3-09. Võx.

An old enemy lies behind the mysterious red door in Jack's subconscious...

Original Air Date: Apr. 13, 2023. Written by: Sean Tretta, Kiley Rossetter. Directed by: Terry Matalas.


THE PLOT:

With the Frontier Day celebration about to begin, and still with little idea what the changelings are planning or why they are pursuing Jack, Deanna uses her abilities to try to guide the young man into opening the red door that lies in his subconscious. She is able to prod Jack into opening the door - and is shocked to discover the Borg waiting on the other side!

When the Borg assimilated Picard and turned him into Locutus, they also rewrote his DNA. This is the source of Jack's abilities. He is a Borg "transmitter," able to seize control of assimilated or partially assimilated Borg. Jack responds to the news by fleeing, stealing a shuttle and taking off for an unknown area of space.

Picard does not have the luxury of following. If Jack's abilities were Borg, then how was he able to take control of members of the Titan crew? The answer lies in the theft of Picard's original remains from Daystrom - and in the transporters the changelings have been using throughout Starfleet.

Picard and his crew rush back toward Earth. It may already be too late to stop a disaster, however. Thanks to the changeling infiltrators, the Borg assimilation of Starfleet has already begun - without anyone even noticing it...


CHARACTERS:

Picard: "It's my responsibility. I'm the cause. It's my fault." Picard already felt guilt at Jack inheriting his Irumodic Syndrome, which is only worsened when he discovers that what Jack inherited was actually a link to the Borg Collective. The scars of his own assimilation affect his attempt to talk to Jack. His usual compassion is blunted by his memories of being forced to do the Borg's bidding. He prioritizes the need for precautions over clear explanations, which only pushes Jack to flee that much faster than he otherwise might have.

Deanna: The instant she sees the Borg in Jack's mind, she leaves, locking him in sickbay as she runs to tell the others what she's found. This is the right thing to do; for all she knows, telling Jack might activate some dormant program. However, it also makes a lie out of her promise that whatever's behind that red door, he won't be left to face it alone - adding an extra dollop of betrayal onto the young man's fear.

Jack Crusher: It's hardly surprising Jack is thrown into turmoil. Within a short time frame, he's had his existence turned upside down: he's been hunted, he's been told that he has Irumodic Syndrome, he's discovered that he has impossible abilities, he's had Vadic dangle the prospect of answers in front of him, and now he learns that he's a product of the Borg's assimilation of his father. There's basically been no rest for him to come to terms with anything. The action that he settles on is rash and ill-advised... but given his week, I'd have been surprised if he had been in a fit state to stop, think, and listen at this point.

Capt. Shaw: After realizing the Borg connection, Picard orders the ship to Earth. This prompts Shaw, in his role as the Designated Realist, to point out that everyone who is hunting them will be there. But when Picard tells him that this is their only option, he no longer argues. Instead, he lets out a resigned sigh - "Of course it is." - and gives the order. Over the course of the season, he's gone from an adversary to a proper member of Picard's crew, albeit one who doesn't hesitate to point out uncomfortable realities. He also is once again paired with Seven, finally showing her the respect of calling her the name she identifies with.


FAN SERVICE, IN THE BEST WAY:

One area in which I've generally been impressed by Star Trek: Picard is in its careful balance of fan service against being its own show. From the beginning, Picard has done a fine job of using nostalgia just enough to enhance without allowing it to overwhelm the story. There have certainly been occasions that I've found the stories themselves a bit lacking (Season Two), but the use of past elements has largely shown restraint and careful judgment.

I think that might be one reason why the final ten minutes of this episode works so well. For the first time, in the closing Act of its penultimate episode, Picard leans fully into fanservice. I watched Encounter at Farpoint back in 1987. I was one of the kids in the schoolyard dismissing TNG as "fake Star Trek" and "diet Star Trek," and I watched as it slowly transformed into a cultural touchstone in its own right. I have a hard time believing that too many fans of my generation weren't at least somewhat moved by this episode's closing minutes.

Yes, it's blatant fanservice. But as a fan, I felt well-served - and I think it lands just right because the series has been cautious in its reliance on fanservice elements up to this point. In short, by the time Picard finally goes full fanservice, it's earned the privilege.


OTHER MUSINGS:

"So how much of me is me?"
-Jack Crusher asks the season's key question. As of yet, it goes unanswered.

Questions of identity and inheritance have pervaded the season. Picard, Jack, and Beverly have all grappled with what traits Jack inherited. Picard keeps defaulting to seeing his worst traits in Jack: his stubbornness, his willfulness, more than a hint of his youthful arrogance. But Jack has also displayed courage, quick thinking, and even selflessness on multiple occasions - which is to say, some of Picard's best characteristics.

