 |
| Picard meets his adversary: grinning, soft-spoken Capt. Vadic (Amanda Plummer). |
Original Air Date: Feb. 23, 2023. Written by: Christopher Monfette, Sean Tretta. Directed by: Douglas Aarniokoski.
THE PLOT:
Picard and Riker have found Beverly - unconscious, being kept alive inside a medical pod overseen by the only other person on the ship: Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), her twenty-year-old son (who doesn't look a day over thirty). Jack tells them that they've been dodging their pursuers for two weeks. He denies any knowledge of who is chasing them or what they might want.
One thing is clear: The Crushers' small ship lacks the resources to fend off the enemy. They are saved only by the intervention of the Titan, with Capt. Shaw coming to their rescue against his better instincts.
After Shaw beams them aboard the starship, he receives a transmission that puts a face to their adversary: the genial, smiling Capt. Vadic (Amanda Plummer). Vadic claims to be a bounty hunter, informing them that Jack Crusher is a wanted criminal.
The Titan had to cross out of Federation space to rescue Picard, and the nebula Jack and Beverly were hiding in has made it impossible to simply call Starfleet for reinforcements. In addition, Vadic's weaponry is such that she's basically flying a single-ship armada. She gives Picard and Shaw one hour to either surrender Jack Crusher or be destroyed!
CHARACTERS:
Picard: He's clever enough to recognize that Jack is the enemy's target. He plants transport inhibitors that save the young man... but he also forgets to deactivate them when the Titan comes to the rescue. He's in a position of weakness with Capt. Shaw, who is determined to be as unimpressed with him as possible. Still, he feigns being in charge to both Jack and Vadic. In the end, he comes up with a tactic to shake Vadic, one which Shaw goes along with - but it feels less like a victory than like something that just buys the Titan a little more time.
Riker: He gets a less robust role in this episode, mainly just acting as Picard's support. He does recognize the stalemate between Picard and Shaw, however, and he knows that something has to be done to break it. This leads him to take decisive action near the end.
Seven of Nine: When Shaw stops her from immediately flying to Picard's rescue, the bridge crew seems startled by this. Seven shifts tactics at this point, pointing out to Shaw that if he insists on following regulations to the letter, he'll be remembered as the man who let Picard and Riker die - an approach that proves effective in getting his attention.
Raffi: Still stuck in subplot-land, with her instincts unable to let her accept her handler's simple answer to the terrorist attack. She disobeys an order to "disengage" and instead follows a lead to Sneed (Aaron Stanford), a Ferengi crime lord. All of this is... fine. But the only moment in this strand that catches my eye is the very last part of her last scene. Outside of that, Raffi's strand is the least engaging part of the episode. Again.
Jack Crusher: After only appearing briefly in the premiere, Ed Speleers' Jack gets a much larger slice of the action. We open on him talking his way through an interaction with a Fenris Ranger (Robert G. Morgan) two weeks earlier. He seems to have the situation in hand... until the Ranger sends word to "the Marked Woman," and we realize that this kicked off the current chase. Jack has the manner of a con artist, but he's not unlikable, and Speleers does well with his expanded role. But why insist on him being twenty? The timeline would still line up if he was thirty, and... Sorry, Speleers looks great and all, but it's obvious that he's older than that.
Vadic: This episode gives the enemy a face: Amanda Plummer as Capt. Vadic. She speaks in a soft, somewhat exaggerated Southern drawl, seeming like she's almost settling in for a chat with Picard and Shaw even as she threatens them with destruction. Based on this appearance, I'm not yet sure whether she's going to end up being great or annoying. She works well enough here, but I hope she receives some more varied notes in later episodes.
Capt. Shaw: His characterization is vastly improved from the first episode. The thing is, Shaw isn't actually wrong about anything. Every one of his direct responses and objections to this situation, and to Picard and Seven having forced him into it, are valid. He's still pointlessly antagonistic, but the dial on that has mercifully been turned down a bit. He knows to present a unified front with Picard when talking to Vadic; and when Picard gives his final (predictable) reason for wanting to protect Jack, he stops arguing and gives in.
THOUGHTS:
I promise I'm not going to complain about this in every Season Three review, but I really don't like the visual look of this season. I don't like how dark the screen is, and I don't care for the heavy color grading in some scenes. I understand that the showrunners are trying to create a tense, oppressive mood... but it's overaggressive, and some touches (notably the direct visual references to Blade Runner in the Raffi subplot) feel hackneyed.
That aside, Disengage is a decent second episode. It benefits from improved characterization for Shaw, who's still an antagonist but who isn't actually in the wrong. In the premiere, he was a one-note pompous bureaucrat; in this episode, he actually works, mainly because the writers cut back on the pointless belligerence and make sure that we understand his perspective.
There's some tension inherent in the ticking clock of Vadic's deadline, which is enhanced by the unanswered question as to how trustworthy or not Jack might actually be. There's no question that Vadic is a villain, but she doesn't come across as someone who does things for no reason. This leaves open the question of how Jack managed to provoke this pursuit.
The episode does suffer from a common problem with streaming series: Its role is mainly to connect the first episode with the next, and it isn't even remotely a complete unit in itself. It remains entertaining throughout, though. This season doesn't have me fully on board yet - but I am feeling hopeful that it might as it goes along.
OVERALL:
Since Disengage comes across mainly as connective tissue, it's hard for me to fully judge it in its own right. It does its job. It builds up the story, adding complications while introducing new characters and new elements. Judged by itself, though, I don't think it's particularly better than OK.
At the same time, it's definitely no worse than OK - and by adding some layers to Shaw while giving several good moments to the more established characters, it raises hopes for the rest of the season to build on it.
Overall Rating: 6/10.
Previous Episode: The Next Generation
Next Episode: Seventeen Seconds
Review Index
To receive new review updates, follow me:
On Twitter:
On Threads:
No comments:
Post a Comment