LogFAQs > #972791519

Episode 26: Descent

Anger is, in fact, sometimes too comfortable.

Picard can't quite believe that individuality in the Borg may be happening. Holds on to his principles and takes on a more traumatised tone when Nechayev reprimands him. Stands to attention with polite contempt. Utterly sick of false reports. Grappling with his orders has left him obsessive, stressed and angry. Falls into similar attitudes and tactics as he did against Hugh, but gives up when it's clear they won't work. His attachment to Data is obvious from how he gives up nearly everything just to try and find him.

Riker's understandably perplexed by these more individualised Borg. Even more concerned by Data. Respectful enough of Worf to worry about offending him. Quite hurt and concerned about his captain's outburst.

I like that La Forge briefly got one of the big chairs. More concerned than happy over Data's new ability. Doesn't seem like the best reaction to his friend hitting a milestone. Of no help in trying to describe emotions. Not wrong about the insanity of Data's idea. It's like trying to stop a friend in the middle of a self destructive meltdown.

Worf gets a bit angry when the gold shirt dies. Not offended by Riker. Annoyed by false alarms.

Crusher gives a bit of a withering look to Picard when he demands she wake up Crosis. She hasnt done anything with it yet, but giving her the captaincy is a brilliant move.

Troi feels quite gratified by Data's new development and offers pretty sound advice on the value of anger. I like seeing her on away teams more.

Data's poker experiment doesn't seem like his most successful affair. Picked up a temper. Clenching his fist as the adrenaline (or whatever he has) begins to wear off. Has a haunted look as he tries to process his new emotion. Quite excited and tries to share it with La Forge. Worried and more than a little guilty over experiencing pleasure. (It occurs to me that attempting to describe Data's emotions and pseudo emotions runs into a similar difficulty with properly using tenses to describe time travel). Obsessed with trying to be angry and disappointed each time it fails. Spiner's absolutely brilliant during the scene with Crosis where he grapples with anger, guilt and morality with increasingly pained, frustrated and addicted expressions. Quite pleased with himself when he stands with Lore.

Speaking of Lore, he's as smug and happy as ever.

Nechayev continues the long tradition of Starfleet admirals being dreadful creatures.

I'm glad Hawking got to indulge himself. Apparently, Jemison appeared in a previous episode, but I unfortunately missed that. Newton and Einstein are their typical caricatures. (Still waiting for Feynman, Planck, Boseman and Bohr). Interesting that the title appears before the intro this time. Very action heavy at the start. That ship looks like a barely cobbled together hodgepodge. We focus on Data's shaking fist to underscore that, after 6 years, this is finally happening. The passage of time and a false report is a great way to approach the tension and paranoia of this scenario. There's something darkly funny about Data going through the motions of the Borg attack whilst La Forge looks on in disbelief. Transwarp is a cool effect. Pretty beautiful planet, especially with the eternal sunset and some nice shots like Troi at the top of a hill. The banners of Lore's group are a little nazi esque.

The Borg having individuality doesn't bother me in the slightest. They're gonna need new angles every once in a while if they're going to be a recurring antagonist and having Lore as the leader is as good excuse as any. What I think they represent this time, though, is a generic sort of terrorism. They launch attacks at seemingly random and unimportant areas, with the express intention of killing people as an end in itself and try to seduce anyone impressionable enough to listen into being willfully and addictively angry, whilst having a myopic sort of camaraderie with their fellow monsters. Now, real terrorists do profess to have actual goals involving political and religious change, and there are, of course, freedom fighters with more noble aspirations, but considering the draconian and fascistic laws the former camp want, any rhetoric is clearly a flimsy justification of hatred for hatred's sake. The World Trade Centre bombing will have still been quite recent by the time of airing, so, while it won't quite have reached the paranoid lows of a post 9/11 world, constant vigilance will likely have been the theme of the day. Unfortunately, encouraging that level of suspicion and anger is a great way to turn good people into somewhat monstrous wrecks, so, whilst Picard wrestles and, with the benefit of his experience and encouragement from Riker, mostly wins against Nechayev's attempts to make him disregard the sanctity of life, Data is seemingly unable to resist Crosis' propaganda for long and apparently finds himself wanting to destroy the Federation for its own sake. The implication being that Lore and Nechayev aren't all that dissimilar and that life in the Federation could very quickly become comparable to life in this more individualised collective. Predictions for the second part, then, are that Hugh will put in an appearance and justify the faith put in him, perhaps by showing his fellow named Borg a better way, Nechayev, if she shows up at all, will inevitably be disregarded and possibly disgraced in a similar manner to Satie, Data will either have been lying from the start or will turn good due to the affection he feels for his friends, possibly reconciling with Lore in some manner, too and these Borg will either die due to the destructive effects of addictive anger or will make some sort of peace with the Federation.

Well, that's what i hope for, anyway. Could be I'm in for a darker time of it, instead.

Yet another great Borg story and another fantastic showcase for Spiner.

It'll be a while till we see the second part, though, since I've got rankings and then season 1 of DS9 first.