Reposting my reply from PsiPhi:
T`Lana was worse. I barely tolerated her when she was first introduced. After “Before Dishonor” she was even less redeemable to me than Leybenzon. I am actually surprised that the author tried to do a lot of damage control here and in my case, it didn`t work at all. None of the arguments impressed me. T`Lana was not insane, she was completely responsible for her actions and this had nothing to do with “stubbornness”. A woman, Vulcan or not, with so many problems and such attitudes is not fit for duty. At least I agree with that.
Insanity had nothing to do with it. Neurosis is not insanity any more than, say, tendinitis is a life-threatening disease. The brain is like any other part of the body -- it can have plenty of degrees of health, and it needs occasional maintenance to keep it in good condition.
To me, it wasn't just about redeeming her; it was simply about approaching the issue plausibly, evaluating how someone with her skills and professional knowledge, and her previously established personality, would deal with the situation. The T'Lana of
Resistance was an officer who had doubts about her own competence; therefore, her behavior in BD could only have been overcompensation for those doubts. The T'Lana of
Q & A was a smart, capable therapist who fully understood that Vulcans were capable of error and neurosis; therefore, she should have been able to question her own actions and recognize that overcompensation -- if not in the heat of the moment, then later, after time to reflect. For that matter, even BD showed her recognizing at the end that she'd been wrong about Worf, so we saw there that she was already beginning to question herself. It was simply a matter of fitting everything we knew about the character into a consistent, logical whole.
So while I did want to redeem her, I did so because it made sense in light of her established characterization that she was redeemable.
I would never have guessed that Hugh would be removed so early in this Borg event. I think it would have been nice to have Hugh around in Destiny or even longer than that but on the other hand, it is good that the authors and editors keep us readers surprised and guessing.
Keep in mind that Dave had
Destiny fully outlined before I was even hired for this project. He had his own story to tell, and one of the things I wanted to do was to revisit the aspects of the Borg that hadn't been revisited in previous books, to deal with them before Dave overturned the whole chessboard with his trilogy. Hugh was one of those dangling threads, as were the Unimatrix Zero resistance and the various technology and continuity issues I touched on. (I wanted to involve the Borg Cooperative from "Unity" as well, but I couldn't work them in.)
From the new female characters, T`Ryssa certainly left the biggest impact on me. After reading first comments I was sceptical but when I started reading the book myself, I immediately liked her. I have a weakness for free spirits, original thinkers and in general officers who are determined to say what they think and do what is right. Some people will call me crazy but I think in some ways, T`Ryssa is a lighter version of Calhoun. Calhoun is my favourite Star Trek character. Therefore I am not surprised any more that I enjoyed reading about her so much.
I'm very surprised by the comparison. I don't think they're much alike at all. Calhoun is basically Wolverine; Trys is more like, ohh, Spider-Man or the Human Torch.
I don`t think his criticism was entirely justified because I don`t think what she said was really wrong. A Borg people without the ability to assimilate others, consisting of individuals but with a huge amount of knowledge could be the complete opposite of the terrifying Borg we know now. Hugh`s group was a beginning. I think it would be great if T`Ryssa could be proven right.
Yeah, but she was glossing over a lot, like the fact that a lot of Borg would be killed if the entity set the
Enterprise free to act. The vision she spun for Qing Long was a nice fantasy, but it was a scam.
The cluster entity was fascinating. I also enjoyed it to read about an alien being to whom life is so precious. This forced everyone to reflect very carefully about motives and not to just go after the Borg as the “bad guys”. I liked that a lot.
I appreciate that.
I thought Beverly put too much pressure on him. They just got married after all and the return of the Borg is certainly not “just” another crisis. Of course Picard is afraid of loss, not only because of “Inner Light” but because of the bitter irony that his brother and nephew died in a house fire on Earth after Picard was always afraid of taking loved ones with him on his ship because of the dangers.
If she put pressure on him, it was because she knew that he cherishes his family lineage and places great importance on its continuation, and that he was on the verge of proposing that they have a child when the Borg mission came along and brought back all his fears. So it's not like she was being selfish. She just didn't understand why he was running from something she knew he wanted and needed.
I am happy for Picard and I am happy for Beverly. I am sure they will be good parents. Beverly did a good job with Wesley and Picard has a life time of experiences. He also was a good mentor when he took Calhoun under his wing and from what I could see, he will do the same with T`Ryssa. Picard can certainly also deal with young people who are more of a challenge.
Actually Picard has two lifetimes of experiences. He can draw on his 40 years of life as Kamin, now that he's not hiding from those memories anymore. So technically he has decades of experience as a father.
Excellent imagery - movie quality!
