I don’t know what I was hoping for from Star Trek: Picard. Maybe a return to the meditative, optimistic style of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I mean, I’d love a good episodic Star Trek series like that again, but nobody seems interested in making one at the moment. Besides, if you bring Picard out of retirement, you generally want him to be doing something more than the same thing we saw him do for seven seasons and four movies. I do know for sure I wasn’t expecting it to be this slow. Methodical, yes, but not three-whole-episodes-to-leave-Earth slow. That was an odd choice, but we’re finally out in space. Wouldn’t you know it, the show got a whole lot better.
Imagine that, a Star Trek show is much more enjoyable once it actually gets to the star trekkin’. The episode begins with a flashback to the day Picard learned of the Mars attack. He was meeting with an all-female order of knights-maybe-assassins who’ve helped him relocate some of the Romulans. He placed a young boy named Elnor in their care, promising to come back for him once he finds a more suitable home for the child. We all know how that’s gonna go. Especially when the episode takes the time to show us how much Elnor adores and idolizes Picard. Right on cue, Picard gets word of the synthetic attack and has to leave immediately. That’s the last time anyone on the planet Vashti saw him. Thanks to last week’s flashback, we all know what happened to the refugee mission and Picard’s career when he returned to Earth.
Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard and Amirah Vann as Zani (Photo via CBS)
When we pick back up in the present, Raffi is surprised and annoyed to find out that Picard has taken them on a detour to Vashti. He feels guilty about how he left things and is using Rios’ starship to make himself feel better. What I absolutely love about this episode is how much everyone dunks on Picard. The character tends to be lionized in the Star Trek fandom, and in much of the official media. Hell, the big debate is whether Kirk or Picard is the best captain, with Picard-likers seeing themselves as more sophisticated and refined for their preference. (For the record: Benjamin Sisko.) Picard, we’re often told, finds the best solution for everyone. He solves problems with diplomacy, and is the ideal of what a Starfleet captain should be. This episode focuses on a time when he wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, Picard made plenty of mistakes in TNG, but he usually learned something and did the right thing in the end. What’s interesting here is that that didn’t happen.
Picard went back to Earth to argue for the continuation of his mission. When he didn’t get that, he resigned, thinking he was so important, it would force Starfleet to reconsider. It didn’t. And so Raffi was left to be fired and a whole planet full of people, including a little boy waiting for Picard’s return, were left on their own. Picard let all the praise get to his head, and now, we’re seeing the consequences. Picard beams down to find a world of racial segregation. Where one guy with a salvaged Bird of Prey rules over the planet like his own little fiefdom. Not that we see all that much of this. The episode gives us a Romulans only sign and people giving Picard the stink eye. The rest, we’re meant to infer. I realize this wasn’t the story the episode was telling, but I would have appreciated a little more worldbuilding here.
Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard (Photo via CBS)
Picard visits the sisters and finds Elnor all grown up. They never found a suitable home for him, so he trained in their arts and became a formidable fighter in his own right. Picard needs one of the sisters to bind their sword to his quest, and the sisters suggest Elnor. That way, he could see the galaxy outside this planet. The problem: He’s still mad at Picard for abandoning him. Picard doesn’t help either. When Elnor asks why Picard needs him, Picard gives him vague reasons about needing a fighter. Elnor was hoping for something more personal, and refuses.
I wish Picard said or did something to make him change his mind, but that’s not what happens. Instead, Picard is about to beam back up, when a Romulan challenges him to a duel. Picard refuses to fight, but Elnor shows up, seeing that Picard needs help. When the Romulan man tries to attack Picard, Elnor cuts the guy’s head off with a fast strike. Once aboard the ship, Elnor says he changed his mind because he realized Picard’s quest met the requirements for acceptance. Picard clarifies that means it’s a lost cause. Amazing.
Santiago Cabrera as Rios (Photo via CBS)
So we got to visit a new planet, crew disagreements, and a spat with the locals. Now all we need is a spaceship battle and we’ve got ourselves a Star Trek episode. And just in time, here comes that guy in the Bird of Prey trying to shoot down Picard’s ship. We get a fun space battle, where Rios shows off some sweet moves. This being a smaller ship than Picard’s Enterprise, it has a few more maneuvers in its arsenal. They still can’t quite beat the Bird of Prey though, until a third ship enters the battle and saves them. The ship takes heavy damage though, and its pilot asks to beam over. Picard orders Rios to open the channel and beam the pilot aboard. It turns out to be Seven of Nine. Well, that’s a fun surprise! What’s she been up to since Voyager? Given where they’re headed, a former Borg might be useful to have on board. Of course, just like that, the episode ends. Things are finally getting interesting, so the show finally has us hooked for another week.
This was the first episode of Star Trek: Picard to really feel like a classic Star Trek episode. I was impressed at how quickly the show got back to the fun old Trek I remembered once it went into space. Then, I saw that Jonathan Frakes directed this episode. Everything suddenly made sense. The guy is a great director and knows his way around a Star Trek story. He knows how to evoke the feeling of old TNG, and that’s exactly what happened here. Even Soji’s scenes felt more important to the story. She and Narek grow closer to one another. Narek insists to his superior that he’s planting seeds of doubt in her mind. It’s clear though, that he may really be falling in love with her. That could lead to a ton of interesting story possibilities. Plus, the scene where they’re skating around the ventilation floor was real pretty. Star Trek: Picard jumped to warp speed this week. Let’s hope it can keep it up.
Star Trek: Picard streams Thursdays on CBS All Access.
Previously on Star Trek: Picard:
- Star Trek: Picard Season 1 Episode 3 recap
- Star Trek: Picard Season 1 Episode 2 recap
- Star Trek: Picard Series Premiere recap
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