Star Trek: Picard Episode 7

by Mike Lunsford, GGR’s Editor-In-Chief

All of our pieces have converged, all the stories have met and now Star Trek: Picard is moving at breakneck speed to its season 1 conclusion. Last week’s episode was an incredible ride as Picard finally met Soji and was able to teleport lightyears away to safety as Hugh and Elnor stayed behind on the Artifact. The Romulans will definitely not let this slide as creepy-ass Narek was only moments away from killing Soji and completing the mission he and his sister Narissa are enacting. Last week’s episode was a study in trauma and facing it, whether we want to or not. This week is more about learning how to grow beyond our own stubbornness, but as this series has proven time and time again, it’s also about dealing with trauma because NO ONE HAS A HAPPY LIFE IN THIS UNIVERSE. Jesus… let’s get on with the review for epsidoe 7, “Nepenthe.”

As with most of the Star Trek: Picard episodes, this one also starts with a flashback, only this one is only 3 weeks ago. We get to see the rest of Agnes Jurati and Commander Oh’s chat at the Daystrom Institute. Oh knows Jurati has met with Picard, that Picard has revealed that Maddox created a synthetic, and that she knows Agnes gave him material relevant to Maddox. We find out that Agnes’ desire to join Picard’s quest was not her own, as it was Oh who tells her to accompany Picard. To show Agnes why she will be joining the mission, she uses a Vulcan mind-meld.

Commodore Oh shows her the death and destruction that will happen if synthetic life is allowed to exist. Agnes is so disturbed by this, she gets physically ill. She agrees to Oh’s demands, which will require “a terrible sacrifice” per the Commodore. She is given a Flintstone’s Chewable Tracking Device ™ and now we know all the pieces of her betrayal. (Sidenote: I TOLD YOU!)

On the Artifact, Narissa demands that Hugh give up Picard and Soji’s destination. He flatly refuses and she has her henchmen execute Hugh’s fellow XBs. She holds a blaster to Hugh’s head but can’t kill him because he’s protected by a Starfleet treaty. Hugh is devastated by the death of his fellow XBs. Elnor shows up and vows that he will help Hugh (not entirely sure what happened between last week’s episode when Elnor was ready to fight and this scene). The La Sirena has been trying to escape, but the Artifact’s tractor beam has kept them in place. They are suddenly released but Rios knows there’s no way they’re being released without a tail. They are being followed by a Romulan ship (piloted by smarmy-ass Narek). Before jetting off to Nepenthe, Rios contacts Elnor to beam him out. He refuses, stating that he is staying behind on the Artifact because “my help is needed here.”

The crew respects his decision and warps out towards Picard.

On Nepenthe, Picard and Soji are greeted by a blonde girl wielding a bow and arrow. Picard warns her to aim for his head as his heart is pure duratanium. Her name is Kestra (Lulu Wilson, The Haunting of Hill House), and she leads them to her home. On their way to the girl’s house, Kestra talks to Soji, who is confused, still shaken by her recent revelations of her age and betrayal by Narek. Kestra shows her a compass but concedes it’s broken and admits that her arrows are real but that she’s a pacifist, and thus wouldn’t use them anyway. She asks Soji’s about her father, to which Picard mentions that it’s Data. Kestra exclaims, “you’re an android?” which completely freaks out Soji. Trying to soothe her, Picard says that, though her memories and identity might not be real, her sister Dahj was. Then, he informs her that Dahj was murdered by the very people now hunting her. Having been repeatedly deceived, finding out she’s an android and that her sister is dead, Soji is distrustful of any information.

As they arrive at the house, Kestra’s mother comes out to greet their guests, Commander Deanna Troi!! She instinctively senses that her former Captain is in trouble. Picard goes inside and receives a similar embrace from Will Riker. He can also tell that Picard is in danger. The wise Riker raises the homes defensive shields, then Picard suggests not only activating its perimeter scans but also run anti-cloaking scans. Riker realizes that Picard’s problems involve Romulans. Picard states that his plan has fallen apart, he’s lost his crew, and Soji is still in danger, to which Riker says, “Sounds like you need a new plan.” Deanna joins Picard and Riker and senses that Jean-Luc is exhausted.

