TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-10 "The Last Generation"

And so, it's the last episode of Star Trek: Picard, or is it the last episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation? Or the first episode of Star Trek: Legacy, or whatever the inevitable spin-off is going to be called. This episode, like the whole season, balances two goals: to tell a good, thrilling story, and to indulge the old school fans in some wholesome nostalgia. It succeeds far better at one of these than the other.

On last time - SPOILERS below, although, to be fair, you can probably guess most of what happens.

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-9 - "Vox"

The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard proves to be tremendous fun, chock to the gills with fan-pleasing moments. It's also an utter mess, story-wise, guilty of many of the same sins that previous season finales have committed. SPOILERS throughout after the break.

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-8 - "Surrender"

 SPOILERS within.

Episodes seven and eight of this run very much formed a two-part story, within the longer ongoing storyline of the season as a whole. Still, while this episode settled and shut down several storylines both from last week's, and from the main arc, it also left plenty open. The story's moved on a long way, and while we're still waiting to the answers to some big questions, it's clear everything is et up for a big, two-part finale.

There was some strong writing, direction, acting and visual design this episode, which meant that, as with last week, we got through a lot of exposition without it ever bogging down the story. "Surrender" is a tense episode, largely thanks to the long but nail-biting hostage situation that begins the episode. Plummer chews up the scenery as Vadic, the Changeling having a ball as the new de facto captain of the Titan. I'm still not entirely convinced by her as a Changeling, whatever her backstory - for one thing, why would a Changeling smoke? Like the elaborate monologuing, the cigar-puffing is just easy shorthand for villain in the 21st century. Fortunately, Plummer has class and always makes it entertaining. It's in her quieter, more sinister moments that she really shines. 

Jack's brief posession of Lt. Mura is both unsettling in itself, and serves to highlight the extent of his powers. It's satisfying that his plan doesn't work, as he was on the verge of seeming invulnerable. Instead, Vadic threatens both Mura and Ensign Esmar - and neither is the most exciting character on the bridge crew, so it looked like we'd definitely be seeing one of them zapped. And then Vadic goes and zaps Lt. T'Veen, the coolest member of the bridge crew! Just to make it sting.

There's no coming back from that, so Vadic's days were numbered. It's a pity to see her go, without actually giving us any actual answers about Jack's nature or the identity of Serious Beef, both of which will have to wait till next week. But what a final scene for her. Does flushing a Changeling into space actually freeze it and kill it? We've seen Changeling's fly through space before (Laas in DS9), but then, Vadic is the new, semi-animal kind, so probably more vulnerable. In any case, there's nothing stopping Plummer coming back, either as Vadic once all her pieces have been collected up, or another Changeling, what with them being shapeshifters and all. 

Coming back from the dead not entirely right is all the rage in this series, and now we have New Data, with added Lore. The virtual showdown between Data and Lore's aspects was quite predictable, and it was very clear where it was going, but there were some nice callbacks, and Spiner's dual performance made it work. Now he gets to play a version of Data who has more of the humanity he was always searching for. It's not easy to play multiple versions of android characters and make them distinct yet clearly alike, but he nails it, with the new Data being clearly Data, while also like, yet also distinct from, Lore. It turns out, what you need to be really human is a little bit of bastard in you.

After being deferred last week, Will and Deanna are reunited and allowed to sort our their manage, under the therapeutic conditions of hostage captivity. Marina Sirtis is great, sharing wonderful chemistry with both Frakes and Dorn as always. I'm one of the few who actually liked Deanna and Worf's relationship at the end of TNG, fudged though it was, and Zen Worf's laid back flirting with Deanna was a joy to watch. I'm also happy to believe that Worf was doing it purely to wind Riker up, which I feel has become his primary mission in later life.

Sadly, our lovely counseller is just as useful as ever, which is to say, not very. She senses in Jack "a great darkness," and that something is wrong with him. Yes, darling, we know. At least she's been honing her telepathic abilities over the years since she was on the Enterprise, so she can perform an off-brand mind meld with Jack to find out just what's behind his mental doorway. Not that I'd allow her in my head, after she mind-raped her husband in an attempt to push him out of his very understandable depression following his son's death. Worst therapist ever.

In time for the grand finale, we finally have the entire TNG bridge crew around the conference table, ready to hash things out. Except Ro, who's dead. And Tasha, who's dead twice. And Wesley, who isn't dead, but his mum is seemingly convinced he is.

Random Thoughts:

Worf wears captain's pips, and Matalas has confirmed this is accurate. The Picard tie-in novel The Last Best Hope had Worf become captain of the Enterprise-E (off screen, as it were), so perhaps this will hold through to the show itself. This means Worf has the same rank as Riker (albeit not seniority), outranks Data (who retains his Lt. Commander status) and is under Geordi, who as a Commodore, is subordinate to only Picard.

The new Changelings seem remarkably vulnerable to bladed weapons, although as least Worf remembers to vapourise them afterwards to be certain.

Lt. Mura's first name is Matthew, so presumably he's at least part human.

Best line: 

"Fucking solids."

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-7 - "Dominion"

 SPOILERS from the outset.

"Dominion" is a mix of the excellent and the irritating, that comes together to make an overall strong episode, albeit one that stops at a frustrating point. 

On the plus side, this episode features some of the best cast performances so far this season. Brent Spiner is as good as ever, flitting between Data and Lore, while Levar Burton gives easily his best ever performance as Geordi. It's a good indication of how he's matured as an actor over the years, with his scene as the grief-stricken and desperate Geordi as he speaks to the android by far the best work he's done in the role. Both Stewart and McFadden are also on top form this episode, particularly in their quiet yet intense scenes together, discussing the lengths to which they are prepared to go in their mission.

Ed Speeler and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut continue to show excellent chemistry, although their scene in the turbolift is a bit weird. Not only does Sydney have a very specific flirting routine, and Jack doing something slightly different puts her off, when he does touch her hand at the right moment this freaks her out. Sure, we know he's reading her mind, but surely from her perspective he's just doing something perfectly normal that she wanted him to do anyway? Christ, I'm glad I'm not dating this woman. Fortunately, their later scenes during the Changeling assault show that they make an excellent team, and this sequence actually makes Jack's sudden, newfound telepathy work as a plot point.

This is really Vadic's episode, though. Amanda Plummer, allowed to do more than chew the scenery, is absolutely phenomenal, with Vadic coming into her own as a powerful and almost justified villain. The flashbacks to her torture at the hands of a Federation scientist make for a potent and disturbing origin story, and one that is all too believable. I suspect many Trek purists will balk at this darker side to the supposedly utopian Federation, just as they balked at the dirty secrets and warfare of Deep Space Nine. I prefer this take, though, for reminding us that there is always the temptation to break the moral code when you think the ends justify the means. I love how Picard keeps trying to point out that the Federation gave the Changelings the cure to the disease that almost wiped them out, while Vadic points out that not only did they create the disease in the first place, once it came to light, even the public face of the UFP voted not to give it to them. It was only Odo and his comrades on DS9 who saved the Changelings, and then the Federation continued to experiment on their enemies.

Of course, Vadic conveniently forgets that the Dominion was also happy to commit genocide against the Cardassians, and that it had used biological warfare numerous times in the Gamma Quadrant. Her mission is not truly justified - not least because many innocents will surely die if she completes it - but it is entirely undersandable. Once she takes the Titan, it's hard not to feel a surge of triumph on her behalf.

Unfortunately, to get us to this point, the plot has to take some ridiculous and contrived turns. The forcefield battle and trap on the Titan is brilliant, but it's hard to see how Vadic could fall for it, especially as she was surely unaware that Lore was hiding in there to help her escape. Why, indeed, did Picard and Geordi leave the new android plugged in at all, knowing that Lore was in there and threatening to assert dominance? Sadly, all too often, to get a plot to function supposedly intelligent characters have to do very stupid things.

The episode gives us both questions and answers, predictable moments and surprises, and it's satisfying that this season isn't simply a folow-up to The Next Generation, but to the entire TNG-era. Tim Russ making an appearance as Tuvok (or not, as it turned out to be) was a nice touch and a genuine surprise, and I understand from his tweets post-broadcast that he'll be back again, so hopefully real Tuvok will appear before the series is done. The mysterious, swirling face is heavily implied to not be a Changeling itself, and the list of possible villains is getting slimmer. (You just know it has to be someone we've met before. My money is on Sela, as she has unfinished and it would give Denise Crosby a chance to return to the fold, but frankly it's a wild guess.) Somehow less interesting is the truth about Jack's nature, and Picard's in relation to him, as it all feels a little too contrived. Still, it looks like we'll be getting answers to these questions shortly, and not before time.

Random Thoughts:

Setting much of the episode in the debris field of the Chin'toka system is a nice touch, showing more of the fallout of the Dominion War.

Interesting that the Vulcans still have warships, though. We know from Lower Decks that they retain their own fleet, but a warship doesn't seem like their style post-Enterprise era.

Seemingly forgotten is that Lal is also within the new android, along with Data, Lore and the dormant personalities of Altan Soong and B-4. Unless, of course, this is being deliberately overlooked for a surprise development later.

Dr. Crusher is still talking like Wesley is dead, and not actually having a great time travelling time and space.

