The Enterprise continues its pursuit. When they finally catch up with the Borg, Riker hails them from the battle bridge, keeping Locutus talking long enough to get an approximate location. Riker then separates the ship, with Shelby in command of the saucer section and attacks – plan on which Picard had been briefed. The Borg focus on the drive section, ignoring the saucer completely – at least until it fires an antimatter spread. Using the antimatter spread as cover, Data and Worf are able to sneak a shuttlecraft through the Borg’s defenses and beam aboard the cube. Once there, they quickly locate and incapacitate Locutus before quickly returning to the shuttle. The Borg waste no time destroying the shuttle, but not before O’Brien can beam the three back to the Enterprise.
The Borg cube abruptly departs, resuming its course toward Earth. In sickbay, Crusher hasn’t managed much more than a preliminary examination of Locutus when Riker insists on waking him up, hoping that the exchange of information that took place when Picard was assimilated went both ways. Upon awakening, Locutus chides Riker, for his “futile maneuver” and “incorrect strategy” – that being risking his ship and crew to retrieve one man. Locutus then assures them that he means no harm, and will continue to speak for the Collective as they continue toward Earth. From the bridge, Data is able to study the interactive subspace signal that connects Locutus to the rest of the Collective. Suffice to say, this isn’t exactly conducive to Riker’s plan to reach whatever’s left of Picard. Hypothesizing that severing the subspace link could be fatal, Crusher notes that removing the Borg implants would otherwise be a relatively simple matter of microsurgery. Data suggests that if they are unable to reach the man, they may be able to access the machine. As Locutus is sedated and taken to the cybernetics lab, Shelby reports that the Borg have reached the Terran system.
With assistance from Crusher, Troi, and O’Brien, Data attempts to establish a neural link with Locutus (from who Crusher has already extracted several implants) and by extension, the Borg. As he does so the Enterprise continues to race to Earth, while the Borg cut through the Federation’s defenses like butter. Data is successful in establishing a neural connection to the Borg subspace network. As he orients himself to the structure of the Borg’s collective consciousness, Locutus wakes up and attempts to break free. Data subdued him, however, partially dismantling his cybernetic arm in the process. Locutus appears dazed, and Crusher reports an increase in neural activity. Thanks to her empathic abilities, Troi realizes that this is due to Picard trying to fight through the Borg conditioning. As he does so, the Borg ship halts it’s approach to Earth. Realizing that the Borg are either unable or unwilling to break the connection (which she compares to cutting off a limb), Crusher suggests turning their interdependency against them. Riker suggests planting a command in the group consciousness. As the Enterprise engages the cube, Data is unable to access the command structures relating to the Borg’s weapons or power systems. As the Borg begin to overwhelm the Enterprise, Picard – not Locutus – speaks a single word: “sleep.” Just as Riker is about to give the order to ram the Borg ship, Data tells him to wait. The Borg continue their attack until suddenly… they stop. Data put them all to sleep. Shelby takes a team over to the cube to confirm, and the Borg are, in fact, dormant. However, the away team detects signs of a self-destruct sequence that was inadvertently activated. The Enterprise withdraws just as the cube explodes. With the Borg ship destroyed, Picard has been separated from the Collective. As Crusher helps Picard to sickbay, he tells Riker that he remembers the entire experience, “including some brilliantly unorthodox strategy from a former first officer of mine.” Later, Riker briefs Picard on repairs in the ready room. When the door chimes, both captains answer. It’s Shelby, come to bid her farewells as she prepares to head a task force developing new defenses against a future Borg attack. As Riker and Shelby leave the room, Picard turns to the window, visibly haunted by his experience with the Borg.
So first things first, is it as good as the first part? No. But let’s be clear, that was an incredibly high bar. By itself it’s still an excellent episode, it just happens to suffer in comparison to a masterpiece. There’s also the small matter of the two episodes doing very different things in dramatic terms. ‘The Best of Both Worlds’ is basically forty-five minutes of rising action. Throughout that episode, the tension is palpable and the stakes are constantly rising. in ‘Part II’, by contrast, the stakes are about as high as they can get, both on the personal (Rescue Picard!) and bigger picture (Save the Federation!) fronts, and this is the case pretty much the moment the episode begins. It’s also tense, but in more of a “race against time” way. It is also by its very nature required to pay off everything that the first part spent its entire runtime setting up. In other words, it can’t just keep building the tension the way its predecessor did, it has to resolve all that tension. And let’s be clear. Even if the second part isn’t quite as strong as the first, ‘The Best of Both Worlds’ is still the best two-parter that ‘Star Trek’ has to offer.
And it’s the personal stakes that really make the episode sing. Not just in terms of the effort to rescue Picard, but in terms of what it means for Riker. Because like the first part, this is a Riker episode, or rather, an episode dealing with the relationship between Riker and Picard. In the first episode, it very much a matter of exploring the relationship and camaraderie that has developed between the two men over the last several years, how Riker has changed in that time, and what those things might mean for his life and career. In the second part, all of that is turned on its ear. First, Riker spends much of the first half of the episode (right up to the conversation with Guinan) struggling with the prospect of filling Picard’s shoes. And then, perhaps more importantly, the episode pits the master and the apprentice against each other.
Once again, composer Ron Jones is the unsung hero of the episode. Though his score isn’t quite as front and center as in the first part, it nonetheless perfectly compliments the action onscreen, particularly as it becomes more prominent toward the end.
And speaking of unsung heroes, let’s not ignore the fact that Troi and Crusher are both crucial to the episode’s resolution. It’s Crusher who comes up with the idea of using the Borg’s interconnectedness against them, and Troi who realizes that it’s Picard speaking rather than Locutus. Each of these represents a crucial beat, and it’s particularly good to see these characters given the chance to contribute to the episode in such a crucial manner, especially given that these two characters in particular far too often fall by the wayside.
Of course, the entire cast once again brings their A-game, and Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes are particularly strong. Frakes has countless wonderful, often wordless moments as we see him struggle not only with Picard’s absence but with the need to take over for him. Stewart, meanwhile is marvelous, particularly as Picard’s personality begins to reassert itself in the lab (note the sudden shift in his body language as his link to the Collective is finally severed). But even more so is his performance in the final scene. As he speaks with Riker and Shelby in the ready room, we’re lead to believe that things are more or less back to normal. But the moment he’s left alone, we see the trauma written all over his face and instantly know that it’s not over yet.
To be continued? Well, sort of. This is the end of the story proper, but some loose threads (including Picard’s immediate recovery) are dealt with in the next episode, ‘Family‘, which we covered waaaay back in the early days of this column (when I was waaaay less wordy). Check it out.
And that about does it for this week. Did you think ‘The Best of Both Worlds, Part II’ lived up to its illustrious predecessor? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to check back in two weeks for our next installment.
