Mysteries deepen in Star Trek: Picard Episode 306, “The Bounty”

Worf and Raffi have joined Riker/Picard/Shaw/Seven aboard the Titan. Now that the gang is all together, it’s time to plan a heist! When the highest echelons of Starfleet are compromised and the whole organization considers you an enemy, the best thing to do is to break into their most well-secured, top-secret research base.

The crew doesn’t quite know what they’re looking for (some sort of manifest so they can deduce what is missing) but they find plenty!  We get some blink-or-you’ll-miss-them shots of the Genesis Device, Captain Kirk’s skeleton (why?!), and even a feral Tribble! But the best surprise is the very dramatic appearance of Daniel Davis’ Moriarty, in his full Jack the Ripper splendor.

This isn’t the self-aware computer program Moriarty once trapped in the Enterprise holodeck, but Data’s impersonation of him. Riker cleverly solves Data’s “name that tune” challenge, and solves the mystery of the music notes in the end credits: it’s “Pop! Goes the Weasel.” It turns out that the latest Dr. Sung (Dr. Alton Sung, for those keeping track) created another “golem” (similar to the synthetic body that Picard now inhabits) and implanted all of Data’s various iterations into it: Data (the original), Lore (the evil prototype), Lal (Data’s daughter), and B4 (Data’s attempt to re-create himself). This new Data IS the manifest; he is completely tapped in to the happenings at Daystrom, but unfortunately there are a few too many personalities trying to inhabit one body / positronic brain. Ultimately, we learn that the item that was stolen was none other than Picard’s original body!

Leave the bottle, and a few spare ears…

Now we have even more questions about Jack. If the Changelings stole Picard’s body, was it to clone Jack? If Jack was cloned months ago, why does Beverly have memories of his childhood? If Jack isn’t a Changeling clone of Picard, why do they need him? Does it have something to do with Jack’s direct DNA link to Picard?

The popular theory among the crew of the Titan is that Jean-Luc passed his Irumodic Syndrome on to Jack, and that this brain disorder is the explanation for Jack’s nightmares, hallucinations, and so on. However, it’s starting to sound more and more likely that Jack is a Changeling plant. Beverly mentions him “talking to people who aren’t there” as a child, which might point to a thin connection to the Changelings’ Great Link.

While Riker, Worf, and Raffi are inside Daystrom, Picard, Shaw, Seven, and the rest of the crew are back on the Titan as Starfleet comes to investigate the disturbance. Picard has the Titan flee to the Fleet Museum, the same Fleet Museum that is currently run by Commodore Geordi LaForge.

Picard wants Geordi to join the Enterprise Titan crew to help resist the compromised Starfleet. Geordi seems fully aware of the issues with Starfleet (he was preparing to write a third sternly worded letter), but he’s comfortable, which has taken the fight out of him. He’s now more concerned with protecting what he has than with righting intergalactic wrongs.

We finally get character development for Sydney LaForge beyond “Geordi is my dad.” She grew up on stories of the Enterprise and wants to follow in her father’s footsteps. When Geordi implores her to let Starfleet handle the situation (forgetting that Starfleet IS the situation), Sydney cuts him down with three words:

I AM Starfleet

Seeing he has no choice, Geordi reluctantly agrees to join the group. But while Picard and Geordi are arguing, Sydney and Jack steal a Klingon cloaking device from the museum and attach it to the Titan.

The Titan returns to Daystrom to recover Worf, Raffi and Data. But Riker is captured by Starfleet/Vadic. Of this group, Riker is probably the best equipped to stand up to torture, but Worf is prepared to rescue his comrade, no matter the cost.

Tune in next week for a daring rescue!

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