The mysterious face who likes to give orders is now named Serious Beef, thanks to a comment I made on the Star Trek Shitposting FB group being picked up. Whoever they turn out to be, I shall always think of them as Serious Beef.

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-6 - "The Bounty"

HERE BE SPOILERS

“The Bounty” is a cracking, action-packed episode, and with a name that is certainly appropriate, if you consider an abundance of references and Easter eggs to be a bounty. In a season that is overflowing with nostalgia, it is the episode most overstuffed with kisses to the past, to the point where it seems almost like an episode of Lower Decks. Yet it’s also a strong episode with a focus on both action and character. There are a couple of decisions in the storytelling which are bit questionable, but as we are discovering more each episode, it’s clear we haven’t learned the full truth about any of it.

We’re finally away from both M’Talas Prime and the living nebula, and onto some new locations: the Fleet Musuem at Athan Prime, and Daystrom Station in orbit of an unnamed planet. I don’t mind the overly dark sets this season – it’s unrealistic, but it does make it cool and moody, so fair enough – but inside Daystrom is just ridiculous. Has Data’s disembodied mind decided that pitch blackness is best for security? There could have been even more Easter eggs in there than we realise, and no one would ever be able to see them.

Anyway, it’s old friends and enemies all round. Of course, unlike Ro’s return last week, most of the returning characters were spoiled by the season trailer, but it appears that was just as much for misdirection as anything. After Lore’s involvement was revealed early on, I assumed, along with many, that he would be the, or at least a, major villain this season. While he could certainly come to play a bigger part, it seems he’s just a sidenote right now, sharing a body with Data, Soong and B-4 (and allegedly Lal, who hasn’t spoken up yet. They should have had Brent Spiner snog Riker to show she was in there.) It’s not a massive surprise that Spiner’s playing Data again (or at least, a version of him), but there’s only so many times they can kill the character off and bring him back without it seeming meaningless. Still, I guess a robotic character is one who you don’t have to find too many excuses for resurrecting. The script still isn’t very clear on the difference between androids, golems and synths, but it seems to have something to do with them being played by old men. Twenty years ago, Spiner said he was done playing Data and didn’t want to keep playing an increasingly aged android, but you’re allowed to change your mind, aren’t you?

Daniel Davis’s brief appearance as Moriarty was a treat, but sadly rather spoiled by his appearance in the trailer. Had he appeared out of the blue, it would have been fantastic. Still, as a red herring it worked well, since we were all expecting that the archvillain would actually be taking part in the plot properly. It seems this is just a recreation of Moriarty as part of the security system, rather than the AI himself – hopefully, he’s still out there in his little virtual world. Given that mobile holo-emitters are now seemingly easy to come by, there’s no reason he couldn’t come back as a proper villain. In the end, he was just included as extra colour, along with a lovely call back to the very first appearance of Riker and Data in “Encounter at Farpoint” back in 1987 (or 2364, if you prefer).

Levar Burton excels as an older, wearier, more cautious version of Geordi. Now a Commodore (so he outranks Riker!) and worried about his daughters, he’s understandably not ready to go in, all guns blazing, or to turn his back on the chain of command and break orders. Of course, if the Changelings do take over Starfleet, his daughters are screwed anyway, along with everyone else. Setting aside just how Picard and co. can be sure he isn’t a Changeling as well, I rather liked how they assumed he'd be ready to throw his lot in with them again at a moment’s notice, only to be rebuked. Characters have to move on, after all, and becoming more cautious in later life, as with both La Forge and Riker, is probably more realistic than Picard and Crusher’s increased recklessness. Plus, we saw Captain La Forge about ten years earlier (in-universe time) chasing after rogue Starfleet officers in VOY: “Timeless,” so it’s in character.

The interplay between Riker and Worf was great, with it never being clear how much Worf is really being a reborn, Zen Klingon, and how much of it is just a new way to wind up Riker. I would have liked some more time with Seven and Raffi, if only to give them some closure and find out just what went wrong between them, but there is still time for that. It’s not all about the old guard, though. The next next generation is being set up here, with Mica Burton (Levar’s real life daughter) now introduced as Geordi’s other daughter Alandra, bringing a new dynamic to the developing new crew. Speelers and Chestnut have great chemistry together as Jack and Sydney. Their side mission to nick the cloaking device from the Bounty was a lot of fun. Altogether, it has a flavour of the earlier Trek movies, where David Marcus and Saavik seemed to be set up to carry on the franchise, before they got pushed aside so the old boys could carry on.

However, perhaps the single most touching moment in the episode is during the browsing through the starships at the Fleet Museum. What could have been pure fanservice is raised to something rather beautiful when Seven shares a moment with Jack, reflecting on how the starship Voyager became her home. Jack also shares some nice moments with his father as he reflects on the burden of his inherited Irumodic Syndrome. I don’t buy for a second that this is all there is to his hallucinations, though. For one thing, what sort of neurodegenerative disorder grants someone the ability to beat the crap out of four Changelings without breaking a sweat?

Presumably, it all has something to do with whatever else is hidden within Picard’s original body, now in the possession of the Changelings (again, great misdirection – I assumed that it was Lore and/or Moriarty that they had stolen from Daystrom). It feels very much as though we’re moving into the final stage of the mystery now.

Random thoughts:

I absolutely loved Shaw’s geeking out at meeting legendary engineer Geordi La Forge. We absolutely need more from Shaw in a future series (although, a younger version of him, mid-career, could appear on Lower Decks as well).

For a moment it appeared that Riker hadn’t heard of Section 31. They should have kept it like that – it would have been hilarious if he was the only person in Starfleet who still wasn’t in on the “secret.”

Not only did Daystrom hold Picard’s old body, they also apparently have Captain Kirk’s in there – do they collect them or something? They must be annoyed that Sisko ascended instead of leaving a body behind.

The “attack tribble” was utterly pointless and completely ridiculous. I love it.

You have to wonder if the Bounty’s cloaking device is still any good after nearly 120 years – surely Starfleet can detect ships using such an old cloak by now. I’m assuming the Defiant no longer has its cloaking device (if the second one ever even had one).

As well as the HMS Bounty and the USS Voyager NCC-74656, the Fleet Museum includes the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A from Star Treks IV to VI, and a previously unseen classic Constitution-class, the USS New Jersey NCC-1975 (apparently referencing Terry Matalas’s home state and year of birth). It looks like the original Enterprise, not the Discovery/Strange New Worlds redesign.

There’s also, among several others, a Klingon battlecruiser (perhaps Kronos One from Star Trek VI); a Romulan Bird-of-Prey; an Excelsior-class ship (perhaps the Excelsior NCC-2000 itself) and an NX-class ship (probably not the Enterprise, as it’s a refit version).

The existence of an intact Enterprise-A and Kirk’s corpse proves the Shatnerverse novels can’t take place in this universe.

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-5 "Imposters"

SPOILERS from the outset.

Another very strong episode, a taut thriller which delivers some surprises, albeit more in terms of unexpected returning characters than plot twists. The big deal in this episode is, of course, the return of Michelle Forbes as Ro Laren, thirty years since her last appearance on TNG: “Pre-emptive Strike.” I had genuinely avoided any spoilers regarding this, and among all the many returning faces given away in the trailers before, seeing Ro again was a true surprise. Playing on the Changeling conspiracy with it, so we kept questioning whether it was really her to begin with, added an extra layer to an already tense reunion.

Forbes and Stewart are electric together, the once protégé confronting the teacher she betrayed. As beautifully done as it is, though, I’m not entirely happy with it. After all, as I said, it was thirty years ago, and it doesn’t seem like Picard to have been nursing this grudge so venomously for so long. He claims to have been planning what he’d say to Ro all that time, yet not once has he mentioned it on screen since the aforementioned episode. Yes, this was right at the end of The Next Generation, and it's not surprising that it wasn’t followed up in the films or previous series of Picard among all the many other elements. Still, while it’s good to finally have some closure on Ro’s story, Picard’s simmering anger with her seems to come out of nowhere. While last week it was Shaw who channelled Sisko, this time it’s Picard, whose attitude to Ro is almost identical to Sisko’s hatred of the other major Maquis turncoat, Eddington.

Yet, it’s hard to be turned off by this, given how exceptional the performances are, and it’s way beyond time Forbes came back to the fold. It’s common enough knowledge that the creators of DS9 originally wanted Ro as a main character, and that Kira was created as a replacement when Forbes said no. As much as I love Nana Visitor, I feel we missed out on an even more powerful dynamic that Forbes would have brought to the series. At least she’s back…

… and then they kill her. I’m not against major character deaths, and Picard is certainly not afraid to bump off legacy characters, but we really needed more time with Ro. I understand that killing her was intended to show that no one is safe, but with this being the last last hurrah for the TNG crew, we already know that major characters can be killed.

After missing out last week, we’re back with Worf and Raffi, and they’re as good together as ever. I loved Kirk Avecedo as the villainous Vulcan Krinn. I understand that he’s another of Matalas’s Twelve Monkeys stalwarts, along with Aaron “Sneed” Stanford, but to me he’s always going to be Charlie from Fringe. The idea of a Vulcan who has become a crime lord because he’s deduced that crime is a logical and unavoidable element of society, so he might as well be the one organising it, is a great one. The fight between Raffi and Worf was fun, an obvious callback to the Kirk-Spock deathmatch in TOS: “Amok Time” (but what it was really missing was that classic TOS fight music). Still, I’m glad that the season’s threads are tying up and that we’re finally moving on from M’Talas Prime.