Throughout the season, the characters have talked about Jack almost as an extension of Picard, though. Riker marvels at the similarities he sees between them. Picard worries about the traits he's left the young man. Jack has worried about the same, from the Irumodic Syndrome to this episode's revelation of inherited Borg influence. At every turn, the characters seem to ignore what Geordi and Sidney acknowledged about each other back in The Bounty - that whatever was passed on, Jack, like Sidney, is also his own person.

Jack ends this episode by coming face to face with the Borg Queen (Alice Krige), who also sees him not as himself but rather as an extension of her will. I am hoping that the finale will actually come back to the thread of Jack's own identity, however, to answer the question quoted above: Beyond what he inherited from Picard, from Dr. Crusher, from the Borg, who is he? Given how much of the season has circled around that question, I'll feel a bit churlish if Jack as himself isn't important.

Beyond that, Võx is a solid episode. This is another installment that's mostly there to put the characters in place for the finale, so I suspect more detailed thoughts will wait until the finale. I will say that the nature of the Borg assimilation is rather clever. The mechanism is unique, but it also makes sense given the way the Borg have previously been shown to work.


OVERALL:

I have a few worries about the Borg revelation. Picard has spent the entire season building up the threat of a changeling infiltration. The bait and switch with the Borg has the potential to be interesting... but it also runs the risk of making the changelings, up until now the season's villains, into irrelevance.

I will hope that the finale manages to pull all the threads together.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Surrender
Next Episode: The Last Generation

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3-08. Surrender

Data faces oblivion at the hands of his evil "brother," Lore.

Original Air Date: Apr. 6, 2023. Written by: Matt Okumura. Directed by: Deborah Kampmeier.


THE PLOT:

The Titan is now under the control of Capt. Vadic and the changelings. She immediately uses that control to cut off the Starfleet crew members' access to sensors and communications - which, as she observes, deprives them of both their eyes and their ears. She has a single demand: That Jack Crusher turn himself over to her. If he does not, then she will execute one member of the bridge crew every ten minutes, a threat she is positively giddy about enforcing.

There is only one way to wrest control back: Data, who remains locked in a battle for control against his brother, Lore. Only the partition between personalities is keeping Lore at bay. With no other options, Geordi reluctantly agrees to remove the partition. The hope is that Data will find the strength to prevail.

It quickly becomes apparent that the plan is failing. Lore begins taking Data's memories away, one by one. "I'm overpowering you, brother, as I always could. One lifeform replacing another. Evolution." And faced with his own extinction, Data doesn't even seem to be fighting back...


CHARACTERS:

Picard: Jack's instinct is to turn himself in, hoping that Vadic will spare the crew if she gets what she wants. Picard's conversation with her has left him knowing the exact opposite: That Vadic's hatred of solids is so all-consuming that once she has Jack, she is certain to kill everybody. He has a father's instinct to protect his newfound son; but as a commander, he understands that Jack can buy time for Data, and that ends up winning out.

Riker: Reunited with Deanna, Riker reveals one of the major reasons that he left: Deanna used her telepathic abilities to dampen his grief over his son. "Our son died, Deanna, and I needed to feel the grief! ...It was my last connection to him, and you tried to erase it." I like the way this is played. By this point, Riker has had the chance to deal with his own emotions. There's less overt anger in his voice and more a sense of lingering disappointment. He also listens to her point of view and reconciles with her fairly quickly.

Deanna: Her actions were in part motivated by self-defense. Riker was numbed by his own grief. Deanna was stuck feeling her grief, his grief, and their daughter's, all at the same time. Readers of my TNG reviews know that I wasn't the biggest fan of Deanna Troi - but Marina Sirtis is extremely good here. It helps that the script gives Deanna a sense of humor that was too often missing from TNG, particularly when she laments their house on Nepenthe: "We went there for Thad, but it's not really my cup of tea... That house, it's like it was designed by a cabal of retro prairie hipsters."

Seven of Nine: Everything about who she is makes it impossible for her to just stand by while Vadic prepares to execute crew members, but everything about the situation makes it impossible for her to actually do anything. She tries to direct Vadic's attention toward her instead of the crew - an effort doomed to failure, since it allows Vadic to be cruel to her as well as the bridge officers, all while demonstrating her own total control. Once the balance of power changes, Seven responds with a very Janeway-like ferocity.

