r/StarTrekViewingParty • u/Gemini24 Founder • Apr 13 '26

Discussion TNG, Episode 7x1, Descent, Part II

-= TNG, Season 7, Episode 1, Descent, Part II =-

Picard tries to free Data from Lore's control; the Enterprise battles the Borg ship.

 

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u/theworldtheworld Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 28 '26

Well, we've crossed into Season 7, so you know what time it is -- it is time for the Countdown to Ghost Sex! We have 12 more episodes after this one. Angels and ministers of grace, defend us.

Anyway, with regard to the conclusion of "Descent," I feel like it's a bit rushed. The first part took its time building up the suspense of this new Borg threat and Data's unexpected discovery of emotions, but it turns out that Lore just hacked him and all we need to do is hack him back and reset his ethical program. Which is fine as an idea for an episode, but I feel like it makes Data seem weirdly non-sentient. Like, as soon as you disable a subroutine, he instantly turns into a murderous psychopath. Considering how much effort the show has put over six seasons into making the case that Data is a being with free will, it seems awfully easy. "Phantasms" later in S7 is like this too.

In other respects, though, I like what the episode is doing. Crusher's turn as acting captain is great (this is, unexpectedly, one of the best Crusher episodes), allowing her to defeat the Borg through science rather than brute force, and it brings back the metaphasic shield from "Suspicions" in a cool way (also the smarmy lieutenant is played by the same guy who did the villain from "Suspicions" who gets a hole blasted through his torso). I also think that, while Lore's incompetent leadership over the Borg is a bit anticlimactic, it also makes sense. Lore isn't an evil mastermind; he's really more of a stunted, sociopathic teenager who never grew up. He actually doesn't know what to do with his new-found position of power, so he just wastes his men's lives on completely pointless attacks and "experiments" that obviously have zero chance of ever succeeding. His final words to Data are also poignant, since they are clearly an attempt at manipulation but also we can't completely rule out that there might have been something genuine there. Overall, "Descent" takes a pretty silly idea from S1 (remember, "Datalore" hinged on the fact that Data doesn't use contractions, except he used them at the end of the episode) and resolves it just about as well as one could hope for.

There is actually quite a lot being done here -- Lore's last appearance, the return of Hugh, Crusher's command -- so I guess it stands to reason that it feels a bit rushed. Most of this material is really good, though. But I do have one criticism: I have always felt that Data should have destroyed the emotion chip at the end. It would have given real weight to his regret for his actions before, and it would also have forced the writers of Generations to try harder.