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Episode
503
The Gift
Seven of Nine is here to stay on Voyager whether she likes it or not, and mostly she doesn’t. That won’t keep Janeway from insisting that a human collective is better than anything the Borg could provide. We keep the receipt when The Gift goes into the Mission Log.
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I thought the Janeway Control Freak discussion was pretty interesting, but maybe missed a somewhat subtle throughline the Kes and Seven parallel storylines were playing with: self-determination and guardianship.
Seven, despite being a grown woman, was assimilated at age 8. Her ability to reason, think rationally, and make informed decisions for herself were frozen at that age, so when it comes to self-determination, she needs a guardian who can protect her to some degree from immature choices leading to harmful, even permanent, consequences. Janeway is acting as that guardian until such time as Seven demonstrates that she is capable of rational self-determination. This is the good and correct obligation of all adults with all children and minors.
On the flip side of that dynamic is Kes, who has been alive for only a few years, yet is fully capable of rational self-determination and needs no guardian. Hence why Janeway did not presume to act as one in her case.
All that being said, Janeway still should have conceded to Seven that if, after achieving true autonomy, she decides for herself to return to the Borg she would be free to go. Her “I don’t think you’ll want that” response felt more like not wanting to give ground in a debate than a feeling of real responsibility toward Seven.