The Changeling threat gets more interesting, with the revelation that this a new breed of shapeshifter that actively mimics human blood and organs a logical progression of their infiltration techniques (so it seems their new look is deliberately “fleshy,” compared to their translucent old style). Equally intriguing is Jack’s ongoing trouble with alien visions, and his sudden superhero moment where he takes out a whole bunch of shapeshifters. He’s seemingly some kind of sleeper agent, but who or what placed him there? This feels like it might be one mystery too many, but hopefully it’ll all be tied up satisfactorily in the end. My concern is that we’re halfway through the season and the characters are only now finding answers and moving onto new locations. I fear that we’re going to have the same rushed ending issues as the previous two seasons.

Random Thoughts:

Names of interest on Worf’s feed include Morn of Luria (he never shuts up), his one-time associate Larell, Brunt (FCA) and Thadiun Okona (the one whose managed to appear on Lower Decks and Prodigy lately – you know, the guy who’s like what you’d get if you ordered Han Solo from Wish).

New ship alert: the USS Intrepid NCC-79520, apparently Duderstadt-class. I don’t enjoy the constant fan negativity when it comes to new ship designs, but that’s one ugly vessel. It looks like it’s bum’s the wrong way round.

Picard speaks Bajoran, it seems. He offers Ro some Bajoran springwine – she looks like more of a spirit drinker to me.

The mobile holographic emitter, cribbed by the Doctor from the 29^th century, is now on the market to intelligence operatives and criminal lowlifes.

Although there hardly seems to be room for yet more legacy characters in the season, it definitely sounds like they’re building to an appearance by Admiral Janeway.

Worst line of the week:

“Is it a new species?”

“No… it’s evolution.”

Christ, Crusher’s always been lumbered with nonsensical pseudoscientific dialogue, but doesn’t she understand that’s what evolution is?

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-4 "No-Win Scenario"

SPOILERS, technically, but the episode is now a week old and the next one is out. So much of this might be considered old news and bumf by now.

After an excellent third episode, Picard delivers a taut, solid part four which, while predictable in almost every respect, is so perfectly realised it's hard to find fault. "No-Win Scenario" is a tough, exciting but basically old-fashioned episode of Trek, with a good balance of the wonder of exploration and nail-biting fights against the odds, plus plenty of humour and a powerful emotional backbone.

With the action provided by fights with Changeling infiltrators, cosmic mothers of a thousand young, deadly asteroid fields and some clever sciencey escape plans, the really powerful stuff is the emotional head-to-heads between Picard and the various people he's pissed off. The scenes between Jean-Luc and Jack are some of the best material we've seen from Stewart in this series, with Speelers holding his own against the veteran actor. Spending time together in Ten-Forward (or rather, a holographic recreation of Guinan's terrestrial Ten Forward bar), they truly bond, but at the same time it's hammered home to Picard just how much he's missed out on, and how much he threw away by not having a family.

While it's a bit hard to line-up the flashbacks to Picard's storytelling to an enraptured audience of cadets (I'm fairly sure he should have been sulking in France during those years, but never let consistency get in the way of a good scene), they're a joy to watch, as the old admiral pretends he'd rather be on his own but is evidently having a whale of a time regaling the students with tales of his exploits. Yet, the most powerful moment comes later, when we see that Jack was there at the bar too, having asked the admiral about his family and being outright told that "Starfleet is the only family I ever needed."

Picard's realisation in the present, as the penny drops and he realises who he was talking to all those years ago, is another masterful moment of non-verbal acting from Stewart. It's interesting to wonder exactly why he said this, of course. Was he being disingenuous, saying what he thought the cadets would want to hear from their hero, especially when starting out on careers that will take them far from home and dominate their lives? Or was it a moment of honesty? After all, the younger Picard had often been sniffy at the idea of family on the Enterprise, and had been famously awkward with children. It's less than surprising that Beverly Crusher would be reluctant to tell him about her son with that in mind. Plus, Picard is presumably still dealing with the loss of his nephew (seen in Star Trek Generations) and the memory of an entire family lost to him (in the classic episode "The Inner Light"). Even though Generations showed that his true desire was to have a family, he's fought hard to keep that truth from others and admit it to himself, and is no doubt frightened by the idea as much as he desires it. I feel like you can see all of that in his face in that moment of recognition. But then, I've just had a baby, after years of fearful reluctance myself. This stuff is hitting me harder than it would have done a year ago.

JL and JC are interrupted at one point by Captain Shaw, in another powerful moment. Todd Stashwick is amazing as Shaw, finally bursting out with his anger and grief at Picard (yet still somehow in that measured way he always has) for the events of Wolf 359. Of course, we've seen this before: with Sisko in the opening episode of DS9, but it's not as though there won't be hundreds, maybe thousands of officers who still blame Picard for his actions as Locutus. It's irrational for Shaw to blame Picard or Seven for their actions as Borg - they were, after all, just as much victims of the Collective as those killed at Wolf 359 - but it's also entirely understandable. Shaw acts like a dick (Seven's word!) but in an entirely relatable way. I also enjoyed his noting that, for all the "weird shit" on the Stargazer, the real Borg are still out there (albeit apparently still reeling from the attack at the end of Voyager). Presumably this was put in to clear things up for the various people still somehow confused by the end of season two.

Meanwhile, on the other ship, Vadic is showing some more interesting character. It's becoming clear that behind closed doors, she's actually rather frightened and a little out-of-her-depth, putting on a show of bravado for her crew, and even more of one for her enemies. We're getting little snippets of a more complex character. The question of her relationship to the Changelings hangs in the air in this episode, although by the time I got round to writing this, Matalas has gone and confirmed on Twatter that she is indeed a Changeling. Which is all very intriguing, given her behaviour. The scene in which she hacks off her hand to form a sort-of communications device is fascinating, and one that I actually assumed proved she isn't a shapeshifter - why would she need to hack off her hand rather than simply detaching it willfully? Also intriguing is the scary face she communicates with. Some kind of new Link, or something else altogether speaking to her via her innate telepathy? (Remember, we saw Odo once form a telepathic link with Sisko, Dax and Garak unconsciously and under stress.)

The appearance of the Changelings is also creepy, looking more fleshy than the shimmering fluid we've seen before. This could just be a case of the designers making use of better visual effects techniques to create a scarier version of the enemy, but I wonder if it's actually something to do with the disease that ravaged the Changelings at the end of the war? That might explain an awful lot of what we're seeing.

It's good to see Riker and Picard resolve their own differences like adults, instead of dragging out animosity like many dramas would. Riker's scenes, where he talks to Picard and later Deanna, and finally admits that he's been dealing with a drawn-out depression following his son's death, also struck me powerfully.

As I noted above, a lot of this episode plays out very predictably, from the unmasking of the infiltrator, the reluctant resolution between Picard and Shaw, and the already signposted nature of the nebula as a life form (although the reveal that the waves were contractions was rather nice). None of this is a problem, and actually helps the episode run along without ever becoming hard to follow, even as a lot happens in a short time. The real triumph of the episode, though, is its emotional core. 

Favourite bits worth mentioning:

• Picard and Jack discussing premature baldness.
• Riker throwing an asteroid at the Shrike.
• Shaw referring to Changeling residue as "resi-goo." He has a way with words.
• Nods back to "Encounter at Farpoint," "Darmok" and "Booby Trap."
• Patrick Stewart saying "dipshit" will stick with me.

Questions and quandaries:

• If the Changeling took the transporter chief's place, why did he hide the body in a cupboard? Wouldn't he be in a perfect position to beam it into space without being caught?
• Picard's tales include an encounter with the Hirogen, also involving Worf. Now that's a story I would like to see.
• Is pot legal in the Federation? I like that they're still calling it pot in nearly 400 years (Picard and Jack no doubt call it weed).
• What's going on with Jack's red weed hallucinations? (Is it the Martians from The War of the Worlds? They are public domain now.)
  

TREK REVIEW; PIC 3-3 - "Seventeen Seconds"

 SPOILERS, naturally.

And suddenly, the season went from being good to bloody great.

Last week I quibbled about wanting to know what's going on, having seen the previous two seasons spend too long getting to the core of the plot and having serious pacing issues because of it. I needn't have worried. Although the events remain stuck in the same places as in the end of episode one - a mysterious, unusual nebula and the seedy streets of M'Talas Prime - they're pushing forward, and while the claustrophobic tension increases, we suddenly learn a lot more about what's going on behind the scenes in the galaxy.

On the Titan, Captain Shaw is incapacitated by Vadic's attack, with the absolute pummeling the ship takes this episode proving him completely right about the folly of getting involved here at the edge of space. Todd Stashwick's performance, combined with some solid writing, have made Shaw move from the nasty character who opposes our heroes to the one we all finding ourselves siding with. He's the only one, somehow, to realise that Vadic must be tracking the Titan somehow, as if the idea they're trailing something is so difficult for all these Starfleet geniuses to come up with. (I don't know, maybe they're all just overconfident.)

