, with a scene of reminiscences where they reconnect, something badly needed considering how their friendship was treated latterly. I'm with Kes, Neelix never held her back, and in fact provided a safe haven and devoted companion for her, entertaining and caring for her in equal measure, and I always felt it was out of character of her to summarily abandon him in the way she did. It wasn't as if they really did anything with her to warrant such a change, either, and it harmed more than helped both characters. But I suppose that was the reasoning behind letting the Ocampan go: she just wasn't fertile ground enough for story potential.

Or so the writers seemed to think. But when I've watched those first three seasons again, I've come to appreciate Jennifer Lien's skill and talents far more than when I first saw the series, she added greatly to the chemistry between the characters, and it wasn't her fault that the writers failed to see the huge potential in a character that may only live for nine years. Of course, if she'd been hugely popular and the breakout character they'd have found ways around her short lifespan, even if there had been 'Voyager' films (which there really, really needed to be!), but it was an amazing chance to explore mortality and a life sped up compared to our own. They should have developed her more rapidly, they should have shown her ageing, dealing with her body losing what it had before, but gaining mentally in terms of wisdom and powers, and finally a natural death that would have been heartbreaking in its truth to life. Seeing someone like Jake Sisko grow up from boy to young man is the closest I can imagine to how it might have been, and would have required serious effort and the acceptance that the series would need to change as it went along, and embrace that rather than try to keep completely to formula, but the trouble is, that potential wasn't realised, in Kes, and sadly in the fullness of the series itself, as great as it was.

No blame can fall on Lien. She remains a bit of a mystery, rarely having spoken about her experiences or thoughts, and sadly from reports, it sounds like life didn't treat her too well after her Trek experience. But if she was angry at being released from her contract, or resentful, I have no idea because she was an absolute professional in terms of completing these two Season 4 episodes while not being officially part of the cast any more. Kes is a figure of calm and warmth (she's almost turning into a warm version of Season 1 Jadzia Dax, who was wise, but quite cool as opposed to vibrant as she became later), accepting of what's happening to her, and quietly, soberly ready to embrace the next stage of being, or whatever it is, we don't really know. Perhaps it was Lien's professionalism and grace that led to the character's return in Season 6's 'Fury,' because I can't imagine she'd have been asked back, an episode written for her especially, if she'd left under a cloud of anger. That later episode is a tribute to someone that was a large part of the series. It's not like cast members leaving, or being asked to leave, was a new concept for Trek (see Denise Crosby, Gates McFadden, Diana Muldaur and Wil Wheaton for details), and she wouldn't be the last, either. At the same time, back then I wasn't concerned with her absence as I was young enough to accept whatever was offered up, as What Must Be, not old enough to really question choices and decisions and to envisage my own impression of what might have worked better, or less, well.

Leave she did, however, and her legacy was a knock-on effect for others of my favourite characters: Neelix had been stripped of much of his character's import already, and this was another nail in his screen-time coffin, and Tuvok, the mentor to her mental abilities, had another string to his lute pulled away (though I like the friendly familiarity between him and the Captain, a callback to Season 1 in particular when he tended to be the person she turned to for help in judgement, whereas she became more singleminded as the series progressed). Tom Paris is the only one of Kes' main friends not allowed a moment with her, hearing about her impending emergency exit over the comm from Janeway, with everyone else on the bridge. But I did like that they cut to his surprised expression as it came through, a small concession to someone that had been close. Tuvok gets to be her mentor one last time, although I did question when he started encouraging her manipulation of the lamp whether it was a good idea - back in Season 2 when her powers first began to manifest, she burned the Vulcan horribly when losing control over mind-brewing a cup of tea! Still she'd come a long way since then (now she can see beyond the subatomic and manipulate the matter between!), and it was a lovely reminder of his days tutoring her. It was also typically noble of Tuvok to arrive en route to Kes' departure to give her one last mind meld with which she could hold herself together until she was safely away from the ship, no matter the cost to him (reminiscent of his dance steps for Neelix).

