Infinite Regress

DVD, Voyager S5 (Infinite Regress)

An episode of two halves, both high quality, the first a showcase for the vast talent of Jeri Ryan as Seven is taken over by various assimilated personalities, the second, Janeway coming up against aliens who had lost eleven billion to the Borg in the four years since first contact. The Captain does look rather naive that any race who lost so much, so recently, would look kindly on a Borg, even one rescued from the Collective - I'd completely forgotten what happened in the episode other than Seven portraying various characters, and I thought the aliens had a good look that was quite different from the usual Trek style, yet still fitting within it. Their plan is to infect the Collective with this tech-attacking virus which has broken down the 'heart of a Borg Cube,' the Borg Vinculum, something that had been considered before ('I, Borg' on 'TNG'), and would be again (the story behind Icheb later in this series). The idea of giving the Borg poison to suck up makes a lot of sense, though unethical from a Starfleet point of view as they can't go round committing genocide, especially when they know it's possible to retrieve individuals even after longterm assimilation. I wasn't sure exactly what the effect was supposed to be from this virus, and it would seem unlikely the Borg would actually be affected in any permanent meaningful way (they always find a method of adapting), but it was a bold plan, and would have worked had not Voyager come bumbling into range of the stricken Vinculum. You could say Voyager is responsible for preventing a serious blow being dealt to the terrors of the Delta Quadrant - a case of the needs of the one outweighing the needs of the many?

Now that I think about it I wish that side of the story had been played up more: that saving Seven could come at a significant cost, but there is a lot less clarity and focus on that issue, it's more about dealing with this race, Species 6339, who are doing their best to fight the Borg, but react in a hostile way to anyone who gets in the way of their objective. It is understandable, but at the same time they don't really give Janeway time to discuss the issue and get to know her and her crew, because they could have ended up working together, but 6339 were on a tight time limit, expecting another Borg ship to show up any moment, so if their plan was to succeed then it needed to be put into practice, and as we know, Janeway takes her responsibility to her crew very seriously and isn't going to back down if pushed around. That's part of the fascinating complexity that was introduced to Voyager's situation by accepting in a Borg drone as they did. Janeway even mentions to Chakotay he may have been right about it being a bad idea, but he vindicates her decision by admitting he's changed his mind seeing Seven integrate so well in the space of a year. It's these kind of little side conversations that make the episode sparkle, beyond the obvious tour de force performance(s) from Ryan.

She really shone from first frame to last (helped by her shiny new blue suit, which debuted in 'In The Flesh'), immediately exhibiting complete changes in physicality, tone of voice, body language, every facet screaming this woman can ACT! Funnily enough, it called to mind Brent Spiner's Data in the 'TNG' episode 'Masks' - no, Voyager isn't being taken over by some Aztec curse or whatever was going on there (does anyone really know!?), but Spiner was given the chance to exhibit different characters and like Ryan, grasped it fully to demonstrate his range. This episode is even better because it has so much more forcefulness to it, 'Masks' being more of a curio than a classic. 'Infinite Regress,' I would suggest, is third in a row of classics this season. It may have taken a few episodes to really get going, but I start to see why I've had the season in mind as possibly the best of the series. It still has a long way to go, but more seeds are planted here, particularly in the Naomi Wildman story as the likeable little girl has her first scene of what would become an enduring friendship (on this series, at least - we don't know where she and Seven are in the time of 'Picard,' Terry Matalas mentioned he wanted an episode with her in Season 3 but couldn't for time, sadly), but the less said about that aberrant version of the character, the better!). Kadis-kot also makes its debut as the game the pair liked to play, and Seven resolves to assist the child in her ambition to become 'Captain's Assistant,' in spite of her initial statement that such a position does not exist on this ship!

It's a real joy to see new things spring up, even at this late stage of the series, and Seven's further integration and gratitude to her crew provides a thoroughly satisfying conclusion. What's more, this story provides the series yet another unique approach to featuring the familiar races of the Alpha Quadrant at a time when there was only 'DS9' in its final season to do that - in this time of new Trek overload (there are four seasons, each from a different Trek series, all coming out on DVD in the next few months!), with so much reference to Trek's past and its famous races, it's easy to forget that 'Voyager' was quite removed from the familiarity of what had been established before, so they needed to be clever to work any of those elements in. Obviously the Borg had been very much integrated into the series as a potential threat at any point, but here we get Vulcan, Klingon (I thought she was mispronouncing P'Tak, or Pahtk, the general Klingon insult, but it was actually a different word, probably more offensive), Ferengi, and even other human characters (from the USS Melbourne, the ship Riker was offered before it was mashed by the Borg), showing up delightfully - and when Tuvok goes full Vulcan and offers to treat Seven with a mind meld, we even see many of these examples (odd that there were no Ferengi in the mental landscape portrayed as Seven's mind - maybe the makeup was deemed too elaborate for these relatively short sequences?). The change shown in Seven is pronounced with incredible contrast, my favourite being her turn rampaging through the ship while Tuvok and other Security track her down, only to find a little girl curled up in the corner, frightened and questioning, then back to the violent warrior Tuvok must stun as he marches her to Sickbay.

