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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1-04. Absolute Candor.

Picard solicits the aid of Elnor (Evan Evagora), who was trained by a Romulan warrior sect.

Original Air Date: Feb. 13, 2020. Written by: Michael Chabon. Directed by: Jonathan Frakes.


THE PLOT:

Picard takes a detour to Vashti. During the Romulan evacuation, Vashti was the planet where refugees were housed to await permanent relocation. After the synthetic uprising, the evacuation was abandoned, as were the refugees... leaving Vashti to degenerate into a crime-riddled slum.

Picard tries to enlist the aid of an old friend: Zani (Amirah Vann) of the Qowat Milat, an order of Romulan warrior nuns who believe in "absolute candor" - always speaking what they are thinking and feeling. Years ago, Picard had befriended Zani's ward, a refugee boy named Elnor (Evan Evagora). Now a young man, Elnor harbors resentment at Picard's abandonment of him. Zani requests Picard take Elnor with him on his mission, assuming Elnor can overcome his anger long enough to agree.

Meanwhile, Soji searches for answers about what happened to the Romulan ship assimilated by the Borg. Narek indicates that he may be able to get those answers.  Soji, however, finds herself increasingly wary of her lover's secrets, even as his information leads her to begin doubting herself.


CHARACTERS:

Picard: Goes to Vashti for two reasons. The first is practical: He knows that he and his ramshackle crew are up against dangerous forces, and having a trained Romulan warrior on his side will be a benefit. The second, and more important to him, is emotional: He feels deep guilt at his failure to complete the evacuation. At the time, he solely blamed Starfleet, telling Raffi that it was impossible to evacuate everyone without Starfleet support. Now he blames himself for not attempting to do something more, acknowledging to Zani that even though he couldn't save everyone, he should have done everything in his power to do more.

Soji: Her conversation with Ramdha has left her feeling driven to understand more. We first see her watching an old interview with Ramdha, from before the Borg, in which she described the mythological significance of "The Destroyer" - the name she applied to Soji. When Narek appears, seemingly out of nowhere, Soji expresses suspicion about how he always seems to know where she is or what she is doing. She remains drawn to him, as we see at the end of a sequence in which they playfully evade security sensors only to fall, laughing, into each others' arms, but she doesn't trust him.

Capt. Rios: Though he seems to be the Star Trek version of Han Solo, the jaded mercenary pilot with the beat up but highly maneuverable old ship, there are clearly other sides to him. When Jurati catches him on his down time, he is doing some light reading: a (paper) book about the implications of man's awareness of his inevitable death. He seems to instinctively defer to Picard, but he still bristles when Picard snaps orders before he does.

Dr. Jurati: Now that the mission is underway, Jurati takes on the role of Audience Surrogate, voicing the observations that most of us would have in the same situation. She finds space travel boring, because there's really nothing to do until they reach their destination. When Picard and Raffi describe the Romulan warrior nuns, she can't help but grin about such an Order actually existing. Even so, she opines that the Order's "Way of Absolute Candor sound potentially annoying."

Elnor: Evan Evagoria debuts as Elnor, whom I sincerely hope is the last of the series' "new regular" introductions. As a child, he is enthusiastic, swiping fruit from the local market, begging Picard to read to him, and clearly engaging in some serious hero worship toward the Starfleet admiral. 14 years later, that hero worship has turned into bitter resentment. When Picard asks for his aid, he snits that the old man has only come to him now that he can be useful, and his first inclination is to turn him down flat. It's no spoiler to say that he changes his mind, in a scene that demonstrates both his combat skills and his lack of restraint in a single blow.

Narek: He plants "a seed of doubt" in Soji, telling her that despite her memory of traveling on the Ellison to the Beta Quadrant (where the Borg Cube is located), her name does not appear on that ship's manifest. When Soji demands to know what game he's playing, he replies honestly by his standards: "Feeding an insatiable curiosity." His sister later observes that his obsession with Soji makes sense, given that he's been studying androids for his entire life.


THOUGHTS:

Before I discuss the episode proper, one quick complaint. Absolute Candor is the second Picard episode in which a character has dropped an "f" bomb, seemingly for no reason other than to show that they can. I'm happy to see modern production values and storytelling techniques in use in this show; I don't want new Star Trek to look and feel exactly like old Star Trek. But for all that... the "f" word feels out of place to me in Star Trek. It doesn't offend - I just find it jarring, and it takes me momentarily out of the episode.