Sadly, this pushes Shaw out of the episode, but there's more than enough going on elsewhere. I love that he puts Riker in command, not Picard, in spite of the elder man being the ranking officer. It's clear that, while he doesn't much like the former Titan captain, he can't stand the legendary Jean-Luc Picard, and you can understand why. Last week I mentioned how Jack was very much Picard in his youth, reckless and irresponsible but well-meaning, while Shaw is rather like early-TNG, all duty and by-the-book, not friendly with his crew but garnering their respect. 

Contemporary Picard has come through the other side, being familiar, morally-bound and courageous, but he's come right back through to reckless again. Riker, who has a more recent and keenly felt loss, is more cautious and introspective than we once knew him. Their command roles are switched, just as their personas have changed with time. It's great to see them at each other's throats after so many years being on good terms. We barely got a cross word between them on TNG (thanks to Roddenberry's drama-killing "no human conflict" rule), and you can't help but feel that there's nearly forty years' pent-up resentment between these men, finally coming out.

On the other hand, we have the confrontation between Picard and Crusher, and here it's hard not to feel sympathetic to old JL. It's entirely understandable that Beverly would fear for son's safety as the child of the legendary Picard, especially given how his approach became more gung-ho in the movies and beyond. Plus, let's not forget the one time that he thought he did have a son, because the Ferengi Daimon Bok wanted revenge so badly that he faked a DNA test. If someone did find out that Jack was Picard Jr, he probably would be in danger from certain elements. On the other hand, Beverly has been living an even more dangerous life on the edge of the law with her son, breaking all manner of treaties and seeing him become a wanted man, all by the age of twenty (yes, Ed Speelers is about 34, but that's how the years add up, no two ways about it). Something doesn't quite ring true.

Elsewhere, Raffi and Worf become a wonderful new double-act, with Dorn in particular shining as the older, wryer Klingon. "Beheadings are on Wednesdays" - and they say this guy doesn't have a sense of humour. Dorn has, famously, appeared in more instalments of the Trek franchise than any other actor, all as Worf (except The Undiscovered Country, where he played Worf's grandfather... Worf). He's great, but his long-championed Worf series never sounded particularly appealing, until now. I'd watch these two snipe at each other on undercover missions for hours.

Both storylines finally come together with the revelations that, a) Vadic has the portal gun (obvs), and b) the Changelings are behind the plot. Now, that was a bit of a shock - not because they weren't a possibility (the changing faces line hinted at it), but because there were so many other possibilities, and DS9 so rarely gets any follow-up. We had that one episode of Lower Decks, and the odd little alien cameo or mention, and that was it for the legacy of the best series in Trek canon? (No, I will not take discussion on this.) An updated Changeling effect makes for a visually appealing, and not immediately obvious, reveal, and that it's a breakaway group, acting against the Founders, is intriguing. Of course the Changelings should hate the Federation after how they won the war.

Intriguing, though, is the clear implication that it isn't just the Changelings behind this. Is Vadic a Changeling? No reason why not, as such, but it somehow doesn't feel likely. As an aside, I loved the battle this week, with Amanda Plummer giving a much more subdued, more appealing performance, and the visual spectacle of the portal gun making for something new in space battles at last. (Riker has clearly never played Portal, and it shows.) It's very Wrath of Khan/Mutara Nebula, of course, but a newer, twistier version. Just as Khan couldn't quite grasp that he was in 3D space, not on the sea, Riker and Picard can't quite grasp that they're fighting something that can come from any angle, any time.

We learn, as well, that the portal gun isn't the prize at all, merely a handy bonus that can be used as a distraction. It's pretty clear that the actual aim of the heist was Lore and/or Moriarty, as we've already seen them in the trailers (perhaps keeping them a secret would have worked better?) Daystrom is, after all, known far more for AI than weapons development. I'm beginning to wonder if we're actually seeing a loose alliance of various beings with an axe to grind with the Federation (hey, maybe we will see the Conspiracy bugs after all).

Interestingly, we've seen that Lore and Moriarty will be visibly older, in spite of the de-ageing software used in the prologue for this episode. With Picard now 96 in-universe, it seems that being a synthetic life form doesn't protect one from the ravages of time. There's a definite theme of ageism in this episode, with Dr. Trill dismissing Crusher, then having to eat her words as Beverly effortlessly diagnoses Shaw. On the other hand, Picard and Riker seem to be genuinely out of their depth against this new threat. 

 All of this covered, and not once did we feel bogged down in exposition or that the pacing was lagging. Excellent work.

Random thoughts:

It's genuinely tricky watching this my partner Suzanne, who has an uncanny ability to guess left-field plot twists way ahead of the reveal. So if it turns out that Riker is actually Thomas Riker, and that's why he's so unconfident in command, she got there first.

Worf has taken to drinking chamomile tea. I hope he still drinks prune juice - it keeps you regular.

Thaddeus Troi-Riker, Will and Deanna's late son, was apparently born around 2381, the same year that Jack was conceived.

Thomas Dekker, who played the Changeling on M'Talas, also played young Thomas Picard on Star Trek Generations. He's about the same age as Ed Speelers. Makes me wonder if he auditioned for Jack Crusher.

Beverly agrees with my theory that Jack's accent is genetic... although it's really because he was schooled in London. We've given up any pretense that Picard is meant to sound French, then.

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-2 - "Disengage"

Yes, SPOILERS.

Not that they'd really spoil anything, to be honest. There were revelations aplenty in this episode, but it's not as if any of them were actually surprising.

Which isn't to say this was bad. This was another solidly entertaining hour of Trek that was heavy on both the character and action. It's just that there was very little that we couldn't have guessed beforehand, or hadn't been outright told to us in the huge promo campaign.

Fortunately, every plays their parts with absolute investment and charisma. Ed Speelers being a case in point. The young Jack Crusher (if that is your real name, sir) is a winning presence, purely on the strength of Speeler's looks and charm. There's any number of ne'er-do-wells with hearts of gold in Trek, and in adventure telly in general, and their success as characters comes down purely to how likeable they are. Speelers makes Jack a character whose adventures I'd want to watch. And yes, there is something a bit Picard-like in him, a bit like the tearaway Jean-Luc once was, and who occasionally breaks out during those more macho adventures. 

So, as beautifully performed the moment between Picard and Beverly Crusher was (a lovely moment of non-verbal acting), it was followed by an announcement that was still played as if it was meant to surprise us. Yes, we know he's your son, JL, we've been battered over the head with it for the last hour.

Equally unsurprising is the reveal of Raffi's handler. While it could have been just about anyone, Worf was by far the most obvious candidate. Still, while it wasn't a surprise, his swashbuckling entrance, lopping baddies apart with his new Klingon sword was awesome. And he actually got to use it as a sword, a benefit of the more lenient standards of streaming television compared to primetime broadcast and syndication (how many bat'leth fights have we seen where they just hit and prod each other with these deadly weapons?) Lots of Romulans on hand helps, of course - green blood doesn't up the rating as much as red.

Michelle Hurd has an especially good episode as Raffi. You have to feel sorry for her, facing her ex-husband and having to choose between her own life and the safety of the galaxy, all the while being slated for her conspiracy-chasing ways. There was a conspiracy, Jay, she helped uncover it! And now she's back with Starfleet to help uncover another one. She's not nuts! Of course, we get the inevitable moment when she finally has to go all in for the part and shoot up again, although there's a fun side to it as she's such a rock-solid addict that Mr Sneed's knock-out party drug hardly affected her.

Sneed is a fun side villain, with a suitably broad performance by Aaron Stanford, and it's a shame he was dispatched so quickly. One odd thing, though - he had very small ears for a Ferengi male. (Suz's immediate thought when we met him - "Well, he hasn't got the lobes for business!") Is he perhaps a trans Ferengi? Or is there some weird fashion for ear reductions in the 25th century? Or is just luck of the draw?

When it comes to villains, Vadic certainly is one. Amanda Plummer gives a tremendously hammy performance, but that fits perfectly with the material she's given, which is firmly in the self aware, monologuing megalomaniac mold. She's not got the Shakespearean class of her father's General Chang, rather a more unhinged, joyfully evil vibe. So far, she's entertaining, but I hope there's a solid reason behind her actions, rather than just plain baddieness.

The Titan situation continues to be interesting. Captain Shaw is definitely growing on me, with this episode showing things more from his point-of-view. The thing is, he's absolutely right: risking 500 lives for the sake of two is the wrong call, no matter how legendary they are, especially after they went and got themselves into trouble. He seems especially risk averse considering the extent of the danger wasn't clear at this point, but that seems to be sloppy writing/editing rather than a deliberate move. It's a bit of a shame that he falls for Seven's hero speech, since he's a more interesting character if he's not a hero, but rather the sort of measured officer that Starfleet needs a lot of if it's going to function. Someone once said that the definition of a hero is "someone who gets other people killed." (Actually, it was Zoe from Serenity). And it's true, he does.

He's in a genuinely difficult situation with Jack and the order from what is clearly a dangerous terrorist to hand him over. The "we don't negotiate" rule by Starfleet is the sort of directive that is easy to respect until you're actually presented with such a situation. To be honest, the humourless, by-the-book Captain Shaw is not unlike the Captain Picard of the earlier TNG seasons, which, given how Jack is very like the young, undisciplined Picard, and the man himself is now working purely by moral principles, illustrates some interesting character progression.

