Star Trek: Picard Episode 3 Review

by Mike Lunsford, E-I-C of the Great Geek Refuge

We’re only 2 episodes in, but thus far Star Trek: Picard has been thoroughly entertaining. For all those old school fans of the series, there’s plenty of answers as to what happened between when we last saw Picard and crew, but there is also plenty left unanswered. As we set course for the 3rd episode of the series, the biggest question many of us had at the end of episode 2 is answered: why is Raffi so mad at Jean-Luc? We get that answer straight away. Let’s hit that recap/review of episode 3, titled “The End of the Beginning.”

The episode starts with Admiral Jean-Luc Picard and Lieutenant Commander Raffi Musiker outside of Starfleet Command Headquarters in San Francisco. It is immediately following the attack on Utopia Planatia. Starfleet has informed the Admiral that his rescue mission into Romulan space to save the survivors of the supernova that destroyed Romulus has been cancelled indefinitely, claiming their resources were too depleted. Raffi states that the Romulans, particularly the Tal Shiar could be behind it, something Picard scoffs at. “Why would they do something so self-defeating?”

First off, has he NEVER met a Romulan? Secondly, Raffi was on to something!

She asks if there is some other plan, some last ditch effort to which Picard replies “tendering my resignation was my last play. I didn’t think they would accept it.” Raffi then gets notice that she needs to see the CNC of Starfleet, for her unavoidable firing. Picard states “I never believed Starfleet would give into intolerance and fear.” Huh, not being subtle with our real-world allegories are we Star Trek writers? At any rate, this particular parallel is powerful as a lot of us, even the most hopeful have felt just as defeated as Picard based on our current political climate.  

The story picks up with Picard and Raffi at her home in the desert. He pleads for her help; he needs a ship and a pilot. Raffi breaks down, lashing out at Picard, mentioning she had seen his TV interview with his “heirloom furniture” and the “oak beams” of his “stately chateau.” She calls him out on his privilege in a move that is almost shocking in a way. She furthers her assault on her former CO for not contacting her in the 14 years since the attack on Utopia Planatia and you can see that he feels the guilt. Her life has fallen apart since her dismissal from Starfleet: she lost her clearance, lives in a 24th century equivalent to a mobile home, and has battled substance abuse.

This really showcases that the heroic Jean-Luc Picard is flawed as well, leaving a member of his crew to their own devices instead of helping them, especially when he got to retire to a life of luxury. It’s rare to see the meticulous planner not think of the consequences and to be so selfish. It seems almost uncharacteristic of him, but it fits with the self-imposed exile he put himself through after the Mars incident. He was defeated as well, and broken by the turn of events, losing a lot of himself in the process. The thing he never thought he would lose faith in has failed him, and millions of others. Raffi storms off into the dessert, with Picard following her shortly after.

We’re now back on board the Borg “artifact.” Soji has a meeting with the director of the Romulan Reclamation Project, none other than Hugh (Jonathan Del Arco, Star Trek: The Next Generation). Short of Jean-Luc himself, Hugh was the first Borg that we saw become un-assimilated in the Star Trek universe. He must’ve made quite a name for himself, becoming the director of the reclamation project, but we don’t know exactly what happened between now and when we last saw him. Hugh is impressed with Soji being kind to one of the "nameless," and as such, he tells her that he's going to let her interview a Romulan patient named Ramdha (Rebecca Wisocky, Devious Maids) that Soji has wanted to interview.

As an anthropologist, Soji is pumped to pick Ramdha's brain because she knows that this specific Romulan was an expert in mythology before she got assimilated by the Borg. Soji says that "there is ample evidence for the therapeutic utility of a shared mythical framework." Basically, she thinks understanding Romulan myths from a mythology expert that was also plugged into the Borg Collective could be useful to former drones. Hugh and Soji also agree that the way the Romulans treat the "Ex-Bs" (Ex-Borg) is the worst. Hugh knows the Romulans view these liberated drones as both a “threat” and “assets to be warehoused” but we’re not entirely sure why he’s playing along. Additionally, Hugh is taken aback by the fact that Soji has somehow gained access to classified documents about the Romulans who were assimilated by the Borg before this particular ship went offline. Soji feels that in speaking to Ramdha, the foremost expert on Romulan mythology, she can help these former assimilated Romulans and other “ex-Bs” cope with their trauma. 

Back on Earth, Picard apologizes to Raffi and tells her of the Zhat Vash, how they’re operating on Earth, and that they’ve infiltrated Starfleet. She tries to convince Picard that all these things are connected, that the Romulans have been doing this sort of thing since before the Mars incident. Picard still doesn’t believe the connection but asks her to join him on his quest. Raffi refuses. “I will not be dragged down another rabbit hole with you, JL,” she states (I love that she calls him JL by the way). He apologizes again but she is still adamant that he leave. As he begins walking away, Raffi does inform him that she knows a pilot that will be in touch. 

