For me, this was easily the best episode of the season so far. It struck deep emotional moments that really make you feel for the characters, and it is very much focused on one single story rather than the multiple narratives we’ve had.
It begins with another flashback. This time it’s 13 years ago on the planet Vergessen, one year after the attack on Mars. We find ourselves in some sort of medical looking facility except they’re not there to help people, but rather take them apart. A bloodied and clearly injured person in a Starfleet outfit is lying on the table and having his eye pulled out. But it isn’t until a badass Seven of Nine arrives on the scene do we realize that it’s Icheb who was injured. She wants to take him and escape, but he knows that he can’t make it. Seven is forced to accept Icheb’s request to have her end his life, and tearfully, she shoots him, not before calling him “her child.” It’s a mercy kill. But it doesn’t make the scene any less gut-wrenching, especially for any Voyager fans who may have remembered or loved young Icheb and wished for him a better future.
Much controversy has arisen because of this scene and its graphic nature. Claims that Star Trek Picard has become too violent and gratuitous. Except, this isn’t gratuitous violence just for the sake of being violent. The scene was brutal because it was meant to draw us, the audience, into understanding Seven’s grief as well as the horrors that Icheb suffered. If the scene had been just sanitized to the point that we didn’t see the “graphic” part, we would feel bad, but we wouldn’t have reacted as viscerally to Seven and Icheb’s story. The fact that such a controversy exists and drew the reactions it did from the audience means that the writers and producers were correct in their choice. We reacted to the horror because that’s what they needed us to do. And given the limited time frame, they had to set up Seven’s backstory, it was done in a short but effective way.
And to be quite frank, there are way more graphic things in Star Trek that people have accepted. So really, I don’t have any problems with what happened in this scene.
A little bit of fun trivia though, they could not find Icheb’s cortical node because he donated it to Seven in an episode of Voyager. Also, the person working on Icheb calls out for “Bjayzl” before Seven killed her. So, any viewer who caught that would have known even before the twist reveal of what Seven was planning to do.
In a second flashback scene, two weeks before our story, we find Bruce Maddox on Freecloud looking rather tired and weary. He’s been in hiding since his lab was destroyed and he thinks it’s the Tal Shiar. We meet Bjayzl, who Maddox owes money to, and it seems she’s found a way for him to pay that loan. She was going to kill him but now she can use him to broker a trade with the Tal Shiar, even if they’re always such a pain in the ass to deal with. No one is a Tal Shiar fan. I mean, to be fair, who would be? These Romulan spies are just the worst. #JusticeForThePlums
Back on La Sirena, we are treated to the conversation that we have waited a whole entire week for Picard and Seven. Two characters who’ve never met but share a trauma that only they can truly understand. Watching Jeri Ryan and Patrick Stewart go toe to toe with each other in character is something that is honestly more than a little astonishing and unbelievable. For so long we didn’t even think these characters’ stories would ever continue, but here we are watching them not only continue but crossing paths. It’s like watching a dream come to life. Seven has been out there doing what she can with the Fenris Rangers, trying to help people who have no one else to help them. Picard admires the Rangers but is not too pleased with them appointing themselves judge and jury. Seven fires back that she’s not interested in a lecture, and sure she may be a vigilante, but at least she’s helping people because the only thing worse would be giving up as Picard had. Once again, we are seeing how Picard’s arrogance in this moral authority that he has is being challenged by someone else. Picard is still yearning for the old days, the old values, but the rest of the galaxy seems to have moved on and found an identity for itself that Picard seems to be still searching for.
Meanwhile, on the bridge, Raffi is looking at information on a Gabriel Hwang when Rios joins her. What proceeds is the two of them practically nerding out about Seven and Picard’s histories? You could practically see Rios’ heart eyes. Though the funniest moment is when Rios was about to light his cigar, Raffi went “uh-uh” and stopped him. Raffi’s motherly side foreshadowed before we see what comes later with her son. But while these two old friends are having a fun chat, Jurati seems rather melancholy as she watches old videos of her and Bruce Maddox. The biggest revelation being that the two of them were romantically involved! If you’ve read the recently released book The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack, then this scene won’t be shocking, but if you hadn’t, then this probably was a surprise. This does add more layers to Jurati’s story and why she came out there to Maddox, though, and eventually gives emotional weight to what we see at the end of the episode.
But before we reach the end, there are some costume dress-up shenanigans to get to. Our crew is greeted upon arrival at Freecloud with some personalized ads. Seems like we still haven’t gotten rid of them in the future. Picard gets some tea event, Rios is offered by a Red Bolian to fix up his ship, Raffi is enticed with drugs, and Jurati is sought to submit her resume for a robotics group needing kinetic feedback architects. The only person who didn’t get an ad at all was Elnor, who probably doesn’t have a digital footprint in the real world. Nonetheless, poor Elnor’s face made me feel so bad for him. He just wanted to be included. I’m telling you, Elnor better gets a cat before this season is over. He deserves it.
