This is pretty much all you need to know about this one.
Seven tries to put herself through Character Development, but also indulges in her new fantasy: a love affair with the strong, quiet Native American Chakotay...This episode provides examples of
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: After Seven explains the purpose of the holoprogram, the Doctor remarks that she has good taste. No, not about Chakotay, about the way she decorated her quarters.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Doctor can shut off the cortical inhibitor, although it would take multiple surgeries, and sees Seven's interest in deepening relationships as a positive step towards rebuilding her humanity. Seven, however, draws back and declines the treatment.
- Call-Back:
- Seven is trying to recreate some of the things she experienced in Unimatrix Zero, apparently including holo-sex...
- She compulsively returns to her holodeck program to the point where it interferes with her duties, like Barclay.
- Crazy-Prepared: The baby booties Seven gives to B'Elanna would protect her feet against temperatures that would have already frozen the wearer.
- Didn't Think This Through: Seven tries to end the distraction of her relationship with Holo-Chakotay not by deleting or modifying the program, but by returning to the holodeck to break up with him as she would a real partner. The ensuing argument bogs her down even more (and she would have spent even longer in the holodeck if her cortical inhibitor hadn't caused a medical emergency).
- Don't Think, Feel: Holo-Chakotay telling Seven to play the piano without a metronome.
- Fanservice: Seven with her hair down and decked out in a slinky red evening dress with deep cleavage. Va va voom doesn't begin to cover it.
- First-Name Basis: Holo-Chakotay encourages this with Seven when they're off-duty.
- From Bad to Worse: Not only does Seven almost get Voyager destroyed in alien weapon testing space when she's derelict of duty, but her implants are malfunctioning due to the extreme stress and emotion she's putting herself through, to a nearly fatal effect.
- Hands-On Approach: Seven uses this method to teach a holodeck Chakotay how to chop carrots.
- Internal Reveal: When the Doctor arrives on the holodeck after Seven's emergency hail to find Chakotay bending over her, he asks where her implants are and Chakotay is confused. The Doctor gets suspicious and ends the program—revealing that Chakotay was a part of it himself.
- Kiss Me, I'm Virtual: Seven picks out Chakotay as the crew member to practice a romantic relationship on. This makes her awkward around the real Chakotay, who naturally treats her with the same polite authority he usually does.
- Lady in Red: Seven.
- No Social Skills: Seven's getting better, but now she needs to focus on her romantic skills. Unfortunately she turns out to have very poor time management skills when she becomes addicted to holo-Chakotay.
- Now You Tell Me: Voyager receives a warning that they've entered a munitions range after they've taken severe damage from the shockwaves.
- Nursery Rhyme: The Doctor's gift for Tom and B'Elanna's baby shower is an audio file of some nursery rhymes he recorded for the baby. "Rocka-bye-Baby" has been updated for life after First Contact, now taking place in a shuttle craft. This also makes it Darker and Edgier; instead of a branch breaking, the warp core explodes. He also included some Klingon lullabies, his favorite of which is titled "Sleep, Little Warrior".Seven: Is your intent to soothe the child or traumatize her?
Doctor: I admit, the lyrics are rather grim. But it's the melody they respond to rather than the words. - O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Seven starts making minor work errors that instantly attract attention. She also asks about B'Elanna's hairstyling.B'Elanna: Was that Seven of Nine?
Harry: There must be an alien intruder on board. - Proscenium Reveal: Seven shuts off the holodeck in the middle of what's supposed to be a baby shower.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Holy crap. She's good-looking enough with her French twist and skin-tight suit, but when she lets it down and puts on a red dress with cleavage showing, she doesn't just get holo-Chakotay's, erm, photons flowing.
- Status Quo Is God: Enforced In-Universe: A previously-unknown piece of Borg technology called a cortical inhibitor is used to deter Seven from exploring the intensity of a romantic relationship. As the series was halfway through its final season one wonders why TPTB bothered with this trope, but the C/7 relationship was only brought up again in the final Two-Part Episode.
- You Taste Delicious: Seven licks sauce off holo-Chakotay's finger to see if it's salty enough—or so she says.
- You're Cute When You're Angry: Chakotay quips, "You're beautiful when you're chopping."