Picard goes to rest and Riker continues his work on homemade pizzas. Soji is resting in the bottom bunk of Kestra’s room while Kestra talks to her about Data. She surmises that the reason Soji is so “real” and human-looking is that is what Data always wanted. Everything he strove for: to have dreams, tell jokes, learn how to ballroom dance, etc was because he wanted to be as human as possible. Soji is the culmination of that. Troi and Picard visit the bedroom of her and Riker’s late son Thad. Troi tells Picard to stay as long as he likes, but she acknowledges, “I’m not as brave as I used to be, Jean-Luc.” Picard responds, “You’re getting wiser.”

Onboard The La Sirena, Rios is trying to shake the pursuing Narek. Agnes asks if Rios and Raffi really want to go to Nepenthe. Since she was originally eager to embark on this mission, Raffi is shocked by her response. That prompts Agnes to flip her sh*t just a little. “I just want to go home! Picard can look after himself and somebody else can find that f---ing synth! Why does it have to be me?” Raffi takes Agnes to the impromptu mess hall and calms her down by giving her red velvet cake and chocolate milk, which she promptly throws up. Rios takes her to the medical bay and says he suspects the reason he can’t shake Narek is that Raffi is being (unwittingly) tracked. Before Agnes can fully confess that she’s the one with the tracker, Rios heads back to the bridge. Overcome with emotion, Agnes replicates a hypospray and injects herself in the neck, instigating a mouth-foaming seizure that puts her in a coma. Hats off to Allison Pill as she excellently performs the role of someone distraught with guilt and pain from her decisions, but also haunted by the vision she saw via Commodore Oh.

Her actions disable the tracker that Narek was using to follow them as he curses in Romulan.

Back to Nepenthe. Picard and Riker have a heart to heart about what’s really going on. The former admiral admits that his visit was a desperate impulse and that he regrets putting the Riker family in danger. Riker presses the Picard for details, stating that ignorance of danger doesn’t keep it at bay. He then presents all the evidence of what is really going on: Picard is being hunted by the Tal Shiar and that Soji is the android offspring of Data, stating that her head-tilt gave away her lineage. “Not bad for a pizza chef,” Picard smiles.

Another nod to the acting: Isa Briones nailed the signature Data head tilt, a hallmark of his curiosity. I immediately noticed it and loved that Riker caught it, too.

In a conversation that was classic Next Generation, Riker doesn’t pull his punches with his former commanding officer. He slams Picard for his classic arrogance. He states that once again, he is deciding everything for everyone, and warns him that dealing with a teenager isn’t the same as commanding a starship. Picard admits that he may not be up to this challenge. Riker smiles and says that is the first baby step toward the humility he needs.

Soji and Kestra have become fast friends, speaking to each other in a language called Viveen that Thad created. They meet Deanna in their garden and the former counselor has Soji try a real tomato, her first non-replicated food. Soji is at first amazed but then becomes saddened as she states “real is always better,” still coping with her newly revealed android status. Deanna tells Soji about her son Thad and his desire for a home as he grew up on starships for most of his life. He created the Viveen language and had a fake home planet unti Nepenthe eventually became home for him. Thad died of a rare disease that could have been cured with the assistance of an active positronic matrix, but because of the synthetic ban, Thad died of the disease. Deanna states, that “real isn’t always better.”

Soji is still intensely skeptical of everything, suspecting that this paradise and its kind inhabitants are part of an elaborate trap. Picard tells Soji he understands her doubts, but she violently shoves him aside and storms off. Deanna chastises Picard for not fully comprehending how shaken Soji has been by Narek’s subterfuge and attempt on her life as well as the weight of finding out what she really is. In her room, Kestra conveys to Soji that she understands what it’s like to experience something really awful and that what helped her get through it were her parents. She says that her and Picard could be there for each other. “I’ll think about it,” Soji says.