I didn't quite understand the story of Tuvok's lamp, which Janeway claims they bought from a Vulcan master who doubled the price upon seeing their Starfleet insignia. First, they don't have money in the 24th Century, second, Vulcans are part of the Federation so presumably they don't either, and third, was he supposed to be anti-Starfleet if he made a fellow Vulcan pay double, or was Janeway just embellishing? If so, it was a good story, but it doesn't stand up to logic, essential if you're going to discuss Vulcans! The Master sounded more like a Ferengi trader, but I can't imagine Tuvok and Janeway being taken in by a Ferengi disguised as a Vulcan - it's all in the ears… Vulcanness has always been very important to me, and getting my favourite race right has been a contentious issue in almost all 21st Century-produced Trek ('Enterprise' taking the lion's share of the blame for setting the precedent that Vulcans of the 22nd Century were actually far from noble, rational and logical, and were in fact extremely cunning and emotional, which spilled over into 23rd Century Vulcans in the Abramsverse films!), Tuvok being the last true Vulcan, in my mind. So I liked all the Vulcan stuff such as Tuvok's greater strength being required to keep Seven in place when she starts to behave erratically in the Cargo Bay (even if the EMH's strength parameters technically should have allowed him a vice-like grip that would have rivalled Tuvok's organic ability in the same manner Data was stronger than Worf).

The Doctor does at least get to show his eye for detail, not just in crafting the structure of Seven's 'regeneration' suit (which could have been emphasised more in the dialogue to legitimise its style), for want of a better word, but in producing a nice eye to replace the Borg implant that was a rather stark reminder of her previous nature and would have been out of place - the far more aesthetically pleasing eyebrow piece (over her left eye in the same position and almost in the same style as Chakotay's tattoo - were they trying to hint at the future?), adding to the look much better. The Doctor's artistic abilities had yet to be fully realised as this was long before his love of opera and painting nudes! As usual, he gets some nice moments, such as when he interjects in that sunny, but thoughtless way that had become his norm, and gets closed down by a hard look from Janeway. But it's the moment Kes requests to keep helping him in Sickbay, despite her affliction that is the most touching as we linger on his face showing a kind of sadness, but pride for the medical assistant that had caused him to think of himself as 'a real boy,' to borrow from Data's association with Pinocchio. I'd have liked to have seen more discussion along the lines she and Neelix have, with him having the chance to thank her for the changes she inspired in him and his acceptance among the crew, who found it difficult to adjust, not just because he was new technology, but because he was seen as another tool, like the Holodeck or Replicator, where Kes saw a skilled physician.

If the episode isn't satisfying enough in its short running time as to give us powerful farewells between Kes and each of her friends, it does succeed in a most emotional scene between her and Janeway in her quarters, where, despite the Captain's other concerns (getting the Borg tech off the hull, dealing with an angry prisoner), she finds time to discuss the situation with Kes. Of course she rather had to, with Tuvok advising her that Kes could become a danger to herself and the ship, so it should have been very high on her priority list indeed, but in contrast to the forceful sanctions and strict rules she lays down the law upon Seven, she sees what's happening to Kes and though she questions it, she doesn't set herself against the young woman who is going through an almost religious experience, entering a new realm of existence that may have been the Ocampan destiny in the first place if they'd been allowed to explore their abilities. They even have a rationale for the increased changes: activated by Species 8472's telepathic contact.

For me, they didn't even need to have that, as it could have been coming anyway when you look at Kes' development over the three seasons aboard Voyager where she was allowed to shine and grow, and always had far more ambition and delight in learning than Neelix, her constant companion, ever did. Likewise, she brought delight into his life and made him think differently, and there was a certain freedom from knowing she had such a short lifespan that anything she felt she wanted or needed to do, she did, Voyager proving a ship of opportunity. One of her most telling lines is one about if she were Captain she'd peer into every crack in the Galaxy, and it is that wonder and childlike curiosity that never leaves her, along with her ability to accept change. There's also something fun about seeing the smallest, weakest character on the ship (Naomi hadn't yet become a recurring character), suddenly with the powers of Darth Vader, whipping a medical tool across Sickbay by thought alone, and even becoming a modern Gary Mitchell, though thankfully she remained benign to the end, curing Seven by disintegrating the implant in her brain, and of course giving the ship a boost away from the Borg. In light of Bryan Fuller's appointment as head of the fifth TV series, it's interesting to note that it was he who was given the task of removing Kes from the cast, coming up with her exponential growth and transformation as a believable, fitting end for the character. Let's hope he hasn't lost his 'Star Trek' brain in the years since!

