If you count the second part of Time's Arrow, there were a total of four two part episodes in this season. Chain Of Command has my vote for the best of them, but this is a close third (Time's Arrow was pretty awesome.) They decide to put an end to the Lore character once and for all. Even though he was always a rare occasion for Spiner to show his acting range, it was probably for the best. You can only do so much with an evil twin before it becomes predictable.
It begins in the holodeck with Data having a poker game with three of the great minds of science: Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking. Hawking is the only person to ever guest star as himself in what is one of my most approved uses of the holodeck. Really, this is all Geordi was doing with Leah Brahms in Booby Trap even though she was still a living person and he was flirting with her. Data wishes to see how the three of them would interact in this setting and they end up taking a lot of insulting jabs at each other. They give Hawking all the best lines and Data has decided that this isn't the enlightening experience he thought it would be when Riker calls him to the bridge. They're getting a puzzling distress call from an outpost. It's puzzling because the outpost has no strategic value so there's no reason for anyone to attack it. When they arrive they see a ship in orbit that is completely unfamiliar and doesn't answer their hail. They keep their defenses up and beam down to the planet. There are dead bodies everywhere and as they examine the area they beamed into they discover that nothing else has been touched, leading them to believe that the attackers only intended to kill people. When they decide to split up, one of the doors is jammed and when Data opens it they discover three Borg and a fight ensues. But there are differences with this fight. The Borg are more fierce and aggressive. They notice that one of them grieves for another that is killed. His reaction becomes even more personal when he says the name of his dead friend, Torsus, as he states, "I will make you suffer" for killing him. They also take special notice of Data who becomes entangled with a third one. As he's defending himself he becomes angry and bids the Borg to stop attacking while he becomes more and more enraged, finally killing the Borg in a brutal manner. The others beam back up to the unidentified ship and retreat. The Enterprise pursues, firing at them, but they disappear into a flash of light. Geordi explains it as a subspace distortion while on the planet Data confesses to Riker that he felt genuine anger and he is stunned.
They discuss what happened and brief Picard on the strange behavior of the Borg, comparing their aggression to that of Klingons and the unusual fact that they no longer seem interested in assimilating the computer banks. They also marvel at their compassion for their fallen comrades as well as their new use of the pronoun "I." They don't waste a lot of time wondering about it though. The only Borg they ever knew to use that pronoun was Hugh so the real question is what he may have had to do with this. Admiral Nechayev returns to order Picard and the Enterprise to head up a three ship task force to root out these Borg. She does bring up Hugh and makes a lot of valid points about how they could've extinguished the Borg by now if they'd just sent him back with a virus as originally planned. But Picard defends his decision based on Hugh's emergence into individuality. She's unmoved by this and they get to work outlining the plan. Meanwhile Data talks to Geordi immediately about what he felt. It's the first emotion he's ever felt according to the dialogue, but that's not entirely true since Q caused him to burst out laughing one time. He wonders if his emotions have evolved in the same way his dream program did. Geordi doesn't know but mentions offhand that he hopes that it's really evolving because it would be terrible if anger was the only thing he could feel. After a while he visits Troi to talk about it. He describes the various attempts he'd been making to produce emotions in himself including humor, joy, and arousal. But Troi notes that he's trying for every emotion except the one that he felt. That's when Data expresses apprehensions about what Geordi said about only feeling anger. Troi tries to assure him that emotions aren't good or bad, but what we do in response to them is. He confesses that he also felt another emotion after he killed the Borg; that of pleasure. And Troi does seem a little disturbed by that. So the Enterprise and other ships are patrolling the area, staking it out, and waiting for something else to happen. They've had a false alarm, but mostly it's just been several long hours of nothing. Geordi discovers during this time that the subspace distortion was artificial, so they guess that the Borg were using it intentionally. Geordi also goes to see if Data is good to return to duty and finds him in the holodeck trying to recreate the circumstances leading to his outburst of rage, fighting with a holo-Borg on increasingly difficult settings. He tries to reset the holo-Borg one more time to a higher setting, but the computer won't allow it because it would be unsafe. He asks Geordi to help him disable the safety features. That's gotta be the only time anyone's ever tried to take away the safety on the holodeck on purpose! Geordi's not comfortable with that, but before Data can talk him into it, Riker calls them both to their positions. They've received another distress call from a colony and race over to give chase to the Borg ship. They see them heading for another patch of distortion and speed up to catch them before they can disappear again, but they get caught up in the energy field and are sucked into the distortion with the Borg ship.
