Star Trek: Picard -- Season 1 Episode 8 (Broken Pieces)

Once again, we start with a flashback.  Commodore Oh is leading a group of Romulans in The Admonition.  They get to see exactly what happened to an unnamed ancient civilization that fell victim to artificial intelligence.  Most of the Romulans go crazy.  Not Narissa or Rhamda, though.  Rhamda is affected, but not to the point of killing herself.  Narissa seems to make it through unscathed.

As for the story’s present, Jurati has to face up to the fact that she killed Bruce Maddox.  Granted, it was on orders from Commodore Oh, but she still killed someone.  Oh’s involvement might not be enough to keep her out of prison.

We also learn why Rios’s captain killed himself.  It had to do with the fact that the captain was ordered to kill two synthetics, one of which happened to look like Soji.  It’s a bit of a coincidence that Rios was on the ship to make first contact, but it is an interesting one.

Meanwhile, all of Raffi’s conspiracy theories are proven correct.  There was a plot behind the Mars attacks.  For this reason, she contrasts really well with Picard.  Picard wants to see the best in everyone.  He’s come to expect it.  Meanwhile, Raffi tends to see the worst.  It doesn’t help that she’s proven correct, but it also doesn’t deter Picard from trying.

He’s the only one on the ship that doesn’t take a pessimistic view of the Federation, even though Starfleet let him down in a big way.  He’s coming to realize that that’s no excuse not to try.  In a way, he also gave up.  Instead of going out to make things better, he retreated in to a vineyard.  (He basically made alcohol rather than just drink it.)

I have to wonder if the ancient race mentioned in this episode is the Tkon Empire.  It’s said that they lived thousands of centuries ago.  (Picard says 200,000 years ago, but I’m not sure where he got this number.)  The Tkon Empire existed over 600,000 years ago and had the ability to move stars.  It’s said that a race would have had to have moved stars to have an eight-star system, as the most stars to occur naturally would seem to be seven.

Elnor is still on the Borg cube, but he now has Seven helping him.  It’s not clear if they’ll meet up with Picard and crew.  I guess I’ll be finding out soon enough.  As soon as I finish writing this, I’m off to watch the two-part finale.  It should be an interesting one.

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Star Trek: Picard -- Season 1 Episode 7 (Nepenthe)

One thing that bothered me about transporters in Star Trek was that the operator always knew who to beam up.  Riker would call to beam up three people out of a room full of people and they would always beam up the correct three people.  This was probably done for the sake of the narrative.  It would get tedious to have to name everyone that was leaving.

This is why I find it odd that when Picard and Soji visit Nepenthe, they’re put down in the back yard of the people they’re visiting.  They could easily have found themselves on the opposite side of the planet, given how far they were traveling.  It’s amazing that they weren’t transported to a spot a mile above the planet.  Still, I guess we need to consider the narrative.

Speaking of the narrative, who is it that Picard and Soji are visiting?  William Riker and Deanna Troi, of course, as promised in the series trailer.  I supposed Picard could have taken Soji anywhere, but it’s nice to see Riker and Troi again.  It’s especially nice to see that they’re still a happy couple, despite a tragedy.

Meanwhile, Hugh and Elnor fight the Romulans on the Borg cube.  Things don’t end well for Hugh, which is a shame.  Elnor is a great fighter and is an interesting character.  It has become increasingly obvious that he’s in over his head.  I’m assuming that he’s never been outside the sisterhood’s compound.  He would appear to be a fast learner, though.

On La Sirena, Jurati has to come to terms with the fact that she’s the mole.  In fact, we get to see the rest of her conversation with Commodore Oh.  It looks like there’s more than either character was letting on.  Her only option seems to be to inject herself with a compound.  It’s not clear if this is meant as suicide or not, but it does seem to disrupt the tracking capabilities of a homing device Jurati was made to swallow.  (At least it was chewable.)

Picard doesn’t seem to be the diplomat he once was.  Maybe it’s the irumodic syndrome talking.  I don’t know, but he answers Soji’s concerns with sarcasm and he’s rightfully rebuked.  Troi and Riker call him on it, but it’s not the first time he’s done something like this.