That aside, I enjoyed Absolute Candor. Not least because, while it's still very much a stage setting episode, it is the first installment to really have its own individual focus: namely, Picard's return to Vashti, and the guilt he feels as a result.

"A promise is a prison," Zani intones early in the episode, during Picard's previous visit to Vashti. We open (once again) 14 years in the past, with Admiral Picard dropping in on the Romulan refugees. He is greeted as a hero, and he isn't shy about playing the part as he makes promises about Starfleet's support. His stay is cut short by news of the synthetic uprising. When Zani asks what impact this will have on their efforts, Picard makes one last promise: That all will go ahead as planned. It's a promise he won't be able to keep.

His return to Vashti shows how far the planet has fallen. It's physically the same, though the golden lighting of the opening is replaced by a flat, ugly visual aesthetic for the present. The main difference, however, is in the residents. When Picard beams down and greets the people on the streets, they don't reply. Most don't even look at him; those who do, stare in a way that's decidedly unfriendly. And establishments now are marked with signs reading: "Romulans only," underscoring inter-species tensions that had not been there previously.

This change is a direct result of Starfleet pulling back their support. The evacuation was called off, and Vashti was left to its own devices. Picard feels instant guilt. He may have argued against Starfleet's decision. But after Starfleet decided, he... did nothing. As he admits to Zani: "I made the perfect the enemy of the good."

That the episode is focused around Vashti, and Picard's emotional ties to the planet, helps it to feel more like a full episode than like just another chapter. The individual story - Picard's return to Vashti and his recruitment of Elnor - is simple, but it's effectively done, all the more so for the contrasts between past and present: The vibrant Vashti becomes a slum; the grateful residents become resentful inmates; and the confident Picard becomes a regretful old man. Patrick Stewart is particularly good here, conveying Picard's guilt without overplaying it or allowing it to compromise his basic dignity.

The episode ends with a crowd-pleasing appearance that would have been a nice surprise... if only the opening credits hadn't spoiled it. Generally, other shows have handled such appearances by saving the actor's credit for the end titles, which is what should have happened here. Instead, when the crew of La Sirena begins talking about a mysterious pilot, we're several steps ahead regarding that pilot's identity. A minor missed opportunity, but I would have much rather been surprised.


OVERALL:

Absolute Candor gets a boost by actually feeling like an episode in itself rather than just a building block. I'm still waiting for Star Trek: Picard to finish stage setting and get on with the play... but the show is keeping me engaged so far, and I found this a solidly enjoyable installment.


Overall Rating: 6/10.

Previous Episode: The End Is the Beginning
Next Episode: Stardust City Rag

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1-03. The End Is the Beginning.

Picard turns to old sort-of friend Raffi (Micelle Hurd) for help.

Original Air Date: Feb. 6, 2020. Written by: Michael Chabon, James Duff. Directed by: Hanelle M. Culpepper.


THE PLOT:

With Starfleet firmly rejecting his request for a ship, Picard turns to an old friend: Raffi (Michelle Hurd), once a lieutenant commander in Starfleet, now reduced to living in a self-described "hovel" in Vasquez Rocks. She resents Picard, blaming him for the end of her career, but she still agrees to find a pilot to take him off-world.  That pilot is Capt. Cristóbal Rios (Santiago Cabrera), another ex-Starfleet officer who now works as a freighter captain.

Meanwhile, Soji is granted an interview with Ramdha (Rebecca Wisocky), one of the few Romulans to have ever been assimilated by the Borg. The reclaimed Romulans have all been left mentally disturbed, and Ramdah is no exception. She listens to Soji while laying out Romulan cards, in a manner similar to a fortune teller overturning Tarot cards. After drawing a card that depicts twins, she seems to recognize Soji, asking: "Which sister are you?"

Then she becomes agitated, accusing Soji of being Seb-Cheneb - The Destroyer!


CHARACTERS:

Picard: Now that he's set on his mission, his manner has become much more like the Picard of old. After Raffi agrees to help, he calls her to send all the information he has on Bruce Maddox, the former head of Daystrom's Cybernetics Division and the most likely person to have created Dahj and Soji. When she replies (lying) that she has no interest, he ignores her, signing off with a very captain-like "Carry on." He also takes quick measure of Capt. Rios, noting that for all his open disdain for Starfleet, he runs his ship in a way that's "Starfleet to the core."

