After all these years, are we still pretending that Jean-Luc Picard
is actually French? Because he is every inch the Englishman abroad in
this episode, striding into the relocation camp on Vashti in the
prologue flashback in his white suit and broad-brimmed hat. He's got
a serious case of white saviour complex in this episode, and in
fairness, he has saved a lot of people, but Christ, does he know it.
While the long pilot ostensibly finished last episode, this
instalment is another step in the building of the main cast, with
Evan Evagora joining as the Romulan space ninja Elnor. He's basically
an elf from The Lord of the Rings, isn't he? Evagora does
pretty well as a stoic warrior boy from an advanced martial culture,
although the Australian accent is slightly odd coming from a Romulan.
Then again, in this series we've had English and Irish Romulans, so
why not? Why should all the aliens sound American? I want a Brummie
Klingon before the season's out, please.
We learn a lot about Romulan culture in this episode, both on Vashti
and on the Artefact. We've never really seen much of it beyond the
military, the government and Tal Shiar before, so having new elements
to explore sets this series apart from earlier Romulan stories. The
Qowat Milat are good fun – a group of warrior nuns with a vow of
truth and honesty is just a great fantasy idea and nothing like what
we've seen from the Romulans before. Elnor must have had one hell of
a childhood, though, with all those women being relentlessly honest
with him. I can't help but agree with Jurati – the “way of
absolute candor” sounds pretty irritating.
Vashti itself is an interesting location. It seems that it was
previously a Romulan/Federation cooperative, which is something that
could never have existed in the pre-Nemesis period of the 24th
century, and it makes sense that this was a prime location for
settling Romulan refugees. It's deteriorated since then, though, and
the “Romulans Only” signs seem almost redundant as it looks like
all non-Romulan elements have long since pulled out. Some commenters
are questioning how poverty can exist in this beautiful future, but
frankly, it's pretty clear that neither the Federation for what
remains of the Romulan government has the resources to support every
planet that needs help. Calling the UFP a post-scarcity society isn't
really accurate, but it's certainly on its way to being one, but any
society would need a huge infrastructure to keep things functioning.
A major crisis – the destruction of Romulus or the attack on Mars –
would lead to a huge change in both the availability and distribution
of resources. If a colony was let go it would break down very
quickly.
It's understandable that there's some bad blood towards the
Federation from Romulan refugees, but the characters we meet here are
particularly hate-fuelled. The big guy who stands up to Picard seems
more pissed off that the Federation offered to help the Romulans in
the first place rather than leave them to help themselves. It's a
wildly inconsistent attitude, and while that's hardly unusual for
someone with a bigoted point of view, it's annoying to see Picard
shoulder the blame for that too. Frankly, even together it would have
been impossible for the Empire and the Federation to save everyone on
Romulus and Remus, but at least Picard's efforts helped save
thousands. White saviour complex it might be, but it's gratifying
that he'll take none of that shit from the Romulan survivors. He's
guilty for not doing more, but he'll never apologise for trying.
Events on the Artefact stretch on, and to be honest they're becoming
a little boring. The Incest Twins are becoming irritating in the
extreme, and Soji isn't really being afforded much in the way of
character. Dajh made more of an impression in her short screen time
than her sister has in four episodes, and given that they're played
by the same actress, it can only be the writing that's at fault
there. It's interesting to learn more about Ramdha, and her insights
into Romulan mythology, although the intention seems to be that she
is somehow linking Soji with an impending apocalypse. Given that
Romulus has been annihilated, you'd think that Romulan Armageddon has
rather been and gone.
It's a mostly enjoyable episode, but one whose runtime is
overshadowed by its final moments. The La Sirena crew spend a
bit too much effort pushing that the pilot of the ship that has saved
them from the Bird-of-Prey is a “he,” so it's pretty clear we're
going to have the shock reveal they're a woman. Still, it's an
effective cliffhanger, even if the reveal does swamp the rest of the
episode. But who cares? Seven of Nine's back.
Thoughts:
I
like that we're explicitly spending some time in the Beta Quadrant,
which has been skirted over in most series, even though logically
loads of episodes before have to have taken place there, most of
Enterprise and
Discovery take
place there and the USS Voyager,
notoriously, should have reached it long before the series ended.
It makes sense that there's a power vacuum since Romulus was
destroyed. So far we know that there's a Romulan Free State, possibly
residual Romulan Empire, the mysterious Fenris Rangers and sundry
petty warlords.
Random thought: what's the status of Nimbus 3 in this period? I can
imagine that a lot of Romulan refugees would have made their way
there, assuming it's still in neutral territory.
It's a Romulan Bird-of-Prey! Absolute classic starship, how dare Rios
insult it?
With
Orla Brady, Michelle Hurd and now Jeri Ryan, this series is full of
sexy older women. Basically, I want a Trek
version
of Ocean's 8.
(Ooh, my fanfic senses are tingling.)
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