2-09. Hide and Seek.

The Borg-possessed Jurati and her drones come for La Sirena!

Original Air Date: Apr. 28, 2022. Written by: Matt Okumura, Chris Derrick. Directed by: Michael Weaver.


THE PLOT:

Time has run out. The Borg Queen-possessed Jurati has taken control of La Sirena's transporters and has beamed herself and her Borg-possessed soldiers to the ship. Her intent is to take the ship, destroy the Europa from orbit to prevent the Federation from forming, and then get a 400-year head start on forming a Borg Empire capable of either wiping out or assimilating the fascist Confederation and anyone else who tries to get in her way.

Rios, Teresa, and Teresa's young son barely manage to escape the ship, even as Picard and the rest of his crew beam to the abandoned Chateau Picard. The primitive Borg drones, under the command of Adam Soong, have no intention of allowing Picard anywhere near the ship.

Rios is injured, so he is beamed to Tallinn's apartment with Teresa and her son. Seven and Raffi attempt to approach La Sirena from the side, hoping to avoid the bulk of the drones. It falls to Picard and Tallinn to draw Soong and his forces into the Chateau, where Picard uses the tunnels underneath to play a particularly deadly game of hide and seek...


CHARACTERS:

Picard: "I refuse to accept an outcome that has not yet occurred." Picard draws on his childhood memories of the tunnels under the Chateau to evade Soong's forces. He tries to persuade Soong that the future the Borg Queen has promised him is a horrible one, but he isn't at all surprised when the other man is unmoved.

Jurati: Even if she did a horrible job of guarding the Borg Queen, she at least had the presence of mind to take precautions against the Queen's desire to take the ship. She locked out systems with a security code that she took care not to memorize, transforming La Sirena into "the world's biggest paperweight." She challenges the Borg Queen about her own loneliness and points out that in every timeline, the Borg end up failing.

Seven: A few snatches of her post-Voyager life get filled in. She attempted to enter Starfleet after the ship returned to Earth, only to be rejected for being Borg. Janeway threatened to resign in protest, but Seven chose to withdraw her application and join the Rangers instead. It's unspoken, but she wasn't willing to see Janeway throw away her career on her account. She refuses to allow any illusions about their situation. The enemy soldiers are no longer human; they are Borg. When Raffi starts talking about what they will do after this crisis, she flatly states, "We're not getting out of this."

Capt. Rios: He's been sidelined for pretty much the whole season... and it happens again after he gets injured during the initial attack. Picard beams him to Tallinn's apartment, then locks him out of the transporter so that he can't come back. Rios spends the bulk of the episode trying to break into the system to get back to help. Both Picard and Teresa are right, of course; if he beamed back right at that moment, he would only succeed in getting himself killed. But his stubbornness does pay off at the end.

Elnor: One of Jurati's safeguards was to program an emergency security hologram with the likeness of Elnor. The hologram also seems to have both his personality and memories. He grins when picking up Elnor's old sword to fight the Borg drones, then does his best to console Raffi about Elnor's feelings for her.

Tallinn: Remember the tough, wary Watcher who trained a gun on Picard and told him that she didn't like time travelers? Or the uneasy ally who needled him about Laris? Well, now she's his unapologetic sidekick, tagging along after him like a lost puppy. Or possibly his roaming therapist, given how much time she devotes to trying to get him to reconcile with his childhood... while men with guns are chasing them. Even Troi would have more common sense. (Or, recalling some of Troi's TNG lowlights, possibly not). All told, it's a rather sad decline for an initially fun and interesting character.

Teresa: Is awed at Rios having what amounts to a full emergency room inside his pocket, and confronts him with the effect this has on her: "You have no idea what this is like for me, do you? ...Surrounded by miracles, knowing win or lose, I'll have to let them go?" This does not stop her from bluntly pointing out that the injured Rios is currently not in shape to help anyone. The Rios/Teresa scenes work much better in this episode than last time. I think the writers should have saved their first kiss for here, where the situation makes it feel more natural and less shoehorned-in.

Adam Soong: He was introduced proclaiming, "Imagine, if you will, I am a god." Here, he declares himself to be a captain of industry. He's neither. He's gone from being Q's lackey to being the Borg Queen's; from having the love of a daughter to being alone; and he's so self-absorbed that he's incapable of seeing that his obsession with legacy has all but guaranteed that he won't have one. Brent Spiner is very good, as he has been all season. It's notable that the same actor who made Data so beloved can create a villain so despicable and ultimately pathetic.


THE PICARD SLEDGEHAMMERS:

It might be more accurate to label this one the Jurati and Tallinn sledgehammers. Picard gets a speech, of course, talking about moments in time we wish we could return to - but it's actually fairly effective on its own. Too bad it's flanked by two that are much worse.

Jurati lectures the Borg Queen about embracing uniqueness and even apparent weakness; Tallinn earnestly talks to Picard about how love can be a source of grief, but it's always "a gift." Both of these feel ridiculously heavy handed, and coming so rapidly one after another, the speechifying destroys the momentum in the final Act.

I think this was entirely fixable. Tallinn's should have been dropped entirely, as Patrick Stewart and Orla Brady are more than capable of conveying Picard's acceptance of his past nonverbally. I also think Jurati's attempts to alternately needle and persuade the Borg Queen would have played more convincingly in small interactions spread across the full episode, rather than being compressed into a single monologue.

As it stands, though, the succession of speeches kills the momentum of the final Act - which is a shame, as the episode is generally gripping up to that point.


OF MONSTERS, MEN, AND FLASHBACKS:

Most of the flashbacks of this episode simply re-tell the "young Picard" story that had been told in Monsters, only minus the fairy tale nonsense. Hide and Seek tells it better, not least because this time the flashbacks are actually motivated by the present-day story, as Picard goes through the same tunnels he once went through with his mother.

Nearly all the information given in Monsters is repeated here, only with additional context and an ending. If you missed Monsters entirely, nothing in the flashback plot here would seem at all confusing. This episode, in itself, gives you all the information you need to follow along.

Meaning that, yes, one of the season's weakest episodes was also pure water treading.


