Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4, Episode 1: “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II”

Synopsis: Now that Captain Picard has become Locutus of Borg, Commander Riker must figure out how to defeat the Borg and save his friend and commanding officer.

In my last blog post on “The Best of Both Worlds, Part I,” I equated Captain Jean-Luc Picard to a physical manifestation of what Carl Gustav (C. G.) Jung calls a complex, the way in which bits of an individual’s unconscious erupts through to consciousness, in order to be perceived by the conscious ego. In the case of that episode, the Borg Collective could be seen as a representation of the unconscious and Starfleet forces as the rational ego.

Another way to view Picard’s transformation to Locutus of Borg in depth psychological terms, is to see it of an example of the ego inflation that occurs in the process of individuation, the way in which a psyche becomes stronger and more whole. This process, which is also sometimes referred to as the transcendent function, or union of opposites, and is ongoing and creates a constant pull from feeling a connection to the god-like powers working through the psyche, which would be the inflated position, to the opposite deflated position of feeling inadequate. This movement is often referred to as an enantiodromia.

In “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II” Picard as Locutus begins the episode with his ego fully inflated, feeling that he is not only one with the Borg Collective, but the special drone among all who has the ability to speak to the Starfleet forces and also retain all the knowledge from his past life. He is feeling invincible, reflecting how the Borg Collective also feels. Locutus is then separated from the Borg Collective, and once again becomes the human, Picard. Not only Picard, but a damaged, vulnerable version of his old self. This is the deflated position. However, Picard is able to regain an equilibrium and use what he has gained to strengthen his conscious ego in the process of the union of opposites and is able to help save the Enterprise by defeating the Borg.

Original post created 23 August 2021