Chakotay is in charge of an expedition to discover what secret lies behind a recreation of San Francisco and Starfleet.
Since Voyager arrived in the Delta Quadrant, Janeway and her crew (admittedly not always by their fault) have managed to make enemies of almost every sentient race. This episode finally sees the balance being slightly redressed, with the reappearance of Species 8472. After the Voyager's other meetings with the race, they have decided to invade Earth to teach the humans a lesson. And who can blame them? After all, Janeway didn't really take the time to get their side of the conflict between these people and the Borg.
There are a lot of good elements of this episode. The chance for the Voyager crew to be back home without actually being there is marvellous, and adding in Boothby, a character familiar to longtime viewers works effectively to make Chakotay's presence on Earth totally perplexing at the beginning of the episode, an aspect that is milked for all it's worth before being explained.
Secondly, the guest cast are, in general, Sci-Fi favourites such as Tucker Smallwood, and perform well in their roles. Finally talking to Species 8472 rather than shooting at them allows a chance for them to be a more rounded race, and the fact that they're not as nasty as previously painted is good, although it doesn't really explain why they were so hostile to Kes back in Scorpion.
Still, that's only one gripe with what is actually a quite fun and interesting story to watch.
****
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