6x16 Collective

This show is really going out of its way to make the Borg a non-threatening enemy. They used to be scary, now they're pathetic. Voyager just doesn't have that much trouble against them and we continue to encounter Borg who are reclaiming their individuality; this really takes the edge out of them.

Furthermore, the ones we find here are all kids. Those twins weren't even allowed to speak. So the scary factor is now in the negative numbers. I was intrigued that they actually joined the Voyager crew at the end, but is this going to be just like the crew of the USS Equinox who came on board and were never heard from again? If they stick around then that could be some good material for Seven.

I guess the writers had run out of games for Starfleet to play, so they recycled poker?

I often talk about Voyager as a show became over-borged. It's this kind of episode I have in mind when I say that.
The Borg where once a deadly and remarkable enemy but now they are pretty much nothing more than bullys. Those mini Borg felt not threatening for a second. And we seem to always be getting a way to defeat them on a silver platter right away. And wasn't there a species who designed a virus to kill the Borg already ? Not inventive to come up with a pathogen again.
If there is one silver lining in retrospect it's the origin of Icheb who would stay on Voyager.

Will we ever see the baby Seven rescued again? I think not #collateralplotdamage ... I may be wrong though, I can't recall completely. Why do the new Borg on the block need to go in alcoves? Seven did because she was too far gone in years of being assimilated, but the kids? I guess it looks better on screen.

Look. On one hand, this is a great episode. On the other hand this show has an unhealthy excess of Borg stories. Not even that, 90 percent of all Borg stories are about the Borg collective vs the possibility of individual (former) Borg. This is inherent to the show's fundamental premise. Show runners were never able to create a formidable and intriguing Gamma Quadrant foe. Thus, they reverted to the well established Borg. Ultimately, that's a consequence of telling a story that's not set among the well-established Alpha and Beta Quadrant civilizations. You can't blame the writers of this episode for this decision. Another result of the borgification of the show is the steady decline of the fear once inspired by the Borg collective. Over the course of this show we discover many of the weaknesses and imperfections of the collective. Forget about these imbalances, this is still a very solid and good episode. It's also the start of a little sub-story-arch in which we Seven - figuratively speaking - becomes a god-mother - sort of.