Personally I think it was overdone on the show though, and I also feel she had very poor character development in the 4 years she was on the show.
4 years is a long time, and she was still very much the same person at the end of it that she was at the start.
I look at Seven of nine as a child when she was first separated from the collective, in the 4 years between, she didn't "grow up" at all
Hm...I have to disagree with that. She started off pretty reluctant to change and yes she stayed that way for a while. But in episodes like "Drone", "Imperfection", "Child's Play", "Body and Soul", "Unimatrix 0" and "Someone to Watch Over Me", I thought it displayed clearly that she had evolved into something more.
In "Drone", she clearly states that the Borg Collective no longer holds any place in her life, stating (I believe it's in this episode) "Voyager is my collective". She also is visibly sad and upset when One gives himself up (commits a sort of suicide). Those are emotions she would NEVER have experienced while in the Collective.
In episodes like "Child's Play", she shows emotions such as caring, loss, and a sort of maternal feeling for Icheb. Also even though I know some people find the Borg kids annoying, they served a purpose. The purpose was for them to invoke motherly and caring feelings in Seven. She aided in helping them change and adapt. I think in this episode it shows she has changed a lot since taking on the Borg kids somewhat as her own. In this episode in particular, she displays other emotions too besides caring and motherly instincts. She shows a kind of jealousy towards Icheb's parents, reluctance at having him leave. She feels hurt when he decides to stay with his parents, yet then realizes that if it's what is best for Icheb, then she will have to accept it. Then when she further finds out Icheb's parents' true motives, she becomes protective and fights to save him.
"Someone to Watch Over Me" shows Seven of Nine evolving at a somewhat initial point. First of all, it is shown here that (even though it may have been at the Doctor's insistence), she did accept having someone be her teacher in the ways of humanity which shows she has a desire to change, a desire to learn. Even though she fails pretty miserably at it, she does attempt to learn to date, dance, and sing. She feels frustration when it doesn't go as planned, etc. At this point, she is still very calculative and kind of cold, but it is a decent episode showing that she IS a person underneath and can be hurt by how others feel about her and treat her.
Also, as utterly abysmal and horrible as I believe their hook-up to be...she did end up "dating" Chakotay. Now, I personally think that relationship is bogus, was rushed, and completely not believable at all. That said, it did show that her character developed enough to be in a relationship.
Now was she still our cold and sarcastic (also unintentionally funny) Seven? Yes. And I don't think she should have been any other way. But did she change and evolve enough to exist with other humans and even end up enjoying it somewhat? Yes, I believe so.
And yeah like Melakon said, she's sort of the Data of Voyager. Data was still very much Data at the end of TNG and I don't think we would want him any other way. But he also evolved very much as well. But not so much that he lost who he was initially.
To be honest, how could you really compare the Seven you see in "Scorpion" (or in some other early episodes where she clearly has no understanding of humanity)....to the person she is in those episodes such as "Drone" and "Child's Play". I mean to go from someone who completely has no self-actualization, no emotion, and...not even knowing how to EAT for goodness sakes...to someone who actually cries and sheds tears when they feel intense sadness or make jokes (albiet sarcastic and dry, but still jokes) and cook dinner and feel a full range of emotions she had never felt before...I don't think you can really compare THAT person, the person she becomes, to the person-Borg you see in "Scorpion".