Soji is very suspicious of everyone now.  She’s been betrayed by the one person she trusted the most and wonders if all of this is another act.  It’s entirely reasonable of her.  (On a side note, Troi can’t sense Soji.  Troi could sense Data with his emotion chip, but Soji is different.  Exactly what those differences are remains to be seen.)

We get a few of the obligatory throwbacks, like a mention of Picard’s artificial heart.  There’s also a mention of a Tyken’s rift and Kestra, from Night Terrors and Dark Page, respectively.  I’m not sure if multiple references in each episode was intended, but it’s not unwelcome.  It doesn’t set this up as an eighth season of The Next Generation, but it does allow for some nice continuity.  I’m curious to see what the subsequent episodes bring.

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Star Trek: Picard -- Season 1 Episode 6 (The Impossible Box)

So, it’s time for Picard to finally meet Soji.  There’s just one problem standing in their way and it would seem to be a minor one.  Picard has to get permission to be on the Borg cube.  It technically belongs to the Romulans.  Fortunately, Raffi is still on the ship and she has a connection at Starfleet which gets them in.

The catch is that Picard has to go alone.  He’s not looking forward to it, as he was assimilated many years ago, but that’s the price of admission.  The Romulans are pretty strict about security, so they have him beam over to a remote location.  Maybe they’re paranoid about him being around sensitive information.  Maybe they just want to make him wait or feel isolated.  Either way, he has a panic attack before the director of the Reclamation Project shows up.

The director happens to be a former drone Picard helped many years ago: Hugh.  (Of course, we already knew this from previous episodes.)  Hugh is the first person in this new series who seems happy to see Picard.  He’s more than happy to help Picard find Soji.

Unfortunately, she’s not in her quarters nor is she showing up on scans.  Fortunately, she finds Picard.  Unfortunately, she doesn’t seem to have the same instinct to trust Picard.  (Soji takes a little convincing.)  Fortunately, Hugh has a way for Picard and Soji to escape.

It’s not clear why they couldn’t transport off the cube directly.  I assume that was the plan, as Picard didn’t know about the Sikarian Trajector technology.  It does allow for a nice reference to Star Trek: Voyager.  (I am kind of wondering how Sikarians reacted do being assimilated.  It’s a good thing Voyager didn’t stick around.)

However, it took Picard only half the season to meet up with Soji, who is only starting to come to terms with what she is.  Narek was right to hold off, though.  Trying to kill Soji did activate her, which probably wouldn’t have ended well if he was still trying to get information out of her.

The series seems to be moving along pretty well.  I’ve come to use 24 as the show by which I judge other serialized shows.  24 could be a little jerky in that every episode ended with an overly dramatic cliffhanger.  Star Trek: Picard doesn’t do that.  There is a sense of a chapter being completed, but it seems more natural.  By this episode, we’re getting a much smoother experience.

There are a few questions, such as why Elnor didn’t go with Picard.  Elnor is sworn to protect Picard.  Separating serves no obvious purpose.  It’s also not clear in this episode exactly where Picard is going or why, but at least that will be revealed in the next episode.

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Star Trek: Picard -- Season 1 Episode 5 (Stardust City Rag)

AbsoluteCandor was an episode of Truth.  Now, we have Stardust City Rag, an episode about lies.  Or, rather, the truth being concealed.  Admiral Picard has the location of Bruce Maddox.  He has his hired sword.  Now, he just has to talk his way into a meeting with the woman holding Maddox.

Maddox is being held on a planet called Freecloud by a woman named Bjayzl.  As others have pointed out, she bears an eerie resemblance to Deanna Troi.  She and Maddox apparently had some sort of loan going.  Since Maddox is no longer in a position to repay that debt, Bjayzl is going to sell him to the Tal Shiar.

It’s up to Picard and crew to save him.  With him is Seven of Nine, former Borg drone.  She and Bjayzl seem to have a history.  The truth of their relationship doesn’t fully come out, but it’s clear by the end of the episode that Seven wanted revenge.  Why?  Our flashback this episode is of Icheb being tortured.  Fans of Voyager will remember Icheb as another former drone that Seven cared for.

