Star Trek: Picard Episode 6

by “The Opaque Senator” Russ Brown, GGR Contributor

Woooooooooo boy! Now THAT was an episode! I mentioned in my previous article on episode 4 that something needed to happen soon with these story-lines coming together. We got there now. This is where we got to now. This episode is EPIC. I realize it's called “the Impossible Box” (a nod to the Artifact, Soji, and Narek's little rubix cube puzzle), but it could really also be called “PTSD.” It's a major theme of the episode. Before I get into it, this is the best one yet. I'll talk at the end about my analysis, but for now, the recap.

We begin the episode with a bad dream (how fitting). Soji has this recurring dream where she's in her childhood home during a storm, and goes to her “dad's” office and is always woken up before she can see what he's working on. She awakes in bed with creeper-Romulan, Narek. They banter back and forth when Narek reveals he knows about her conversations with her mom.

Cut to the La Sirena, where Dr. Jirarti, who just last week killed Bruce Maddox, covers up the truth. She explains to Picard that Maddox was just too far gone to be saved. Elnor joins the conversation and reveal that they are heading to the Artifact. Jirati triggers Picard by her talk of the Borg and he retreats to his room. He starts researching the Borg and the Artifact. He comes across his face as Locutus with all the apparatus on. Picard has a rough moment, cue the credits (also, excellent cinematography and use of the holographic projection as the camera zooms out to Picard head looking at his own younger Borg self).

Side note, I really do enjoy the opening credits music. Not sure if I've said that or not, but it does rather encapsulate Picard as a character and this journey. Here, give it a listen!

We then see our pilot, Rios, juggling a soccer ball. Interrupted by Jirarti, they share some banter. Jirarti, clearly is troubled by her decisions, shares an intimate moment, and later sex, with Rios. Jirarti feels alone, hopeless, and out of her element. 

Starfleet captains call this a “James T. Kirk team building exercise.”

Cut to Narek returning to his quarters, where his sister Narissa is playing with what I can best describe as a Romulan rubix cube/puzzle box. He reveals he has learned that Soji dreams, and he believes these dreams are an intentional part of her design. He wants to use a Romulan meditation exercise to help her unlock the dream. They believe this can lead them to her home world. Narek reveals the key to his success has always been patience, and uses his puzzle to show that to his sister. Speaking of which, where's Commodore Oh been? Hmm...

Back to the ship, Picard and crew come up with a plan to get on the Artifact. Picard wants to get clearance from the Federation to meet with the Artifact's research chief, who Picard knows (also former Borg), so they enlist Raffi to reach out to an old contact for it. Raffi has returned to the bottle, but she is still able to secure what they need, after being dressed down by her contact who is still enlisted in Starfleet. You can see this takes a toll on Raffi as the contact asks that she never reaches out again. Rios takes her back to her bed as you can see this is another blow to her.

Another example of a member of the La Sirena crew dealing with their trauma to accomplish a greater goal.

In that scene we cut back to Soji and Narek who are talking. Soji mentions she forgot to ask her mom an important question when Narek mentions that her calls to her mom always last exactly 70 seconds. Soji states her disbelief, but you can see that the pieces are starting to come together for her, she’s just not sure what story they’re telling her. They cut back to her and she has another conversation with her “mom” only to pass out again. 

Back to the ship. Picard gets his credentials, and before heading to the Artifact tells Elnor to stay with the ship no matter what. Picard snaps slightly at Elnor about doing this alone, and how he really doesn't want to go. Again, back to Soji (the cuts are coming quickly to help keep the uneasiness of the episode). Soji awakens realizing she again fell asleep during a conversation with her mom. She starts grabbing her belongings and basically “carbon dating” them per say. Her machine says that everything in her room is only 37 months old, even “old” pictures of stuff from her childhood. Soji is nearing a breakdown as her worldview is crashing around her.

You live in a world where you can create tangible items with energy, SOJI. Chill! Maybe they're copies created by a replicator! Oh wait…your stuffed animal and necklace are only 27 months old, too? Yeah…you a robot.

Picard beams to the Artifact. Alone, he immediately starts having flashbacks to his time in the Borg as this is his first time on a Borg cube since his assimilation nearly 20 years ago. This is weighing heavily on him. He nearly falls off a bridge while having a panic attack, where two former Borg drones grab him. Picard freaks out, yelling for them to let go of him. We then hear a voice yell out to Picard that they don't want him to fall, they’re just trying to help. The figure comes closer and Picard sees that it’s Hugh. Picard relaxes and smiles, bringing his out of his PTSD moment. The two embrace and share a nice moment.

This scene was stellar acting by Patrick Stewart

Hugh starts showing Picard around the Borg cube. They call through and show how they are getting the “XB's” (ie former Borg) back to new lives. Picard is still uneasy, as his days as Locutus keep clouding him. Picard reveals his intentions on the cube, to which Hugh is quickly aware of the problems. He knows Soji is in danger, and knowing that Narek is a Romulan spy. Hugh agrees to take Picard to her her.

