Star Trek: Picard – Two of One

Once again, Picard churned out an episode that was firing on all cylinders this week. From continuing to move the narrative forward with smart character choices and interesting confrontations to finally allowing Patrick Stewart a chance to shine while chatting with his distant ancestor, I honestly couldn’t find a fault with the episode (ok, I have a few quibble with the lack of character development for two characters, and I’ll get to that at the end of the review, but it’s a minor issue in the grand scheme of things). I’ve found myself recommending this season of Picard to all my Trekkie friends – and discussing how great it has become with those who were also put off by season one. Amazing what can happen when you write characters that allow great actors to show us what they are capable of while also providing a streamlined storyline that doesn’t twist and turn simply for the sake of surprise.

In “Two of One,” we were treated to several interesting character pairings. Starting with the most compelling, the continued mesh of Jurati and the Borg Queen has created an interesting ticking time bomb within the series. Sure, the Queen won’t be able to assimilate 2024 Earth (at least I don’t think she can – and really, that would be a pretty dull turn of events when she can easily be a chaos agent), but what can she do with Jurati’s knowledge of humanity and her penchant for dangerous action? While the Q plot remains the driving force within the series – and likely will remain so – this subplot, which may very well mean the necessary sacrifice of Jurati while taking pains to bring her family home to their rightful century, is far and away the most intriguing. After all, we’ve seen Q create a seemingly unwinnable game for Picard to play before (and with the announcement of a third season – and an interesting cast list to go with it, more on that later – we all know Picard will be making it out of the season alive and well), but to have the Borg Queen’s consciousness linked within a human? And a human who, while brilliant, lacks the confidence and the mental fortitude to push her out? That’s a new and interesting storyline that I want to see play out. It’s also joyous to see how much fun Alison Pill and Annie Wersching are having with their odd couple pairing.

Our next duo represented by the episode’s title would be Jean-Luc and Renee Picard, meeting across the centuries for a pep talk that will, presumably, help convince her to go on the Europa mission and make her key scientific discovery. As is the case with every Q interaction Picard dealt with in his time aboard the Enterprise, the challenge isn’t really about solving the puzzle or completing the course laid out for him. It’s really about digging deep within himself and learning something new about who he is and how he sees the world. (Fun thing about episodic television – there’s always a moral of sorts to the story.) And here, it’s not about saving the future. It’s about reconciling his childhood memories of his mother and decoding the deep psychological and emotional scars her leaving left on him. Kudos to Star Trek for taking the time to highlight the importance of mental health – and making it clear that dealing with anxiety or depression isn’t a flaw, but rather something that must be addressed for someone to be a full, whole person. Seeing reflections of his mother in Renee’s growing anxiety and fear and having Jean-Luc take the time to reassure her that while fear is a normal emotion, it doesn’t mean you must run away from the source. Rather, face your fear – break down why you are afraid and see if it’s something that can be calmed and overcome. Words Jean-Luc will need to reflect back upon himself moving forward, especially when it comes to his relationship with Laris.

Wrapping up the duality theme is the revelation that Kore is, in fact, a genetic experiment, much like her future counterpart Soji. Soong’s deep love of Kore may be familial – he definitely thinks of her as his child on some level – but she’s still just an experiment to him, his greatest achievement. This revelation casts the concern we saw from him last week in a very different, and much more selfish, light. If he can cure Kore, he can prove to those who have doubted and cast him out of his social circles that he is the great mind they once thought him to be. And, on the more frightening side of things, Kore’s own revelation that she’s not a real girl might result in the fear so many in the sci-fi ranks have of AI creations rising up against their creators. While the team has determined that Renee needs to go on her mission to save the future, wouldn’t Kore gaining her ability to exist in the wider world also result in a similar tear in the timeline that would need to be corrected? And our heroes don’t even know it’s a possibility at this late stage in the game. Presumably stopping Q (and, by extension, Soong) would right this ship as well. And now that Soong committed a hit and run, I certainly see him getting sent to jail as a future plot point. Perhaps a despondent Kore, aware she’s not a real human but a flawed synthetic, will walk into the sun and commit suicide, thereby tying off that loose end? Just some thoughts on how this can all go down in the coming episodes.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Great television comes not from flashy plot points, but from the creation of complex layered characters. Once we have characters we can understand on a deeper level – who we can relate to, empathize with, and grow to love – we can buy into the narrative arcs they find themselves in. This season on Picard, the writers have doubled down on building up their characters and it’s made all the difference in the strength of the series. We care about what happens, we can follow the plot threads, and there are clear stakes in what will happen to our team. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Final Thoughts:

— Ok, so, we’ve gotten a ton of great character rehabilitation for the likes of Rios and Jurati, but in the quest to turn them into complex (or at least more layered) characters, we’ve seen Seven and Raffi stall in their development. Thus far, we’ve gotten to watch Seven realize how more open the world is for her without her implants (and the massive amount of baggage they provide) and have seen Raffi struggle with Elnor’s death. But we haven’t had the time to drill down and really understand how this new freedom is impacting Seven (outside of watching her command a room) and we’ve only seen Raffi experience the anger stage of grief. Add this to the complete lack of narrative foundation the series has provided for their apparent romantic entanglement (seriously, this is one of the more egregious cases of writers telling and not showing in that they have not given us any real indication these two actually like each other beyond being friends and colleagues), this pair has been criminally under served this go-round. We did get a reminder that Raffi is an alcoholic this week – which hopefully isn’t an indication that she’s going to resort to drinking again before the season is through – but these two really need to sit down and have a heart to heart. Great epic sci-fi and fantasy shows are at their peak when their characters have the time to talk through things (seriously – the best scene in the final season of Game of Thrones was the one where Brienne was knighted, not any of the crazy battles). Let them have the space to talk through things and I suspect it will only add to the strength of the season as a whole.

— Speaking of romantic couples, it’s looking like the great Rios decision I predicted way back in episode two will be something after all. Rios is loving life in 2024. He’s got a huge crush on the doctor. And Raffi has explicitly warned him that he can’t stay in the past. Sure sounds like someone might be faced with the choice of staying in the past . . .

— Now for the elephant in the room. It was announced this week that season three of Picard is a go, and that every key Next Generation cast member will be returning. In what capacity, we still don’t know. But this sounds like two things to me. First, it sounds like it will be the final season of the series (why bring out the big guns just to have another round without them?). Second, that’s a lot of mouths to feed. You don’t announce these folks are returning and then just use them for cameos. You bring the family back together for an adventure. And this is an adventure that I can’t see including much, if any at all, of the current cast of the series. How does Raffi or Rios fit into this group? Also, why announce this now, while the second season is still going on? Well, it does two things: assures us that at least Patrick Stewart will be back as some form of Picard, and it let’s us know that things are changing so the stakes against the rest of the cast making it back are raised. Rios could now feasibly stay in the past. Jurati could sacrifice herself to save her crew and protect the future from a world with an out of timeline Borg Queen living rent free in her mind. Seven and Raffi could go off together to protect the weak in the universe (which would be a fun spin-off). Season three of Picard sure sounds like a new show from what we’ve seen over the past two seasons – which isn’t a bad thing – but it also sounds like a final farewell to these beloved characters. Which sounds pretty darn lovely.