“Descent, Part II”
Written by Rene Echevarria
Directed by Alexander Singer
Season 7, Episode 1
Production episode 40276-253
Original air date: September 20, 1993
Stardate: 47025.4
Captain’s Log: We get a summary of the relevant portions of Part 1, then pick up right where we left off. Lore speechifies for a bit, and Troi can now feel emotions coming off Data. Lore still has the emotion chip Dr. Soong placed inside him in “Brothers,” and he claims to have allowed the Borg and Data to both break free of being mindless automatons, but are passionate now, and with a purpose.
Picard asks if Lore has given them emotions, but Lore confirms that, in fact, Picard did that when he sent Hugh back to the collective. Hugh’s sense of individuality spread through the Borg like a plague, and Lore had to come in and clean up the mess. The ship Hugh was on was lost and directionless—they were incapable of handling individuality and emotion. Lore plans to bring the Borg to the perfection that he and Data represent: wholly artificial lifeforms. Then Lore tells Data to take the prisoners away.
[Yes, please! I want more!]