Star Trek Picard Season 3 episode 9, “Vox,” does not disappoint in this penultimate episode. If you are a Next Generation fan and to be honest most people watching this show is from the older generation trying to experience some nostalgia. And nostalgia does this episode bring, with the return of the sinister Borg as the monster behind the red door and their ultimate plans to assimilate humanity during Frontier day.

I enjoyed the explanation of Jack Crusher’s power as well as tying it back with the Irumodic syndrome that Jean Luc Picard was supposedly diagnosed with and mentioned in season 1. As it turns out this is part of long reaching sinister plan all along and we can still see Jean Luc still wrestling with his mental struggle and anguish of having been assimilated. Worse yet, is the toll it takes on his “family” and specifically his son, even if Beverly is more in the background this episode. The biological DNA insertion explanation is a fun scientific explanation as part of the grand plan to assimilate mankind as a whole through whoever happens to be using the transporter. The age limit, dependent on when the brain stops developing around age 25, adds a little twist to create a boomer vs gen-z vibe where the target audience (the boomers) is essentially fighting the gen-z crowd. It it probably unclear if this is the intended interpretation from the authors, but it is a nice little twist.

The show wraps up with a cliff hanger as the borg is set to invade and overthrow Earth.