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| Raffi tends to a dying Elnor. |
Original Air Date: Mar. 17, 2022. Written by: Kiley Rossetter, Christopher Monfette. Directed by: Lea Thompson.
THE PLOT:
Picard, his crew, and the Borg Queen beam to the alternate universe's version of La Sirena. Elnor is shot during the escape. Raffi tries to treat his wounds with the meager supplies in sickbay as the others complete the slingshot maneuver to go back to 2024. They reach their destination - but the ship loses power and, without sickbay's biobed to sustain him, Elnor dies.
The Borg Queen is unconscious, and the only clue they have is the Queen's words about a "watcher" in Los Angeles. Raffi, Seven, and Rios beam off the ship to search for non-human and/or non-contemporary signals. Picard and Jurati stay on board to attempt to revive the Queen to get answers. Given her current condition, Jurati can see only one way to repair the damage: to connect with the Queen, risking assimilation!
CHARACTERS:
Picard: He allows Raffi to rail against him, right up to the point that she compares him to Q, an accusation that he firmly rejects. Elnor was practically a surrogate son to him, so I have no doubt that his own grief dwarfs Raffi's current bitterness. Even so, he won't allow himself to feel it right now, when a mission affecting the entire future is at stake. He allows Jurati to meld with the Borg Queen for the same reason. He doesn't want to take such a risk with her life and consciousness - but there's no viable alternative.
Dr. Jurati: Demonstrates surprising authority when laying out the time travel rules for the Away Team: "No hospitals, no authorities, no security checkpoints. Anything that can scan you, it can find the ID implants... from a future that doesn't exist yet." She also doesn't allow Rios to take his weapon, pointing out the damage to the timeline if he were to lose it.
When she volunteers to be connected to the Borg Queen, she shows full faith in Picard to keep her safe. While her higher functions complete the repair, her subconcious talks to Picard and almost immediately reveals that she thinks of him as a father figure. She is afraid of the Queen... but she's also fascinated by her, to a degree that seems likely to be dangerous. Alison Pill is terrific, particularly in the melding scene as Jurati runs through a series of different emotions.
Elnor: Dies after being shot by one of the guards from the alternate timeline. Assuming that it sticks, I have to give points to the Picard creative team. Elnor dies an essentially pointless death, which was what the TNG staff were going for with Tasha Yar. This works much better than her death in Skin of Evil, thanks to the reactions of the others - particularly Raffi, who tries fruitlessly to save him and then spends the rest of the episode in a fury of activity (and fury in general) in response.
Raffi: She clings to the hope that fixing the timeline will result in Elnor's resurrection, filtering out Jurati's response that she doesn't know if that will happen. She is stricken after watching the death of this young man for whom she felt so protective. She lashes out Picard for taking time to save the Borg Queen while Elnor died, declaring her "sharp disappointment in (his) leadership."
Seven of Nine: Finally, for the first time in the series, gets some actual screen time with her love interest! It turns out that they do work together onscreen, though I will continue to insist that their relationship should have been allowed to develop rather than simply being plunked down as Established. Seven makes two attempts to comfort Raffi, first nonverbally and then by offering to talk. Both are rejected. She thinks fast when a 21st century security guard discovers her and Raffi where they aren't supposed to be, and she is astonished when this stranger actually seems to like her. Raffi is less than impressed.
Capt. Rios: Has the misfortune to beam into a, um, gravitationally untenable situation. He ends up with a concussion, and he is taken to a free clinic by well-meaning strangers. Santiago Cabrera gets some nice moments opposite Teresa Ramirez (Sol Rodriguez), a pretty young doctor with a precocious son. His scenes with these two allow him to show a softer side to Rios's character.
Hot Human Earth Doctor of the Week: Teresa seems a bit too idealized. She treats her patients for free, she's observant enough of her young son to keep tabs on his activities even in the midst of a very demanding job, and she's courageous in dealing with the authorities. Should we canonize her now or wait to see how the statue turns out? Fortunately, actress Sol Rodriguez injects an appealing amount of skepticism and humor into her scenes with Rios, which goes a long way toward making Teresa likeable. That said, I really hope the character gets a few flaws or at least blind spots before the season's end.
Borg Queen: During the escape, she assimilates with the ship. She so quickly disposes of their pursuers that I found myself wondering exactly how the alternate universe fascists managed to defeat her in the first place. When Jurati connects to heal her, the Queen probes around her subconscious, manipulating her emotions to try to gain control. Though she's still in a position of physical weakness, her final lines make clear that she is very much a threat.
Q: Is only seen for a few seconds, but those seconds are interesting, as he insists to Picard that "this is the only kind of life you understand" even as the enemy ships take damage. This not only echoes Q's statements from the last episode; it also recalls his very first appearance in Encounter at Farpoint, in which he put humanity on trial for being "a dangerous, savage child race." In Farpoint, as in most of TNG, he was just smug. Now that smugness seems like a thin veneer covering layers of disappointment. At this point, I have no idea what's motivating it - but I don't think he's just "playing games," and I certainly don't think he's insane.
THOUGHTS:
This episode was directed by Lea Thompson. Yes, the 1980s actress who is probably best known for Back to the Future. That seems appropriate, given this episode's focus on time travel. There's even a fair amount of humor, from Rios's catastrophic pratfall to a child mistaking Seven for a superhero. Not to mention Seven's and Raffi's banter in the scene with the security guard.
Given how grim the first half of the episode is, the humor in the back half is extremely welcome. It's also pitched at the right level, providing the viewer a bit of relief without distracting from the emotions Raffi is feeling or the ones that Picard isn't letting himself feel.
One area in which Season Two is excelling so far is in its use of the ensemble. Each of the regulars receives one or two good scenes. The emotional focus is on Raffi, while the story focus remains with Picard, Jurati, and the Borg Queen. But the script also shows Seven's strange sense of comfort with this new setting, and it gives Rios some choice scenes at the clinic. Even Elnor is well-used despite minimal screen time, with his death impacting the others and his last words to Raffi perfectly judged.
The standout moment of the episode is Jurati connecting with the Borg Queen. The lighting is dim and tinged with green, infusing a sense of the mechanical. As the Queen probes Jurati's emotions, she snarls in anger - but she only seems on the verge of truly losing herself when the Queen explores her sadness.
All three actors are superb here, and the scene is well staged and well shot. The camera slowly creeps in on Picard and Jurati at the start, sitting opposite each other with the Queen looming over them in the background. Close-ups of Jurati show her pale skin washed out by the Queen's mechanical green light. Then Jurati speaks through the Queen while the Queen speaks through Jurati, a suitably eerie moment. It ends with a great little button from Jurati - a moment of victory here... but judging from the Queen's reaction, one that will have consequences.
OVERALL:
Assimilation is my favorite episode of the season so far. It balances multiple elements and shifts in tone: action, strong emotion, comedy, and even a moment of horror. It skips between these tones seemingly without effort, and I never felt jarred by any of the transitions.
I'm still skeptical about centering an entire season around a time travel story. Still, with its several fine character moments and excellent use of the ensemble, this episode on its own terms was a joy to watch.
Overall Rating: 9/10.
Previous Episode: Penance
Next Episode: Watcher
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