OTHER MUSINGS:

For the most part, I quite enjoyed Hide and Seek. Director Michael Weaver does a fine job at keeping the pace moving and the action easily understandable. The script finds time for good character moments for multiple members of the cast - not only Picard, but also Seven, Raffi, and even Rios. The Elnor hologram even allows him to receive some decent material, six full episodes after his death.

As was true of Mercy, this episode builds some honest-to-goodness momentum, and it manages to maintain it even during the flashbacks. Yes, when Tallinn and Picard pause in the tunnels to have a chat, I can't help but snap: "Is this really the best time?" - but it doesn't lose the tension, particularly with Soong finding the secret passage soon after.

The episode ends with a strong final note. It's not quite a cliffhanger. "The Siege of Chateau Picard" is fully resolved here, and the characters aren't in any immediate jeopardy at the end. Instead, we end on the heroes fully resolved in their next course of action, which I think is a lot more effective than, say, having someone pop up and train a gun on them.


OVERALL:

Hide and Seek has its faults. Tallinn has been completely flattened as a character by this point, and scenes with her and Picard talking about his childhood while actively being pursued just... annoy. Worse, a series of speeches badly disrupts the final stretch.

I'd still rate it as a good episode, however. For the bulk of its run, it builds tension and momentum. It offers strong moments to several characters. And it does an excellent job of giving every character something to do, even the ones who have often been sidelined this season.

Had the speeches been reduced or at least better spread out, this might have been one of the season's best. Even as it stands, I'd rate it as solidly above average.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Mercy
Next Episode: Farewell

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2-07. Monsters.

Picard must confront the monsters inside his own mind.

Original Air Date: Apr. 14, 2022. Written by: Jane Maggs. Directed by: Joe Menendez.


THE PLOT:

Picard is in a coma. He was injured while saving his ancestor, Renée. The others rushed him to Teresa's clinic, where the doctor was able to stabilize him and treat his physical wounds, but he is not waking up. Instead, he is imagining himself undergoing evaluation by a Starfleet psychiatrist (James Callis), who is pushing him about his childhood.

With no time to wait for him to recover on his own, Tallinn uses her tech to enter his subconscious. She finds herself in the labyrinth of tunnels beneath Chateau Picard. Here, Picard imagines himself as a child, fleeing from monsters alongside his mother (Madeline Wise).

Meanwhile, Seven and Raffi discover that Jurati is under the control of the Borg Queen. Jurati's actions seem erratic, but Seven realizes that everything she's doing is designed to release endorphins, which will speed up her assimilation. If they cannot find her and stop her, then Jurati's transformation may doom the entire planet!


CHARACTERS:

Picard: When he's imagining talking to a psychiatrist, he sees himself in space, just as he did in the dream sequence that opened the series' first episode. He also still sees himself as "captain," not as "admiral." Much of his dream journey sees him reconciling his childhood viewpoint of past events against the more complicated reality. It's not particularly unique or surprising when all is revealed, but I will say that it's well acted by both Patrick Stewart and Dylan Von Halle as the child Picard.

Capt. Rios: "I'm from Chile, I only work in outer space." I suspect a lot of people enjoyed hearing that line recycled from Star Trek IV. To me, it felt forced, because it seemed less like Rios speaking and more like the writers saying, "Remember this bit?" Rios opens up to Teresa, acknowledging that he tends to seek out father figures such as Picard. I wish this was demonstrated rather than just spoken outright, but Santiago Cabrera does at least manage to make the character exposition sound reasonably human.

Tallinn: "You do so much with this pain. You save worlds with it." She all but coos this to Picard's dream/child self when she sees some of the secrets he's hiding. Which begs the question: How does she know? All indications are that Tallinn is from the 21st century. Picard even speculates that she may be an ancestor of Laris's. She's grown to respect Picard very quickly, and he has mostly shown himself worthy of that, but there's nothing that she's observed that should mark him as a saver of worlds. Orla Brady's great, as always, but I'm not sure the character writing adds up.

Raffi/Seven: They get a nice exchange with Raffi envisioning them as an old couple "tripping teenagers on floaty things with (their) canes." Seven naturally takes this as a challenge, insisting that she'd be better at that than Raffi. That moment aside, they are consigned to subplot-land, their scenes existing purely to set up the next episodes.

Teresa: When she returns to the clinic to find that Rios has locked the door to Picard's room, she reacts immediately, turning to her son and telling him, "Mama's going to use some bad words." She is incensed that he would lock her out of rooms of her own clinic, and she's wary of the secrets he's keeping from her. Even so, her actions show that she believes him to be trustworthy. She lets him be around her son, and she allows him and the others to stay in her clinic unsupervised.

Gunian: Ito Aghayere feels much more like TNG's Guinan here than she did in Watcher. The anger has been dialed back, and a certain wry humor is visible in her line deliveries. She even nails some of Whoopi Goldberg's physical mannerisms. She reveals that there was a cold war between her people and the Q Continuum, one which ended over a bottle of wine. She attempts to summon Q (exactly replicating Whoopi Goldberg's claw gesture from Q Who?), and she is gobsmacked when the attempt fails.


THOUGHTS:

Dons 1990s David Spade Hat. "I liked this episode the first time I saw it... when it was called Family." Removes David Spade hat.

Monsters covers much of the same ground as the TNG episode Family, with both stories focusing on Picard grappling with difficult family relationships and memories. The TNG episode was given added texture because it was a direct follow-up to The Best of Both Worlds, in which Picard had just experienced the trauma of being assimilated by the Borg. By confronting his past, he was able to overcome his more recent pain and move on with his future.

Coming into this episode, I felt a moment of optimism that the writers might use the focus on Picard's subconscious to show some psychological reaction to his new synthetic body. When Tallinn enters his consciousness, she hears echoes from his encounter with (and assimilation by) the Borg, and I perked up. Finally, I thought. But... no. It doesn't even get a mention. Since this would have been the obvious episode to do something with that, I must resign myself to his synthetic body being occasionally reference checked but never meaningfully explored. Which just underscores what a bad idea it was in the first place.

