'The Gift'

Stardate: Unknown
Written By: Joe Menonsky
Directed By: Anson Williams
Rating: **** (out of 5)

�The Gift� is best summed up in a line of dialogue spoken by Janeway during the episode, �We have an Ocampan who�s afraid of becoming something more, and a Borg who�s a afraid of becoming less.�

Kes�s telepathic abilities are becoming extremely powerful and out of control.  She is able to save Seven of Nine from a Borg implant on her skull, by removing it, and she is able to stare at an object and see the substances that make up the object, and than control and edit them.  She is even able to see beyond the subatomic, which looks beautiful by the way!

Seven can�t handle life without the collective and is very disruptive.  I guess it would be difficult to go from a head full of voices, information coming at you every second, to having to think for yourself.  I imagine it�s like a child becoming independent and having to fend for itself.  And in a way that is what Seven is going through because Janeway reports that she was assimilated at a very young age, of around ten.  Her human body is also rejecting the Borg technology making life even more difficult.

Seven also tries to blend in with the crew by helping B�Elanna get rid of all the Borg technology from their encounter with Species 8472.  Now this is type of continuity we need for every Voyager episode, not just when it suites the writers, but all the time.  But I won�t get into that very debatable subject at the moment.

As Seven is helping Harry get rid of some of the technology she sees a communications node, kicks Harry out, locks the doors, and tries to access it.  There is no way to stop her, except Kes who disrupts the hulls molecular structure to cause an overload in that area to disable the drone.

Janeway locks Seven in the Brig and Seven says she should be able to make the decision of where she goes and what she wants.  Janeway�s right in replying that Seven has no judgment in her current state and needs guidance.  Seven disagrees and again tries to confront her human side when Janeways shows her a picture of when she was human.  Seven threatens to kill Janeway, but Janeway gets through to Seven.  It�s obvious all this will take time, but they already have an understanding between them which is a great stepping stone.

Kes�s abilities are beginning to threaten Voyager and Kes decides to leave.  Kes says good-bye to Janeway, who has been a great friend to her all along, and it is a very heart-warming scene.  It�s a pity we didn�t get to see a good bye scene with the entire crew because looking at her relationships the only people who she wasn�t so close to was Chakotay and B�Elanna (Seven doesn�t count as yet).

But is there time?  No.  Because as soon as Kes and Janeway have said farewll, her powers begin to get out of control and Kes is whisked away.  Janeway helps Kes to the shuttle bay as much as possible, explosions rattling the corridors as her powers get stronger.  Kes becomes very week so Tuvok mind-melds with her.  Tuvok must have undergone a lot of pain to control such a powerful being.  And I say being because she is no longer, really, a humanoid.

She reaches a shuttle and after she departs we see her turn into a bright light, into a non-corporeal being, and her last words are �My gift to you,� and then she�s gone.

And so is Voyager. Kes�s gift was to send Voyager past Borg space some 20 years closer to home.

Seven is know looking more human, with hair and only some Borg implants remain.  She is going to be an interesting character, which I look forward too.  The last scene is of Tuvok, honoring Kes�s memory with a flame in his quarters, and than out the window to a full shot of Voyager.

�The Gift� was very interesting for both Kes and Seven.  It saw Kes off very well, and introduced Seven very well too.  It�s a pity that more time wasn�t devoted to Kes�s story, saying goodbye and all that, but I�m quite satisfied anyway.  Kes will be missed and I hope we see her again in the future.