It's disappointing that even when writing a major season cliffhanger that there's several situations that appear ridiculous.
Beginning with the opening scene! It's ludicrous that the Enterprise doesn't detect a huge crater where the town should be and then "coordinates show that your in the center of town" when they are clearly on the edge of town. Why did the writers chose this obvious nonsense? Do they have that low an opinion of the viewer's intelligence? Why would it not be as compelling for the sensors to show a crater where the town should be, have them say "impossible, we need to see this" and purposefully set them on the edge of the crater.
When hiding in the nebula, the Borg start sending charges but Picard does absolutely nothing to evade them! Then they come out of the nebula on the same side as the Borg ship! So, they are portraying Picard as stupid. Any 8 year old would know to move to the far side of the nebula and then, if that didn't work, to exit on the far side of the nebula, hoping that the nebula blocks them for as long as possible. They could even leave a probe in the nebula that emulates an emission from the ship in the hopes that the Borg still sense that they are there.
Then in the Borg ship, after destroying a few power nodes, each member just stands there, each firing on an approaching Borg. WHY? Their task is to destroy nodes. We should see them continuing to try to destroy as many nodes as possible, trying to move from one node to another ahead of the reacting drones. Wouldn't that chase be more compelling? They could be in two groups and one group's phasers stop working and the second group saves them. They could also be transported from node to node. This movement also makes it more reasonable that they run into Picard/Locutus. (The Enterprise could try to transport nodes off of the ship or transport explosives into the nodes, but that's not as interesting. Or transport approaching drones into space.) When they transport off the ship, they should have tried to transport Picard and failed.
Even the final scene is clunky. Geordie says that they have maybe only a minute before the cube regains warp, then they stand around debating if they should destroy the cube to save the human race or save one captain. It was a silly debate. Far more appropriate would be if they were all struggling to find a way to save Picard within the time that they had, with all knowing that they must sacrifice him. Then, with only seconds left, they stop to listen to the Borg. What could the Borg possibly say that would convince Riker not to try to destroy them?! I understand that we need to see Picard as Locutus but then they needed to give more time to destroy the ship.
For example, while the team is trying to destroy more power modules, they encounter Locutus, who contacts Enterprise and the away team sees him talk while on the cube while Riker sees him on the viewscreen. Locutus could then say that their attempts at sabotage are futile, we are Borg, etc. Just before opening the channel Riker would have asked Geordie if the weapon is ready, he responds "I just need another 30 seconds". During the video call, Geordie silently informs Riker that the weapon is ready, Riker tells Warf to beam back the away team, Riker asks Warf if he can beam Picard out of there yet, to which Warf says "no, I still can't get through the force field", Data might say "their Borg repairs are 98% complete" then Riker says "Fire" to horrified looks of the away team and bridge crew realizing that they are killing Picard.
It was a good episode but with a little more thought it would have been even better.
Beginning with the opening scene! It's ludicrous that the Enterprise doesn't detect a huge crater where the town should be and then "coordinates show that your in the center of town" when they are clearly on the edge of town. Why did the writers chose this obvious nonsense? Do they have that low an opinion of the viewer's intelligence? Why would it not be as compelling for the sensors to show a crater where the town should be, have them say "impossible, we need to see this" and purposefully set them on the edge of the crater.
When hiding in the nebula, the Borg start sending charges but Picard does absolutely nothing to evade them! Then they come out of the nebula on the same side as the Borg ship! So, they are portraying Picard as stupid. Any 8 year old would know to move to the far side of the nebula and then, if that didn't work, to exit on the far side of the nebula, hoping that the nebula blocks them for as long as possible. They could even leave a probe in the nebula that emulates an emission from the ship in the hopes that the Borg still sense that they are there.
Then in the Borg ship, after destroying a few power nodes, each member just stands there, each firing on an approaching Borg. WHY? Their task is to destroy nodes. We should see them continuing to try to destroy as many nodes as possible, trying to move from one node to another ahead of the reacting drones. Wouldn't that chase be more compelling? They could be in two groups and one group's phasers stop working and the second group saves them. They could also be transported from node to node. This movement also makes it more reasonable that they run into Picard/Locutus. (The Enterprise could try to transport nodes off of the ship or transport explosives into the nodes, but that's not as interesting. Or transport approaching drones into space.) When they transport off the ship, they should have tried to transport Picard and failed.
Even the final scene is clunky. Geordie says that they have maybe only a minute before the cube regains warp, then they stand around debating if they should destroy the cube to save the human race or save one captain. It was a silly debate. Far more appropriate would be if they were all struggling to find a way to save Picard within the time that they had, with all knowing that they must sacrifice him. Then, with only seconds left, they stop to listen to the Borg. What could the Borg possibly say that would convince Riker not to try to destroy them?! I understand that we need to see Picard as Locutus but then they needed to give more time to destroy the ship.
For example, while the team is trying to destroy more power modules, they encounter Locutus, who contacts Enterprise and the away team sees him talk while on the cube while Riker sees him on the viewscreen. Locutus could then say that their attempts at sabotage are futile, we are Borg, etc. Just before opening the channel Riker would have asked Geordie if the weapon is ready, he responds "I just need another 30 seconds". During the video call, Geordie silently informs Riker that the weapon is ready, Riker tells Warf to beam back the away team, Riker asks Warf if he can beam Picard out of there yet, to which Warf says "no, I still can't get through the force field", Data might say "their Borg repairs are 98% complete" then Riker says "Fire" to horrified looks of the away team and bridge crew realizing that they are killing Picard.
It was a good episode but with a little more thought it would have been even better.