At least the Picard strand benefits from good performances and strong atmosphere. Whenever the episode cuts away to the other characters, it becomes even weaker. I actually think Jeri Ryan and Michelle Hurd work well together on screen; but the "old lady" exchange aside, they might as well be dubbed The Exposition Couple.

Meanwhile, Rios not only tells Teresa the truth about himself... he actually beams her and her son to his ship. You know, the one with two dead bodies still aboard. I'm assuming they at least cleaned up the mess - but "don't step on butterflies" would certainly include not disposing of two aliens and a bunch of future technology, so both corpses must still be aboard La Sirena.

Now I really wish there was a scene with Teresa finding the Borg Queen's body: the one that looks like a woman was experimented on, chopped to pieces, and then finished off with a gunshot. I'd love to hear Rios's explanation: "No, she was actually an evil alien who was taking control of the ship with her space tentacles. Also, she's infected my ex-girlfriend and is taking her over, and we might have to kill her too! Why are you looking at me that way? Why are you brandishing a scalpel?"


OVERALL:

Monsters re-treads ground that was more effectively covered more than thirty years ago. At the same time, it features logic gaps that frankly snap my ability to suspend my disbelief, from Rios taking his new girlfriend and her child on a tour of his spaceship to Picard being up to walking around, pain free, less than 24 hours after being hit by a car going full speed. The result is, in my opinion, one of the season's weakest episodes.

I would rate it above Watcher. Ito Aghayere's Guinan feels more recognizable as her TNG counterpart, and the episode was at least well-paced and kept me entertained. But the dream plot builds to "Not Much," while the rest of the episode is once again about putting characters in position to do things in future installments. It's Episode 7 out of 10 - It's time for them to start doing things in the episode I'm actually watching!

At this point, I'm becoming very concerned about Season Two. The season started strong. But by this point, it feels as if the plot has been stretched so thin that it's practically transparent. The last three episodes will have to be very good to make up for the lackluster midseason - and I'm just not feeling a lot of confidence at the moment.


Overall Rating: 4/10.

Previous Episode: Two of One
Next Episode: Mercy

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2-04. Watcher.

Picard reunites with an old friend (Ito Aghayere).

Original Air Date: Mar. 24, 2022. Teleplay by: Juliana James, Jane Maggs. Story by: Travis Fickett, Juliana James. Directed by: Lea Thompson.


THE PLOT:

Dr. Jurati's connection with the Borg Queen was a success. She got coordinates to help Picard find the mysterious "Watcher," and she even has a date: the 15th, a mere three days from now.

With no way to contact the others, Picard beams directly to those coordinates. To his joy, this leads him directly to Guinan's bar! But the young Guinan (Ito Aghayere) is packing her things, having given up on humanity. She doesn't know who Picard is (for some reason), and he has to convince her that he can be trusted while at the same time trying to persuade her not to turn her back on Earth.

Meanwhile, Rios has been confined by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is set to be deported. This leaves Seven and Raffi racing to rescue him - which somehow leads to them stealing a police car!


CHARACTERS:

Picard: "I know you're done with listening, but you are not done with humanity. Change always comes later than we think it should." Picard's idealism shines through in his interactions with the embittered young Guinan. He doesn't deny the legitimacy of her disappointment in humanity, but he pushes her to realize what she already knows: Better is possible, and it will eventually come. Patrick Stewart is particularly good here, helping these scenes to work better than much of the surrounding material.

Dr. Jurati: More than the rest of the crew, she recognizes that Picard - "the great man" - is just human, despite his synthetic body. At the dilapidated Chateau Picard, she recognizes that he's distracted and prods him back to the present. Despite (in part because of) her intelligence, she remains vulnerable. She tries to avoid engaging with the Borg Queen, but every complication brings her back - and her willingness to engage in verbal sparring seems all too likely to lead her into serious trouble.

Raffi/Seven: When Raffi is being overly hostile and aggressive to a desk officer at the police station, Seven pulls her back and smooths things out as best she can. Seven continues trying to be the Voice of Reason, right to the point at which they find themselves stealing a police car - at which point she starts driving with the care and precision of a teenager playing Grand Theft Auto. Wouldn't it have fit the two characters' emotional states better had Raffi been the driver, with Seven begging for her to slow down?

Capt. Rios: Santiago Cabrera, usually one of the cast standouts, gets lumbered with the weakest thread of a pretty weak episode. Rios ends up confined in the cleanest, least crowded immigration detention facility in history. When questioned by an ICE officer, he decides to tell the man the full truth, knowing that there's no chance that he'll be believed. He is outraged that Teresa Ramirez (Sol Rodriguez) was detained, proclaiming that where he came from, she would be considered a hero.

Guinan: I'm torn with regards to Ito Aghayere's Guinan. In terms of baseline acting of the role as written, she is quite good, infusing her lines with emotion and presence. If this was a new character, I would be singing her praises without hesitation. There's only one problem: There isn't a single second in which I believe that I'm watching Guinan. She's simply too brittle and human. I'm assuming that she'll appear again. I hope that when she does, she's able to capture a bit of the otherworldly quality that Whoopi Goldberg pulled off so well.

Borg Queen: She talks about her brief connection with Jurati as if discussing a one-night stand. When Picard leaves Jurati to hold the ship, it's an important task that only she can do; but the Queen wields this task as a weapon, sneering that Jurati has been left behind again. Then she tries to position herself as an admirer, telling her how impressed she is not only with her mind but with her ability to be "more cruel than (she) could have predicted." The Queen remains in a position of weakness, but she exploits every chance to gain even a little power. Annie Wersching makes the most of every line and glance, and her scenes are easily the best of the episode.


THOUGHTS:

This was the entertainment equivalent of whiplash, as Picard jerked from my favorite episode of this season to my least favorite of the series thus far.

As an episode, Watcher seems to exist purely to get the characters into position to do something in the next installment. Cutting between four different character strands, which in this episode only directly connect a couple of times, it also ends up being as choppy as it is transitional.

