General Hospital sees Harrison Chase (Josh Swickard) still totally fooled into thinking that Willow Tait (Katelyn MacMullen) is innocent. It looks like him being so naive about her is about to ruin everything for him—first his career and soon, maybe, his marriage to Brook Lynn Quartermaine (Amanda Setton).

We’re going to talk about how Chase and Brook Lynn might fall apart soon. Because even though Willow was found not guilty, Chase isn’t going to stop. He also wants to prove that Michael Corinthos (Rory Gibson)’s guilty, which would fully confirm her innocence.

Willow’s Shocking Transformation on General Hospital

At one point, I think we can all agree Willow did seem like a decent human being. But that was before Drew Cain Quartermaine (Cameron Mathison) got his claws into her. Now Willow is getting worse by the day. I suspect everybody in Port Charles is going to know the truth about her eventually, but I’m not sure Chase will ever believe that she’s bad. Ever since Willow was accused of shooting Drew, we’ve seen Chase as her biggest champion. He has defended Willow left and right.

Chase Risks Everything for Willow on GH

Chase was investigating the shooting in his own time to try and prove Willow is innocent, even while the PCPD was building a case against her and had some pretty good evidence. Bottom line, Chase put his career on the line by taking Willow’s side.

Chase was adamant that it was worth it to prove that Willow was framed. To be fair, Chase was thoroughly convinced that Michael not only shot Drew but framed Willow for his crime. Now, Chase has ruined his friendship with Michael because of this false assumption of Willow’s innocence.

Even worse, Chase has also just about ruined his friendship with Dante Falconeri (Dominic Zamprogna), who was his best friend. He defended Willow and accused Dante of bias and of protecting his brother, Michael, at all costs. When Chase was on the stand at Willow’s trial, he was really hard on Dante.

We saw Chase saying under oath at the trial that he thinks the PCPD went about the investigation the wrong way. Chase said they didn’t investigate anybody else; they targeted Willow. Of course, Dante was furious and so was DA Justine Turner (Nazneen Contractor).

The Fallout of Chase’s Demotion to Beat Cop

After that, Chase got demoted back to beat cop and now his professional future is at risk. It’s kind of sad because Willow is 100% guilty and Chase is totally wrong about her. We all know Willow is headed down an even darker path.

Once her twisted secrets come out, Chase is going to look like an even bigger fool. Once all the ugly truth comes out, it is going to be egg on his face. If you remember, this Willow fiasco isn’t the first time Chase jeopardized his career as a cop over a woman.

He did it before—and not just any woman, mind you, but Willow’s awful twin sister, Nelle Benson (Chloe Lanier). This was part of Chase’s pre-Port Charles history. Back in the day, before Nelle also wound up in Port Charles, she killed somebody close to her.

Chase was assigned to work the murder case of Nelle’s fiancé, Zachary Grant, down in Florida. The guy had money and Nelle convinced him to push his family away and leave everything to her in his will. Then Nelle killed her fiancé and tried to make it look like a kayaking accident.

History Repeats Itself with Wicked Twins Nelle & Willow

The entire family swore that Nelle had killed him, but she swore she was innocent. Then Chase got assigned to the case and Nelle seduced him into believing her. Chase fell for Nelle’s innocent act.

Chase was wrong then, too, because Nelle was guilty just like Willow is now. But Chase has been telling anybody who will listen that Willow is innocent and she isn’t the kind of person that could shoot somebody. It turns out Chase is very wrong.

Willow has changed. At this point, she’s pretty much pure evil. Chase got suckered by one twin, Nelle, and now the other twin, Willow, has him thoroughly fooled and all twisted up.

This week we’re going to see Brook Lynn upset at Chase. She confronts him because it doesn’t seem like it’s enough for him that Willow was acquitted at trial. Chase really wants Michael to go down for this. They even came to blows over it.

