Star Trek got dark for a moment, my friends. Star Trek got dark.
1. Seven of Nine
The opening of this episode could rival any torture porn movie franchise of the past 15 years with its attack on a character we know from Voyager, Icheb, a former Borg drone, now Starfleet officer, Seven of Nine has come to see as a son. His Borg parts are being removed, or harvested, for profit, without anesthetic, so we see his eyeball, or hopefully a Borg ocular implant, ripped out of its socket. Icheb, a man Seven helped regain his humanity across two episodes of Voyager, will die from the wounds inflicted by this chop doc, but luckily, I guess, Seven storms in, killing the doc, and relieves the man she considers family, of his pain while holding him in her arms. This is dark for any TV show, let alone Star Trek. Thirteen years later, Seven and Picard seem familiar when they interact and she explains to the former Admiral that “ranging is my job.” She’s a Fenris Ranger, a job she doesn’t like or enjoy, but the only thing worse than doing said job, according to Seven, is giving it up, because that would mean abandoning those that have no one else, the lost causes. Which is seemingly why Seven agrees to join Picard on his mission to find Dahj’s sister. Something I have to add is getting Seven out of her spandex uniform is all I ever wanted. Giving her that loose, greenish, nondescript sweater and leather jacket allowed her to be so much more as a person.
2. It’s a heist?
I will say I was highly skeptical of this episode after seeing previews, Picard in an eye patch? Rios looking like a pimp? Elnor being adorably clueless? Ugh. But this episode got in and out on the heist and flipped expectations fairly abruptly – it’s not the only jolting surprise this episode either. We finally meet Bruce Maddox, he escapes to Freecloud after the Tal Shiar destroy his lab, and he returns to the woman who lent him the money to finance his operation, Bjayzl. She’s obviously not a woman to be trusted as we quickly learn she’s going to turn him over to the Tal Shiar for a tidy profit – it’s money that motivates her – and that’s it. She’s not a person with a conscience. Taking a step back for a moment, we learn Dr. Jurati and Dr. Maddox were more than work buddies, they were romantically involved as well, which adds a level of intensity to her involvement in this mission, and perhaps explains her level of anxiety when in charge of transporting the crew out of Freecloud after the completion of their mission. Long story short, Seven was more than willing to exchange herself for Maddox because she has a history with Bjayzl, our villain even calls her Annika, these two KNOW one another. Bjayzl deals in harvested Borg parts and she is the one responsible for Icheb’s death; this is personal for Seven. Seven gives Picard and his team the advantage over Bjayzl and they escape fairly easily. Too easily. Seven asks Picard for two phasers before she leaves, as she’s a vigilante, and that’s what she’ll always be. Which explains her return to Freecloud – where she finally kills Bjayzl for what she’s done to Seven’s family, her former Borg family, double phasers ablazin’. (This was the scene that got the most cheers when the trailer was screened at NYCC this past fall.) So much of Seven’s journey in Voyager was about attempting to regain her humanity, finding what she lost as a child, and it seems perhaps she found it, but she found the dark side of it all. (Wrong franchise, I know.)
3. Picard
Hope, the glue that holds the heart of Trek together, this is what Jean-Luc Picard represents so far in this series. He’s a man driven by the best principles, what the Federation and Starfleet are supposed to stand for, supposedly have always stood for, and seemingly, during this series, the Federation and Starfleet have lost, but not Picard. His greatest wish was to save the Romulans, and Starfleet failed him. His greatest wish now is to save Dahj’s sister, and Starfleet is fighting him. It is seemingly serendipitous when Picard and Seven meet, she saves he and his crew from a Bird of Prey, he tells her, “Murder is not justice. There is no solace in revenge,” and she appears to respond to his wise words. The hope and positivity of all things Trek Picard represents appear to have gotten through to her, but no, she returns to Freecloud to enact her revenge on the one woman responsible for the suffering of her people. Are Seven’s actions justified in a terrible world? Has Seven saved hundreds, even thousands from a terrible death like the one suffered by Icheb? Are Picard’s ideals outdated? He is referred to as “old man” multiple times in this episode. Will Picard and his hopeful ideals prevail, or has the world around him changed too much?
Continued below4. Dr. Jurati
Holy- – – – Well, this was a fairly well-disguised surprise. Things began getting suspicious at a certain point in the episode, but Dr. Jurati was paid a visit by Commodore Oh just prior to showing up at Picard’s Chateau insisting on joining his crew. This is obviously a soul crushing sacrifice for Dr. Jurati, Aggie, as Dr. Maddox calls her, but while he is thanking her for all her work on their Synthetic lifeforms, she, well, pulls the plug on him, killing him, all the while saying she wishes she didn’t know what she knows. She wishes they hadn’t shown her. Which begs the question, what did Oh show her?
5. Raffi
Now we know why Raffi was so intent on joining Picard and his crew and heading to Freecloud; she knows someone there – her son. Raffi was a woman obsessed, obsessed with possible Starfleet involvement in the Synthetic attack on Mars, to the point where she neglected her family – her husband and son. Her son, Gabriel, is angry with her, still very angry, despite the fact that Raffi tells him she’s putting her life back together; he tells her it sucked to be her kid, and he rejects the olive branch she extends in hopes of forming a bond with her son, his unborn child, and his Romulan wife. This leaves Raffi with nothing but Picard and his mission and a tragic backstory I hope is resolved.
I anticipated this being my least favorite episode of Picard thanks to the trailer, but I think it was my favorite, thanks to the writing. Yay writers! This episode was written by Kirsten Beyer who is a staff writer for Star Trek: Discovery and has written a variety of Star Trek: Voyager novels. Also noteworthy is that Patrick Stewart, a self-identified feminist, surrounds himself, as Picard, by strong, complex female characters in this series. He’s walking the walk. What a guy. Last comment, I just have to say, getting Seven out of her spandex uniform is all I ever wanted.