There really isn't much unifying these threads. A better script, tasked with the transitional issue, might have tried for some thematic focus. Take either Picard's urgings to Guinan that change is possible, or the longing for connection that keeps drawing Jurati back to the Borg Queen, and infuse the other threads with that. If there had been the sense of a single theme that ran through all the character interactions, then it might have worked.

But that doesn't happen. Instead, we just get a collection of scenes. The Picard scenes are good. The Jurati scenes are clever and suspenseful. The Seven scenes feel like they were pulled out of a bad '90s action/comedy. Worst are the Rios scenes, which attempt political commentary on the topic of immigration enforcement.

For the record, I have no issue with Star Trek tackling divisive issues head-on. TOS did so with racial unrest; DS9 did so with homelessness; and I found both episodes to be effective. I do take issue, however, with the reduction of the complex and messy into the simplistic and sanitized. There seems to be only one other detainee in the entire center with Rios. There's also only one guard, who is portrayed as a sadist - but whose abuse never threatens to be anything to actually disturb home viewers. And no, nothing here is as bad as TNG's clunkiest efforts (I refer you to The Outcast or Force of Nature)... but I'd hope for the writers to aim a little higher than that.


OVERALL:

Despite some strong scenes featuring Picard and Jurati, Watcher ends up being my least favorite episode so far. Not just of the season, but of the series. Threads cut in and out of each other abruptly, creating a sense of choppiness, and there is no sense of connection. It doesn't help that two of the four threads are pretty bad to start with.

It does end with a pair of interesting reveals, though, which at least leaves me with hope that the next episode will go back to engaging me.


Overall Rating: 3/10. And only that high because of the Picard/Guinan and Jurati/Borg Queen scenes. Take those away, and I'm not sure the rest would even merit a "2."

Previous Episode: Assimilation
Next Episode: Fly Me to the Moon

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2-03. Assimiliation.

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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2-01. The Star Gazer.

Picard delivers an impassioned speech to a class of Starfleet Academy graduates.

Original Air Date: Mar. 3, 2022. Written by: Akiva Goldsman, Terry Matalas. Directed by: Douglas Aarniokoski.


THE PLOT:

Picard is back in Starfleet. He is chancellor of the Academy, focusing his energies on the next generation of explorers. The ragtag La Sirena crew members have gone their own ways. Seven is still a Fenris Ranger. Soji is acting as an ambassador for the synthetics. Raffi has taken command of the USS Excelsior, and the recently-graduated Elnor is among her crew.

Capt. Rios is also in Starfleet again, in charge of the USS Star Gazer. Named after Picard's first command, this starship is the prototype for a new class that uses research from the Borg artifact. The Star Gazer is orbiting Delta, where Soji is impressing the local populace, when Rios receives new orders. A tear in space-time has been detected, and he's been ordered to investigate.

The anomaly is emitting a transmission, one which Dr. Jurati is able to decipher. It is a plea:

"Help us, Picard. Help us..."


CHARACTERS:

Picard: No longer the bitter old hermit of early Season One, Picard seems to be enjoying his return to Starfleet. He has purpose again. When he speaks at a graduating class, it is with passion and joy. Despite this, his personal life continues to be barren, something commented on at various points by Raffi, by Romulan ex-spy/housekeeper Laris, and by Guinan. Laris directly expresses interest in him, and he seems to reciprocate... but for whatever reason, he cannot quite make himself close that gap.

Capt. Rios: He's generally informal as he splays in the captain's chair, perpetually chomping on a cigar. This default demeanor makes it all the more effective when he is sharply in crisis mode near the end. When Picard arrives on the Star Gazer, he defers to him without a word of complaint. He remains alert, however, ready to step in to protect Picard or to take over for him.

Seven of Nine: Has taken command of La Sirena, Rios's old ship. She has not hired a crew, preferring to rely on the Rios holograms. She tells Picard that others feel paranoid about the presence of an ex-Borg. Though she seems reluctant to interact with others, she still insists on helping others - though being Seven, her way of helping tends to involve violence.

Dr. Jurati: Broke up with Rios in the gap between seasons, yet she continues to work with him. They still "read" as a couple, with a distinct flirtatious undertone to their interactions. She continues to carry scars from the events of Season One. When she figures out that a Deltan is interested in her - "This is how really pretty people flirt, isn't it?" - she shoots him down by talking about how alien influence resulted in her murdering her previous ex.

Soji: Is only seen briefly, apparently to write her out. She is confident and charming in her diplomatic relations on Delta. She also retains her friendship with Jurati, which makes me disappointed that this one scene is probably the character's full role for the season. Their friendship is both entertaining and convincing, and I suspect I will miss it in future episodes.

Raffi: She's made sure that Elnor is assigned to her ship, feeling protective of the young man whose "absolute candor can get his ass kicked." Her relationship with Seven is in a holding pattern, and she wishes that there could be something more... which would be a lot easier to care about if their relationship had gotten any build-up at all. As of now, I still can't judge them as a couple, because they've barely exchanged two words in the entire series to date!

Laris: Her husband died between seasons of a terminal case of "Orla Brady has screen chemistry with Patrick Stewart." After Picard fails to act on her overtures, she rejects the suggestion that they continue as they have been. "It would all be too awkward, and I'm too old for awkward." Either they're a couple, or she'll move on.

Guinan: Whoopi Goldberg appears in one very good scene in her old TNG role. Guinan is still a bartender, and she is still ready to serve Picard a drink and listen. She tries to get him to open up about why he has never had a lasting relationship, waving away his attempts to talk about space exploration and Starfleet. But when it becomes clear that he isn't willing to talk more openly, she agrees to just share a quiet drink with him.


THOUGHTS:

"The only place you have ever been afraid to explore, be it flesh and blood or an artificial synthetic, is (the heart)... Your answers are not in the stars, and they never have been."
-Guinan, refusing to accept Picard's reasons for remaining alone.

As a season premiere, The Star Gazer has the confidence to take its time. The episode touches base with the characters and just lets them chat: Picard and Laris exchanging toasts in multiple languages; Jurati and Soji, more relaxed than we've ever seen them as they joke with each other at a diplomatic event; Jurati and Rios, interacting like an old married couple despite their breakup; Picard sharing a drink with Guinan even as he studiously avoids saying anything meaningful. The script centers itself on the characters, only pivoting to a plot focus in the last fifteen minutes.