The crew soon realizes that Bjayzl is holding Maddox and looking to hire some facers to help make a deal with the Tal Shiar. Seven arrives on the bridge in that moment, recognizing Bjayzl’s name and tells them that she butchers ex-Borgs for parts. It’s in this moment that if you caught Bjayzl’s name in the opening flashback that you’d realize that Seven starts to “lie” and play everyone like a fiddle. They can’t go in guns blazing, not without facing a private army. They can’t out-bid the Tal Shiar. But Seven says that they can pose as facers and offer Bjayzl something to trade for Maddox, Seven herself. She’s hijacked their plan and no one is picking up on that.
This next part of the episode is the reason I would like to thank the editor or editors for this episode. The back and forth between Raffi getting them ready on the ship and the plan going into motion is expertly cut. It flows so well, never missing a beat. It carries forward so much momentum, keeping not only the story focused but the viewers engaged. And the actors seem to be having the time of their lives dressing up in costumes and being “appropriately sinister”, as Picard puts it. It’s fun, it’s light-hearted, but most of all, it’s amazing character moments while also delivering needed exposition. This is not always easy to do, and it’s not often done well either, but in this show, it’s so wonderful to see the characters bounce off each other in such natural ways. Rios and Jurati seem to be building up a bond. Raffi is so done with everyone. Picard is just way too into this “acting” thing. Seven hilariously suggests Rios to have a feather in his hat. And poor sweet Elnor, he’s trying so hard to do this undercover thing, but he just doesn’t know how not to be Elnor.
We also get an introduction to a new species, Beta Annari. A sentient reptiloid who has 1253 olfactory receptor genes and can smell if you’re telling the truth, who you last had sex with, and what you ate. The character is used to great effect with solid makeup and prosthetic design. This Mister Vup meets up with Rios, and name drops Quark as a reference. Speaking of Quark, he’s got a bar on Freecloud. We see the sign when Rios first beams down, along with a sign for Dabo Tables and Mr Mot’s Hair Emporium. It’s nice to see that some old friends are doing quite well for themselves! Back to the plan though, Vup is at first not pleased to find out that Rios isn’t there to help them trade with the Tal Shiar. But when he learns about the exchange with Seven, he becomes practically giddy. Apparently Seven has so many implants in her that she’s extremely valuable.
Raffi’s plan seems to go well. Rios got them the introduction, Picard and Elnor bring in Seven. All they have to do is get Maddox, activate a pattern enhancer, and Jurati will beam them out. But since when does any plan on Star Trek ever work out the way anyone thought they would? In fact, having a plan is a sure-fire way for that plan to not work out. Turns out, Seven was just using everyone so she could get into Freecloud and kill Bjayzl. What happened with Icheb still haunts Seven and she’s not ready to let go of that anger. After all, Icheb was like a son to her, and hell hath no fury like a mother who wants revenge for her child. All of this is so expertly played by Jeri Ryan, who not only brings in the cold fury of Seven enraged but behind her eyes are vulnerability and pain. She holds Bjayzl responsible, as she should, but she also blames herself for being tricked into giving away information about Icheb. Bjayzl didn’t just take Icheb away from Seven, but she also destroyed Seven’s trust in people. All of that leads to us seeing this new Seven, older, angrier, and so weary. After Voyager, she had opened herself up to trust, and that trust had been betrayed. Another violation. Another trauma. It is any wonder that she’s spiralled to this cold place lacking mercy. Who can blame her for becoming who she is now?
It also seems to be implied that Bjayzl and Seven were in a close romantic relationship. Bjayzl calls her Annika, and Seven calls her Jay. If so, then Seven joins the ranks of queer Star Trek characters and that’s wonderful we get to explore this part of her story. I know there are some valid criticisms levelled at the show for not making this explicit if that is their intention, especially given that the romantic relationships presented so far have all been heterosexual. I don’t know what reasons they had for not outright stating it, but I like to believe that they had a good reason to do so. And perhaps somewhere down the line, we will get more of Seven’s story and some more clear confirmation. Fingers crossed.