There's a lot of exposition in "Disengage," but, considering how much ground it has to cover and how many introductions it has to make, it's a swift, easy watch. However, it's already feeling like we should be getting a few answers to what's driving events here.

Random thoughts:

• The Eleos XII is described as a Mariposa medical vessel, which suggests it is (or has been previously) working for an organisation that descended from Cristobal and Teresa's 21st century crisis organisation.
• The shuttle Picard and Riker stole is called Saavik, after the Vulcan officer who served on the Enterprise in Treks II and III. Presumably, this was a homage to Kirstie Alley, the original Saavik actor, who died recently.
• Among many, many other weapons, including "technology unknown" (so the portal gun), the Shrike has isolytic burst warheads, which are illegal under the Khitomer Accords.
• Sneed isn't a fan of Section 31 either. Remember when they were supposed to be a secret organisation?
• "I believe it is afternoon in the Sol system." Does Vadic not understand anything about how time zones work? It's not even afternoon all at the same time on Earth, let alone through the whole system. 
• I didn't mention much of the rest of the Titan crew last week, but they're a colourful bunch, including a bald-headed Vulcan (who might be part-Deltan according to BtS gossip), a Bajoran helmsman and an alien comms officer, apparently a Haliian. Ensign Sidney La Forge is the only one who gets any real attention though, and she's a lot of fun, the one bridge officer who's allowed to be a bit flippant in the presence of Shaw. It helps that Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut is gorgeous, in spite of her silly name.
• Picard and Riker both forget they have transport inhibitors set on the Eleos XII, which almost dooms them. It was a busy moment with a lot going on, but are they getting just a bit too absent-minded in their old age?
• Fun line: "She threw a ship at us!"
  

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-1 - "The Next Generation"

So, Star Trek: Picard is back for its third and final series (unless, you know, they end up doing another after all). I really want to review these as they come, so I will try to get an episode reviewed each week, but I remain ridiculously busy with real life, so there might be the odd delay. On that note, while I did review the first season of Strange New Worlds for Television Heaven, I wasn't able to write individual episode reviews. However, I plan to follow this up by reviving the old Captain's Blog, which should rather suit the more stand-alone episodes of SNW. 

Anyway... SPOILERS ahead.

So, Picard. "The Next Generation" was a solid and entertaining season opener that promises a lot, although it lacked the wham-bam excitement of last year's opener, "The Star Gazer." There seems to be a distinct disconnect between seasons of Picard, and there's some frustration here as we pick up, apparently not long after the end of season two, with no mention of the near-cataclysm at the end of the episode, the creation of a mysterious and gigantic transwarp conduit, or the unlikely alliance of the Federation and the new, improved Borg. Of course, this might all be dealt with later in the season, but I'm not holding my breath.

However, at least we do follow up on Picard's relationship with lovely Laris, who seem to have settled into a nice, respectfully teasing partnership. Give us a proper kiss though. TV needs more older couples really showing affection. The theme of the season seems set up to be relationships, be they romantic, familial, friendly or working. Riker and Picard rub along together beautifully, two old men who've left behind their rather formal working friendship for something closer. Picard is rueful when it comes to his near-romance with Beverley Crusher, although it clearly came to something, considering that this new Crusher Jr. is almost certainly his unknown son. (Did they have a quickie after Nemesis then think better of it? Maybe it was the naked Betazoid wedding that did it.)

Seven, now a commander in Starfleet, is torn between her loyalty to Picard (and, off screen, Janeway, who also championed her to join the fleet) and her commitment to Captain Shaw. We've rarely seen struggle to hold back her emotions like this, so Starfleet life is really getting to her. She doesn't seem to be with Raffi anymore, who is herself missing her family (presumably the hologram she looks at longingly is her granddaughter, as her estranged son and his wife were expecting back in season one). And we know there are a lot of characters still to come with long and storied histories together.

It's an odd about-face for the series, which was explicitly not going to be a TNG reunion when it was first announced. Picard hasn't really managed to find its own identity, thanks to two very different seasons so far, and reworking itself as the Enterprise crew's last adventure together will do little to change this. The series has gone whole-heartedly into nostalgia mode, at least in this episode, from the retro-design of the new Titan and it's Star Trek III styled exit from Spacedock, to the various musical cues taken from earlier series and films. But it's hard to complain, when this is all done with such clear love of the franchise and in such an enjoyable way. (I was particularly pleased to hear the First Contact theme play over the closing credits.)

There are plenty of new elements, though. The aforementioned Captain Shaw is an interesting character, one who we're clearly meant to take against immediately but who isn't actually in the wrong as such. Obstructive he might be, but he's right when he refuses to let two retired officers take his ship on a joy ride against his standing orders. His antagonism towards both Picard and Seven seems to stem from bad experiences with the Borg, and that can't be unusual in Starfleet. (Although, what does "former ex-Borg" mean? That makes no sense.) I suspect he's going to turn out to be a good guy, just one who's also a bit of a prick, especially when it comes to, what is essentially, deadnaming Seven.

Raffi's story also promises to be interesting. I'm glad that her apparent fall off the wagon is just a cover, but it's very clear that she's skirting very close to the edge, and it's refreshing to see character development played out like this on Trek, which historically hasn't liked to make its main characters so flawed and fragile. Her mission, to stop a terrorist attack with a seriously heavy weapon of mass destruction, is a failure, but so frustratingly close. The idea of a a quantum tunnelling weapon is interesting, although what we actually see is nothing of the sort, more a giant portal gun. Presumably it was developed as a transport device before someone realised it could be used to smash cities up.

Dr. Crusher's storyline is certainly intriguing, with her seemingly acting as a civilian medic, but one on the very edges of known space and in a very dangerous situation. It's touching that she relies on Picard as the one person she can trust, although her code is a bit maddening since he had absolutely no way of guessing it - unless it was all a way of getting the gang back together, but that's still very contrived. We have a group of assailants who seem to be wearing masks, and whose faces are allegedly different every time, which suggests they might be a group we'd recognise.

All in all, this was a very enjoyable opening episode, and one that leaves plenty of questions for the future.

Random Thoughts:

• It occurs to me that we don't know how old Laris is. Given Romulan/Vulcan lifespans, she might well be older than Picard.
• The crummy planet M'Talas Prime is named for showrunner Terry Matalas, but actually goes back to Enterprise, when it was first mentioned as a cheeky tribute to the then-PA.
• New ships: the SS Eleos, Dr. Crusher's medical ship, named for the Greek goddess of mercy; and the USS Titan NCC-80102-A, a Constitution III-class, or Neo-Constitution.
• The Titan has been broken down to its very core and rebuilt from scratch as an entirely new class of ship, which stretches the meaning of "refit" to breaking point.
• Raffi is working for Starfleet Intelligence... here's hoping it's not actually Section 31 again.
• The alien aggressors have very mean-looking ships, that bring to mind any number of antagonistic races' fleets.
• With all the talk of "trust no one" and "don't involve Starfleet," I'm really hoping we've finally got a follow-up to the alien parasites from TNG "Conspiracy." But probably not.
• Captain Rachel Garrett's statue is the "Red Lady" linked to the attack, which makes me wonder if the timeline from TNG "Yesterday's Enterprise" is somehow involved. It would suggest a way to bring Denise Crosby back. It's probably just a reference, though, not a clue.
• I though Riker was an admiral in season one. Apparently he's still a captain.
• Frontier Day is supposedly the 250th anniversary of Starfleet, but since this is around 2401, that doesn't fit. Matalas has confirmed it's actually the anniversary of the Enterprise NX-01's launch, which was the beginning of Starfleet's deep space explorations.
• The dedication for Annie Wersching, who died so unexpectedly last month, was touching.

New reviews on Television Heaven

 After something of a hiatus, I am back on a more regular footing with my reviews. (Big things occurring in real life I'm afraid, you know how it is). As such, there are a whole bunch of new reviews up on Television Heaven:

The X-Files comes to a close with its tenth and eleventh seasons - the revival years.

Buffy season four and Angel season two keep us moving in the Buffyverse.

Another long-running season-by-season review begins with DC's Legends of Tomorrow.

And a mere six months after Christmas, here's the David Tennant version of Around the World in 80 Days.

While you're there, check out these great reviews of Picard season two and Philip K. Dick anthology series Electric Dreams by John Winterson Richards.

Lots more to come in the near future!

TREK REVIEW: PIC 2-9 & 2-10

 

Hide and Seek 

Farewell

An over-the-top, occasionally silly but overall satisfying end to the second season of Star Trek: Picard, this final two-parter fair belts through plot beats like there's no tomorrow. Which, had our heroes not succeeded, I suppose there wouldn't be. As with the first season, and the recent run of Discovery, there have been some major pacing problems with this season, with an awful lot of side-steps and a leisurely pace through the middle of the run, leaving everything to be rushed for the finale. Perhaps this is a deliberate choice to make the end more climactic, but it does make it harder to fully appreciate the finale.