The writers are clearly setting up a season theme for Picard involving his avoidance of relationships. Multiple characters comment on this. Raffi remarks that she wonders if Picard even gets lonely, and the way Patrick Stewart's posture changes for just a second is all the answer the viewers require. In this one way, he is still - to paraphrase his own words in Season One - not actually living.

I'm not sure as yet how this strand will connect to the external threat introduced at the end, though too much time is given to it for there not be some type of connection. Within this opening hour, I was mainly just pleased to see that the episode didn't try to rush. By putting the characters first, there is more investment when the action finally comes at the end.

I had only one major disappointment with an otherwise highly enjoyable opener. Season One ended with Picard's consciousness transferred into a synthetic body. Even with Dr. Soong's assurances that this body remained his - human and mortal, just minus his illness - I felt that Picard's acceptance of the situation was a cheat. A character-focused Season Two opener provided an opportunity for him to demonstrate discomfort, however private or buried. Instead, the only mention it receives is a quick throwaway line by Guinan. Yes, I thought it was a bad story move - but it happened, so the show really should engage with it.

The opening credits have been retooled, presumably to fit the story and themes of this season. The theme is still recognizable, but it has a darker tone. The visuals now include: the piece of painted glass that Picard looks at early in the episode; the enemy introduced at the end; and the image of an hourglass.

The production team appears to have learned its lesson about billing for surprise guest stars. Whoopi Goldberg receives a credit on the front, but another guest appearance is reserved for the end credits to preserve the surprise. Admittedly, that surprise was spoiled by basically every trailer and write-up for Season Two - but at least the show is no longer spoiling itself!


OVERALL:

The Star Gazer is a strong opening to Picard's second season. The character focus is welcome, and all of the actors continue to do good work. I'm not sure yet exactly where the season arc is going, or how the external threat will tie into the personal arc being set up for Picard. Based on this opening, though, I look forward to finding out.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2
Next Episode: Penance

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1-08. Broken Pieces.

Zhat Vash recruits undergo The Admonition.

Original Air Date: Mar. 12, 2020. Written by: Michael Chabon. Directed by: Maja Vrvilo.


THE PLOT:

Picard returns to La Sirena to find Jurati unconscious after her drastic nullification of the Romulan tracker she had swallowed. He has little time to absorb the implications. The instant Capt. Rios lays eyes on Soji, he declares that he is done with this mission once Picard is dropped off at Deep Space 12, then disappears into his cabin, leaving his holograms to run the ship.

Rios makes it clear he doesn't want company, but a few careless words from the Navigation Hologram sets off Raffi's patented Conspiracy Radar. Raffi begins questioning each of the holograms in turn. She finds that their memories have been wiped. Still, just enough traces persist to allow her to piece the truth together - and to realize that Rios's trauma is closely linked to their current mission.

Back on the Romulan-controlled Borg Cube, Narissa prepares her forces to attack Soji's homeworld. She has just a few loose ends to tie up first: The Borg drones, the ex-Borg, and Elnor. But Elnor has already sent out a call for help, which arrives in the unexpected form of ex-Borg and current Fenris Ranger Seven of Nine!


CHARACTERS:

Picard: At first he is in denial about Jurati's betrayal. He doesn't stubbornly cling to that denial, however, particularly in the face of the Medical Hologram's evidence that she killed Dr. Maddox; and when Jurati regains consciousness, she is greeted by a stone-faced Picard flatly telling her that she will be surrendered to the authorities when they reach Deep Space 12. Not everything is angst for him this episode: He gets particular pleasure out of calling up Admiral Clancy, who has to interrupt him to admit that he was right and to tell him that he'll have whatever help she can give.

Soji: Continues to struggle with her true nature. A talk with Picard seems to help, as he shares recollections about Data while also telling her that both her past and future are hers to claim. She's helped even more by meeting Jurati, who responds to meeting a real synthetic with enthusiasm. Soji asks very directly if Jurati considers her to be truly alive, and she ends by telling her that she would never give the scientist the opportunity to harm her.

Dr. Jurati: Upon waking up, she ignores Picard's glare long enough to ask if her attempt to neutralize the Romulan tracker worked. She's exhausted by all that has transpired since she was approached by Commander Oh, and she doesn't even try to deny responsibility for her actions. She tells the others about Oh mindmelding with her, and with the added context of this episode we realize that Oh subjected her to The Admonition - the same vision given to prospective members of the Zhat Vash. Oh's conditioning can't stop the longtime cyberneticist from being enthused at meeting Soji, and the two seem to develop a certain rapport at the end of the episode.

Capt: Rios: This episode is a tour-de-force for Santiago Cabrera, who plays not only Rios but also five distinct holograms, each with his own accent and personality. Cabrera has a lot of fun as the various holograms: one seems to have no sense of personal space boundaries, another primly sniffs every line of dialogue, another splays back in his chair while incoherently mumbling responses to questions (prompting an exasperated Raffi to declare, "That's not even a language"). Cabrera's best acting, however, is reserved for Rios's recollection of what happened in the past. As Rios gives the details of the incident that led to his former C. O.'s death, we see both how he is equally haunted and outraged by what happened, even as the final pieces fall into place linking that event to the present-day story.

Raffi: At some point in the last couple episodes, she locked herself out of being able to replicate drugs or alcohol... A major enough character progression that we really should have seen it, rather than learning about it after the fact (perhaps as a button on the previous episode, with Raffi blaming her lack of sobriety for missing the warning signs Jurati was giving off?).  In any case, with no substances to distract and numb her, Raffi leans into the mystery of why Rios has such a stark reaction to Soji. When it becomes clear that the holograms have information, but that it's been wiped and/or buried, she gets to enjoy unraveling the puzzle, something that no doubt appeals to her conspiracy-theorist instincts.

