Star Trek: Picard – Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 Review

Well, I think it’s clear that subtlety is not Star Trek: Picard‘s strong suit. “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1” was yet another example of the series changing the game with little to no narrative framework to support it, while also opting to tell us everything rather than take the time to show us these changes. So Sutra, a character we’ve only just met, has some dastardly plan that includes allowing Narek to escape and the death of a fellow android? But we aren’t privy to that plan, we just know that she saw some sort of roadmap within the mystical vision of death and destruction that has inspired her to act – in hopes that she might call more synthetics to the planet? It’s all so convoluted and lacking a solid narrative arc at this point that I’m ready to throw up my hands and just walk away. I’m quite frustrated with how the season has played out, but I’m far more disappointed.

It’s dangerous to place hopes on a new television series because you are almost certain to be disappointed. Occasionally, a series hits the ground running from the first frame and doesn’t stop until the closing credits of the finale (recent examples include Watchmen and Fleabag). But more often then not, there’s a period of growing pains where the writers try to flesh out characters, thread together a coherent narrative, and make sure their audience understands what’s the central thrust of the season arc. The major problem with Picard is that Michael Chabon and the rest of the writing staff didn’t bother to do the hard work of creating a new series.

Instead, they assumed the audience would go along on the journey because they know and love Jean-Luc Picard (and, by extension, Patrick Stewart). They assumed the audience would trust that everything would come together, that they would get the face time they have craved with their hero, that they’d get additional time with other beloved Star Trek characters, and that they would grow to love the new characters. But while Chabon and company were doing some fine work with Picard, Seven, Rike, Troi, and even Hugh, they were neglecting their new creations and forgetting what makes a sci-fi drama work: stakes.

I’ve talked about stakes in reviews in the past and I think it’s one of the most crucial elements to good drama. It’s also the one thing that often gets ignored or glossed over. If you are planning on putting your characters in peril, two things need to be true. First, we have to know enough about the characters to want to root for (or, in some cases, against) them. We need to care about their fate. We don’t need to like them, but we need to understand who they are and what they want. The second? We need to genuinely believe they could fail. They don’t have to be expendable, we don’t need to believe they could die in their mission, but we need to genuinely think they might not succeed.

Take an honest look at the supporting cast of Picard. Can you honestly say you care about Jurati? About Rios? About Raffi? Do you know why Rios is still involved in this mission? It’s not likely he’s going to get paid at the end of it. Can you tell me anything about Raffi as a character, beyond her addiction history? What is Jurati’s deal? She’s guilty over killing Maddox so she’s willing to help Soong transfer his consciousness to a gollum? I mean, sure, why not, but the series has been so overstuffed with dangling plot threads and half-baked characters that there hasn’t been enough time to really get to know any of them. We don’t even really know much about the show’s villains, and they’ve been by far the most interesting new characters on the series.

So, with the final episode on its way next week, I can genuinely say I don’t really care if they manage to hold off the Romulans (I mean, I would prefer that they do, because I’m not a monster). I hope Seven makes it out and ends up the proud new owner of a Borg Cube – and gets a badass spin-off series, because outside of Riker and Troi, Seven was by far the most developed character in this entire series. But so much of the season’s arc has been sloppy. The series will ignore, for weeks, Picard’s continued mental decline, and then trot it out as a major emotional story beat when it serves them. And, do we honestly believe Picard would make an announcement of that scale to a group of people he knows so little about? Maybe Raffi in a quiet moment, but I don’t think he’d tell folks he barely knows.

And that brings me to the biggest disappointment of the episode: The ridiculous quandary the synths find themselves in as the Romulans approach. Picard’s insistence that he can be their savior is such a strange speech for him to make. Every single thing he has seen and been involved in this season tells him that something is rotten in the state of Starfleet, and yet he continues to insist that the synthetics will find salvation there. He insists that Starfleet, who has repeatedly rebuffed his attempts to get in touch and tell them the truth, will listen to him. I can’t tell if he’s genuine in his insistence, or if this is a manifestation of his cognitive decline, or if he’s just grandstanding in the hopes that it will get them off the planet in time to run. Perhaps he’s playing the long game and setting up Sutra? And if that’s the case, that’s just poor writing – let us know if our hero is aware of something untoward unfolding, don’t pull a Westworld and keep us intentionally in the dark just to spring the reveal on us as a twist (unearned twists aren’t fun, they are just bad writing).

I had high hopes for Picard. I was genuinely excited to spend more time with him as he confronted his past and battled his demons. After hinting that the series would deal seriously with trauma and the impact it has on the best of us, the writers decided that wasn’t interesting enough and opted for a convoluted plot that continues to feel like it was made up as they went along (I know that wasn’t the case, but it really does feel disconnected and poorly drawn). Seven’s interesting arc of balancing revenge with heroics was cut off at the knees. We’ve barely spent any time actually dealing with Picard’s trauma over Data’s sacrifice or his own time as a Borg. Even Jurati’s guilt was dealt with quickly and without much fuss. I’ll certainly be tuning in next week for the finale, but I’m not hopeful that the series will manage to redeem itself from its massive stumbles and plot holes thus far.