Just saw this episode for the first time since I was too young to really grasp it. I was moved enough to make a topic about it.
To say the character moments were a highlight would be a bit of a misleading statement, because the character moments were effectively the entire episode. There were several that really stood out for me: every single Guinan scene, since there was really an evolution going on with her and it was very enjoyable to watch her actually develop rather than just giving advice so others could for a change. Some marvelous acting came from LeVar Burton, as well as the actor behind Hugh himself. And of course, Patrick Stewart nailed it like a first-rate construction worker, but that's par for the course.
What really makes this episode so memorable for me, though, is how there were several points where I felt sure it was headed for one trope or another and it never quite followed that routine. You see, growing up with Trek (and now re-watching it at 22 and 23 years old instead of single digits and early teens) and also getting into other genre hits like Farscape, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica and the Stargate franchise, I've sort of become accustomed to knowing where a story is going because 'been there, done that' syndrome usually kicks in. This isn't necessarily a bad thing: as they say, nothing's new under the sun, so it's all in the execution. But this episode... this one threw a couple of curveballs at me.
Let's start with the beginning, because it's the beginning and all. Crusher wants to help the Borg drone, and Worf is the saving grace in a moment I was feeling a bit 'ugh' over (which I'd later rescind) when he more or less mentions the obvious here. Picard agrees, so my first thought is that Picard is going to spend the entire episode trying to bring forth the drone's humanity. Certainly not a bad premise (and one that sounds quite familiar...) but I thought it was a bit odd that Picard, who suffered so greatly, was going through with it. Then the first revelation hits: that's the farthest thought from his mind. He's going to use it, as the Borg used him.
So Guinan's trying to prove a point, because that's what she does, and she gets Picard good when he drops his guard in their fencing match on the Holodeck. This tells me the episode is going to be about the drone doing as she says, because Guinan's always right and all, or so I thought. I thought for sure it was going to either feign humanity and then get away, or genuinely mean it, and then at the last moment break free. Nope, I was misled again, and it felt very good. Such great direction.
Geordi's and Beverly's interactions with Hugh are assuredly solid, but what really blew me away were the Guinan-developing scenes I discussed earlier. When Geordi makes that remark to Guinan about how she ought to listen, because 'isn't that what you do?' I immediately thought of 'Ensign Ro', which I'd reached just several nights ago, and I smiled. And then she goes, and she listens, and she realizes that Geordi's right: Hugh is really something. She goes to Picard, and now we have somewhat of a reversal of the fencing match. She certainly catches him off-guard again, but this time it's because she's eating her earlier-spoken words. Picard has none of it, but because he and Guinan go way back (or maybe because Whoopi Goldberg is an unstoppable actress) he gives it a go. And that's where the episode's best scene comes in, and the one that really secured it a Jeff-written topic later on.
Picard beams Hugh into his ready room, obviously with a test planned from the get-go and undoubtedly quite confident he'd prove he's still in the right. But when Hugh recognizes him as Locutus, his whole game changes, and it's a testament to the acting prowess of Patrick Stewart that I swear, I saw the twitch of genuine surprise coupled with a quick-thinking backup plan thought-up in his brain in that flash of a reaction. He decides to go along with it, and in so doing, develops the ingenious test we see: Hugh will be ordered by 'Locutus' and he'll have to defy him with every fiber of his allegedly-redeveloping individuality. And Picard lays it on thick, and it's only when Hugh refers himself in the first-person -- something which had been a topic of discussion between he and Geordi earlier on -- that Picard's charade is bested and he stands down in shock.
That final scene between Geordi and Hugh, as the Borg return for him on the world the Enterprise had discovered him on, is something of note as well. It's all low-key, but the lack of words speak wonders. It's Hugh's glance to Geordi as he's being beamed up to the Borg cube that really sells it, though. No words are necessary, nor even feasible, but that look is one of inarguable individuality.