Elnor/Seven: When Seven arrives just in time to save him, Elnor is so overwhelmed at the rescue that he gives her a full hug... which she receives very awkwardly. She hesitates over the morality of using her implants to re-enslave the Borg drones, but Elnor responds with practicality: They need the drones to defeat the Romulans, and she can always release them once they've won. She doesn't think it's that simple, observing that once she's joined with the Collective, she may not wish to release either the drones or herself. When circumstances force Seven's hand, she proceeds anyway - and becomes so completely Borg that Elnor asks if she plans to assimilate him. He does not sound resistant to the idea, which is somewhat concerning - Does he so crave a place to belong that he would willingly sacrifice his individuality?

Narissa: The episode opens, as most of them have, in the past, just prior to the attack on Mars. This time, Narissa is the focus of the flashback. We see her joining the Zhat Vash, undergoing The Admonition alongside her aunt - who turns out to be Ramdha (Rebecca Wisocky), the very Romulan mythology expert Soji had interviewed. Oh (Tamlyn Tomita) presides over the ritual, warning the participants that the vision would drive some of them mad. She undersells the experience, which drives everyone mad with one exception: Narissa. The question of the day: Did Narissa become a murderous psychopath because of the vision, or did she survive the vision because she already was so damaged? The present day story pauses to show that Narissa genuinely cares for her aunt and to give us additional backstory about the Borg Cube... before then returning her to her usual role as a gleefully murderous villain.


THOUGHTS:

Broken Pieces is an appropriate title for this episode. So many of the characters are broken in one way or another. The ex-Borg, including Narissa's aunt, are broken: the other ex-Borg, by their assimilation; Ramdha, by her exposure to The Admonition. Commodore Oh "broke" Jurati with that same vision; and though Jurati seems to be regaining her sense of self, particularly in her scene with Soji, she now is left to wrestle with the guilt over her actions.

Rios is also broken. He's been left traumatized by the incident that led to the death of a captain he considered as a father figure, and his Starfleet career was destroyed by that same event. To an extent, Rios as a full person is represented by his holograms: one is outgoing, probably as he was before the incident; another is an intellectual, not unlike the Rios who reads existentialist literature; another is laid-back to a fault... all of them basically different facets of Rios - or who Rios would be, had he not been shattered so many years ago.

The thematic unity is well-done, which helps to carry an episode that is primarily concerned with exposition. The opening fills in the backstory behind the Zhat Vash and their crusade against synthetics. The middle is dominated by Raffi's search to learn about the incident that destroyed Rios, and how it is tied to Soji. The final scenes tie the disparate bits of information together, ending with a direct lead-in to the next episode. We get a bit of action in the Elnor/Seven subplot, but for the most part this is the episode that gets all that pesky information out of the way, so that the two-part finale is (hopefully) not weighed down by it.

This much exposition, much of it delivered via monologue, could be dramatically inert, if not outright dull. Writer Michael Chabon mostly makes it work by structuring it well. Rios doesn't simply recite his backstory upon seeing Soji; he withdraws, prompting Raffi to spend much of the episode hunting for information before finally confronting him. Rios's backstory becomes an intriguing mystery, and even the source of a bit of light humor in the scenes with the holograms, before the emotional revelation comes.

The emotion is the other thing that makes it work. The backstory isn't just dry exposition: It's an event that effects our regulars, and we see the reactions of Rios, Picard, Jurati, and Soji.


OVERALL:

Though mostly a talky episode, Broken Pieces fills in a lot of needed backstory. To an extent, I wonder if some of this couldn't have been parceled out earlier. Still, Michael Chabon's script does a good job of structuring the exposition in an engaging manner. It may be The Exposition Episode before the grand finale, but to its credit it only occasionally feels like it.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Nepenthe
Next Episode: Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1

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1-07. Nepenthe.

The Rikers: Will, Deanna, and their daughter Kestra.

Original Air Date: Mar. 5, 2020. Written by: Samantha Humphrey, Michael Chabon. Directed by: Douglas Aarniokoski.


THE PLOT:

Picard and Soji escape from the Romulan-controlled Borg Cube using a Borg teleportation device. It sends them to Nepenthe, a planet whose soil has regenerative properties, resulting in lush vegetation. Picard's former First Officer, William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), has retired here with his wife, former counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), and their daughter, Kestra (Lulu Wilson). They are both happy to see their old captain, but they are also concerned, as it is clear that Picard has gotten himself in over his head.

On La Sirena, Capt. Rios has a problem. He needs to reach Nepenthe to reunite with Picard. There's only one problem: His ship is being pursued by Narek, who keeps finding them no matter what Rios does to shake him. There's only one possible explanation: Someone on the ship is a traitor!


CHARACTERS:

Picard: Is far more relaxed with Riker and Troi than he has been with his newer (younger) crew. Back with his old friends, he's able to show vulnerability. He remains insistent on keeping them out of it, not wanting the danger of his self-appointed final mission to imperil them or their daughter. Still, talking the situation over with Riker and Troi allows him to get a handle on where the situation lies, and to actually stop and think about what he should do next.

Riker: Jonathan Frakes makes a welcome return in front of the camera. Riker has traded in Starfleet for domesticity, but he's still entirely recognizable as the same character. Surrounded by the things he loves - his family, good food, and jazz music - his demeanor is mostly laid back and humorous. When Soji voices suspicion of Picard's motives, however, we hear the snappishness of the military officer who was often strict with his subordinates. He also gets a chance to act as Picard's XO again, telling him once they are alone that his refusal to share his problems is arrogance, and that his current predicament is very different from being on the bridge of the Enterprise.

Troi: She is far more cautious about getting involved in Picard's problems than Riker is. She's willing enough to provide refuge and even to help him think and plan, but she is afraid of harm coming to her family - and not without reason, as we learn fairly early in the episode. "I'm not as brave as I used to be," she admits, which Picard graciously attributes to wisdom. She's still very fast to call him out when he is too aggressive in response to Soji's wariness of him, which oddly makes her seem more like an experienced counselor than she ever did on TNG. Also, given that her role is almost as prominent as Riker's, I can't help but wonder why she doesn't get a "Special Guest Star" slot in the credits the same way Frakes does.