Brook Lynn Reaches Her Breaking Point on General Hospital

BLQ is ranting at Chase and asking, “Why won’t you let this go?” I think he’s also being insensitive to his wife because Willow’s twin sister, Nelle, is the reason Brook Lynn can’t sing anymore. Do you remember that? Nelle slashed Brook Lynn’s throat backstage at the Nurses Ball several years ago.

That’s not on Willow, that’s on Nelle, but Chase got played by Nelle and now he’s getting played by Willow. Chase seems willing to ruin his career over Willow. Unless he does something drastic to alter the course he’s on, Chase is going to ruin his marriage over Willow also.

The bottom line is Chase should be putting his wife first before anybody else. Instead, Chase keeps putting time and energy into trying to prove Michael’s guilt. It is as if it’s not enough that the jury found Willow not guilty.

In the end, Chase is going to look like the biggest fool in the world when the final truth comes out. I suspect that’ll happen sooner rather than later because Willow’s current scheme to frame Michael for shooting Drew is going to blow up in her face.

Will Chase Exit Port Charles?

That is confirmed in General Hospital spoilers. In the end, I think Willow is going to be exposed for shooting Drew but can’t be arrested for it since she already faced trial. However, Willow could be prosecuted if they find out she caused Drew’s stroke.

I’m hoping she’s also busted for messing with baby Daisy and driving Sasha Gilmore (Sofia Mattsson) out of the country. In the short run, Willow’s plot to frame Michael may gain traction, especially after she slipped Drew’s spare key onto Michael’s key ring.

I’m sure Chase is going to feel justified for a while. He may push back on Brook Lynn and tell his wife, “Look, see, I was right. It was Michael.” But eventually, Willow’s lies are going to catch up with her. Her world’s going to come crashing down and Chase is going to look like an idiot for defending Willow.

Chase Eats Crow on General Hospital

Chase is going to owe Michael, Dante, and most of all his wife Brook Lynn an apology for his actions. All this has Chase and BLQ’s marriage on a rocky path. Part of that is down to Chase wanting to adopt and Brook Lynn continuing to push back and put those plans on hold.

I suspect things are going to get worse for Chase and Brook Lynn until Willow is finally exposed. All of this may be setting the stage for Josh Swickard’s exit from General Hospital. We reported a leak from a reliable source a while back that said Chase was going to be written off GH and Swickard would be exiting.

Now that Dante suspended Chase and he got busted down to beat cop, he’s thinking of leaving law enforcement. You would think after Nelle snowballed Chase that he would learn to be more cautious, especially around women from this gene pool.

In the end, I am really afraid that Chase is going to ruin his life and his marriage over this Willow fixation. It could cost Chase everything. I think all that could be to lay the groundwork for his character’s exit. We’ll see.

By Robert Scucci
| Published 24 seconds ago

After watching 1975’s Dog Day Afternoon critically, and for the first time as an adult, I might have to go out on a limb here and say that Al Pacino is my favorite comedian. I remember passively watching this one on cable when I was a kid, but the minor details were fuzzy, and I was long overdue for a proper rewatch. I could give you the usual spiel about how Dog Day Afternoon is based on a real-life hostage situation orchestrated by John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile, but I’ve made my feelings clear about how source material is used countless times, and that applies here as well.

Fully understanding that creative liberties are always taken in this context, I’m simply here to watch a movie for entertainment’s sake, and I’m actually disappointed with myself for not getting to this one sooner. It’s billed as a biographical crime drama for obvious reasons, but it’s funnier than it has any right to be thanks to Al Pacino’s portrayal of a bank robber who is completely out of his depth. If anything, it plays more like a comedy of errors, where each escalation creates even more unintended spectacle.

Failure To Prepare Is Preparing To Fail

Dog Day Afternoon wastes no time getting into its heist, and it deliberately avoids showing any of the planning that took place beforehand. You’ll soon see why, because it’s painfully evident that Sonny Wortzik (Al Pacino), Sal Naturile (John Cazale), and Stevie (Gary Springer) are grossly unprepared to rob the First Brooklyn Savings Bank in every conceivable way. For starters, they clearly didn’t do any kind of loyalty test, because Stevie immediately changes his mind and bolts.