With their charade up, Picard tries to convince Seven that revenge is not the way. He points out that she had her humanity restored after all that time with the Borg, she shouldn’t squander it now. But it’s not Picard’s plea to her humanity that wins the day. Instead, it’s Rios’ pragmatism. He reminds Seven that if she kills Bjayzl, there will be a bounty on everyone’s head. He’s okay with it but Picard and Elnor won’t survive out there. Moment of hilarious irony though, just as Picard is telling Seven that murder is not justice, Rios takes out Vup who was reaching for his weapon. So much for no murder. But this moment also speaks to the fact that Rios and Seven are very much alike, as further proven when Rios all but outright tells Seven that she can get out now and come back to kill Bjayzl later. She’s found Bjayzl once after all, she can find Bjayzl again. Keep an eye on the moment he tosses the pattern enhancer in the air when you rewatch. That’s Rios’ signal to Seven, and a foreshadow for what’s to come.
Once Seven agrees to allow Bjayzl to keep her life in exchange for leaving with Maddox, Jurati beams the rest of them up and runs to Maddox to help take him to sickbay. Rios sneakily puts the pattern enhancer on the transporter controls as he leaves to pilot the ship, and Seven walks over and nonchalantly pick it up. Picard meanwhile is glad that Seven didn’t kill Bjayzl and wants to offer her a lift home. But Seven says that the Rangers are already sending a ship for her, however, she will take two of their phasers. It’s difficult to see if Picard genuinely believes that Seven has let this go or not, but he does let her take the weapons. Seven intends to leave but not before giving Picard a calling card in case he needs her help, and they share perhaps the conversation that we all wanted and needed to hear. She asks him if he felt he had regained his humanity after his time with the Borg, and he says yes. But she further asks if he’s regained all of his humanity, and Picard answers no. However, they are both working on it, every day of their lives. And this is so true to trauma. It never leaves you. It will follow you all your life. The best you can do is to keep working at getting better. So much of older Trek had lacked emotional consequences, so much trauma just reset after an episode. I can never appreciate enough that these new Trek shows are not afraid to address the messiness of human emotions, and how trauma isn’t just resolved once and never dealt with again, but it’s something that is constant and consistent, and you always have to work on it.
As Seven transports out to the tune of Voyager’s triumphant theme that’s always what I think of when I think about Star Trek, I am reminded once again just how brilliant Jeff Russo’s score has been this entire season. The way he’s so cleverly weaved the notes into the right moments, yet never letting it overwhelm the scene or overshadow the performances. It’s simply masterful. Jeff Russo seriously need to win some awards with this score for Star Trek Picard!
But Seven’s story doesn’t end with a beam out, she lands right back into the fray and kills the two guards with Bjayzl, who has been surprised that Seven left when she thought that Seven would shoot her way out. Bjayzl taunts Seven, that her risking her revenge to save others reminded Bjayzl of the Annika of old. But Seven contends that Annika is gone, that she just didn’t want to disillusion Picard who still thinks there’s a place in the galaxy for mercy. She wants someone to have a little hope like she did before Bjayzl took it away. Seven also knows that Bjayzl is stalling for time so that her second security wave can get to her. But Seven is done waiting. She obliterates Bjayzl for Icheb and turns to face the security and shoot her way out.
Now, some may say that Seven’s story ended dark. And yes, it was dark. But this is not the end of her story. The show is on-going, and Seven is more than likely to make a return. Just because she is right now in a bad place emotionally doesn’t mean that she can’t eventually find hope. Her story hasn’t ended, it’s only just begun in this new era of storytelling. And just as she had lost hope years ago, she can regain it.
But she’s not the only one with something to regain. Raffi’s journey to Freecloud was a surprising turn, instead of seeking drugs, she came to seek her estranged son. Those scenes were tough to watch as Raffi desperately tries to find a place in Gabriel’s life, but it’s too late. He doesn’t want her. He has a life of his own, his wife, and his new daughter. To him, she had abandoned her family for crackpot conspiracy theories. Michelle Hurd’s performance paints so vividly how much Raffi wants her child back in her life, but Mason Gooding deftly brings out Gabriel’s righteous anger. We know Raffi is likely right about the conspiracies, but we also understand why Gabriel doesn’t want to forgive. Sometimes hurts just go too deep.
Speaking of hurt, after Picard is able to get information out of Maddox about Soji’s location and that he had sent the twins to find out information on the ban on synthetics, Jurati kills him by turning off medical help and deactivating the EMH. This is a theory of mine validated! Ever since I learned about their romantic involvement, I had a feeling that Commodore Oh convinced Jurati to take out Maddox. The reasons of why this happened are still mysterious, but something had horrified Jurati so much that she felt desperate enough to kill a man she loves. And honestly, it’s a downside every week that I have to wait for what comes next!
Star Trek: Picard airs Thursdays at 00:01 PST on CBS All Access in the USA, 21:00 pm on CTV SCi-Fi/Crave TV in Canada and airs Fridays on Amazon Prime Video internationally.
