Voyager comes across the home planet of one of the Borg children, but Icheb isn't keen on reuniting with his parents.
It's a relatively simple idea, and one that really drags when it's extended to 45 minutes, as it is here. As is becoming worryingly the case, there's no subplot beyond Seven developing her 'maternal instincts' and arguing with Janeway. The kids are okay in their roles, but they're becoming increasingly like normal children and therefore losing the interest aspect of their character and becoming more annoying. The failure of Seven and the children to understand 'fun' is a concept that's been done to death in Trek already, and it's not funny or clever now.
Once Icheb is on the planet and there's no other threat, you know there's got to be something going on, some dark mysterious secret, and it's duly revealed in the last ten minutes. The dark secret is that Icheb was sent to the Borg with a pathogen to disable them, thereby saving his own colony. And this is where the problems lie.
If you're in Borg space, you either move or get assimilated. This planet has found another method, and although it may be inhuman, it runs against the Prime Directive for Janeway for interfere in their efforts. It's not like she's done any better, and the sacrifice of one human for a colony's worth is surely better. On top of this, the Borg are acting very out of character. It seems unusual for them to stop by every few months, see if any new technology has been developed, then swipe it if there has. Usually they just assimilate whole planets.
Now, admittedly if Janeway had left things well alone there wouldn't have been any drama, but there's no way this situation should arise. It's lazy storytelling, and as such is yet another cross in the Voyager voting form. There's one exciting bit near the end where Janeway takes on a Borg sphere, but that's the best this story has to offer. And that's not good enough.
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