Sonny then struggles to pull his gun out of the flower box he used to smuggle it inside the bank, which does nothing to make him look intimidating. He’s further humbled when he realizes the bank already completed its daily cash pickup, leaving him and Sal with just over a thousand dollars to show for their efforts. Frustrated, Sonny sets fire to the bank’s ledger, which attracts outside attention and quickly results in the police surrounding the building. With no exit strategy, Sonny and Sal are forced to hold everyone hostage while they try to figure out what to do next.

As the hours tick by, the press becomes an increasingly dominant presence outside, and Detective Sergeant Eugene Moretti (Charles Durning) urges Sonny to step out for negotiations. Sonny, having no real grasp on bank robbing protocol, insists on running everything by Sal first. Through these conversations, Sonny’s true motive comes into focus. He was trying to raise money for his lover Leon’s (Chris Sarandon) gender reassignment surgery, only to learn that his actions may have made Leon an accessory to the crime.

Pacino’s Comedic Timing Is Next Level

Before Sonny starts making demands for a jet to stage his escape, Dog Day Afternoon truly shines thanks to how Pacino carries himself throughout the ordeal. Sonny is borderline bumbling in his attempts to control the situation, and it’s the small throwaway moments that really sell it. When a hostage asks if they can use the bathroom, Sonny casually asks another teller where the bathroom is. That’s not a question a competent bank robber should ever be asking, because a competent one would have cased the place weeks or months earlier.

Whenever Sonny is presented with a counteroffer to one of his demands, he averts his eyes and mutters that he needs to consult with his partner before locking the bank down again. The earnestness behind Pacino’s portrayal of a man who is wildly unqualified for the situation lands so well because of how seriously he plays it. The humor is further amplified by just how bored the hostages seem to be. They quickly realize they’re not in immediate danger and mostly just wait things out, humoring Sonny as he continues to dig himself deeper.

Holding a near-perfect balance between crime thriller and comedy of errors, Dog Day Afternoon remains such a satisfying watch because of how fully Al Pacino commits to the premise. In Sonny’s mind, this is deadly serious business. For the audience, the comedy comes from watching someone this ill-equipped try to control a situation that keeps slipping further away from him, and it’s still a joy to watch unfold over 50 years later.

Dog Day Afternoon is streaming for free on Tubi as of this writing.

Bold and the Beautiful stuns as Liam Spencer‘s (Scott Clifton) jaw drops at the shocking news that Eric Forrester (John McCook) is Katie Logan‘s (Heather Tom) new lead designer. Liam has now been sworn to secrecy by his dad, Bill Spencer (Don Diamont), and also at Eric’s insistence. However, I doubt Liam is going to be able to keep the secret.

We’re going to talk about why Bill may be disappointed soon when Liam betrays them all by blabbing the big secret.

Liam in Shock on Bold and the Beautiful

To me, it was kind of low-key funny when Liam strolled into Bill’s office at Spencer Publications right as Eric, Katie, and Bill were looking at Eric’s sketches and discussing the wow factor they see there. It probably would have flown under the radar, but Liam saw them all, and they just kind of froze. They all looked so guilty, like they had been caught at something.

The Surprise Encounter at Spencer Publications

It was also pretty funny to see Eric sweeping in with the hat, the scarf, and the sunglasses disguise—his little homage to the original Sally Spectra from back in the day. Then Eric surprised Katie with a pile of incredible sketches, a whole couture collection, and Katie said it’s exactly what she wanted. Bill was over the moon about it, too.

But things got awkward fast when Liam interrupted them and quickly put the pieces together. The guilty look on their faces told the story, plus all the sketches laying out. They had to admit that yes, Eric is Katie’s mystery lead designer.

Then Bill dived in and told Liam, “This is Spencer business, and he can’t go telling anybody, not even Hope Logan (Annika Noelle).” This week, Bill gets more specific and says Liam can’t tell his wife or his mother-in-law, Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang).