Back to the Romulan Reclamation Project: Hugh and Soji go to a secured room full of Romulans who have been unassimilated. They’re not doing well, Soji refers to them as “the disordered.” Hugh mentions that these are the only Romulans ever known to be assimilated. We then meet Ramdha, who is using what looks to be a form of Romulan Tarot Cards. 

At the Daystrom Institue in Okinawa, Agnes is sitting on a hillside, looking at the ocean and enjoying some classical music. She is approached by Commodore Oh who asks about her interactions with Admiral Picard. Uh oh (I swear, no pun intended)

Back to Earth…well, above Earth. We see a cool looking ship in orbit that Jean-Luc beams aboard. He is promptly greeted by a friendly EMH that leads Picard to our Captain: Christobal Rios (Santiago Cabrera, Heroes). He is sitting in the navigator’s chair on the bridge, with a hunk of metal sticking out of his shoulder, shirtless, smoking a cigar. Quite an intro. Also, to add to this character, we see that the EMH is programmed to look exactly like Captain Rios. He removes the shard from his captain’s shoulder but Rios demands that he leave the scar instead of using a dermal regenerator.

As Picard and Rios get to know each other, we find out that Rios is another tragic character, one haunted by the missteps of Starfleet. Rios mentions that he was the XO of a heavy cruiser known as the Ibn Majid, a ship that doesn’t officially exist, as Starfleet wiped the ship from its records. Jean-Luc reminds Rios that he is also not a fan of Starfleet and that will work for their relationship. However, he mentions that he notices that the condition of the ship and how meticulously it is maintained shows that Rios is still a Starfleet officer at his core. Rios laughs and says “Raffi said you were a speechmaker.” Picard leaves to prepare himself for their journey.

Rios moves to his quarters when another hologram that looks like him pops up, this one an Emergency Navigational Hologram, but with an Irish accent (the first was British. I’m sure this was fun for Cabrera, giving him an opportunity to flex his acting chops). The ENH informs him that the issue with navigation has been repaired and asks if the captain is starstruck to be working with the legendary Jean-Luc Picard. He also mentions that working with someone “good” like him would be a welcome change of pace. Rios goes into some backstory as we find out that Rios is still haunted by his past, stating that he still has horrific nightmares of his previous captain’s death and he doesn’t want that sort of guilt again. The back and forth between Rios and the various holographic assistants is interesting, as they instinctively try to help their captain with both their assigned tasks and his overall mental well-being.  

Picard is back at his home, looking at the stars when Laris comes outside and asks him if he’ll miss home. He admits that he will miss harvest season, Laris and Zhaban, and, of course, his dog Number One. Then he tells her:

“I tried my best to belong to this place, but I don’t think I ever truly felt at home here.” 

Anyone who is a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation can tell you this makes perfect sense with who Jean-Luc Picard is. He’s an explorer and having to sit at home and grow grapes was never something he would have chosen for himself. He now has the opportunity to go back out into space and answer some questions that have haunted him for decades.

As he prepares to leave home, Zhaban has a care package prepared, full of cheeses, wine, bread and a piece of fruit that he drops…which ultimately saved his life as a disruptor blast hits the wall behind him. Another Zhat Vash assassin crew storms Chateau Picard. Laris, Zhaban, and Picard fight them off in an awesome action scene. They defeat the Romulan attackers and are taking personal inventory when another assassin comes through the front entrance of the home. Before he can fire a shot, we see that Agnes Jirati has shown up at the perfect time. She has a disruptor of her own and kills the assailant before he can take a shot. She is shaken as she has never fired a weapon before, let alone take a life.

We get an interesting back and forth for the next two scenes. It jumps between the Borg cube, with Soji talking to Ramdha and Picard, Laris, and Zhaban interrogating the surviving Romulan assassin. Soji begins talking to Ramdha, trying to find out if these tarot cards are trying to tell a mythology. Ramdha says that it’s “news.” This is interesting as the story begins to unfold. Soji knows much more about Ramdha and the events that transpired involving her assimilation. She knows that the Romulan ship that Ramdha was on was the last one ever assimilated by this cube and she wants to know what happened. This shocks Hugh as even he didn’t know that information. Things get crazy as Ramdha gets more and more agitated. She looks at her tarot cards and asks “which sister are you: the one who dies or the one who lives?” She then pulls the disruptor out of the holster of one of the guards and points it at Soji.

