Minor spoilers ahead; I tried to speak vaguely about the various aspects of the show. But the show's already been aired, so unless you taped it and haven't watched it yet, don't be concerned. Still, I'll keep mum on specifics.

ST Voyager had a rough career, beginning with the lousy early episodes, which were deserving of their caustic criticism, and becoming continually better as the seasons progressed. The final episode lived up to all expectations.*

_The Characters_

A key component of a finale episode, in my opinion, is that it should introduce close to nothing for the first time, but reintroduce much. With the future/past character combinations present, the show managed to do exactly that. Time travel can be tactful, since the show is already sci-fi. The acting was seamless and almost always at the perfect intensity.

The characters' lives received extra attention. Yet, amazingly, *all* of the little personal interludes turned out to be relevant to the plot. Talk about tidy storylines. One specific relationship oft-mentioned during the show was a surprise, of course, as it almost but not quite contradicted earlier episodes. Still, the brief, natural mentions it received in conversations helped to tie it in sufficiently, and retroactively gave it some background. The personal touches, I have to say, are what carried the finale--and appropriately so. Characters are the most important facet to a gripping story.

_The Plot_

In a stunningly impressive show of restraint, there were no new species, no new concepts, and no new technologies. Admittedly, the last bit of subterfuge on the part of the captain used technology not mentioned since TNG, but it was still already a part of the world, if incompletely explored. (And no, I don't consider armor to be a new technology, nor big bombs.) The elements of the plot, even once we can be assured that they are not brand new panaceas, were all included before their big, showy debut in another context. The Borg, time travel, trans-warp stuff, wormholes, the shielding, the Borg Queen inside dreams, teleprojection, and all the rest have made previous appearances in the series, and they even made appearances in this episode before they were needed to advance the plot.

I suppose, really, that quick solutions pulled from thin air should be studiously avoided in all good stories. Doubly so, in my opinion, for how a finale should be. Even a spectacular culmination has to make sense. Best case: synthesize and elaborate on what is already present, and do it with explosions.

_The Explosions_

Finally, finally, finally, we get to see the tar beaten out of the Borg. It was good. I'd been waiting for those big gun one-shot-is-all-it-takes scenes. When the queen was limping without her arm or leg was simultaneously gross and funny, resulting in Brunnen_G'ian "EWHAHA!" type sentiments. It also cannot fail to remind fans of the Black Knight, who always triumphs. ["None shall pass!" can even be worked in, since the queen was trying to halt/kill Voyager at the time.] The hub was also a rather nifty-looking big shiny thing, which must have meant it was high technology.

Alright, most of those weren't explosions. But they were graphics, which most people don't distinguish between anyhow.

_The End_

I appreciated the confluence of emotions. There was a moment to hold one's breath, an initial release as the alarm dissipates, and a grand, poignant sense of conclusion, followed and mixed with new beginnings.

_Other Hard-To-Miss Symbolism_

Belanna went into labor right when the series' most important event was taking place.


Scene to watch for: Voyager narrowly misses a collision, and the crew members duck.

Best line: "I have been told that anticipation of the first kiss is often uncomfortable. I wanted to alleviate the tension."

gab"*My family and I bet on whether or not Voyager would get home. We were all wrong."by