Above all else, Kes was a character of great compassion and wanted to help as many people as possible, whether that was through medical support or taking a stance, and so she does, one last time, by giving her friends a gift of a push ten years closer to home and out of the dangers of Borg space. I don't know how they knew where or how big Borg space was, or how the Borg would be kept to one area of space, but I just have to remember the vastness of the distances we're talking about in space and be content with that. But it was a lovely last act from a good friend as her beatific smile is turned into radiance and she transforms into a creature of light. The final shot of Tuvok standing looking out of his window with the lamp burning for his former friend is both a gentle ending to speed us on our way, and a show of technical ability (the camera pulls away until we see the whole ship), something that wasn't really possible until then. The ship was beginning to be used more organically instead of a stiff, unchangeable physical model. It had begun with the Borg modifications which added a green glow to the hull - maybe they should have kept those additions as enhancements, although I can understand them wanting the purity of a Starfleet ship to be unaltered by alien parts, something that would have been a logical step in their survival. But Janeway had shown from day one that she was going to do things the Starfleet way, and being a fully Starfleet ship was an important statement of the series. So although, technically, the series could show alteration and damage, they seemed to prefer the symbol of a whole, Starfleet ship as important to the integrity of its mission and Captain.

It would seem uncharitable to question whether a more exciting ending, with the Borg closing in and Kes their only chance to get away, might have worked better, because it's such a gentle goodnight, with both the requisite Trek air of hope for the future and personal potential being given the time to shine, which it might not have had in a headlong dash to escape pursuit, no matter the increase in drama. We get to see humanised Seven who enters into hopeful dialogue, reassuring she won't try to get them assimilated again, though I felt the glint of duplicity in her eye, and even Janeway must suspect her change of heart too easy. Ease is the last thing Seven would bring to the series, but already her bond with Janeway is forged - when she starts throwing herself against the forcefield in the Brig and Ayala asks the Captain down (as usual, she doesn't get an account of what's happening, and even on arrival he barely raises his head, continuing to tap away at a screen when he should have quietly filled her in - maybe he spoke to her again when she was on the way and we just never saw that moment, nothing to do with them not wanting an extra to have more lines so he'd have to be paid more, I'm sure…), she goes into the cell even though Seven snarls out a threat to kill her. Though Seven goes to half-strike her in her anguish at the past she's being confronted with, it ends in a stumble with Janeway hugging and supporting her in her pain and it's such a good encapsulation of the dedication Janeway has to her crew and the direction they would go in as she became a surrogate Mother to this lost girl.

The role Seven gained on the series is so strongly marked out even in her first proper episode (in 'Scorpion, Part II' she was merely a Borg drone), going full-on outsider right from the off, criticising Janeway's ways and hypocrisy - she asks if, when Janeway's satisfied that she's no longer influenced by the Borg she would still let her go if it was her own free will at that point and Janeway responds that she won't want to then, and having someone be so accusatory and judgemental on the society and rules that we take for granted in Trek could only be a good thing: checks and balances, even though ultimately it would be shown that there was a person still inside that hard Borg outer shell, and one that could recuperate and become a valuable member of society, whether that is a mirror for an addict of any kind, or someone with a mental condition such as autism, or even just someone afraid to confront the realities of life, it was to spread inspiration, something important to the success of Trek's continuation and which in recent years it has lost in large measure: character was at the forefront, not effects, and that's what 'Star Trek' is really about, and should be. This was the episode that marked the change from the series that was, to that which it was to be, and successfully so as it was also a moving episode, an achievement amidst so much transition. But Season 4 would have even more greatness to offer, the real gift for us.

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