Soji: "None of this is real. Just get on with the mind game." In the wake of Narek's betrayal, she can't make herself trust anyone. Which is fair enough, honestly - In series, there's probably less than 30 minutes' separation between the Zhal Makh ritual and her arrival on the planet, with all of the intervening minutes having been spent evading people trying to kill her. Picard's unplanned visit to Nepenthe may well have saved her sanity, giving her a couple days to process all that has happened in a place of safety. She particularly bonds with Kestra, who grew up on stories of Data and is fascinated - in a completely positive way - by Soji. Oh, and for the second time this series, Isa Briones absolutely nails the "Data head tilt."

Capt: Rios: When he first spots Narek following them, he isn't concerned. He simply drops out of warp, confident that the Romulan will overshoot them. When Narek keeps finding them, however, he realizes that there has to be some kind of tracking device. He zeroes in on the wrong suspect, believing that the spy must be Raffi. His thinking is reasonable enough: Raffi's return to La Sirena was accompanied by her backsliding into her addictions. But I also think that he refuses to consider that Agnes Jurati, his new lover, might be the spy instead.

Dr. Jurati: We've known since the end of Episode Five that she's secretly working against Picard... a twist that was a little too easy to guess as far back as Episode Three, telegraphed way back then both by her overly convenient arrival at Picard's chateau to the very abrupt cutaway from her meeting with Commodore Oh. This episode begins by showing us the rest of that meeting, as Oh uses a mind-meld to convince Jurati with absolute certainty that Soji's survival would result in galactic devastation. Oh also made her swallow a tracking device... and while Jurati may be a mess, she isn't stupid. She swallowed a tracking device and Romulans are now tracking La Sirena: You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to connect those dots.

Elnor/Hugh/Narissa: Hugh is interrogated by Narissa, who by this point is behaving as a full psychopath. She doesn't kill Hugh, because the Romulans' treaty with the Federation would create consequences even she isn't willing to risk, but she does something worse: She starts killing the ex-Borg Hugh has worked to protect to compel him to answer questions. When Elnor witnesses this, he resolves to stay behind to stop her, vowing that "this will not happen again." But for all his skill, Elnor is still in many ways the little boy who reveled in Dumas stories brought to him by Picard. He believes in codes and in honor... concepts that don't bind Narissa at all.


THOUGHTS:

From its first episode, Star Trek: Picard has done a fine job of balancing the demands of nostalgia against being its own series. There have been no lack of nods to TNG and other 1990s Trek series, but these have largely been done in ways that either feed Picard's plot (such as using Data's death as the story's foundation) or at least haven't distracted from it.

Nepenthe more overtly plays to TNG nostalgia than any previous episode, but it also does it in a way that serves the larger story. Picard has reached the endpoint of his plan. He has found and rescued Soji. Having accomplished that, he finally realizes that this was only half a plan. He's saved her from the immediate threat, but he doesn't know what to do next, and has no idea how to make her truly safe from her pursuers.

The Rikers provide a temporary haven, a place where Picard can finally relax and take some time to think. Sure, it works as a TNG reunion, and I won't pretend I didn't enjoy that aspect... But it also gives Picard a much-needed moment of reflection, a bit of space in which he isn't rushing to find or save anyone. It allows him to remember that what he really needs - as Troi puts it - is "to be Jean-Luc Picard: compassionate, patient, curious." By the end of the episode, he has found new direction and purpose, which I'm guessing will take us to the finale.

The scenes on Nepenthe are wonderfully photographed. The visual look is brighter, emphasizing its status as an idealized haven. Even the interior scenes have a hue that suggests the sunlight that pervades every outside shot. The contrast is all the more striking when intercut with the episode's other two settings: the dark, oppressive Borg Cube and the antiseptic La Sirena.

The Picard/Riker/Soji thread is the episode's primary focus, and it is a joy to watch. However, the other two threads aren't as effective. The La Sirena scenes are perfectly well executed, but Rios's attempts to evade Narek are never as gripping as they should be, and no real attempt is made to develop or build his suspicions of Raffi. Dr. Jurati's turmoil is more effective; but the entire subplot, particularly Jurati's concluding action, seem to be there mainly to set up the next episode.

Unfortunately, the Elnor/Hugh plot is the episode's weakest. It's never explained why the two didn't just follow Picard through once the teleporter recharged; the end of The Impossible Box indicated that Elnor could have held the Romulans off for long enough to make that happen. Narissa, already a mostly two-dimensional character, is reduced further to Cartoon Villainy. Hugh, who once led an underground resistance of renegade Borg, is also reduced... largely to the role of "useless baggage." The entire subplot consists of two-and-a-bit scenes, and so it feels rushed and perfunctory... and with an ending that's as ill-advised as it is predictable.


OVERALL:

Nepenthe's main plot does a fine job of being more than just an exercise in nostalgia. The scenes with Picard and his two old shipmates are beautifully played by all three actors, and are written to further Picard's character arc even before furthering the plot. Soji's dilemma is almost as interesting, with her distrust of Picard entirely understandable under the circumstances.

If the central thread was the entire episode, I would rate this as being as good in its way as The Impossible Box. Unfortunately, the secondary threads drag it down a bit, with the Borg Cube subplot particularly weak.

It's still a good episode. But I can't help wondering if the writers might have been better advised to have made Picard's visit to the planet the full focus, and saved the other characters' issues for the next episode.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: The Impossible Box
Next Episode: Broken Pieces

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1-05. Stardust City Rag.

Seven of Nine is back... and out for blood!

Original Air Date: Feb. 20, 2020. Written by: Kirsten Beyer. Directed by: Jonathan Frakes.


THE PLOT:

The Fenris Rangers are vigilantes attempting to maintain some kind of order in the worlds the Federation abandoned after the Mars incident. On the way to Freecloud, La Sirena rescues one such ranger: Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan).

Picard is searching for Bruce Maddox (John Ales), the former Daystrom Institute Robotics Chair who went rogue after the synthetics ban. At about the same time as Dahj's death, Maddox's lab was destroyed by Tal Shiar agents. He went into hiding and turned to the wrong person for help: Bjayzl (Necar Zadegan), a criminal who loaned Maddox the funds to set up his lab, and who now hopes to recoup that investment by selling him to the Romulans.

