Story: Stardust City Rag
Written By: Kirsten Beyer
Series: Star Trek: Picard
Year: 2020
Picard and co. make it to Freecloud to find Bruce Maddox (now recast), with Seven of Nine in tow. Maddox has gotten himself into trouble and the only way to get him back is to make an attempt at a trade...Seven's life for his. You see, the people who are currently holding him hostage happen to like carving up Borg, and they once tortured and harvested Borg parts from a Starfleet officer named Icheb. Seven wants revenge for this.
Meanwhile Raffi leaves the ship to go meet her son, and try and make amends for past mistakes. It turns out that after she got kicked out of Starfleet (for being Picard's friend I guess?), she got wrapped up in conspiracy theories about the Mars attacks and fell into drugs and probably alcoholism too. She pretty much drove her family away. And her son is not very forgiving of her when she comes to make amends and tell him she is clean. He snaps at her and drives her away. So she returns to Picard's ship.
The plan to get Maddox is successful, though Picard doesn't like that Seven was just out for revenge. He convinces her not to take revenge. Which was great! I was like "hey this show gets it!" But after a moment of me actually feeling like the show still has that spark of the Trek ethos, they decide to have Seven just go down and have her revenge anyway. She also declares that the universe is still pretty hopeless even if Picard doesn't think so. But hey, at least when they had that tinge of hope before they threw it all away a moment later...they played a bit of that Voyager theme! Oh!!! They do get it.
This might be a tough episode for Voyager fans. On the one hand, yay Seven of Nine! On the other, they callously kill off Icheb. As someone who isn't a huge fan of Voyager, and has never understood how Icheb became such a fan favorite (I know Voyager fans seem to love him, but I barely remember him to be honest), his death doesn't bug me too much. It gives some motivation for Seven of Nine, which I think works. I wish she rose above hate and revenge in the end for it...but I am fine with the concept
Dr. Jurati also gets a little to do in this one. We find out that she apparently was romantically involved with Maddox (I don't think that had been mentioned before). And after he is brought on board and gives some info about the possible plot within Starfleet to blame the Synths and ban them...Jurati looks concerned. She then kills Maddox. This has only confirmed that she absolutely is working for Commodore Oh, which I knew the moment she first shot a Romulan and asked to join Picard. This is the most expected twist this Kurtzman clan have conceived yet! It is so damned obvious. What's worse, I think it's a dumb idea all around.
While Frakes' direction keeps the energy moving, and the more human Seven of Nine is a welcome addition to the show (even if she doesn't stick around)...I found myself frustrated with elements of this episode. I think it is the pervasive hopelessness of modern Trek that keeps me from fully enjoying it. I am reminded of a story told by the TNG cast, I think on their reunion interview from the second season blu-ray. They told a story about a cop who told them (I don't recall at the moment which cast member relayed the tale) that there are days in his rough job where he despairs for mankind, seeing the worst of the worst regularly out on the streets. But he would go home, and pop on TNG...and he would have relief from that harsh reality of modern life. I see no such relief from that here. That is what the Kurtzman era of Trek has truly been missing for me. For all the moments of enjoyment I have had sporadically via Discovery and Picard, overall I don't ever feel like I can escape the harsh realities of modern life, and I certainly don't look hopefully towards this future where we one day get it all right.
Because in this show, we've went and got it all wrong again. People are fearful. People are quick to succumb to their prejudice. People fall into drug habits and ignore their families. Forgiveness is no longer in the air. So anyhow...yay fan service! The writers know certain Trek elements to squeeze in, even if they don't remember what any of it was about.
NEXT TIME: Making their way to Borg Cube
Written By: Kirsten Beyer
Series: Star Trek: Picard
Year: 2020
Picard and co. make it to Freecloud to find Bruce Maddox (now recast), with Seven of Nine in tow. Maddox has gotten himself into trouble and the only way to get him back is to make an attempt at a trade...Seven's life for his. You see, the people who are currently holding him hostage happen to like carving up Borg, and they once tortured and harvested Borg parts from a Starfleet officer named Icheb. Seven wants revenge for this.
The plan to get Maddox is successful, though Picard doesn't like that Seven was just out for revenge. He convinces her not to take revenge. Which was great! I was like "hey this show gets it!" But after a moment of me actually feeling like the show still has that spark of the Trek ethos, they decide to have Seven just go down and have her revenge anyway. She also declares that the universe is still pretty hopeless even if Picard doesn't think so. But hey, at least when they had that tinge of hope before they threw it all away a moment later...they played a bit of that Voyager theme! Oh!!! They do get it.
This might be a tough episode for Voyager fans. On the one hand, yay Seven of Nine! On the other, they callously kill off Icheb. As someone who isn't a huge fan of Voyager, and has never understood how Icheb became such a fan favorite (I know Voyager fans seem to love him, but I barely remember him to be honest), his death doesn't bug me too much. It gives some motivation for Seven of Nine, which I think works. I wish she rose above hate and revenge in the end for it...but I am fine with the concept
Dr. Jurati also gets a little to do in this one. We find out that she apparently was romantically involved with Maddox (I don't think that had been mentioned before). And after he is brought on board and gives some info about the possible plot within Starfleet to blame the Synths and ban them...Jurati looks concerned. She then kills Maddox. This has only confirmed that she absolutely is working for Commodore Oh, which I knew the moment she first shot a Romulan and asked to join Picard. This is the most expected twist this Kurtzman clan have conceived yet! It is so damned obvious. What's worse, I think it's a dumb idea all around.
While Frakes' direction keeps the energy moving, and the more human Seven of Nine is a welcome addition to the show (even if she doesn't stick around)...I found myself frustrated with elements of this episode. I think it is the pervasive hopelessness of modern Trek that keeps me from fully enjoying it. I am reminded of a story told by the TNG cast, I think on their reunion interview from the second season blu-ray. They told a story about a cop who told them (I don't recall at the moment which cast member relayed the tale) that there are days in his rough job where he despairs for mankind, seeing the worst of the worst regularly out on the streets. But he would go home, and pop on TNG...and he would have relief from that harsh reality of modern life. I see no such relief from that here. That is what the Kurtzman era of Trek has truly been missing for me. For all the moments of enjoyment I have had sporadically via Discovery and Picard, overall I don't ever feel like I can escape the harsh realities of modern life, and I certainly don't look hopefully towards this future where we one day get it all right.
Because in this show, we've went and got it all wrong again. People are fearful. People are quick to succumb to their prejudice. People fall into drug habits and ignore their families. Forgiveness is no longer in the air. So anyhow...yay fan service! The writers know certain Trek elements to squeeze in, even if they don't remember what any of it was about.
NEXT TIME: Making their way to Borg Cube
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