Given that the spoiler period for The Gift is now over, here are some
thoughts.
Writer Joe Menosky did a pretty good job with this episode, except for
the need to rush the resolution of the story -- a problem that plagues
many Voyager episodes.  The blame for that may also rest somewhat with
Anson Williams, the director.
This episode uses a tradition A/B story structure.  The A story is about
Seven of Nine, and her acceptance of a human versus Borg lifestyle.  The
B story has to do with Kes and her growing psychic abilities, ultimatly
resulting in her leaving the ship and poofing into some other dimension
of space and time, where she will presumably be socializing with Decker
and Illia, as well as The Traveler and Wesley Crusher.
The A story is by far the better of the two.  Menosky gives us some
intelligent, realistic (in the Star Trek context) dialog in which Seven
comes to grips with her situation, and challenges Janeway's ethics.
In fact, Seven is probably right.  Did anyboby else think it was an
interesting context to see Janeway blythly give Kes one of he last
remaining shuttles and let her run off to do whatever she wanted, while
Janeway stubbornly refused to let Seven do the same thing?
As I said, the biggest failing of the episode was the need to rush Kes
off the ship as the result of a technobabble emergency.  If she was
leaving, wouldn't it have been better to have time for some nice parting
emotionalism with the dozen or so people who have become Kes' friends?
Oh, well.  That may be the result of having to cram everything into a 45
minute episode to make room for all those commercials.
All in all, The Gift is one of the better efforts we have seen from
Voyager in some time.  I'll give it Four out of Five Starbases.
--- GEcho 1.00
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