There are a lot of hard-to-swallow elements to this story, and you need to allow a lot of coincidences to make it work. Not everything quite adds up in the end, but for all that, it's so much fun, and the final episode in particular, so touching, that it's hard to be too unhappy about this. Alison Pill blows it away as the new Borg Queen, by now a convincing amalgam of Jurati's character and Wersching's Queen. We've had false dawns for a new kind of Borg before (whatever happened to those self-aware drones with commanding whole cubes from VOY: “Unimatrix Zero?”), but this time it looks like Jurati's new Borg really are a new era. (Although the news that Pill is not returning for season three suggests we won't be seeing them again, at least not anytime soon.)

Seven's rebirth as a semi-Borg (rather unbelievably, given the circumstances, with her implants in exactly the same places as before) was both predictable and disappointing. It would have been a nice culmination of Seven's development for her to finally be fully human. That said, her acceptance, with Raffi's help, of her part-cybernetic nature is satisfying, especially since she helped birth this new strain of Borg and prove that there's potentially another way of forming a collective. (Maybe they'll meet up with the voluntary hive mind from VOY: “Unity”... or maybe not.) Finally, Seven and Raffi get the smooches on, and everything is all lovely.

No surprises at all that Rios decides to stay in 2024, with the beautiful Dr. Teresa and her precocious sprog. Perhaps leaving him there isn't the best idea, given that this guy is a walking butterfly. I'm half-convinced that Chris is staying just for the cigars, but it's the only way this could play out – Teresa couldn't very well travel to the 25^th century with her littl'un in tow.

TREK REVIEW: PIC 2.8 - "Mercy"

 

2-8 Mercy

“Mercy” is the first episode of the season that doesn't really work. There's something to be said for a straightforward adventure, but this side-step into the FBI's least wanted is so unnecessary to the main plot, while also being not terribly interesting in itself.

It's a fun bit of trolling on the part of the showrunners to cast Jay Karnes in this episode. After having so many actors reappear either as their popular characters or someone related to them, casting Karnes in a time travel story immediately makes us think he's reprising his role as 29^th century time traveller Ducane. They even name his character Agent Wells, not only suggesting H.G. Wells, father of time travel fiction, but the Wells-class USS Relativity on which he served. (Apparently this all actually a reference to his role in Matalas's Twelve Monkeys series.)

So it's funny when it turns out he's just a regular 21^st century agent after all. Unfortunately, having him as nothing more than a Fox Mulder rip-off makes him a fairly uninteresting character, in spite of a decent performance by Karnes. It's a nice touch that he's spent decades looking for aliens after freaking out due to a brief contact with some Vulcans in his childhood, but it's still not enough to make this diversion worthwhile.

The best material this episode is between Guinan and Q, here meeting for the first time from Guinan's perspective (I love time travel). Aghayere is excellent here, occasionally sounding astonishingly like Goldberg but mostly creating a new version of Guinan. She's terribly creepy when projecting herself to Picard, another previously unseen El-Aurian power. De Lancie gives an amazing performance as Q, now facing the end of his life and waning powers. We've never seen Q so vulnerable before. (It's hilarious to think of Q, unable to teleport, having to make his way to Guinan on the bus.)

Meanwhile, Agnes is going around eating battery acid (I wonder if her stepmother is an alien?) while Seven and Raffi sort out their problems. There are some nice moments between Ryan and Hurd, and Alison Pill looks incredible stomping about LA in her ballgown, assimilating nasty blokes. Eventually, the new Queen joins forces with Soong, who's own life is falling apart thanks to Q deciding to help Kore. Quite how Soong thinks his destiny as saviour of the Earth is going to come about when the Queen wants to conquer humanity is anyone's guess, but baddies gotta be bad, right?

Bits and bobs:

Judging by his age, Wells probably met the Vulcans in around the 1970s. We know from ENT: “Carbon Creek” that they were observing Earth as early as the fifties and there was another one due in about twenty years.

Do the Vulcans even have transporter technology that early? Doesn't seem to quite line up with Enterprise, but then, Enterprise didn't quite line up with what came before either.

Jurati's ballgown-and-boots look brings to mind Harley Quinn in The Suicide Squad, by far her best live action look.

TREK REVIEW: PIC 2-7 - "Monsters"

An interesting and powerful episode that delves into Picard's character in a way we've not seen before, showing clearer than any script beforehand the influence that Patrick Stewart has had on the direction of this series.

It's not secret that the Trek showrunners tempted Stewart back to his best known role by ensuring him he'd have some creative control over the character and series, and that the stories would be dealing with serious contemporary concerns. Stewart has long been outspoken on the subject of domestic abuse, not only on the suffering of the abused but also the need for understanding for the abusers. Growing up in an abusive home, he recognises that these behaviours rarely come from nowhere and that there's is often a cycle of abuse and mental illness that perpetuates.

Quite rightly, then, that Star Trek should turn to this issue and address it in its own, science-fictional way. I'm sure that Gene Roddenberry would be incensed by the idea that there would still be such abuse going ahead in the 24^th century, but really, no matter how far we develop in the next few centuries, humanity isn't going to magically overcome its demons en masse. The only way we can move forward is by listening and understanding people's individual struggles.

The early hints at little Jean-Luc's brutal upbringing were hinted at earlier in the season, but we finally get some real exploration of his childhood. It's no shock when the mysterious Starfleet therapist who plagues his subconscious turns out to be a representation of his father. James Callis is excellent as Maurice Picard/the psychologist, channeling the best of his Gaius Baltar arrogance and sharing remarkable father/son chemistry with a man several decades his senior. Stewart, of course, gives an exceptional performance too, showing us an angrier, more raw side of Picard that we don't get to see often enough.

Madeline Wise is almost as good as his troubled maman, engendering tremendous sympathy even when we realise that she isn't entirely as she seems. The revelation that the abusive Maurice is actually not the monster Jean-Luc sees him as, but that the Admiral has spent decades burying the memory of his mother's own mental illness and potentially deadly behaviour moves this story beyond the tried-and-tested bastard dad route.

In the circumstances, the absence of Jean-Luc's older brother Robert is odd, given how much of a father stand-in he was portrayed as in his one appearance on The Next Generation (season four's remarkable “Family”). There would be little room for him, though, given that Tallinn was given the role of entering Picard's mind to help him battle his internal demons. Orla Brady is great in this role, convincing when fighting monsters, playing with impossible technology or reassuring Picard's inner child. (Are they still looking for the next Doctor Who? Because she's a candidate if ever I saw one.) The reveal that Tallinn's actually a Romulan is about the least surprising thing so far this season, what with the little clues at first and finally the massive giveaway of the pointy-ear attachments on the tech, but it's a fun moment. Whether she's really Laris's ancestor, are actually gets some kind of extended lifespan as part of her deal with the Supervisors and is therefore Laris herself, remains to be seen.

While Picard deals with his demons, the rest of the plot treads water. We barely got a glimpse of what Queen Jurati was doing, something I'm desperate to get back to. Rios gets an entertaining plot to himself, revealing that Picard has become a father figure to him while also proving that he's learned absolutely nothing about the rules of time travel from him. Dr. Teresa is gorgeous and amazing, yes, but he basically gives up all pretence and shows her everything so he doesn't have to risk upsetting her with more lies. I'm starting to think that, whenever the original divergence was, this lot have now completely preempted it and the timeline will never get back on track.

In the closing scene, Picard goes back to bother Guinan, in a strange meeting that makes huge revelations about the El-Aurians and the Q while also posing all sorts of new questions. It seems the Listeners are more powerful than we realised, having actually formed a treaty with the Continuum centuries ago. I can only assume that the magic bottle that can be used for Q-summoning isn't the actual one from centuries past, but that an El-Aurian can use anything like that to focus the ritual. Otherwise it'd be a bit hard to believe she was allowed to just keep it in her bar on some backward planet. Of course, we know Q won't show up because his powers have failed him, but shouldn't another Q appear? This suggests something is very wrong with reality altogether – more indications that the timeline has already diverged?

Finally, Jay Karnes turns up as a slimy FBI agent, who promptly arrests both Picard and Guinan for teleporting on camera. Karnes previously played Lt. Ducane of the Federation timeship Relativity (on the eponymous Voyager episode), and I half suspect/hope that he turns out to be the very same temporal policeman, which is rather more interesting than a cut-price Mulder.

Quote of the week: “I'm from Chile, I just work in outer space.” Rios channels Kirk at his best.

TREK REVIEW: PIC 2-5 & 2-6

 

FLY ME TO THE MOON 

TWO OF ONE

Picard continues on its way in a muddled but still highly enjoyable couple of episodes that move the season-arc on, giving us as many new questions as answers.

So, who had Gary Seven in their Trek bingo? Not me for one, although there were hints that the mysterious Watcher was linked to that sci-fi secret agent and his unseen “Supervisors.” It's remarkable that Trek has never returned to Gary's employers before (onscreen, at least, they're all over the books and comics), but that's hardly the biggest mystery here. Why does Tallinn look just like a human version of Picard's Romulan ladyfriend Laris? She claims to know nothing about Q, but then, would she be aware even if he had created her as a trap for Picard? It's good to have Orla Brady back, either way. Equally mysteriously, just why is she assigned to watch over Renee Picard, whose importance to the timeline is surely impossible to know in 2022?

Of course, individual people being vitally important to historical events is a common sci-fi trope, even if it does seem to be oversignifying one woman's space mission by making it the crux of future history. We're assuming that Picard is correct in trying to ensure Renee completes her flight to Europa. Could it not be the other way round, and that something she encounters leads humanity to become aggressively anti-alien?