It was surprising the Doctor was so dismissive of the mind meld as a medical tool, calling it Vulcan mumbo-jumbo - I can believe Dr. Zimmerman having that view as he was generally quite strong in his opinions, but the Doc is also programmed with many other Starfleet physicians so you'd think there would be some Vulcan ones, too, and we've already had evidence of the meld working in a number of cases going right back to 'TOS' (Those Old Scientists!). At the same time the Doctor has had problems with Tuvok in the past (notably in 'Meld'), so perhaps it isn't quite as unheralded as all that... I loved that he got to do it and I was also impressed with the direction in the episode - early on you got some good shots such as the camera following Seven, then whirling around her and moving out of the Cargo Bay, the shots of her personalities in reflective surfaces (like 'Quantum Leap,' and in the same way we must be seeing what she is because obviously she doesn't really look like an old Klingon warrior or a little girl - again, the Ferengi doesn't get to appear...), but it was in the scenes depicting her chaotic, disintegrating mind that it was most impressive, a nightmarish Borg vessel full of shouting, screaming crying examples of the various races she'd assimilated (including a reuse of the old 'TNG'-era uniform). Perhaps the most touching was a Mother, whom I assume wasn't a Starfleet officer, though had been aboard a ship at Wolf 359 and was searching for her son who was in Starfleet. It's a reminder that real people suffered, died, or worse in that attack.

There is one slight flaw, however, as if these are supposed to be people Seven personally assimilated then she couldn't have been at Wolf 359 as there was only one Borg vessel there and that was destroyed. Unless they aren't specific to Seven's experience, which would make sense as they'd simply be transferred through subspace to the Collective. Not that it really makes a difference either way, but I have to mention any examples of story logic not lining up, such as why they didn't simply blast the Vinculum to pieces and shut it down that way? It had survived the destruction of a Borg Cube, so it must be particularly hardy, like a black box in an aircraft maybe? The thought of them just blasting stuff to pieces shows I've been watching too much modern Trek recently, though in that case I wouldn't be pointing out one or two minor inconsistencies, I'd be wasting all my time on the many logic and lore issues, that's the difference! And this episode has the heart that's missing from the modern versions. That line where Seven says her courage is insufficient, standing close to camera like she thinks she's alone, yet having Janeway close behind her like a reassuring angel, was another beautiful scene and also reminded me of Data and Picard, this time from 'Generations' when he wants to turn off his emotions, but can't - it had the same attitude of staying strong and continuing on even when you're not feeling it, a reminder that feelings are part of us, not the driving force, and overcoming yourself is a big part of winning through, an inspirational ending if ever there was one.

Other points of interests that stood out during the watching of it was that Ferengi are designated Species 180 by the Borg, when you'd think, considering they originated in the Delta Quadrant and Ferengi the Alpha, they'd be a much higher number (the 'Star Trek Encyclopedia' doesn't even note that number which is odd as usually they're good at including a little background about mistakes - another slight to the race!). I assume the designation comes from the order in which the Borg encountered a species, so either there was some incursion into Ferengi space a lot longer ago than we ever realised, or the Ferengi themselves delved too deep into distant space and were assimilated for their troubles - the Borg don't take bribes... Mind you, as 'Enterprise' showed, they can show up when you least expect them, and what was one of the other major races encountered by the NX-01? Yes, it was the Borg. It's all connected... Something else I really appreciated was the fact that Starfleet don't watch and record everything that occurs on their vessels, that their attitude isn't towards tracking everything and everyone as our culture seems to be sleepwalking towards today. Why do I say this? Because Neelix didn't know who had raided his Galley, and if they had cameras everywhere they could just check the security footage (something that comes up in 'DS9,' too, from time to time when Odo wants more stringent controls and is always beaten back, forced to work in the strict confines of Starfleet's values of privacy - unless in specific instances such as setting up a camera to catch the Klingons messing with the Replicator in 'Visionary'). On 'TOS' footage from the Bridge was used as evidence in 'Court Martial,' and it would make sense to record Bridge operations, at least some of the time, but otherwise the freedom and privacy wins out most of the time, which is reassuring.

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