‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Retro Recap – ‘Descent, Part II’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Perhaps one of the biggest questions that hangs over humanity, is whether or not bad people or people that have lost their way, can in fact be redeemed. And that question remains simply because… we don’t believe we are privy to the definitive answer. In part because the worst of the worst are usually arrested and locked away for their crimes. Where no one sees what their rehab process looks like and of course, they are eventually forgotten. Not to mention, those that lose their way and wound us, are people we tend to cut out of our lives and that removes us from the possibility of ever seeing who they will become for better or for worse. But we as a species hold out hope for redemption for those individuals in some capacity, so that we can continue to hold out hope that the light will always wash over the dark.
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But what’s fascinating is that… we tend to look toward dark moments that carry great heft in our lives or in the lives of others to make the determination as to whether or not we can be saved, when in fact, we are privy to the definitive answer. We simply need to look a little closer. Take for instance our friendships, and the tough times where we see a friend slip into an angry state or a detached one, only to have them come back round to us after they cool off and apologize. Because that is in fact, redemption. Wherein a choice is made to remove oneself from the darkness and the potential for worse, to be better, and be more for those they care about and what’s even more amazing, is that we likely influenced that positive choice without even knowing it. Speaking to how we as a species can do plenty of good and keep so many from slipping into the darkness.

As to what that process looks like, well, it just so happens that the season seven premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation took the time to explore it to a tee. For ‘Descent, Part II’ is a story… that saw the crew of the Enterprise in a tough place. Since they were in fact, scattered to the wind and scattered about space thanks to the Borg, and of course, Captain Picard, Counselor Troi, and Commander LaForge… were at Lore and Data’s mercy. Which is where the story was able to explore how we keep people from embracing the worst and instead embrace redemption. Since it was up to Data to cause great harm to his friends in the hopes of furthering Lore’s weird research and well, everyone’s concerted effort to speak to how Data’s actions were so unlike his normal conduct, is indeed the answer to the question. In that, genuine care, and patience and understanding… keep people from going off the deep end since they come to understand they have value and are loved and that… along with some big moments in this tale… saved Data and the day.

For this is also a tale that saw Hugh, who we last saw in ‘I, Borg’, return to the fold of the series and while hesitant and afraid to rise up against Lore and trust his old acquaintances from the 1701-D, he eventually understood that what was right was needed here. Which led him to help defeat Lore and reunify his broken shipmates and this is a story that also saw Beverly Crusher, be an outright badass commander. Since she bravely rescued the crew from the surface of the planet and refused to leave anyone behind. Plus, she also made sure that the corrupted Borg vessel would no longer be a threat to anyone, ever again, and it was just great to watch Beverly take the lead and do more for a change and yet… there were still more big moments present in this tale, specifically… what occurred during the ending of this particular adventure.

Simply because at long last, the Sons of Soong faced off for the final time. A move that brought Lore’s journey in this particular series to an end, since he would never be seen in TNG ever again and that oddly enough… added a bittersweet taste to an outright excellent premiere. Because Lore’s end here, reminded us of the fact that this episode served as the beginning of the end for the series, and loose threads in this manner, were set to be resolved so the crew could enjoy one last final adventure under the TNG banner on the small screen. Making this a slightly emotional episode for certain, one that reminds us that everything to come, would inch us to closer to that end. But before we reach the final mission… we really can celebrate a premiere as epic as ‘The Best of Both Worlds, Part II’, because this had action, adventure and meaning, and it will be interesting to see if the rest of these final voyages, maintain the high quality of this wonderful tale. Until next time.  

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