History YMMV / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E24S7E1Descent

* {{Misblamed}}: Some fans cite the episode as further evidence of Troi's incompetence, claiming that her advice to Data to try and explore the emotion he felt (anger) lead to his going rogue and teaming up with Lore. All that actually results directly from her advice, however, is Data trying to recreate his fight with the Borg on the holodeck, which utterly fails to achieve anything useful. It's actually Picard's leaving Data alone and unsupervised with Crosis that allows the latter to start broadcasting negative emotions into Data, which is the point where things really go south.

* HarsherInHindsight:
** In the end of Part II, Data reasons against trying to install the emotion chip because in part he hates having placed his friend Geordi in danger while under its influence. In ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'', he elects to install the chip, only for it to malfunction and for him to find himself paralyzed by fear while Geordi gets beaten up and kidnapped by Soran on the observatory, proving his initial fears correct and leaving him feeling guilty.
** When we next see Hugh he is no longer bitter or cautious. In fact, he is overjoyed to see Picard and immediately offers him help, but [[spoiler: this leads first to the evil Romulan Narissa slaughtering a number of Hugh's xB charges before his eyes, devastating him. Soon after, as he tries to free the Artifact from Romulan control, he dies at Narissa's hands. He dies fighting the good fight, but he still dies.]]
* HeartwarmingInHindsight:
** Data plays against a holographic Dr. Stephen Hawking. In [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E24AllGoodThings "All Good Things"]], we see in the possible future that Data holds the Lucasian Chair at Cambridge University, like Hawking did in his career.
** When we see Hugh, 27 years later, in ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' he is the Director of the Borg Reclamation Project and has spent his life helping former borg (xBs) become individuals and advocating for them. [[spoiler: He has clearly gotten over his resentment of the Enterprise crew and even gives a poignant ManHug to Picard when they reunite.]]

* HilariousInHindsight: Data argues with the holographic Sir Isaac Newton about whether the story of an apple landing on Newton's head was apocryphal. In the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Death Wish", it's said that not only is the story true, but [[BeenThereShapedHistory Q]] [[BeenThereShapedHistory is the one who dropped the apple]].

** After Creator/StephenHawking[='s=] death in 2018, many found his cameo in this episode to be retroactively heartwarming.

* HilariousInHindsight: Data argues with the holographic Sir Isaac Newton about whether the story of an apple landing on Newton's head was apocryphal. In the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Death Wish", it's said that not only is the story true, but '''[[BeenThereShapedHistory Q]]''' [[BeenThereShapedHistory is the one who dropped the apple]].

* GeniusBonus: Stephen Hawking's joke at the start of the episode which Einstein and Data understand but Newton does not is a bit of an inside joke. Data [[DontExplainTheJoke explains that the joke is based on knowledge about the perihelion precession of the planet Mercury]], before Newton angrily cuts him off, saying "Don't patronize me, I invented physics". The perihelion precession of Mercury could not be explained by Newtonian physics alone, and was regarded as a major flaw of Newton's theory, but it later was explained by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. Furthermore, Hawking's comment "Wrong again, Albert," when revealing his winning hand is a reference to the professor's life work in physics, in which he has disproved some of Einstein's theories.

* NeverLiveItDown: Some fans cite the episode as further evidence of Troi's incompetence, claiming that her advice to Data to try and explore the emotion he felt (anger) lead to his going rogue and teaming up with Lore. All that actually results directly from her advice, however, is Data trying to recreate his fight with the Borg on the holodeck, which utterly fails to achieve anything useful. It's actually Picard's leaving Data alone and unsupervised with Crosis that allows the latter to start broadcasting negative emotions into Data, which is the point where things really go south.

** In the end of Part II, Data reasons against trying to install the emotion chip because in part he hates having placed his friend Geordi in danger while under its influence. In ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'', he elects to install the chip, only for it to malfunction and for him to find himself paralyzed by fear while Geordi gets beaten up and kidnapped by Soren on the observatory, proving his initial fears correct and leaving him feeling guilty.

** When we next see Hugh he is no longer bitter or cautious. In fact, he is overjoyed to see Picard and immediately offers him help, but [[spoiler: this leads first to the evil Romulan Narissa slaughtering a number of Hugh's Xb charges before his eyes, devastating him. Soon after, as he tries to free the Artifact from Romulan control, he dies at Narissa's hands. He dies fighting the good fight, but he still dies.]]

** When we see Hugh, 27 years later, in ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' he is the Director of the Borg Reclamation Project and has spent his life helping former borg (Xbs) become individuals and advocating for them. [[spoiler: He has clearly gotten over his resentment of the Enterprise crew and even gives a poignant ManHug to Picard when they reunite.]]

* HarsherInHindsight: In the end of Part II, Data reasons against trying to install the emotion chip because in part he hates having placed his friend Geordi in danger while under its influence. In ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'', he elects to install the chip, only for it to malfunction and for him to find himself paralyzed by fear while Geordi gets beaten up and kidnapped by Soren on the observatory, proving his initial fears correct and leaving him feeling guilty.

** When we see Hugh, 27 years later, in ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' he is the Director of the Borg Reclamation Project and has spent his life helping former borg (Xbs) become individuals and advocating for them. [[spoiler: He has clearly gotten over his resentment and even gives a poignant ManHug to Picard when they reunite.

** When we see Hugh, 27 years later, in ''Series/StarTrek/Picard'' he is the Director of the Borg Reclamation Project and has spent his life helping former borg (Xbs) become individuals and advocating for them. [[spoiler: He has clearly gotten over his resentment and even gives a poignant ManHug to Picard when they reunite.

* GeniusBonus: Stephen Hawking's joke at the start of the episode which Einstein and Data understand but Newton does not is a bit of an inside joke. Data explains that the joke is based on knowledge about the perihelion precession of the planet Mercury, before Newton angrily cuts him off, saying [[DontExplainTheJoke "Don't patronize me, I invented physics"]]. The perihelion precession of Mercury could not be explained by Newtonian physics alone, and was regarded as a major flaw of Newton's theory, but it later was explained by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. Furthermore, Hawking's comment "Wrong again, Albert," when revealing his winning hand is a reference to the professor's life work in physics, in which he has disproved some of Einstein's theories.

* GeniusBonus: Stephen Hawking's joke at the start of the episode which Einstein and Data understand but Newton does not is a bit of an inside joke. Data explains that the joke is based on knowledge about the perihelion precession of the planet Mercury, before Newton angrily cuts him off, saying "Don't patronize me, I invented physics". The perihelion precession of Mercury could not be explained by Newtonian physics alone, and was regarded as a major flaw of Newton's theory, but it later was explained by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. Furthermore, Hawking's comment "Wrong again, Albert," when revealing his winning hand is a reference to the professor's life work in physics, in which he has disproved some of Einstein's theories.

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: After Creator/StephenHawking[='s=] death in 2018, many found his cameo in this episode to be retroactively heartwarming.
** Data plays against a holographic Dr. Stephen Hawking. In "All Good Things", we see in the possible future that Data holds the Lucasian Chair at Cambridge University, like Hawking did in his career.