Soji is confiding in Narek about her realizations. Narek takes her to a Romulan meditation chamber to unwind the meaning of her dreams. His sister Narissa is watching from elsewhere on the cube. Narek is successful in revealing the meaning of her dreams. Soji is able to get to a different part of the dream where she sees that her father is working on some kind of doll that looks just like her, which after seeing this she looks up and sees two red planets and a lot of lightning. Narissa begins frantically searching for a planet that fits that description.

“I seen’t it”

Once revealed, Narek tells Soji that she isn't real, and never was, and locks her in the room with his rubix cube, which lets out a poisonous gas intended to kill her. Narek is very emotional doing this to Soji, as he apparently developed feelings for her. However, Soji “activates” and starting punching her way through the ground.

This sequence takes time, and the show runners do a magnificent job with the cut backs between Picard and Hugh and Soji. Earlier episodes, these cut backs happens slower and a lot of development time happens between the two. By this episode, the closer we get to Soji and Picard crossing paths, the quicker they cut between the two's location, which speeds up when Picard gets on the Artifact. This whole sequence adds so much tension, it's brilliant. While the above is happening, Hugh is taking Picard to Soji's room, and passes by the recovery room for the reclaimed Borg. Picard remarks that he never believes former Borg could be reclaimed on a scale like this and states how proud of Hugh he is. Hugh reveals that he hopes Picard can use his name and notoriety to help bring former Borg away from prejudice as he attempted to do with the Romulans during the supernova. When they get to Soji's room, they see her stuff everywhere and ripped up. They continue to search for her. When Soji punches through the floor, her location is revealed on sensors in the ship and the fated meeting finally happens.

Soji is (quite rightly) worried about trusting anyone, but Picard convinces her to come with her and Hugh to find safety from the Romulans going after her. Hugh takes them both to the Borg Queen's chamber, something every Borg knows implicitly. Hugh reveals that the Borg Queens are always able to escape disaster through this room, as it has a warp jump up to 40,000 light years away. They are found by a squad of Romulans, and Elnor appears and kills them and stays behind with Hugh to keep the Romulans from following. Picard reveals where they are going to Rios. Picard thanks Elnor for disobeying him to come help, and they jump through.

The episode ends with Elnor, with the screen black saying “Please friends, choose to live.” EPIC!!!!!!

Also, in the teaser for the next episode, we see a glimpse of RIKER! And the aftermath looks pretty intense for Picard's current crew and Hugh. Oh boy.

Wow. THIS is what I was alluding to a couple episodes ago. Great suspense, driven by excellent cinematography and story telling. Stewart's acting is superb, the characters are interesting, I continue to want to see where this goes. 

I mentioned above that they seriously could have titled this episode “PTSD.” We see it most in Picard and his flashbacks as a Borg but also see the trauma Agnes and Raffi are dealing with. This is a great build up from the last episode where we learn that Picard (nor Seven of Nine for that matter) have truly felt fully human again since their time with the Borg. Even though it's an old trauma for Picard, being confronted with it so heavily does weigh on him. He gets impatient and snaps several times in the episode. The scene just before the opening credits where he's staring at his Borg reflection on the holoscreen is powerful. The way it's shot, it looks like the Borg physically are still part of him, and even though it's been decades and he's since beat the Borg and saved Earth from them, the trauma they inflicted has an effect to which they still are a part of his mind and spirit. We see fresh trauma as well with Soji, which I imagine will be developed further with her whole “life” essentially being a lie. Allison Pill's Dr. Jirarti is also dealing with her choice to kill Maddox, which is also clearly affecting her. Raffi has also returned to the bottle, and is dealing with the consequences of her choices of alienating family by pursuing truth. Then, more opaque, is Hugh and Rios. Hugh is dealing with the same trauma as Picard, but unlike Picard, puts himself in the middle of the cause of his trauma and uses it as motivation to make a better world. I think this is one reason why Picard sees Hugh even more fondly than you might imagine he would. He sees a previous version of himself in Hugh, not just someone also working to help him deal with his own PTSD and current situation in finding Soji. Rios, we see is also restless, but is seen helping Raffi deal her trauma, and also more subtle is how he interacts with Dr. Jirarti. His advances on her were clearly to help her have even just a short moment out of her trauma and her loneliness. 

Trauma in the real world has become such a focused issue. People psychologically are becoming more and more aware of how trauma, both big and small, can have lasting impacts on our decision-making, life choices, situational reactions, and even in how we process information not related to our trauma. Some of us choose to run from it. Some of us face it head on. Some hit some type of middle ground. Others use exterior stimuli, like sex, alcohol, drugs and the like to help us cope. In its run time, this episode hits on all of these more effectively than I've seen in TV and movies in awhile.

Great episode. Very much looking forward to more. Until next time...