On the other hand, we have Adam Soong, the latest (or rather, earliest) in a long line of Soong men played by Brent Spiner. It wouldn't be Picard without him somewhere, and to his credit, Spiner creates a character who is both reminiscent of his descendants and entirely his own person. It's interesting to see the Soong timeline come together slowly, as Adam's work in human genetics clearly leads to his descendent Arik's work with Augments a couple of hundred years later, before Arik himself switches to artificial life eventually leading his own descendent Noonian to create B4, Lore and eventually Data. All of whom look remarkably similar.

No prizes at all for guessing that his daughter Kore is a flawed clone, and that her genetic disease is the result of some error in her creation. Clearly, the image of this girl is embedded in Data's mind, having been presumably passed down to Noonian, and finally leading to the creation of Soji and Dahj and numerous other synths allied with Inigo Soong. Not a bad way of saving costs – an entire family across four hundred years, all played by two actors. It's a little hard to swallow that Kore has never googled her dad before, although I guess he could have programmed in some kind of aversion to that sort of thing that she's only now breaking. I expect this will be skirted over though.

Now that Q has lost his powers, he's rather wonderfully reduced to putting on silly accents and pretending to be Renee's psychiatrist. He seems dead set on stopping her from joining the Europa mission, but there must be simpler says of doing it. Soong tries to simply run her over, while Q is going about it in a much more Machiavellian way. Are there some kind of rules he has to play by, and if so, why? I'm still not convinced that he's actually in the wrong here – I wonder if he's actually working to prevent the Confederation timeline. Could his alliance with Soong actually be a way to discredit him, to stop him from becoming the influential figure?

The wider team get to have a lot of fun, although the Raffi and Seven storyline doesn't really go anywhere. I like how Raffi has started seeing Elnor's face everywhere. It's first played just after we've met Tallinn, looking inexplicably like Laris, so for a split second we wonder if this really is Elnor recreated. But now, it's seemingly Raffi cracking up. Nonetheless, she and Seven have spent a lot of time getting in and out of trouble just to swoop in and shut down Rios's storyline, although thankfully he reconnects with the good doctor after Picard is injured.

Everyone gives their all to their characters, with Stewart getting to make one of his trademark speeches to Renee, who is portrayed with great character and sympathy by Penelope Mitchell. (Fifty quid says we see her return to play a descendent in the fixed future at the end of the season.) Michelle Hurd gets to bring some real pain to the grieving Raffi, struggling to stay on the wagon, while Santiago Cabrera is at his charming best as Rios becomes ever-more enamoured with the 21^st century that Raffi despises. (Got to wonder how he got away with smoking indoors in California though. This really isn't our timeline...)

Orla Brady makes Tallinn into a solid character, even as we kind of just want Laris back, while Spiner, de Lancy and Isa Briones all give excellent work as new players or revised versions of classic characters. The only one of the main cast underserved in these two episodes is Jeri Ryan, who as Seven just doesn't have much to do but react to Raffi and various unlikely plans.

Both episodes belong to Agnes Jurati and the Borg Queen, who are just about one character by the end of it. Annie Wersching continues to impress as a wholly different type of Queen, one who appears to be becoming increasingly human in her attitudes and personality as she spends more time disconnected from the hive and reconnecting with Agnes. After her twitching, insectile performance in episode two, Wersching's Queen has developed into a completely new creature. Stealing every scene she's in though is Alison Pill, who brings new depths and desperation to Agnes. It's no surprise that she'd shoot the Queen – we've seen her murder people she cares about far more – nor that she'd break down under pressure, although her misstep in letting herself get partially assimilated is a bit of a foolish moment.

Pill owns the show during the elaborate gala event, literally when she, under the Queen's influence, channels Pat Benetar and belts out a scene-stopping number. While the logistics are a bit hard to take – she's just been taken in as a gatecrasher, and now the band are supporting her with no instruction – Pill is so great it's impossible not to love the scene. Indeed, sashaying through the party as the advance scout, looking absolutely gorgeous while carrying off a performance as someone gradually losing their identity, Pill's is the standout performance of the season so far.

Links and observations:

All of Kore's deceased sisters are named after figures from Greek myth. In fact, several are named after the same one: Kore is another name for Persephone, the name of the first girl, and there is also a Prosperpina, Persephone's Latin variation.

Two spacecraft make cameo appearances as the gala/expo/party: Nomad, the space probe from TOS: “The Changeling,” launched in continuity in 2022; and Renee's favourite, the OV-165, a fictitious shuttle that appeared in the title sequence for Enterprise.

This, along with references to treaties outlawing certain types of genetic treatment, make it very clear that this is not our timeline, but one that simply looks a lot like it, and otherwise matches (as best can be expected) various events in Trek history.

After directing two episode, Lea Thompson appears in front of the camera as the head of the committee that slams Soong. Jonathan “Riker” Frakes takes over directing duties for these two eps.

Best lines:

“He's had some transplants.”
“Which ones?”“... all of them?”

TREK REVIEW: PIC 2-4 - "The Watcher"

Wotcha! Another strong episode from Picard, and it seems we're now firmly in the serialised part of the storytelling, rather than the attention-grabbing stage of the opening two episodes. It's a quieter, more thoughtful episode, albeit with enough action to keep things fun and interesting, with some strong character moments.

By far my favourite part came early on, with Seven and Raffi on the bus, reenacting the “I Hate You!” scene from The Voyage Home, with Kirk Thatcher appearing as an older version of his punk character from that film. He's a lot more mellow and polite now, although perhaps he's having traumatic flashbacks to his humiliating nerve-pinching by Spock back in 1986. In the meantime, he'd got out of California and took a trip to New York to appear in Spider-Man: Homecoming. I like to think there's a Kirk Thatcher Punk Rock Guy in every reality.

Seven and Raffi get some angry bonding time this episode, but to be honest this isn't the strongest episode for either of them. Their main purpose at the moment appears to be to run around trying to find Rios while he's doing more dramatically interesting things. It's fun to see Seven driving (in a stolen police car which would have been perfectly fine to leave where it was if Raffi had just pinched the laptop inside and run, instead of getting in), albeit badly. It's a shame we didn't get a little nod to Voyager; who else could have taught Seven to drive 20^th/21^st century internal combustion vehicles but Tom Paris?

As said, Rios's experiences in ICE detention are more interesting, and damning. His character is consistent with how he appeared in season one: putting on a facade of charming nonchalance to cope with genuinely traumatic experiences. He continues to have great chemistry with the gorgeous Dr. Teresa, and this plot thread shines a light on the appalling state of the West, particularly post-Trump America, in the 2020s. I like that the writers are openly tying this into the future seen in DS9's “Past Tense,” with Rios being carted off to a Sanctuary District. The future shown in DS9 is looking more and more like the present we now inhabit. However, the Sanctuary Districts are a paradise compared to the conditions that many men, women and children experience in ICE custody, even after the States' regime change.

Alison Pill's toughened-up Agnes Jurati continues to be one of the best things this season. He relationship with the Queen is becoming very interesting. After their interface, they each have an insight into each other's psyche and are seemingly trying to out-manipulate each other. While Agnes gets what she wants, the Queen is nothing if not patient, and I suspect we'll see them connect once again further down the line. Our prediction: Agnes is destined to become the new Borg Queen after the current version finally breaks down, and will be revealed to be behind the mask we saw back in episode one.

The main talking point of the episode is, of course, the reintroduction – pre-introduction? - of Guinan. Ito Aghayere is brilliant as the younger, angrier Guinan, giving enough of a young Whoopi vibe while providing her own take on the character. There's a bit of a clash with existing continuity: a time-travelling Picard previously met Guinan back in 1893, when she was already living on Earth and played by Whoopi Goldberg, looking and acting quite differently. Obviously, Whoopi looks very different now, and I much prefer re-casting to attempting an extended de-ageing CGI effect. We know from the 2401 Guinan that El-Aurians can age if they choose to, so maybe they can take their physical age down or otherwise tweak their appearance too? Along with their time-sense (which I had previously supposed was down to Guinan's exposure to the Nexus in Star Trek Generations), it's all very Doctor Who.

As to why Guinan doesn't doesn't recognise Picard from their previous meeting... well, it was 130 years earlier, so she could be forgiven for not immediately clicking, but you'd expect once she'd heard his name and her time sense had been triggered she's recall. Then again, has that meeting even happened in this timeline? The Picard she met came from a future which no longer exists, after all. The time travel rules aren't quite clear here.

When it comes to her character, though, Aghayere's version is perfect. After decades on Earth, living through the entire twentieth century, it makes perfect sense that Guinan has lost her faith in humanity and is getting off planet. Maybe it would have been different if she, as she pointed out, looked like Picard, but as a black woman in the United States, who knows what she's experienced in that time? Plus, it's the right time for her to leave, what with World War III coming and all.

Thankfully, Guinan is not revealed to be the legendary Watcher, which would have been too obvious, but she does at least know who is. The mystery is even greater now, though, as the alien overseer has turned up looking just like a human version of Laris. Meanwhile, Q is keeping an eye on a young woman who is no doubt vitally important to the future of Earth, Picard's ancestry or both. Only he seems to have lost his powers. More evidence that something has happened to reality and he is powerless to fix it without help from Picard? We're almost halfway through, so will likely be getting a few more answers soon.