Seven doesn't particularly care about Maddox - but she badly wants Bjayzl, who has made her fortune by abducting former Borg and selling their implants on the black market. After Seven agrees to help Picard, the La Sirena crew prepare a sting.  They pass themselves off as criminals and use irresistible bait to lure Bjayzl into the open: Seven herself!


CHARACTERS:

Picard: After four episodes of being alternately grumpy, morose, and guilt-ridden, Picard finally gets to cut loose and have some fun! His criminal disguise is a pirate eyepatch, and he fakes a German accent that makes him sound more than a little like Werner Herzog. Stewart puts just enough ham into these scenes to make them enjoyable, and I wouldn't have minded if the German pirate act had lasted just a couple scenes longer. In more serious material, Picard acknowledges to Seven that, after his own removal from the Collective, he never felt that he recovered all of his humanity, but he adds that he and Seven are "both working on it."

Seven of Nine: Despite her concern to Picard that she never really recovered her humanity, this Seven is far more casual in her movements and speech patterns than on Voyager - which fits, after twenty years away from the Borg. Her agenda in hunting Bjayzl is more personal than she initially lets on, which, given the teaser, is no surprise. Still, she makes sure Picard is able to continue with his mission, impressed that he "still thinks there's a place in the galaxy for mercy... Somebody out here ought to have a little hope."

Capt. Rios: Goes undercover as a go-between, Picard's contact with Bjayzl's representative. Told that he needs to make himself stand out, he does so by dressing an acting like a stereotypical 1970s pimp, complete with swagger. After his part is done, he withdraws to the bar, maintaining his cover while at the same time keeping watch to make sure the plan doesn't go awry (spoiler: it does).

Dr. Jurati: Before the mission, we see her in her quarters, viewing old vids that reveal that she was more than just Maddox's colleague. She stays on the ship, tasked with the relatively simple job of beaming Picard's group out the second the deal is done. This makes her bizarrely nervous, to the point that the EMH activates to inquire about her psychological emergency.

Raffi: Reaches her destination, but she has difficulty saying goodbye. Despite her resentment of Picard, she's clearly enjoyed working with him again. "It was almost like the old days," she reflects, and is genuine in wishing him well. Unfortunately, her plan goes even more off-track than Picard's. She's come to Freecloud to reunite with her estranged son, Gabriel (Mason Gooding) - but he is less than thrilled to see her.

Ellnor: His upbringing on Vashti has made him a strong fighter, but it has left him otherwise ignorant of the outside universe. He can't quite come to grips with the sting operation, and it takes him several minutes to figure out that Picard's and Rios's disguises are because they're "pretending." His sheltered upbringing has also left him with no digital trail, making him the only member of the La Sirena crew who doesn't receive a personalized holographic pop-up ad when the ship arrives on Freecloud. The others bat their ads away with varying degrees of annoyance, while Ellnor is crestfallen at being excluded.

Bruce Maddox: It's been a good three decades since The Measure of a Man, and Bruce Madox has aged - and been recast. John Ales is fine as Maddox, and bizarrely looks more like an older version of the TNG guest character than the original actor now does. He gets relatively little to do, though, mainly being the MacGuffin that allows the story to happen. Injured by the rough treatment of Bjayzl's staff, he gasps to Jurati that there was much more to the attack than anyone realized, indicating that some of Raffi's conspiracy theories are a lot less crazy than others have treated them.

Hot Space Criminal of the Week: From what I've seen thus far, the modern Star Trek shows have mostly eschewed the over-the-top outfits of 1960s and 1990s Trek. Well, Necar Zadegan's Bjayzl is here to change that. She's introduced wearing an outfit that's sort of a cross between a negligee and a body-length condom. With glitter. Oh, and part of a wicker basket on her shoulders. She later reappears in a gown with '80s shoulder pads, a '70s collar, and a cape. Zadegan leans fully into the camp, particularly in her scenes opposite Jeri Ryan. She may clash with the more grounded aesthetic of the larger series, but it's kind of nice to see some of this type of goofiness back in Star Trek, if only for this one episode.


THOUGHTS:

For the second installment in a row, the show manages to nudge the larger plot forward while still delivering a reasonably self-contained episode. As is likely already clear, I enjoyed Stardust City Rag. It's the first episode to evoke some of the feel of old school Trek: a little bit silly, occasionally clunky, and even squeezing in a moment of moralizing by Picard when he tells Seven that "there is no solace in revenge." This is as close to a TNG episode as I suspect this series is likely to offer.

It also has clear links to Voyager.  It specifically connects to Voyager after the point I gave up on it, with substantial references to a character who was apparently introduced late in that series. Is Picard trying to make me go back and finish Voyager?

As was often true in Voyager, Seven more or less takes over this story. Which is fine. Jeri Ryan remains good in the role, and Seven and Picard make for a surprisingly engaging duo.  Also, while Seven's role is the central one, her spotlight doesn't come at the expense of the regulars. Soji and Narek get the week off (a good choice; they'd have just been a distraction), but the rest of the cast all receive at least a few good bits. Everyone seems to be having fun, savoring a caper pastiche in a series that's previously taken itself too seriously for such fare.

I will say, however, that the light tone of the bulk of the episode is sharply at odds with the teaser. In what's been a consistent feature of this series, we open in the past - This time, bearing witness to an ex-Borg having his implants removed without benefit of anesthesia. The scene feels like something out of a Saw movie; it certainly doesn't feel like an opening to by far the lightest Picard episode yet.

The episode ends with what's meant to be a shocking twist. It might have been one, too, if not for one problem: It was so clearly telegraphed, most viewers were probably at least half an episode ahead of it.


OVERALL:

Jeri Ryan's return as Seven is welcome, and she and Patrick Stewart work well together. The episode has its issues, with a grim teaser that's jarringly out of step with the rest of the show and a final stretch that feels more than a little rushed. Still, it's an entertaining romp, and it's the most classically "Star Trek" the series has been. I'd be lying if I said I didn't appreciate that.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Absolute Candor
Next Episode: The Impossible Box

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