Back to the Artifact. Hugh tells Elnor he’s now going to lead an open revolt against the Romulans and seize control of the Artifact. Narissa takes this as a violation of the treaty and states that she can now kill them both. Elnor draws his sword and in an awesome action scene, he kills all of her guards and engages her in combat. She speaks to him in Romulan about Zhat Vash fighting the Qowat Milat in a traditional way: hand to hand. Narissa holds her own for a moment, but Elnor immediately takes the advantage, putting her on the defensive. Knowing she stands no chance against him, she throws a dagger at Hugh and hits him in his throat. She then beams away before Elnor can finish her off. With his final breath, Hugh tells Elnor that he needs an XB to activate the Queen Cell, and thanks the warrior for giving him hope.

Damn, poor Hugh. I really was hoping he’d be along for more of this ride. Elnor is hiding in the Artifact, alarm sirens blaring when he finds a dog tag-like device that allows him to activate a Fenris Rangers SOS signal. Ooooooh, that means we’re going to get more Seven!!!

Over pizza dinner, Soji recounts Narek’s meditation-ritual ruse, and Kestra, with the aid of a man named Captain Rupert Crandall, discovers the location of Soji’s homeworld. Picard works hard to convince Soji that she can trust him, admitting he wants to help her because she’s the daughter of his dear friend Data. Moreover, before this undertaking, Picard was just wasting his life, whereas now, “I’m alive. And I have a mission, which means there’s not a hell of a chance that you or anyone else can stop me.”

The next morning, Picard and Riker take a walk to a forest-nestled lake. Picard has heard from Rios and wonders how this crew has so much more baggage than any of his previous crew had. Sitting on a pier bench, Riker lets Picard know that no one would think less of him if he gave up this quest. However, Riker also says he never thought Picard had any business retiring. Picard thanks Riker for not trying to talk hom out of completing the mission. Riker says he knows better than to attempt that, since “that was always a losing proposition.” Everyone begins saying their goodbyes.

After receiving Kestra’s compass as a gift, Soji and Picard say their farewells and beam back up to La Sirena.

What an incredible episode. After a few that were intense and fast-paced, “Nepenthe” slowed things down and built on what had happened in the previous episodes. We got to see the Picard-Troi-Riker reunion and it was just as heartwarming as I had hoped. The writing of these characters was stellar in this episode, as they were logical extensions of the people we grew to love from Next Generation. Again though, in this universe everyone has some sort of awful trauma that has happened to them in the 20 years since we’ve seen them. As much of a bummer as this may be, it is realistic. Most people have to deal with loss like the death of loved ones, becoming disenfranchised with the government, or losing faith in society in general because of terrible events and how others responded. It may not be a utopia, but it is certainly human. It was awesome seeing Riker and Troi again. I love Kestra, she’s a ton of fun and the Rikers seem like wonderful parents. Agnes’ torment is hard to watch as you can see how painful her decisions have been since she killed Bruce Maddox.

As far as what’s to come: I can’t WAIT to see Seven and the Fenris Rangers kick some Romulan butt on the Artifact! On top of that, who is this Captain Rupert Crandall person? There were too many drops of his name and exploits for him to be just a throwaway character. What is going on with Agnes? That hypospray she injected herself with: was it to put her in a coma indefinitely or was it just to neutralize the tracker? Is she still going to help Commodore Oh?

What about Rios and Raffi? He seemed like he didn’t trust her and thought she was the one who was being tracked…or was this all to throw Agnes off the scent that both he and Raffi suspected her? Raffi did grill her a bit about her sudden change of heart in regards to finding Soji.

The series has gone from good to phenomenal in the last 3 or 4 episodes. The whole first season has done an excellent job of answering questions while also adding more to give us a well-rounded, thought-provoking and exciting series. The acting has been superb, the writing spot on, and extras like music and special effects have done a great job of adding depth to the story.

Make sure you check us out next week as we review the 8th episode of Star Trek: Picard. Live long and prosper, friends.