This post contains spoilers for Star Trek: Picard Episode 9, “Hide and Seek.”
With only one more episode to go, Star Trek: Picard is close to wrapping its second season, and the most recent episode upped the ante on the finale which will take place next week. And remember when the crew were supposed to avoid causing ripples in the timeline? That’s all been thrown out the window, and it’s an all-for-one type of survival scenario that had Seven of Nine on the floor of the La Sirena close to death. There was one way for her to be saved, but no one asked Seven if that’s the way she wanted to be saved.
The Borg Queen had overtaken the ship with her newly-assimiliated soldiers, and though Raffi and Seven managed to make it onto the La Sirena, they weren’t prepared to face the queen who inhabited Jurati’s body. She delivered a death blow to Seven and had fully intended to finish her off by stabbing her when Jurati broke through the queen’s consciousness, convincing her that humanity and the Borg would work better together. And the Borg Queen saved Seven’s life by reassimiliating her but only partially. Just enough to give her the Borg implants the changed future had stripped away.
Star Trek: Picard took the one thing away from Seven she wanted most.
Seven of Nine liked being human. Without the visible Borg parts, she was treated like an everyday, ordinary human. According to Jeri Ryan, who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, Seven’s initial gut reaction after being “saved” by the queen wasn’t one of gratitude.
She’d been assimiliated as a child and had missed out on all the things children do. Her teen and young adult years were lost as well to the Borg, and in 2024, she had the brief chance to live life as a human. She knew she’d have to return to the 25th century eventually where the implants would become a part of her once again, but this one moment in “Hide and Seek” snatched away her brief sojourn into humanity before she was ready.
While Ryan says Seven comes to understand why she was saved, originally, she didn’t think it was necessary. In her mind, she would rather have died than to have been saved by the Borg Queen. But this major change to the timeline might just be a good way for Seven to come to terms with the loss of Annika so that she can fully embrace who she is and who she will always be.