As we rejoin the U.S.S. Titan immediately following the confrontation with the Shrike in this mysterious nebula, things aren’t looking good. The Titan is plummeting down a gravity well, crashing violently into any and all space debris on the way down. Thrusters are of no avail, and what little remaining power there is must be focused on life support. As systems continue to be shut down across the ship, there are also rhythmic bio-electirc energy waves pelting it. Picard, Riker, the Crushers, and the rest oft he crew find themselves in their own personal Kobayashi Maru.
A perfect time for a drink! On the advice of an apologetic Riker, Picard decides to spend what might be his last few minutes of life getting to know his son. Conveniently, the holodeck uses a small independent power cell (which is of no use to the rest of the power-starved ship). So Picard calls up the Ten Forward program to have a quiet drink with Jack, along with a few other crew members who have nothing better to do. In between moments of pathos between father and son, we get flashbacks of Picard being bothered at lunch by cadets who are much more eager to hear the stories of the Enterprise-D. So we’re reminded of a Picard who believes that a crew fighting for one another’s lives can get out of even the most hopeless scenario. The Picard of the past stands in stark contrast to the Picard of the present, who is content to hide from the friend who yelled at him and to surrender to hopelessness in an artificial environment.
Vadic and the Shrike appear to no longer be an imminent threat; more important is the Changeling saboteur.
Anika
Seven is on the case, even if it requires working with Captain Shaw (the grease-monkey dipshit from Chicago). She finds the chamber pot, and even the changeling itself, before it goes gloopy and disappears into the ship’s hull.
Vadic removes her own left hand, which transforms into a hellish face. The unknown entity is the power behind Vadic, and orders her to pursue Jack Crusher at the cost of her own life. Is this another changeling? Is Vadic?
The latest episode of Star Trek: Picard succeeds despite itself
In classic Star Trek form, Crusher deduces the energy waves are contractions coming from the nebula. Once they figure out the rhythm, they come up with a plan to ride and draw power from these waves. Suddenly, the no-win scenario has a chance! Seven and Shaw are tasked with ripping open the nacelles so that they can absorb energy from the contractions.
While the grease-monkey works, a second ensign LaForge appears. She refers to Seven as “Cmdr. Hansen,” a dead giveaway that she’s the Changeling (don’t dead-name, kids). Seven dispatches her and the engineering mission is allowed to succeed. The Titan manages to ride a wave of energy out of the nebula while also recharging the warp core, restoring all power. They’re home free. Riker even gets to throw an asteroid at the Shrike on their way past.
It seems especially out of character that Picard has withdrawn from most of the action of this episode, waxing poetic about past adventures, until he can ride in like the cavalry at the end. We do get some good character development from Captain Shaw, particularly about his history with
Picard
Locutus of Borg. We also get the resolution of the previous episode’s conflict: Riker’s over-abundance of caution vs Picard’s “lets just try it” approach. This time, Picard’s 1:1,000,000,000 chance pays off.
Verdict
Despite all the action, there are no stakes here. We knew the main cast wasn’t going to die in the middle of a nebula in Episode 4. The inevitable conclusion of the episode was that they would escape. This is an example of the writers sticking their characters up a tree and then figuring out how to get them down again. The TNG nostalgia (we get recaps of the Hirogen, Darmok and Jalad…) falls a little flat when we have a fully functional (and anatomically correct) crew conducting their own mission.
The episode succeeds despite itself. Hopefully next week we can learn a bit more about what’s actually going on out there.
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