Maddox is saved only to meet an untimely death by the end of the episode.  It’s a shame.  As much as I didn’t like Bruce Maddox, I don’t think he deserved what he got.  It does seem to set up a future episode, hopefully.  Apparently Bruce and Agnes had a thing going.  I would hope we find out what it’s all about.

While the show could be enjoyed by anyone, Star Trek: Picard is shaping up to be a series throwing out Easter eggs to long-time fans of the show.  On Freecloud, we see signs for Mott’s Hair Emporium and Quark’s Bar.  While neither is seen onscreen, it’s nice to see that both had a career after their respective shows ended.  There’s also a mention to Icheb’s missing cortical implant, which Seven of Nine now has.

Freecloud does seem to be a cesspool, although it does provide for some fun scenes.  Almost everyone on the ship gets their own holospam.  The captain gets an ad for ship maintenance.  Agnes gets an ad that she has to punch to get rid of.  Poor Elnor doesn’t get anything.  Of course, I would imagine little is known of him, so that’s to be expected.

It’s nice to see Seven of Nine let her hair down.  She seems a little more human than when we last saw her.  She doesn’t have her jumpsuit, looking more like an Indiana Jones disciple.  I suppose that wouldn’t be far off, as she’s working to help protect the former Neutral Zone.

I have to say I’m quickly becoming a fan of the show.  This is definitely what I might have expected from Discovery.  That’s not to speak ill of it, but there is a definite cohesion that Discovery was lacking.  I’m definitely going to continue binging.

Absolute Candor was an episode of Truth.  Now, we have Stardust City Rag, an episode about lies.  Or, rather, the truth being concealed.  Admiral Picard has the location of Bruce Maddox.  He has his hired sword.  Now, he just has to talk his way into a meeting with the woman holding Maddox.

Maddox is being held on a planet called Freecloud by a woman named Bjayzl.  As others have pointed out, she bears an eerie resemblance to Deanna Troi.  She and Maddox apparently had some sort of loan going.  Since Maddox is no longer in a position to repay that debt, Bjayzl is going to sell him to the Tal Shiar.

It’s up to Picard and crew to save him.  With him is Seven of Nine, former Borg drone.  She and Bjayzl seem to have a history.  The truth of their relationship doesn’t fully come out, but it’s clear by the end of the episode that Seven wanted revenge.  Why?  Our flashback this episode is of Icheb being tortured.  Fans of Voyager will remember Icheb as another former drone that Seven cared for.

Maddox is saved only to meet an untimely death by the end of the episode.  It’s a shame.  As much as I didn’t like Bruce Maddox, I don’t think he deserved what he got.  It does seem to set up a future episode, hopefully.  Apparently Bruce and Agnes had a thing going.  I would hope we find out what it’s all about.

While the show could be enjoyed by anyone, Star Trek: Picard is shaping up to be a series throwing out Easter eggs to long-time fans of the show.  On Freecloud, we see signs for Mott’s Hair Emporium and Quark’s Bar.  While neither is seen onscreen, it’s nice to see that both had a career after their respective shows ended.  There’s also a mention to Icheb’s missing cortical implant, which Seven of Nine now has.

Freecloud does seem to be a cesspool, although it does provide for some fun scenes.  Almost everyone on the ship gets their own holospam.  The captain gets an ad for ship maintenance.  Agnes gets an ad that she has to punch to get rid of.  Poor Elnor doesn’t get anything.  Of course, I would imagine little is known of him, so that’s to be expected.

It’s nice to see Seven of Nine let her hair down.  She seems a little more human than when we last saw her.  She doesn’t have her jumpsuit, looking more like an Indiana Jones disciple.  I suppose that wouldn’t be far off, as she’s working to help protect the former Neutral Zone.

I have to say I’m quickly becoming a fan of the show.  This is definitely what I might have expected from Discovery.  That’s not to speak ill of it, but there is a definite cohesion that Discovery was lacking.  I’m definitely going to continue binging.

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