'One'

Stardate: Unknown
Written By: Jeri Taylor
Directed By: Kenneth Biller
Rating: **** (out of 5)

�One� is one of the best uses of Seven of Nine this season, despite all of her screen time.  It�s the first episode that deals not with Seven regaining humanity, but Seven�s fears and personality.

I�m not sure whether the Stasis Chamber would actually work to counter the radiation.  The Doc says the radiation is lethal to human life, so how is putting the crew in stasis going to help?  The radiation can travel through the bulkheads of Voyager and probably into the Stasis units.  I�m not asking for a bunch of technobabble, just a small explanation for how it all works.

I also don�t know why Seven wouldn�t be affected by the radiation, the organic effects, that is, because we see her Borg implants being affected.

And where did all those stasis units come from?  If they are replicated than it would�ve taken up a hell of a lot or resources, more than could be counted for with their journey into the nebula on low systems.

But I guess I can look past those inconsistencies because this tells a very good story.  Robert Picardo and Jeri Ryan are fantastic together.  I loved how they where both getting agitated with one another and how the Doc is trying to teach Seven some social graces.  Seeing her trying to fit in is amusing, Seven certainly has a way of putting things!

But despite their arguments, Seven can�t do things by herself.  When the Doc�s mobile emitter is damaged she has no choice and begins to hallucinate about intruders aboard the ship and the crew awakening from their sleep and tormenting her.  Some of the torments reminded me a bit of Dukat�s torments in DS9�s �Waltz.�

The episode manages to capture the loneliness of the ship, and the loneliness Seven feels when she is alone with some surreal moments and wide shots of large areas.  The score also helps a great deal, Jay Chattaway doing a fantastic job there.

The only problem is the end, which seems a bit sudden.  I don�t mind how Seven looses consciousness and awakening to see the crew out of stasis (although it makes me wonder how the Doc got his mobile emitter back if he was in Engineering when he was disengaged), but the conclusion having Seven joining in with the crew in the Mess Hall doesn�t seem right.

I was led to believe the point of this episode was about Seven coping with loneliness, being scared of being one.  But judging by the conclusion it seems the point of the episode was about Seven mingling with the crew.  I know that was one of the themes of the episode, but it wasn�t the main idea.

I would�ve liked an ending scene with Doc, discussing loneliness or something.  I can�t be more specific because I�m honestly not sure what exactly could�ve been done, but I can�t say I�m happy with the conclusion.

But �One� is still worth seeing, because there is a lot here.  I also enjoyed Tom coming out of stasis (why wasn�t he affected though?) and Doc�s Tom comments and the SFX continues it�s high streak.

There are two reasons why �One� doesn�t get full stars: First because of the Stasis Chamber issue and because of the abrupt ending.  Otherwise it�s an extremely enjoyable Seven episode.