Story: The End is the Beginning
Written By: Michael Chabon & James Duff
Series: Star Trek: Picard
Year: 2020
The third episode of Picard almost feels like the end of a three-part pilot. The final pieces of set up are put into place. Picard goes to Raffi Musiker, a former Starfleet colleague who lost her status within Starfleet following Picard's resignation (and is apparently poor now in the post-monetary world of the 24th Century?), and asks for her help in his new mission. She not only gives him the name of a man with a ship, but she also looks into some clues and finds out where Maddox likely is.
We also meet Captain Rios, the man with the ship. When they were initially making casting announcements, I remember being particularly unsure about this role, as the character was described as a "thief with a heart of gold" or something to that affect. I remember thinking it was going to be yet another edgy addition to the franchise. I also had this cliche picture in my head...some guy who was tough and smarmy...a Han Solo type. I could just picture some guy who talks tough but is deep down a good dude. It bored me. But luckily we meet him and the first thing we see is the Captain with some piece of unexplained shrapnel in his shoulder, and he is cracking wise about it to Picard and his EMH (also played by Santiago Cabrera), and he chomps on a cigar like Wolverine and gets some booze replicated. Sigh... We also find out he is former Starfleet as well, and left after some incident in which a Captain he revered was killed in action. So he will be ultimately a good guy in the end.
Beyond Raffi and Rios, Picard is joined on his mission by Dr. Jurati, who was visited by the Romulan spy, Commodore Oh. I can smell this plotline so easily. Oh contacts Jurati and asks about Picard. We next see Jurati show up at Chateau Picard while he and his Romulan friends are fighting off the rogue Romulans that are after the Synths. Jurati shows up and shoots one. She is quite rattled by the moment, being a simple scientist. She then demands to join Picard's mission to find Maddox, using her status as a top scientist in the world of Synths as a good reason to tag along.
Here's my bet: Jurati agreed to work for Oh and spy on Picard for her. She may want to find Maddox and have some admiration for Picard, but I am guessing she thinks she is helping for the good of the Federation. Her deception will eventually be revealed, and it will cause a rift with her and the rest of the team, but she will be welcomed back into the fold after she finds out the truth about Oh and helps her friends in the end. Maybe I am wrong, but the set up here felt so damned predictable to me, or at the very least it felt like the exact kind of thing Kurtzman would plant the seeds of. I genuinely hope I am wrong on this one.
The show also dips back into the Romulan/Borg Cube/Soji plotline. I found this stuff less interesting, despite the return of Hugh. He seems intriguing in his less Borgified state, but I just found the overall Romulan/Borg stuff bland. Maybe it will improve. I am certainly interested in more Hugh.
This another episode of basic set up, and it all leads to the moment that Picard and his new small ragtag crew are assembled on the La Sirena (Rios' ship), and set off in search of Maddox. That is why this episode feels like the true end to the pilot. Personally, I liked this episode more than the second, but I still worry this show's tone is too grim or edgy. Rios feels like a watered down edgy Captain. Raffi is this clearly broken character, whose entire life seems to have been shattered because Picard left Starfleet. I find that hard to truly buy. But she is seemingly an alcoholic, vaping and constantly snapping at "J.L." because her life didn't turn out the way she wanted. Why she lives in a trailer as if she doesn't live in the Star Trek future in which options are pretty endless for where you can go and do and live happily...I dunno. The best new character is Jurati, but I am fearful they will take a dumb espionage route with her, and that would really taint the character for me.
The adventure is finally taking off...let's hope it doesn't suck.
NEXT TIME: Romulans Only
Written By: Michael Chabon & James Duff
Series: Star Trek: Picard
Year: 2020
The third episode of Picard almost feels like the end of a three-part pilot. The final pieces of set up are put into place. Picard goes to Raffi Musiker, a former Starfleet colleague who lost her status within Starfleet following Picard's resignation (and is apparently poor now in the post-monetary world of the 24th Century?), and asks for her help in his new mission. She not only gives him the name of a man with a ship, but she also looks into some clues and finds out where Maddox likely is.
Beyond Raffi and Rios, Picard is joined on his mission by Dr. Jurati, who was visited by the Romulan spy, Commodore Oh. I can smell this plotline so easily. Oh contacts Jurati and asks about Picard. We next see Jurati show up at Chateau Picard while he and his Romulan friends are fighting off the rogue Romulans that are after the Synths. Jurati shows up and shoots one. She is quite rattled by the moment, being a simple scientist. She then demands to join Picard's mission to find Maddox, using her status as a top scientist in the world of Synths as a good reason to tag along.
Here's my bet: Jurati agreed to work for Oh and spy on Picard for her. She may want to find Maddox and have some admiration for Picard, but I am guessing she thinks she is helping for the good of the Federation. Her deception will eventually be revealed, and it will cause a rift with her and the rest of the team, but she will be welcomed back into the fold after she finds out the truth about Oh and helps her friends in the end. Maybe I am wrong, but the set up here felt so damned predictable to me, or at the very least it felt like the exact kind of thing Kurtzman would plant the seeds of. I genuinely hope I am wrong on this one.
The show also dips back into the Romulan/Borg Cube/Soji plotline. I found this stuff less interesting, despite the return of Hugh. He seems intriguing in his less Borgified state, but I just found the overall Romulan/Borg stuff bland. Maybe it will improve. I am certainly interested in more Hugh.
This another episode of basic set up, and it all leads to the moment that Picard and his new small ragtag crew are assembled on the La Sirena (Rios' ship), and set off in search of Maddox. That is why this episode feels like the true end to the pilot. Personally, I liked this episode more than the second, but I still worry this show's tone is too grim or edgy. Rios feels like a watered down edgy Captain. Raffi is this clearly broken character, whose entire life seems to have been shattered because Picard left Starfleet. I find that hard to truly buy. But she is seemingly an alcoholic, vaping and constantly snapping at "J.L." because her life didn't turn out the way she wanted. Why she lives in a trailer as if she doesn't live in the Star Trek future in which options are pretty endless for where you can go and do and live happily...I dunno. The best new character is Jurati, but I am fearful they will take a dumb espionage route with her, and that would really taint the character for me.
The adventure is finally taking off...let's hope it doesn't suck.
NEXT TIME: Romulans Only
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