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| Sutra (Isa Briones) mind melds with Dr. Jurati to view The Admonition. |
Original Air Date: Mar. 19, 2020. Written by: Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman. Directed by: Akiva Goldsman.
THE PLOT:
La Sirena's push through a transwarp conduit works: Picard and his team arrive at Soji's homeworld ahead of the Romulans... Well, most of them. Narek followed them through, and immediately attacks. Followed by Seven of Nine, in the commandeered Artifact.
The brewing space battle is interrupted by devices from the planet, which envelop all three vessels and bring them down to the surface. Narek is taken prisoner. Meanwhile, Seven works on repairing the Cube to defend against the oncoming Romulan fleet - which sensors show is made up of more than 200 warbirds!
Picard and Soji lead their team to Coppelius Station, which is populated by sentient androids, alongside their creator, Dr. Altan Inigo Soong (Brent Spiner). Picard warns them of the imminent attack and offers to evacuate them to safety. But Sutra (Isa Briones), a sister unit to Dahj and Soji, sees another alternative - one that could make the Romulan Admonition into a horrifying reality!
CHARACTERS:
Picard: The terminal illness he's been hiding is discovered after he collapses during the descent to the planet. He deals with this simply and brusquely, telling his crew that they are not to treat him as a dying man. Both Elnor and Raffi become emotional at different points in the show; Picard deals gracefully with Elnor, pointing out that one person never seeing the other again is a possibility any time two people part while also telling the young man how proud he is of him. He is more awkward with Raffi, clearly uncomfortable when she insists on physically embracing him.
Soji/Sutra: Isa Briones gets a dual role, and she does well with both parts. So well that I wish the producers hadn't insisted on making Sutra more visibly artificial with golden skin - Briones' performance does everything necessary to separate Soji and Sutra. Sutra holds herself with perfect posture, speaking slowly and formally and without direct emotion, all of which shows that she's at a greater remove from the humans and other organics than Soji is or Dahj was. Meanwhile, Soji is an emotional mess. She confronts the captive Narek just to tell him how much she despises him, and later fumes that she should have killed him when she had the chance.
Dr. Jurati: The greater the remove from her exposure to The Admonition, the more she seems like the eager and likable young woman from the early episodes. She regards the androids with genuine awe. The only fear she shows is when Sutra asks to use a Vulcan mind meld to view The Admonition, and it's clear that she's frightened not of Sutra, but of revisiting that horrible vision. She feels tremendous guilt for her actions, making her perhaps a little too susceptible when Sutra and Soong offer her a chance to "make up for it."
Capt. Rios: When Sutra moves toward Jurati to perform the mind meld, he instinctively gets in the way. He steps aside after Jurati tells him that she's willing, but he still he remains close and wary, poised to act if needed. Before he and Raffi return to the ship, he shares a moment with Jurati when he makes clear that he retains strong feelings for her. He also tells her that he doesn't fully trust the synthetics, though she's too starstruck at seeing her lifelong dream made reality to pay much heed.
Narek: Returns to a significant role after being relegated to a nonspeaking cameo in Nepenthe and after sitting out Broken Pieces entirely. Unfortunately, the complex, conflicted man from the first half of the season has been replaced by a one-dimensional baddie. His conversation with Soji should see him torn by the divide between the personal feelings that we saw were genuine and his sense of duty, between guilt and what he sees as necessity. Instead, he ends up screaming threats about how the Romulans will wipe everyone out. I hope the finale restores a little bit of his previous character depth, because this pod-Narek is just plain boring.
Seven of Nine: While connected to the Borg, her perceptions widened. She "saw" Picard use the transwarp conduit to reach this planet, then followed to lend aid. Yes, it's a bit of Borg-ex-machina, but that was hardly unheard-of on Voyager either. She and Elnor are firmly united in protecting the surviving ex-Borg, but she shows genuine respect and even deference to Picard in their scene together.
Dr. Soong: Brent Spiner returns, free of his Data makeup, as Altan Inigo Soong, son of Data's creator. He shows a hint of resentment about his father, indicating that the late Dr. Soong valued Data over his own child; still, he also seems to regard the androids as his children, and seems willing to protect them even at the cost of human lives. Spiner is good in the role, creating a character who may physically resemble Data ("if he'd gotten old and gone soft"), but who is very different than the android in temperament.
THE PICARD SLEDGE-HAMMER:
Though we've gotten a few Picard speeches during this season, notably when he tried to talk Seven out of seeking vengeance, this is the first episode that really brings out his full range of rhetorical moralizing.
First he tries to defuse Soji's anger after she confronts Narek. She muses about "the logic of sacrifice." Picard at least temporarily steers her away from that train of thought by pointing out that such logic "depends on if you're the person holding the knife." He's less successful with Sutra and Soong. He calls on the androids to remain peaceful and patient, promising that he will advocate on their behalf to Starfleet... a promise Soong punctures by pointing out that Starfleet didn't listen to Picard when the synthetic ban was put into effect, and that there's no reason to believe that they will listen to him now.
THOUGHTS:
Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 does exactly what it needs to do. Pieces are put in place for the finale, with the regulars all on the same planet. Stakes are raised: A Romulan fleet is soon to arrive. Complications are introduced that pay off elements from earlier in the season while furthering the crisis for the final episode.
There are also several fine character moments. Each regular gets at least one good scene: Elnor's brief but heartfelt talk with Picard; Raffi's emotional reaction to Picard's illness; an early exchange in which Soji indulges Raffi in her paranoia about "homicidal fungus"; and even Picard's nonverbal reaction to an ex-Borg calling him "Locutus." The script may be focused on putting the plot pieces into place, but it doesn't forget the characters.
With one exception: Narek. Earlier episodes showed him to be smart, patient, and a master at connecting to people. None of those traits are in evidence here. He is captured offscreen, apparently without effort. His scene with Soji is the worst-written in the episode, carrying none of the emotional dynamics that are called for. His interaction with Sutra is entirely one-sided, the once-calculating spy never even thinking to probe at her motivations. Finally, the episode ends with his status having shifted too abruptly... and once again, with key moments occurring offscreen. It's as if the writers knew that they should do something with him, but didn't know exactly what, and this strand throws the final part of this episode off-balance.
OVERALL:
The last ten minutes feels oddly rushed, in no small part due to the perfunctory treatment of the Narek subplot, which blunts the effectiveness of this otherwise well-made installment. Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 mostly does its job of putting plot pieces in place for the finale while still grounding itself in character moments. But the abrupt ending leaves a mixed final impression.
Overall Rating: 6/10.
Previous Episode: Broken Pieces
Next Episode: Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2
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