Links and references:

Jurati calls Picard “Dixon Hill” for being clever, a reference to his favourite fictional detective, who he often cosplayed on the Holodeck. The mystery woman is reading a Dixon Hill novel, The Pallid Son, written by Tracey Tormé, who wrote for TNG back in its first and second seasons.

Guinan keeps a bottle of Saurian brandy in her bar. She drives a car with the registration S02 E01, referenceing the character's first appearance on TNG season two episode one (“The Child”).

The Europa Project where Q and the mystery woman were sitting is situated at Jackson Roykirk Plaza, named after the scientist who created the Nomad probe from TOS: “The Changeling,” twenty-two years earlier in the Trek timeline. Q's newspaper namechecks Brynner, the businessman who unsuccessfully tried to hook up with Dax in “Past Tense.”

TREK REVIEW: PIC 2-3 - "Assimilation"

 

Another solid episode which pushes the story onto what seems to be its main trajectory – setting the path of history right back in the 21t century. After a gripping (and pretty bloodthirsty) intro, La Sirena is catapulted back in time in a classic slingshot round the sun, just like in the good old days before Red Angels and tachyonic subspace rifts. It's not as trippy as The Voyage Home, but it's still a pretty cool sequence as the ship heads back in time under the Borg Queen's control.

Time travel episode are, of course, common as muck in Star Trek, and trips back in time to roughly contemporary settings are nothing new either. It's an obvious idea, of course, letting the characters comment on our way of life directly, but Trek has been running so long now that the present is catching up with the future. DS9's classic two-parter “Past Tense” was set in San Francisco in 2024, just a stone's throw from LA. There are hints towards it in the rundown homeless area that Raffi materialises in, and plenty of commentary on how we live in a society on the brink of collapse.

Raffi has a rough episode all through, first seeing Elnor die and then being thrown into, from her perspective, a primitive society. And she's understandably furious at all this, especially as Picard prioritised the Queen's survival over Elnor's. Seven fares better in the 21^st century, suddenly “liked” by people she meets instead of being met with fear or awe. Seemingly because she no longer has Borg bits on her face, she's not threatening, by I wonder if she's actually different in this timeline; if not having her implants has changed her physiologically and mentally.

Seeing Raffi and Seven doing the couple-y thing is fun, of course, and aside from some odd lines (“You and 2024 should get a room,”) they have great chemistry in this episode. Among the storylines in contemporary America, though, it was Rios's plotline that I enjoyed the most. Having Chris, a Hispanic man who commands a starship, suddenly thrown into the world of immigration raids and back alley medicine illustrates the brutality and injustice of our society more effectively than having Raffi pass judgment on the homelessness crisis and beat up a mugger. Sol Rodriguez is a great addition to the cast as Teresa. She has excellent chemistry with Santiago Cabrera and will no doubt be our present day point of contact for the story. More of an Edith Keeler than a Rain Robinson though...

It's interesting that the Queen remains as a major character in the series. I was expecting them to just leave her in her self-induced coma. Wersching's Queen, now that she has her marbles back, seems more like Krige's than before, manipulative and insidious, but has a sassy arrogance that's all her own. Alison Pill gives her best performance ever as Dr. Jurati, as she very inadvisably links with the Queen to try to kickstart her and get data off her. There's definitely a lot more to come from this strange pairing. Really, the only character who doesn't come off well here is Picard, who's perhaps proving too single-minded and inflexible for his crew. I'm wondering just what sort of test Q is running him through.

One more niggling element is the inconsistent attitude to their presence in the past. They worry about “butterflies” but simply being present on Earth in their own past is inevitably changing events. I'll be frankly surprised if it doesn't turn out that Picard and co's interference isn't the very thing that sends history down the wrong path. At least Agnes is thinking about causal loops, even if no one else is.

It's a great episode, the pacing settling down a little since the frenetic opening episodes. The direction, by time travel sci-fi veteran (and huge Trek fan) Lea Thompson and strong performances by the cast make this is a gripping instalment.

TREK REVIEW: PIC 2-2 - "Penance"

 

Picard storms ahead with another belter of an episode that barely gives the viewer a chance to take in what's happening. The episode leaves you breathless, but under the excitement and strong performances, it's not as solid as it appears.

Resolving last week's cliffhanger by barging us into a different reality altogether, “Penance” acts like a second introduction to the season that, on the face of it, has little to do with what went before. “The Star Gazer” set us up with the characters in a new dynamic, and with a mystery surrounding the Borg's strange new behaviour, before essentially blowing it all up and starting over with a new story about Q and his interference in the timeline.

Q's scene with Picard is a highlight of the episode. Stewart and de Lancie have the same great antagonistic chemistry they had back in the TNG days, but overlaid with an angrier, more impatient drive, made fierier by the fact that the streaming platform doesn't need to watch its language for primetime. “I don't have time for your bullshit!” snarls Picard at Q, and you feel him. It's two old men lashing out at each other after years of furious history. Picard insists that Q has gone mad, but perhaps he's just lost his patience as well – who knows what bizarre pressures are playing on him?

This new reality, not a parallel universe like the Mirror Universe but an altered timeline, is well-realised, a dark, fascist state where humanity rules with cruelty and brutality. Some of the details are chilling – First Contact Day replaced by Eradication Day, famous aliens slain by the ruthless General Picard, Romulans as slaves and no ban on synthetic servants – but others are harder to understand. After introducing the Stargazer, Rios is now captain of La Sirena again, now a warship for the Confederation of Earth. Annika Hansen is the President of Earth, never having been assimilated by the Borg and changed into Seven of Nine. It's a bit too neat.

Of course, there's the question. Is this really an altered timeline, or some huge fabrication of Q's? On the other hand, given Q's apparent insanity, is something else going on? Has something else changed history in 2024 (only two years away from our present, but also notably the year of the crucial turning point of the Bell Riots in Trek lore)? If that's the case, Q must be pulling strings somewhere to have put everyone (except the unfortunate Elnor) in positions of power that allow them to escape and travel back.

The bigger question, though, is: just how is this different from the Mirror Universe? Aside from Q pointing out it's not an altered rather than alternative reality, this is the Mirror Universe in all but the details. The Confederation instead of the Empire, Nazi-esque black instead of imperial gold. In the Mirror Universe humanity was overthrown by its subject races, while here its still in power and ready to wipe out Vulcan and execute the last of the Borg. Really, though, that's just pushing things forward by a century or so. We still have versions of the regular characters, however unlikely that would be after centuries of divergence, but twisted to become utter bastards. Why not just make it the Mirror Universe and be done with it if you're going to be that clichéd?

Still, it's hard to worry too much about that when it leads to such a gripping thriller as this. Where this works, while the Mirror Universe episodes of Discovery didn't, is that it keeps things moving and focuses on the “real” characters instead of mincing supervillains. Stewart is impressive, of course, convincingly frightening when he pretends to be the cruel General Picard. The most effective part of the episode, though, is President Hansen waking up, with Jeri Ryan beautifully portraying the slow realisation that she is no longer Borg, testing her reality to make sure she's not dreaming it. It's a shame the trailers spoilt the reveal, because it's a wonderful moment when we finally see she has no implants.

On the Borg side of things, Annie Wersching's new iteration of the Queen is also a triumph. Whereas Alice Krige played her as oily and creepily sexual, and Susanna Thompson with a sort of twisted maternal instinct, Wersching's Queen is the most inhuman, twitching and insectoid and more concerned at the change in time than her own imprisonment. The idea of forming an uneasy alliance with the Borg Queen as she's the only one with the brains to calculate the trip back in time is a brilliant one. Making these scenes even better is Alison Pill as the entirely out-of-her-depth Dr. Jurati. Agnes obviously never got parallel universe training and is terrible at undercover work, but watching her wing it is hilarious.

As fun as it all is, I'm glad that it looks like we're on our way back to the past in the next instalment. Just like the Mirror Universe proper, this new evil empire could outstay its welcome quickly. I'm more interested in seeing how all this ties together than spending time in fascist central.

Observations (and evil observations with sinister beards):

General Picard keeps the skulls of his most high-profile vanquished foes on stands in his trophy room. They include Gul Dukat, General Martok, Ambassador Sarek, an unidentified Ferengi (but probably the Grand Nagus, given the staff included), a Borg and uncertain reptilian species (update - it's a Saurian!)

Brilliantly, we learn that the Ferengi have bones in their ears.

General Sisko is namechecked. I would have loved just a quick cameo from Avery Brooks, if only to punch Q in the face again.

The Queen says Annika was assimilated in 2350. That was actually the year of her birth, and she was assimilated when she was six, so in 2356 or '57. Still, the Queen was having an off day.

Apparently, the Queen can hear her counterparts in other realities through higher dimensions.

Patton Oswalt voices Spot 73, Jurati's cartoonish hologram and homage to Data's cat Spot.

The Magistrate/First Husband is played by Jon Jon Briones, the father of Isa Briones who plays Soji, which may well end up being significant (or not).

Picard even has a synthetic body in this reality, as unlikely as that seems, thanks to a nasty altercation with Dukat.