Why Liam Spencer Can’t Keep the Secret from Hope Logan on B&B

That seems easier said than done. I don’t see Liam sticking to what Bill demands, at least not fully. I think Liam is absolutely going to tell Hope. Bottom line, that’s Liam’s wife. He knows he can trust Hope to keep quiet.

Plus, I’m sure Liam thinks Hope has a right to know since Katie is Hope’s aunt, and there’s already Logan drama going on about this whole rival fashion house. So, the big question is, when will the secret come out?

Will it stay hidden until the fashion show when Eric and Katie walk out to greet the crowd, or is somebody going to crack under the strain and spill? Donna Logan’s (Jennifer Gareis) already feeling the heat, and very soon, Liam’s going to be feeling it, too. That’s why I bet Hope is going to find out soon what’s going on.

The Impact of the Logan Fashion Secret on Ridge and Brooke on Bold and the Beautiful

Since this big secret is going to affect her mom, Brooke, and her stepdad, Ridge Forrester (Thorsten Kaye), and both of the families, I think Liam will feel like he can’t hide it from Hope. I think Liam is going to tell Hope, but also tell her that Bill and Katie were insistent that he keep it hush-hush.

But I think Liam’s also going to tell her that even more so than them, Eric is insistent about keeping it quiet. He told Liam that he knows all heck’s going to break loose when they find out. But Eric said Ridge and Brooke brought this on themselves by pushing him out. Eric said Logan is his new chapter on Bold and the Beautiful.

I think Liam may leave the office sincerely meaning to try and sit on the secret, but I think that’ll fade once he is alone with Hope. This week, she’s in the Forrester Creations office and is listening to Ridge smack-talking Logan yet again.

Hope Logan Investigates the Mystery Designer at Logan Designs

Bill didn’t need to give Katie office space in his building because she and Logan are living rent-free in Ridge’s head every single day. Ridge tells Brooke and Hope that no high-caliber designer will work for the egomaniac that runs that company, aka Dollar Bill Spencer.

I suspect that Hope may bring up the negative things that Ridge has been saying to Liam. Hope may read the look on Liam’s face and realize he knows something about the mystery designer, which would make sense since he works in the same offices.

I think Hope may poke and prod at Liam until she shakes the truth out of him. But I don’t think Hope will run and tell Ridge or Brooke. I do think she’ll keep the secret, but it may be hard to keep quiet since Ridge is going to keep talking smack about Katie’s fashion house. We could see Hope kind of chuckle and tell Ridge he shouldn’t count them out once she knows that Eric’s involved.

Eric Forrester’s Quest for Respect and Validation on B&B

I also expect Hope to go over and talk to Eric at some point. I think he will tell Hope how much Ridge hurt him. Eric may remind Hope that Ridge said awful things to her during the Forrester coup.

Eric wasn’t happy either that they had taken over, but Ridge called Hope the B-word and told her that everybody hates her. He may also tell Hope, “Look, Ridge dissed you. He and Brooke dissed Katie. They both dissed me. And it’s time that Ridge was written a reality check.”

Eric may tell Hope that her aunt Katie gave him a new lease on life. Honestly, Eric deserves this, and Ridge pretty much deserves what’s coming. Eric was so happy at the praise he got from Katie and Bill over those sketches. Eric said he hadn’t gotten compliments like that in a long time. He obviously needs the validation and the respect.

The Fallout of the Secret Reveal for the Forrester Family

The fact he hasn’t felt that in so long lets you know just how long Ridge has devalued Eric. I do think Hope will keep quiet for Eric’s benefit. She and Donna Logan may even have a conversation about how they know this is going to blow up, but their hands are tied.

They’re not going to expose Eric’s secret and ruin something that’s making him so happy. We’ll see if it comes out that Katie hired Eric sooner rather than later. I’m hoping the secret holds until the debut Logan fashion show when Katie and Eric walk down the runway after the showstopper.