Soji: Her interest in Ramdah stems from the Romulan's pre-Borg background, as an expert in mythology. She believes that a "shared mythical framework" might help the ex-Borg in dealing with their trauma, aiding their emotional recovery. Ramdah's accusations seem to trigger something, however. She starts to interrogate the Romulan about the assimilation of her and her crewmates, demanding to know what happened to collapse the Borg cube's connection with the Collective - pressing her using details that she hadn't previously been conscious of even knowing.

Raffi: Though she was technically introduced in the previous episode, it's here that we actually start to learn about her. She worked closely with Picard on the planned Romulan evacuation, and was comfortable enough with him to refer to him as "J. L." She was not well-liked by Starfleet Command, however, and it's clear that Picard had protected her from her superiors. His resignation was followed almost immediately by her dismissal, and she blames him for the sharp downturn her life took after that. She readily admits to being paranoid, but Picard claims to value that very quality, an ability to make connections that others don't make - even if he himself doubts a few of her theories.

Capt. Rios: The episode's other major introduction, the beat-up captain of the beat-up La Sirena, the freighter that will carry him on his mission. He runs the ship with the assistance of emergency holograms, all of which are made to look exactly like him but with different accents. Though he shuts down Picard's attempts to "get into (his) head," he does allow Picard to give the order that takes them out, a sign of respect that cuts against his anti-Starfleet attitude.

Dr. Jurati: Officially joins Picard's crew, at her own insistence. She states that he will need her expertise as the leading expert on synthetic life. She claims that she desperately wants to meet the android "miracle" that she has spent her life dreaming of, and to be impressed by Picard's basic decency. All of which is reasonable in itself, and probably true as far as it goes. Still... She arrives at Picard's vineyard exactly in time to save him from a Zhat Vash attack, which I find remarkably convenient. Also, though we see her approached by Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita), the director of Starfleet Security, we don't actually witness their conversation. Put those two scenes together, and I strongly suspect that she'll be revealed to be the Commodore's eyes and ears on Picard's hired ship.

Hugh: Jonathan Del Arco reprises his TNG role as Hugh, the former Borg who is now the director of the Borg Reclamation Project. He has no illusions about the motives of the Romulans in charge of the project, observing to Soji that they see former Borg both as "property to be exploited (and) as a hazard to be warehoused." Even so, he clearly can't resist the chance to help other drones to reclaim their individuality. He is impressed by Soji's respect for the drones and grants her the interview, dubbing it "an experiment."


THOUGHTS:

The End Is the Beginning, as a title, seems to refer less to any specific events of this episode and more to its role within the season - specifically, as the end of the story's First Act and the beginning of Picard's mission. It seems to complete our introductions to major new characters, and ends with Picard having a ship, a crew, and a destination - all things he lacked at the start of the hour.  It's a largely transitional episode, and as such is critical to the season... but at the expense of being unmemorable on its own terms.

For the second episode in a row, we open on the attack on Utopia Planitia. The last episode depicted the start of the incident, and showed an AI apparently being hacked just before turning on the humans. This episode shows the reaction of Picard and Starfleet, giving us more details about his resignation. He had used it to try to force Starfleet into approving a backup plan for the Romulan evacuation; he had not expected his resignation to be accepted. Raffi believed the attack was the work of the Tal Shiar, but even Picard couldn't support that theory, finding it unthinkable that Romulan Intelligence would try to stop them from saving Romulan lives. Given the "conspiracy thriller" nature of the main story, I strongly suspect that Raffi will be proved right.

One thing this series has done well thus far is play on nostalgia while still telling its own story. The return of Jonathan Del Arco's Hugh is well-handled. His role works if you never saw I, Borg and Descent, because it makes absolute sense that a former Borg would be involved in the Reclamation Project. At the same time, old fans get a nice little bonus out of recognizing the character.

Then there's the final scene. As La Sirena departs, Rios holds to allow Picard to give the order. Picard lowers his arm, pointing out at the viewscreen, delivering a command he had thought lost to the past. A single word: "Engage." Raffi rolls her eyes, while Jurati grins like a fangirl - and I suspect most viewers, old or new, find themselves grinning right along with her.


OVERALL:

The End Is the Beginning moves us to the next phase of the story. We learn more about the characters and about past events. A couple promising new characters are introduced. By the end, we know what the next destination is and why. All of this is executed competently, and there are several good moments along the way.

Beyond that, however, reviewing this episode is like reviewing a single chapter in a novel. The episode has no individual identity; it's just a 42-minute Act change. It's indispensable within the season - but on its own terms, it's Picard's least interesting episode so far.


Overall Rating: 5/10.

Previous Episode: Maps and Legends
Next Episode: Absolute Candor

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