Loved the recreation of the Enterprise D bridge and the Majel Barrett computer. Unfortunately, as usual, everything leading up to it was a pretty mixed bag: these late episodes are better at being enjoyable enough that the bad stuff doesn't sour things too much but the stinkers are still there. For one thing, bringing back the Borg is so exhausted as a narrative hook that the only impact it has is negative. The rumours that Jack was possessed by a Pah-wraith would have been far more interesting (and not completely sidelined the Changelings, which makes much of the main plotline to this point feel superfluous) than the unconvincing stuff about inheriting Borg-altered DNA from Picard and becoming an X-Men-ish transmitter or something. Putting aside the DNA stuff - did all those post-BOBW full medical scans etc. really never pick any of that up? - I did like the use of the transporter to alter people, a nice expansion of how quietly sinister those things are only previously taken seriously on TNG (as far as I remember, anyhow) in that Lt. Broccoli episode, 'Realm Of Fear'.
Jack's speech about how 'the world' is imperfect and bigoted and full of broken systems, poverty, suffering, etc. made me wonder what world he was supposed to be talking about, unless it was New Trek confirming once and for all that it has given up on the idea that Earth in Trek's time is a utopia which has long left all those things behind. Shelby's cameo was hilariously bad, only there to be yet another character returning to be killed off (Data in S1; Q in S2; Ro, Shelby and debatably Lore this time around) and was clearly filmed on the cheap as a single chair in front of a greenscreen. Shaw's sacrifice was also pretty underwhelming for the best original character of the season, only really happening to wrap up that baffling subplot about him deadnaming Seven. It wasn't a big surprise given how sidelined he'd been for the second half of the season but it would have been nice had his death wrapped up something about him, resolving his survivor's guilt in some way, rather than something to do with Seven so thin it barely existed to begin with. Still, as with the preceding episode, it ended on a high note and the season has improved somewhat as it has gone on (I'm not going to complain about the daffy 'the DNA modifications only affect people under 25!' thing because it's so obviously an excuse for 'the oldies save the day!', which is silly enough that I sort of love it) rather than getting significantly worse, as was the case with the two preceding seasons.
The joke about Worf knackering the Enterprise E was pretty great and continues the strong use of Michael Dorn's excellent comic instincts. It was just a shame the Borg didn't jump into the running gag about Picard's crap wine to make destroying his vineyard their first priority.
EDIT: Forgot to mention after the last episode and now this one how strange it is that the show has given Troi full telepathic powers, which she very pointedly never had in the original show as a result of her being half-human. She could only communicate telepathically with other Betazoids, where the implication was that they were doing all the work (both projecting their thoughts and reading her mind). She's never placed herself in someone's mind as she did with Jack as far as I can recall, closest being tracking Shinzon's second-in-command in Nemesis (which, again, was implied to be down to the telepathic link he'd established to her).
Oh, and it made me laugh how Raffi was nowhere to be seen for half the episode then randomly popped up at the back of the group shot on the Maintenance Deck.
.Isn't Elnor an under-25-er? Shouldn't he have chopped off everybody's heads? That should have been the easiest ship-get for the Swedish faction.