Once it’s out, Ridge is going to lay blame on everybody but himself. I think he’ll blame Bill and Katie. Ridge may say they’re taking advantage of his elderly father who’s in poor health, which I think will be even more insulting to Eric—like he’s incompetent and doesn’t know his own mind.

February Sweeps Predictions for The Bold and the Beautiful

I’m sure it’ll come out that Donna, Liam, and Hope were sitting on this. Brooke may grill Hope about why she hid this from her, but let’s be real—Brooke always puts Ridge first over everybody. So why shouldn’t Hope put Liam first? And why shouldn’t Donna put Eric first?

If Hope hears this from Liam about Eric being the designer, he may circle back to Bill and say, “Look, I kind of betrayed you because I told Hope, but I couldn’t keep it from her and you shouldn’t have asked me to keep it from my wife.” Liam may also reassure Bill, Katie, and Eric that Hope won’t blab the secret.

We’re in February sweeps, so I do expect something really big to come with Logan Designs and Ridge’s obsession with predicting that Katie and Bill will crash and burn. Ridge actually seems to expect Katie to come crawling back asking for her job at Forrester Creations because he was telling Brooke that he would rehire her.

Ridge thinks it’s a done deal—that Katie’s going to fall flat on her face. Of course, that’s not going to happen. I think Logan’s going to be a smash success. This is going to get wild soon, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

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Young and the Restless suggests Mariah Copeland (Camryn Grimes) is taking a dangerous turn, and she could put Dominic Chancellor (Ethan Ray Clark) in real danger.

We’re going to talk about Mariah’s terrifying vow that she makes this week. It is a little scary and could mean danger for the kid.

Mariah Panics on Young and the Restless

This week, Dominic is still with Mariah as she is hustling him away from Genoa City with an imaginary Ian Ward (Ray Wise) along for the ride now and then. Mariah takes a break from driving to rest up and take a nap. She wakes up and panics because she sees that Dominic is gone.

Mariah thinks that Dominic left her, went back to his parents, and doesn’t want to be with her anymore. But then Mariah really wakes up and Dominic is still in the car with her and is also asleep. It turns out that it was a nightmare within a nightmare.

Mariah Copeland’s Terrifying Nightmares and Mental Health Spiral on Y&R

This dream has her panicking, and Mariah realizes that she cannot ever lose Dominic. This is all taking Mariah back to a dark place. She is thinking about how she was taken from Sharon Newman (Sharon Case). In Mariah’s mind, that parallels when Dominic was taken from her after she gave birth—even though he is biologically Abby Newman‘s (Melissa Ordway) and Devon Hamilton’s (Bryton James) child.

Mariah is thinking back to when a nurse stole her and sold her to Ian Ward as a baby. He then raised Mariah in his cult, The Path. When she was a teen, creepy Ian married her. Thankfully, Mariah was rescued. The marriage wasn’t consummated, and she was eventually reunited with Sharon and they’ve built a good relationship.

In a recent interview, actress Camryn Grimes said that this Dominic kidnapping storyline reminds her of when she first started on Y&R back when she was just seven years old. She said one of her first storylines on The Young and the Restless was when Cassie Newman (Camryn Grimes) was kidnapped and held for an entire year.

Parallels to Cassie Newman’s Kidnapping and Y&R History

To refresh you if you don’t remember, back in the early ’90s, Sharon’s oldest child, Noah Newman (now Lucas Adams), was born premature and suffered complications. He wasn’t expected to survive. Sharon’s best friend, Grace (Jennifer Gareis), went looking for Sharon’s firstborn child, a little girl named Cassie that Sharon had given up at birth as a teen mom.

Back then, Sharon didn’t know there were twins; that was a whole retcon. Grace thought that if she could find Cassie and bring her back, it would be a comfort to Sharon when Noah ultimately didn’t survive. But then Sharon’s newborn baby, Noah, fully recovered.