Data/Lore: The episode's best moments belong to Brent Spiner in his familiar dual role. After Geordi lifts the partition, Lore is free to directly attack Data's very existence. He describes Data's memories as "meaningless memorabilia," while expressing resentment that he was abandoned while Data was showered with friendship, recognition, and respect. In the face of Lore's viciousness, Data seems to surrender and accept the inevitable - though I don't think it's a spoiler to say that there's more to it than that. The scenes between the two brothers are smartly written, with not only cleverness but some real emotional weight, and it's all wonderfully played by Spiner.

Jack Crusher: As he confessed last episode, he feels responsible for Riker's capture, and he does not want to be responsible for crew deaths. He attempts to use his newfound abilities to break Vadic's control by taking control of a bridge crew member to enter Picard's access code. The attempt fails, of course, or else this episode would be only about twenty minutes long, but it still shows Jack's resourcefulness. He wants to know what's happening to him and what that red door in his visions means. However, he admits to Troi that he's also terrified by what he might find.

Capt. Shaw: He and Seven are paired throughout the episode - again - and he comes across as the latest (and easily most cynical) of her series of mentors. This episode sees him continuing his season-long role of saying true things that the other characters don't want to hear. He's absolutely right when he tells Seven that she should have blown the turbolift when he and Vadic were inside it. When she protests that she's not willing to trade lives, he scoffs: "You are a Starfleet officer. You don't have the luxury to only make choices that feel hunky-dory."

Capt. Vadic: With Vadic in full control, actress Amanda Plummer gets to properly chew some scenery. Vadic is practically a child at play as she takes the bridge. She waves her hands in a ghastly mimic of an orchestra conductor as she pipes in the sounds of the crew screaming. She treats her execution threat as a game, demanding names and then personal details from her potential victims before finding a way to inflict as much cruelty as she can to as many people as possible in a single action. Bizarrely, though, when she's face-to-face with Jack, she seems genuine in saying that she wants to help him... though I'm quite certain that her definition of "help" is something no sane person would want. Oh, and her final line is particularly memorable.


THOUGHTS:

The previous episode was mostly setup, maneuvering the characters into position. Well, Surrender pays it off with a tense and well-paced hour of television.

This is structured around a time-honored TV format: The hostage episode. Vadic has control of the ship, holding the bridge crew literally at gunpoint. A nice variation on the usual setup, though, is that there's no negotiation. Vadic despises solids and has no interest in talking to them. She announces to the ship that she wants Jack, and she announces that she'll kill crew members every ten minutes until she gets him - all one-way communication. The only response that can be given is for Jack to appear in the turbolift.

Amanda Plummer is terrific here. Vadic has fully embraced her mania, reveling in her own sadism, but she's still calculating. She attacks Jack's conscience by making the hostages reveal personal details, pushing Jack into turning himself in. Then, once Jack comes to her, she's suddenly sincere, and it doesn't come across as an act. A weak performance would make all of this feel fractured, but Plummer keeps it unified. Vadic is as smart as she is damaged, a one-time victim who has become a monster.

As good as Plummer is, Brent Spiner is even better. At his worst, Spiner has sometimes leaned into ham. That doesn't happen here. Lore may sneer archly, but - much like Vadic - script and performer show us the emotional pain at his core. TNG viewers understand that Lore was deactivated because he became dangerous. To Lore, however, he was rejected in favor of an inferior clone, one who was more obviously robotic than him. Meanwhile, Data just accepts Lore's anger, something that seems meek until the final pieces fall into place. Spiner gives us, to all intents, three different performances within the episode, keeping all three variations distinct and at the same time related to each other. It's impressive work that I would rank among his best in the franchise.

Matt Okumura's script is very good at tying both threads together. There are the obvious plot links: Vadic's control of the ship prompts Picard and Geordi to risk lowering the partition between Data and Lore. There is also the thematic link, that Vadic and Lore are both motivated by resentment against those they believe wronged them. There's even an echo of this in the Riker/Deanna scenes, with Riker having been legitimately wronged by his wife. Unlike Lore and Vadic, however, Riker listens to Deanna's explanation and forgives, making their interactions a healthier counterpoint to the villains.

As was true of No-Win Situation, this episode offers viewers a proper ending. The situation set up last episode, that dominates this episode, is resolved. The ending teases what's coming in the final two installments - but this scenario is closed out in a way that is (again) entirely satisfying. The willingness of Season Three to resolve its threads is one of the biggest ways in which I think this season has improved on Season Two.


OVERALL:

Surrender juggles multiple threads while still finding something for every member of the cast to do. It's tense, it moves along nicely, and it even offers some strong emotional scenes in the exchanges between Data and Lore. Overall, this stands as a strong episode in a very strong season.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: Dominion
Next Episode: Võx

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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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