She says “I know who you are. You are the Destroyer!” and then points the weapon at her own head. Soji moves at incredible speed and knocks the weapon out of her hand. Woah. What seems like the rantings of someone suffering psychosis from her assimilation is actually quite accurate and it shakes Soji.

As this is happening on board the cube, back on Earth Picard, Laris and Zhaban are interrogating the Romulan assassin who says the exact same thing: “She’s no girl, she’s the Destroyer,” then does that crazy acid spit thing and his body dissolves. With the threat neutralized, Picard speaks to Agnes who tells him that Commodore Oh came to visit and she told her everything except one thing: that she’s joining him on his mission to find Soji and Bruce Maddox. Rios calls Picard letting him know it’s time to go and he and Agnes beam out of France for the La Sirena (Rios’ ship).

Back to the cube! After returning to her quarters, Soji calls her “mom” to check on Dahj (I really hope we figure out who this is. My guess is that it’s simply a program acting as her mom. When Dahj called her mom in the first episode, it glitched for a second). Her mother informs her that Dahj is fine, in fact she just bought a puppy, fabricating a story for a yet-to-be-determined reason. Then…Soji inexplicably passes out. When she comes to, that emo-looking p’tak Narek is at her door, asking if she’s alright. She tries to explain what happened with Ramdha but can’t come up with a reason. Narek continues to play Soji, manipulating her further by saying “I think I’m falling in love with you.” Barf. I hate this dude. He slips away to talk to his sister, who is out of her human costume and has her Romulan ears back. They discuss what Soji knows, and the state of their operation. Just overall, sleazy, Romulans doing sleazy Romulan things.

When Picard and Agnes get on board the La Sirena we see that Raffi is joining their party. She advises Picard that she’s found where Maddox is hiding: a place called Freecloud. Raffi is taken aback by the presence of Agnes, stating that she didn’t even get to do a background check on her or anything. However, Picard vouches for her and the crew hit warp speed after Picard gives his famous line

“Engage.”

Before we go ahead and wrap up this article, I want to go over a few theories I have about what we’ve seen thus far.

• The Romulans were definitely responsible for the Mars attack. Why attack a group who is doing everything they can to help you save lives in the wake of the Hobus star supernova? Romulan pride. They would rather die than accept help from the Federation. On top of that, to accept help from an organization that uses synthetics for their labor? An even more egregious insult to the very proud, very techno-phobic Zhat Vash. Just because they don’t like artificial life, doesn’t mean they haven’t procured means to use it against their enemies.

  • With Starfleet staying the hell away from Romulan territory for the most part, the Romulans can do shady stuff, like whatever they’re attempting with the Borg cube. This “reclamation project” is about furthering their power, not about trying to help anyone.

  • Commodore Oh is not Vulcan, she’s a Romulan. They’re distant relatives and anyone unfamiliar with the subtle differences could easily confuse the two.

• Raffi made an off-the-cuff remark about Agnes at the end of the episode. “Who is she? We didn’t even run a security check on her!” Her ‘red alert’ as it were, is going off. If this story has shown us anything thus far it’s that Picard would be well served to trust his former XO. Agnes is going to be feeding info to Commodore Oh or something like that.

  • Think about it for a second: where the hell did Agnes get that disruptor from? Was it just lying around on Picard’s front porch? That assassin just rolled in, ready to shoot and didn’t even notice Agnes was right behind him? Come on, that seems suspect.

the La Sirena

So we’re finished with the prologue! Now our adventure into space, the final frontier, if you will, can begin! I personally have loved that Star Trek: Picard has not been in a rush to “get on with it.” Any true Star Trek: The Next Generation fan will tell you that the best part about the series was that they took their time to ensure that characters were fully fleshed out. The advantage the series has is there isn’t the pressure on it like there was on the films. The movies had to secure certain box office requirements and often times, they had to shoehorn in concepts that didn’t work.

With the resurgence of Star Trek, the fans just want good stories and that’s what we’re getting so far. One of the strengths of the Trek renaissance (starting with Discovery) is strong characters. Picard is doing the exact same thing. I love what they’ve done with Jean-Luc thus far but even more so, the supporting characters are strong. Raffi Musiker is a super interesting character with a tragic past. Agnes Jurati seems like a fish-out-of-water when dealing with others, like she’s much more comfortable with numbers and research than she is a social gathering. Christobal Rios, much like Raffi, is a broken former Starfleet officer trying to deal with his trauma. All of these characters make for a dynamic crew that will compliment the reinvigorated Jean-Luc Picard.

The first 3 episodes have done an excellent job of building a solid foundation. We know exactly what’s going on in the universe we haven’t seen in nearly 20 years and now we get to see the story play itself out. Now comes the really fun part: the exploring of strange new worlds!