Grace decided she was going to keep Cassie for herself and never tell Sharon. In the end, Grace wound up keeping Cassie for a whole year. But at least Sharon got her daughter back, even though Cassie tragically died after a car accident as a young teen.

Mariah’s Chilling Vow to Keep Dominic at Any Cost on Young and the Restless

There are definitely some valid comparisons between what Grace did by kidnapping Cassie and how Mariah has now kidnapped Dominic. Camryn Grimes said in that same recent interview that she’s come full circle. At the age of seven, she played the kidnapped child, Cassie. Now, Mariah is basically in Grace’s shoes as the kidnapper, and Dominic is in Mariah’s place.

Things get a lot scarier this week when Mariah says shocking things while talking to Dominic, who thankfully is still asleep in the backseat of the car. It gets really creepy because Mariah starts referring to herself as Dominic’s mommy.

She says nothing will get in the way of them being together. In fact, Mariah says she will die before she lets anybody take Dominic away from her. That is absolutely terrifying because Devon and Abby are getting help from GCPD Detective Burrow (Matt Cohen), and they are about to be on Mariah’s trail to take back their son.

Abby Newman’s and Devon Hamilton’s Desperate Plan to Rescue Dominic on Y&R

Mariah may panic, and there is no telling what she could do. She may pull a “Thelma and Louise” and drive them off a cliff or into a tree—something crazy like that. Just as she is telling Dominic that she’d rather die than be apart from him, we have Tessa Porter (Cait Fairbanks), Abby, Sharon, and Devon debating whether Mariah is a danger to Dominic or not.

Nobody seems to think that Mariah would really hurt Dom, but they also have no idea what her mindset is at this point because she is in a severe mental health spiral. Mariah’s outlook is that if she can’t have Dominic, then Abby and Devon can’t have him either.

Mariah has completely detached from reality. She thinks that Dominic is really her son. She is increasingly certain that the only way to have a happy life is together as mother and son. If Mariah feels threatened and thinks she’ll lose Dominic, things could get dangerous fast.

Tessa Porter’s Faces a Hard Choice as Her Marriage Crumbles

This week, the detective, Abby, and Devon set a trap for Mariah. Plus, Abby has made a video they are taking public that is a plea to bring Dominic back home to his parents. Devon has all his radio stations playing Tessa’s music, hoping that might penetrate the fog and get Mariah to stop what she’s doing.

Right now, all of them are doing everything they can to save Dominic and get Mariah to back down. Tessa told Abby and Devon that even though Mariah is in pain, she knows what she’s doing is wrong. Tessa is insisting that Mariah is behaving terribly.

To me, it sounds like Tessa is mentally cutting ties with Mariah. She told Sharon she doesn’t know Mariah anymore. Tessa is scared of this version of Mariah and she has to be worried about what she might do to their daughter, Aria Porter Copeland.

The Future of Mariah and Tessa Porter After the Breakdown

It’s clear that Mariah has prioritized Dominic over Aria Porter Copeland, Tessa, and their marriage. I think Tessa is done fighting for her marriage at this point. Mariah kidnapping Dominic has pushed Tessa about as far away as she can get.

She’s going to lean into Daniel Romalotti (Michael Graziadei). Eventually, when Mariah comes out of this, she’s going to get help. They’ll clear Ian out of her brain once and for all, but I think it’s going to be too late by then. Tessa will have probably divorced her, taken sole custody of Aria Porter Copeland, and be in a serious relationship with Daniel.

Once again, Mariah is going to have lost her family and she’ll be devastated. It all ties back to Ian and this awful start to her life that was no fault of her own. Mariah may never forgive herself for breaking her family apart while having a breakdown.

Right now, it is very worrisome that Mariah is saying she’d rather die than be apart from Dominic. Once she realizes Abby and Devon are coming for them, she may put her and Dominic’s lives at risk. Mariah is completely unhinged, and since we are in February sweeps, things could get scary soon.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 58 seconds ago

Few Star Trek creators are quite as controversial as Rick Berman, who has been accused of everything from persistent on-set misogyny to running the franchise’s Golden Age into the ground with Enterprise and Nemesis. However, for all of his alleged faults, Berman actually predicted very early on what would become the worst part of the franchise: its overreliance on the Borg. Moreover, he implied that if Star Trek couldn’t find anything original to do with these iconic bad guys, they should simply stop being included in future stories.