They come out of the distortion with weakened shields. One blast from the Borg ship breaks them altogether and they board the Enterprise. Their boarding party turns out to be a distraction while their ship escapes, causing them to note another change in Borg behavior - leaving their dead instead of reclaiming them. One of the Borg survives so they put him in the brig for questioning. They find out that he also has a name, Crosis and that this name was given to him by someone called "The One." They also discover that they are a new "sect" of Borg with a new mission - the destruction of inferior lifeforms as opposed to assimilation. Picard tries his Locutus routine on him, but it goes nowhere as the Borg continues to make note of the fastest way to kill every specie of person standing before him. He orders Crusher to autopsy the dead to see if they're linked to Hugh and leaves Data alone to run an analysis on Crosis. Crosis first offers to assimilate him since he's superior to the biological lifeforms. He then starts to talk casually of having emotions since he isn't in the collective anymore. He triggers something in his arm plating that affects Data while he talks to him. It causes him to remember how he felt when he killed the Borg. Data steadfastly asserts that his ethical program gives him a sense of right and wrong, but Crosis manipulates him by talking him through the pleasure he felt in killing the Borg and asking him what he would do to feel that way again. He gets him to say that he'd do anything, including killing his own friend Geordi. While all this is going on Picard and the others are discussing their journey through the distortion and if they can duplicate this method of travel when Worf notices a shuttle leaving. It has the Borg prisoner and Data on it. They assume that Data is being taken hostage and follow the shuttle into the next distortion that opens up. They emerge 65 light years from where they started where they discover from an analysis of the sector that there has been heavy Borg activity. They track the shuttle to a nearby planet that's giving off high electromagnetic interference.
They send a heavily armed away team to the surface to find the abandoned shuttle. Picard then coordinates several armed away teams in shuttles and on the ground for reconnaissance. He orders all available personnel down on the planet including himself. He gives command of the ship to Beverly and gives her the final orders to get out and not wait for anyone including himself if the Borg should attack. She wishes him luck and he calls her the captain as he wishes her the same. The teams split up on the surface. Riker and Worf go with a couple of others while Picard sets off with Geordi, Troi, and another security officer. A short ways from the landing area, they find a building that appears to be deserted. As they inspect it they notice a strange insignia on the banners of a meeting hall inside. Geordi can't get any readings on his tricorder and supposes that they may be shielded somehow. They decide it would be wise to leave, but as they're doing so the room fills with Borg from all exits. They're behaving with a mob mentality and kill the security officer. They hear Data's voice calling for the Borg to stop. They look to see Lore standing up above the crowd on a promontory although it takes them a moment to realize that it's Lore, not Data. The fact that it's Lore isn't the big surprise though. Enough time has passed that the audience had time to forget about Data's emotion chip from Brothers, but seeing Lore would make one easily connect the chip to what Crosis was doing to Data in the brig even though the writers were trying to misdirect everyone into thinking that Hugh was "The One."
The big surprise is when Data steps out from behind Lore to rapturously announce that the sons of Soong have united and that they are going to destroy the Federation. To be continued...
This is a good and intense cliffhanger. It's a twist that you could kind of see coming, but it's still a lot of fun to watch because Data episodes are always top notch. I was also a little disappointed at how easily Data was corrupted, but it's sufficiently explained in the following episode. It's a slow build, being the first part, so things don't pick up until the last few scenes which is normal. And even though I really do love this in its entirety, I don't know if I love the first episode enough to award it all five stars. I'll go with four and a half on this one.
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