I was 100% prepared to be underwhelmed by this, and I'll say it upfront that I'm not sold on the Enterprise-G, but this finale managed to hit all of the proper notes for me and bring the story of the Enterprise crew to a satisfying and cathartic conclusion AND OH MY F***ING GOD I WAS TYPING THIS DURING THE CREDITS AND I WASN'T PREPARED FOR THAT POST-CREDITS SCENE. Holy hell, this is even more awesome than I thought. Q back in all of his mischevious, non-linear glory, and I almost expected Jack to smirk back at him and take him up on the challenge.
I've only had minor gripes with it. I've written whole paragraphs, but they would just bloat my already novel-length post, so I'll spare the complaints about the fleet happily waiting to start to bomb Earth until Picard decided to plug himself into the Collective. It happens all the time on TV anyway. Aside from the Enterprise's small size making me wonder how suited it is to continue the mission of its predecessors, my only real problem with the rechristening is that it's thematically not connected to Seven. After how fondly she described Voyager as her home and family a few episodes ago, the Enterprise just doesn't feel right for her.
But other than this, oh my god, it tugged on my heartstrings so much. From worry and anxiety to excited glee, crying, catharsis, nostalgia, and, by the end, hope. The Borg, in their dying and decaying stage, managed to be truly terrifying again, with the monstrously mutated Queen cannibalizing her drones and having gone insane with grief, loneliless and rage, as a completely immobile evil presence in her completely empty, eerily silent chamber, more like a malevolent apparition who can only gloat at our heroes but doesn't really need to do anything else. The Borg Cube being the proverbial eye of the storm was also quite strong, if heavy-handed symbolism. And of course, Jack's love for his family being the real Collective that overpowered the Queen's siren song and woke him up was a very beautiful touch.
Having the old crew back on the Enterprise-D bridge just felt right, even with the small moments showcasing how far they have come since they first set foot on it. The bits of heroics from the various crew members made me pump my fist in absolute glee every single time - be it Beverly finally manning the horseshoe and unleashing an enraged barrage that would put Worf to shame and make everyone stop what they were doing to look back at her slackjawed, Data finally having his first ever gut feeling and navigating the labyrinthine mess of the cube in utter adrenaline-filled excitement, or Deanna sensing her loved ones amidst the collapsed structure, with the Enterprse triumphantly appearing above them to beam them up in the nick of time, then riding the storm surrounded by azure shield glow. Oh how glorious it all was.
Needless to say, there were a lot of moments where I felt my eyes getting misty: Beverly knowing she'll have to sacrifice her son. Picard going back into the Collective after Jack. Deciding to stay with his son until the end. Jack's love for his family overpowering the hive mind. Riker declaring his everlasting love for Troi and promising he'll wait for her with Thad beyond the veil. And, from later on, reminiscing about the Enterprise's role in making the crew (and perhaps us viewers as well) who we are today, and the final goodbye to Majel Barrett and her comforting voice. But the actual moment when I actually started crying came when when Seven hugged Sidney. No words needed. No apology necessary. She understands. She understands it the most out of everyone on that ship and she's here to comfort her.
And of course, we have the ending. The one problem I had with that is how impersonal Tuvok's role was, he was basically just a random bureucrat. It would've only required just a few more words, like him prefacing Seven's performance review with something about how Shaw's words reminded him of some of his own old assessments of Seven. But other than that, it was a fitting and satisfying passing of the torch to the new generation, and even ended on the same overhead poker shot that All Good Things did. And the adventure continues.
Trivia I noticed:
- The Enterprise-D in the startup Star Trek logo, with an assimilated delta, and the music replaced with the Borg leitmotif from First Contact
- President Anton Chekov (voiced by Walter Koenig with a much more natural-sounding slavic accent), making a statement not unlike his predecessor did in The Voyage Home.
- 21st century animated LCARS graphics in the TNG color scheme on the viewscreen were an awesome exploration of what could've been.
- Saying final goodbye to the Enterprise-D to the music of To Live Forever, the ending track of the Generations soundtrack.
- The cities shown on the Earth map were hilariously off in Europe (of course, WW3 happened, alright, alright). Expected major population centers like Vienna and Budapest were entirely missing from Central Europe, replaced by something that looked like Graz or Ljubljana.
- Loved Geordi's decison to park the Enterprise next to the Stargazer. Very fitting to Picard's legacy.
- Seven symbolically getting the last laught at Jack by the camera cutting to the Enterprise warping away without hearing the order he was goading her to make.