Berman’s thoughts on this matter are quoted extensively in Captain’s Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages. He was discussing “Descent,” the two-part Star Trek: The Next Generation episode that explored what happened to the Borg after the Enterprise crew returned a Borg with a personality (Hugh) back to the Collective. The executive producer liked how the show used the villains in this ambitious episode, but he specifically enjoyed how they were written so very differently from their earlier appearances.

Star Trek’s Most Two-Dimensional Villains

“I find [the Borg] very two-dimensional in a way,” Berman said. “They are faceless characters without personality and without specific character traits.” While many fans would say this is what makes them so scary (they are basically the closest thing Star Trek has to zombies), Berman thought that their collective nature made them “sort of a one-beat group of bad guys.”

Berman did acknowledge that these “one-beat” villains could be used well in certain circumstances. For example, he noted that “In ‘Best of Both Worlds’ they represented a threat as opposed to characters, and that was a great episode.” This is a fairly astute analysis, really: being a Collective, the Borg were always going to fail at being interesting characters, but they worked astoundingly well as TNG’s first real existential threat to the Federation’s entire way of life.

Borg Of A Different “Hugh”

For Berman, the episode “I, Borg” (where a captured Borg develops a personality before being returned to the Collective) was something of a revelation. He enjoyed how this story transformed the Borg “into a character” who was “given a personality and something to be sympathetic towards.” He then made a bold statement that would prove weirdly prophetic: “My only interest in the Borg is when they’re used off-center in other than the way they were originally conceived.”

While Berman may have loved how different the Borg in “Descent” were, that sentiment wasn’t shared by most of the fandom. Many missed the cybernetic zombies that had first scared them in episodes like “The Best of Both Worlds,” finding them far more frightening than the group of angry, screaming cyborgs in “Descent.” Accordingly, Star Trek: First Contact brought the Borg back more or less as they were, with one twist: the addition of a Queen.

The Worst Of Both Worlds

Unfortunately, this ended up being “the worst of both worlds” from a creative standpoint. The Queen was (as confirmed by Brannon Braga and other Star Trek creatives) primarily added to give the Borg a recognizable figure who could both speak and be spoken to; that made for more compelling filmmaking than having characters like Picard and Data talk to the formless voice of the Collective. But the very idea of an individual queen went against the Borg’s whole deal, irking fans who wished these villains had stayed consistent.

Speaking of consistency, Star Trek never really made any major changes with the Borg as a whole after this. Sure, the Queen still popped up, but for the most part, the Borg were back to being robot zombies. As Rick Berman predicted, constantly using the Borg without making any substantive changes eventually provided diminishing storytelling returns.

Kissing The Borg Goodbye?

For example, they popped up so much in Voyager (a show that eventually added a Borg officer) that their appearances stopped feeling special. They popped up in Enterprise and, somewhat inexplicably, every single season of Star Trek: Picard. Heck, that show even made the Borg (complete with their unkillable Queen) the final Big Bad, signifying to fans that the writers had really and truly run out of ideas.

Rick Berman’s prophecy came to pass: the Borg remained one-note bad guys until the very end, never again receiving a character change as significant as what we saw in “Descent.” They were transformed back into a reliable bad guy, but one that ultimately became reliably boring. Now that the franchise has moved into the 32nd century, we can only hope the Borg never pop up in Starfleet Academy; otherwise, the iconic race might have to get several passionate lectures on the evils of cultural assimilation, punctuated by quippy phrases like “Resistance ain’t futile, bruh” and “assimilate this, b*tch!” 

Can the Collective be defeated by pure, undiluted cringe? Here’s hoping we don’t have to find out!