This is a top-rate episode in the mind of yours truly, and I would recommend it to damn near anyone.
To say the character moments were a highlight would be a bit of a misleading statement, because the character moments were effectively the entire episode. There were several that really stood out for me: every single Guinan scene, since there was really an evolution going on with her and it was very enjoyable to watch her actually develop rather than just giving advice so others could for a change. Some marvelous acting came from LeVar Burton, as well as the actor behind Hugh himself. And of course, Patrick Stewart nailed it like a first-rate construction worker, but that's par for the course.
What really makes this episode so memorable for me, though, is how there were several points where I felt sure it was headed for one trope or another and it never quite followed that routine. You see, growing up with Trek (and now re-watching it at 22 and 23 years old instead of single digits and early teens) and also getting into other genre hits like Farscape, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica and the Stargate franchise, I've sort of become accustomed to knowing where a story is going because 'been there, done that' syndrome usually kicks in. This isn't necessarily a bad thing: as they say, nothing's new under the sun, so it's all in the execution. But this episode... this one threw a couple of curveballs at me.
Let's start with the beginning, because it's the beginning and all. Crusher wants to help the Borg drone, and Worf is the saving grace in a moment I was feeling a bit 'ugh' over (which I'd later rescind) when he more or less mentions the obvious here. Picard agrees, so my first thought is that Picard is going to spend the entire episode trying to bring forth the drone's humanity. Certainly not a bad premise (and one that sounds quite familiar...) but I thought it was a bit odd that Picard, who suffered so greatly, was going through with it. Then the first revelation hits: that's the farthest thought from his mind. He's going to use it, as the Borg used him.
So Guinan's trying to prove a point, because that's what she does, and she gets Picard good when he drops his guard in their fencing match on the Holodeck. This tells me the episode is going to be about the drone doing as she says, because Guinan's always right and all, or so I thought. I thought for sure it was going to either feign humanity and then get away, or genuinely mean it, and then at the last moment break free. Nope, I was misled again, and it felt very good. Such great direction.
Geordi's and Beverly's interactions with Hugh are assuredly solid, but what really blew me away were the Guinan-developing scenes I discussed earlier. When Geordi makes that remark to Guinan about how she ought to listen, because 'isn't that what you do?' I immediately thought of 'Ensign Ro', which I'd reached just several nights ago, and I smiled. And then she goes, and she listens, and she realizes that Geordi's right: Hugh is really something. She goes to Picard, and now we have somewhat of a reversal of the fencing match. She certainly catches him off-guard again, but this time it's because she's eating her earlier-spoken words. Picard has none of it, but because he and Guinan go way back (or maybe because Whoopi Goldberg is an unstoppable actress) he gives it a go. And that's where the episode's best scene comes in, and the one that really secured it a Jeff-written topic later on.
Picard beams Hugh into his ready room, obviously with a test planned from the get-go and undoubtedly quite confident he'd prove he's still in the right. But when Hugh recognizes him as Locutus, his whole game changes, and it's a testament to the acting prowess of Patrick Stewart that I swear, I saw the twitch of genuine surprise coupled with a quick-thinking backup plan thought-up in his brain in that flash of a reaction. He decides to go along with it, and in so doing, develops the ingenious test we see: Hugh will be ordered by 'Locutus' and he'll have to defy him with every fiber of his allegedly-redeveloping individuality. And Picard lays it on thick, and it's only when Hugh refers himself in the first-person -- something which had been a topic of discussion between he and Geordi earlier on -- that Picard's charade is bested and he stands down in shock.
That final scene between Geordi and Hugh, as the Borg return for him on the world the Enterprise had discovered him on, is something of note as well. It's all low-key, but the lack of words speak wonders. It's Hugh's glance to Geordi as he's being beamed up to the Borg cube that really sells it, though. No words are necessary, nor even feasible, but that look is one of inarguable individuality.
This is a top-rate episode in the mind of yours truly, and I would recommend it to damn near anyone.
