Mind you I still think "The Sentinel" and "Smackdown" and "Malcolm & Eddie" were better show but only because of Jeri Ryan ruining this show with her Allied Nordicist Yankee "Friends"-watching "Seinfeld"-hating presence. Anyways, this episode is also proof that "Voyager" knew how to chill when it came to the futuristic, at the expense of the old, beliefs. In this episode, the Borg try one final attempt to silence Voyager and capture Earth and the Federation. It's a brutal cat and mouse. Unfortunately (in something that doesn't detract from my rating), "Voyager" has already done irrepairable damage to the once threatening superpower. They have a leader and she resorts to threats and pettiness, and even compared to the renegades in "Descent," they come off as harmless. Nevertheless this is a hard-hitting episode that bought big ratings for UPN, and is testimony to my UPN/Warner Bros./WB flagship. :) And another reason why UPN consistently stomped non-Warner Bros.ish The WB left and right all 11 years in the ratings, and even in accolades. "The Sentinel" was critically acclaimed but given the TV Academy's bias towards CBS and (sorry I know Disney changed them but they still have the stigma from the pre-Disney days) ABC and The WB, as well as the Academy's bias towards Universal and Columbia Pictures, they got snubbed. Establishment "Friends"-watching fatcats
Still, this was a hard-hitting episode, and yes I prefer "Barney" over "Seasame Street" anyday, and "Barney" also aired in syndication on UPN (as opposed to Tribune favorite "Seasame Street.")