Star Trek: Picard – Seventeen Seconds

Ok. I’m going to say my piece on the official Jack Crusher paternity reveal upfront in this review and then suspend my disbelief for the remainder of the series. Otherwise, I know it’s going to annoy me throughout the remainder of the season and, really, there are enough interesting mysteries still in place in this particular story to make me want to buy-in and enjoy what Star Trek: Picard still has on offer. And I don’t want these reviews to devolve into me complaining about how unrealistic so much of this reveal was. We’ll dive into whether or not Beverly was right to deny Jean-Luc the knowledge of his son for twenty years – because that’s a very real and interesting question posed by the series – in a moment, but come on, writers. If you want us to genuinely believe that Jack Crusher is a twenty-year-old young man, don’t cast an actor who looks much closer to his actual age of 34. Ed Speelers is a lovely actor. He’s doing a great job. But the man doesn’t look anywhere close to twenty. Cast appropriately if you want us to buy into what you’re selling. Because this was a ridiculous misstep and there’s no way in hell Jack Crusher is twenty years old.

Now that that is out of my system, onto the important parts of this review. So, Beverly got pregnant twenty years ago and wanted to tell Jean-Luc, but every time she tried he was facing yet another intergalactic crisis. And, stack up enough of them, it’s understandable that she might come to the realization that whenever there’s a major problem in the galaxy, somehow Jean-Luc Picard ends up right at the center of it.* To tell you the truth, I could absolutely see her line of reasoning. She knew Jean-Luc deserved to know about the existence of his son, but she also understood the danger of that knowledge in the wrong hands. Jean-Luc has a long list of enemies. He has a penchant for getting into situations where he ends up facing down the business end of a blaster rifle. And if someone knew he had a child out there, well, that’s a hell of a piece of leverage. And Beverly has lost a lot to the universe as well – as she outlined in her speech. I can absolutely understand her need to keep Jack close (although the name choice remains . . . interesting? I guess if Jean-Luc ever came across the name he might chalk it up to a typo rather than think it was an actual person?). Plus, Beverly did let Jack in on the secret of his paternity when he became an adult and encouraged him to reach out to Jean-Luc, something he opted against. So, it’s not like she refused Jack and Jean-Luc the chance of a relationship.

*That’s the peril in being the leading character on a Star Trek series, after all. Even though Picard didn’t have nearly as many battles as Kathryn Janeway did over on Voyager, he still ended up in some dire straits over the course of his tenure in the captain’s chair. And even in retirement, the hits just keep on coming.

But I’m definitely Team Picard here. Yes, Beverly had the right to decide whether or not to have the child, but once she did, she owed it to Jean-Luc to let him know what happened. Her reasons for not revealing the truth may have been valid – and over the years she likely convinced herself (and, by extension, Jack) that she was right – but Jean-Luc deserved to know and make the choice for himself. I don’t doubt for a moment that, had Beverly outlined her fears for Jack’s safety, Jean-Luc would have been willing to take steps to keep him secret and safe as needed. It was a shitty move on Beverly’s part to make the choice for both of them, and Jean-Luc has every right to be angry about that choice.** But that’s something the duo will need to work out on their own, preferably soon, as the Titan is about to end up torn apart in a gravity well thanks to Riker listening to Jean-Luc’s advice to fight rather than run.

**The reveal about Jack’s accent made me laugh, however. I had been telling friends that I guess accents are hereditary in Star Trek now, but I’m happy the writers acknowledged how silly it is that he’s got an English accent, even if it can’t deal with how their actor is way too old for the part.

When Jonathan Frakes made the choice to get back into acting this season and take on the role of Riker one more time, part of the allure (according to interviews) was that Riker and Picard would get to be at odds with each other.*** And what a sight it was to see. The moment Shaw put Riker in charge, I could tell things weren’t going to go well. Because, like Beverly with her shortsightedness regarding Jack and Jean-Luc, Riker is similarly blinded when it comes to trusting his mentor and friend. Of course, Riker is going to listen to Jean-Luc when he comes up with a plan at the last moment. They have decades of history between them, it’s an automatic action on his part. Of course, he believes Jean-Luc can get them out of the situation one more time. And when it fails, when the enemy is too smart, of course Riker is going to be too late to realize his mistake. That’s what trust can do – it can help us achieve the highest of highs but it can also blind us to the errors in judgment that lead us to failure. Riker wanted to run, he wanted to save the ship, its crew, and his friends. But instead, he got goaded into one last fight – a chance to put an end to it. He underestimated his opponent and trusted his friend and it has them looking death in the eye. Not great, Captain.

***A key rule of Star Trek under the command of Gene Roddenberry was that conflict could only occur on the shows from external actors or events. Crew members could be at odds, but only due to external forces. Getting to see a real disagreement between two stalwart crew mates like Riker and Picard is something we’ve been waiting for for a long while.

While this was an excellent character beat for Riker – and a great new layer to this complex relationship between Picard and his Number One – the real shock of the episode was the revelation that the Changelings are back and wreaking havoc in the Alpha Quadrant. Now, as a huge Deep Space Nine fan, this was such a great reveal. The Dominion War was not only the best Star Trek arc ever written, it was also the foundation for a lot of our modern day sci-fi television writing, creating a serialized storytelling format that would be used by some of the best science fiction shows to follow DS9. And it’s pretty gutsy to use one of the villains from the former black sheep of the Star Trek franchise to send off the crown jewel characters from Next Generation. Sure, Worf is very familiar with Changelings – his shout out to Odo, played by the late great Rene Auberjonois was a lovely touch – but the rest of the Enterprise crew likely isn’t. And Seven of Nine was out in the Delta Quadrant throughout the Dominion War, so she likely hasn’t had much first hand experience with Changelings at all. But boy, what an excellent choice in villains, and I can’t believe I didn’t immediately go there last week with the shape shifting visitors to Jack and Beverly’s ship. Now, what will this mean moving forward? It would be too much to hope for a live action return of one or more DS9 characters, right? Odo would have been the one to make the most sense, but of course that’s not possible. But perhaps Nana Visitor as Kira Nerys, especially following her cartoon appearance in Lower Decks last season? I know, a pipe dream.

But it’s wonderful to see Worf back on the case of tracking down rogue Changelings. And that he’s been working on himself and is less quick to anger – although I’m assuming something will happen that will require that anger to make a fast return? Worf outside of Starfleet – and not directly working for the Klingon Empire – provides a great opportunity to let the character shine in a way neither of his series let him. This is Worf on his own, with his own principles, and focused on stopping an enemy he is familiar with (and one who led to some serious pain throughout his life – the Dominion War was not a fun time for him or those he loved). This is personal for Worf. And I love that we’re getting a chance to see him do what he needs to do, potentially save another lost soul in Raffi, and contribute in a big way to the safety of the galaxy once more. I’ve never been a huge Raffi fan for reasons I’ve explained in previous reviews, but I think I’m going to like this particular team up. I’m excited to see where their investigation leads.