CONTAINS SPOILERS
Finally, the tempo of Star Trek Picard has slowed down. There's been transwarp; old adversaries; phaser fights; semi-controlled landings; bloodshed and fist-fights. Episode 3 left us on a cliff-hanger as Rios was taken into custody by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), while the Borg Queen kept staring menacingly at Agnes.
We start at a slower pace: Picard has indeed taken the Sirena 'home' - he's parked it in the grounds of the currently-abandoned Chateau Picard. Nice touch; I'm sure this will become a significant plot point in the future (instead of just providing Picard with flashbacks). However, his attempts to contact the rest of the team are futile. In the meantime, however, Picard engages the cloaking device and makes sure he remembers where it's parked (Kirk did the same with a Klingon Bird of Prey in Star Trek IV). He and Agnes visit Chateau Picard, and while he reminisces about the old times, Agnes's subconscious keeps throwing up the number 15. Data's 'subconscious' did something similar in a time loop during an episode of TNG - Cause and Effect - I won't spoilt it, it's a great episode. This all seems a bit heavy-handed - the last thing Agnes said while she was connected to the Borg Queen was 'fifteen', but still, Agnes's subconscious is going to become a key part of this extended plot. So, since the team landed on 12 April, they have until 15 April to find and fix the timeline problem.
It's all a bit arbitrary, but it makes sense. A lot of the activity on the Sirena follows this pattern in this episode.
Raffi and Seven track down Rios's comm badge (I am slightly concerned that they didn't actually find it and collect it, but hey, that's only a minor detail that was hammered home repeatedly last episode). There is a wonderful scene played out on the bus in Los Angeles, with a punk playing a song called "I Hate You" - it's a little-known tune recorded by Edge of Etiquette, their only song in fact, which featured in an almost-identical scene in Star Trek IV with Kirk and Spock. I howled with laughter throughout the scene (which went in a very different direction than it did with Kirk). They eventually get to the LA Police Department, where Raffi and Seven form a comedy double-act as they clash with the bureaucracy of 21st century law enforcement. They aren't successful in their discussions with the LA PD, but they get directed to ICE.
Comms are offline, but the transporter is working... but only well enough to transport Picard. With Picard gone, the Borg Queen wastes no time in starting on Agnes's mind. That really isn't going to end well, and I fear Agnes is going to be the victim, again.
Agnes beams Picard to the location provided by the Borg Queen, and he finds himself transported to San Francisco, and to Number 10, Forward Avenue. The bar lounge on Picard's Enterprise D was called Ten Forward.... nice touch. The barkeeper was none other than Guinan, one of Picard's crew, and an El Aurian who can detect major shifts in the timeline (as seen in previous TNG episodes, notably Yesterday's Enterprise). This is a younger Guinan, cynical, uneasy, edgy and unsettled - unsettled by time-travelling old men who appear out of nowhere. Picard knows he has to convince Guinan to help him, but he also knows that he can't pollute the timeline by telling Guinan too much. Guinan, for her part, is going through a particularly cynical time, and is preparing to leave (the planet, or LA, or whichever) and is mourning humanity's misuse of its planet: "They got one tiny ball in the entire galaxy, and all this species want to do is fight." Picard tries to convince her to stay and help: "Distance offers no protection from time."
Rios, meanwhile, is also clashing with the rough end of the bureaucracy of 21st century law enforcement, having been arrested and now incarcerated (and tasered).
Seven and Raffi (Thelma and Louise?) decide to step up their efforts to track down Rios, and Raffi has an interesting idea: as Seven describes it: "You're proposing we steal a vehicle from the same people whose job it is to prosecute theft?" Yes, they're going to steal a police car (with a phaser, no less) - in order to obtain the data from the computer inside it. They access the car and the computer, and find that - interestingly - there are a very large number of tall, dark Hispanic men in the system. They're able to contact Agnes (comms are back up, transporters are down) to get a location and start their pursuit of Rios. We get more of the fish-out-of-water comedy that served so well in Star Trek IV, culminating in "Do you want to drive and I'll hold the map?" Seven can indeed pilot a shuttlecraft... but there aren't other cars blocking the way in space.
So now, it's transporters down, comms up. It's like there's a ghost in the machine or something... and there is; it's the Borg Queen, who is most definitely manipulating the ship's systems to her own ends, and thereby manipulate the entire plot. It feels somewhat bit arbitrary, but I am sure that the Borg Queen is working everything to suits her ends.
Rios, after an unpleasant discussion with an ICE guard, and a lengthier discussion with Teresa, the senior doctor from the clinic, finds himself being transferred. Rios is playing for time, hoping that the rest of his 'rag-tag' crew will find him eventually. And they are tracking him down: Raffi's access to LA PD laptop shows his updated status and location. Although it seems like Rios is out of time, Agnes (after some tense and dangerous negotiation with the Borg Queen) is able to restore transporters, and beam Seven and Raffi to a position where they can intercept Rios's transport bus. (Naturally, they have to bring their stolen police car to a screeching halt before they can beam). Except that now they've beamed, they're stationary pedestrians, about to face a 55 mph bus on a freeway. I wonder if Raffi will have to use her phaser again? We'll find out next time.
Picard continues his negotiations with Guinan, who sees nothing but despair and hatred among the human race. "The hatred here doesn't go away, it just swaps clothes." Eventually, Picard reveals his name and identity to Guinan. Guinan still doesn't know him, but recognises his name (for some reason). and agrees to take him to the Supervisor, otherwise known as a Watcher. I sincerely hope that this doesn't turn into The Matrix, where there's the Architect, the Key Maker, the One, the this, the that... it was all overly complicated.
Anyway, I digress: Guinan (who is wonderfully acted and conveys all the character of the Whoopi Goldberg incarnation, in a youthful version) is not The Watcher. She agrees to take Picard to a Watcher for a face-to-face (sort of) meeting. It seems The Watcher will want to meet Picard (perhaps somebody's been forewarned). The Watcher meets Guinan and Picard by possessing various passers-by who direct Picard to the Watcher. This looks about as weird as you can imagine, as people with white eyeballs take turns to guide Picard through the local park.
And who is The Watcher? Well, she looks like Laris, who was Picard's Romulan assistant back in his present time. Except she's human, and in the 20th century. The two of them disappear in a box of smoke.
Meanwhile, Q, instead of making trouble, appears to be having trouble of his own. It seems that he was intending to prevent a human spacecraft from launching by persuading one of its lead astronauts that she isn't capable of commanding the flight. He commments to her, 'You can't do it. People are going to die.' Q's trademark click of the fingers has no effect - the astronaut laughs out loud - and he declares 'That's unexpected. And most unfortunate'. Was Q trying to save humanity? Or back it into a corner? He is so unpredictable and confusing that it's hard to say what his motivation was, and what his comments mean.
This episode has been full of confusing comments, intrigue, far more dialogue and less action than any of the previous episodes (apart from the police car chase, which was action comedy) and has benefited from the change of pace. As I said, I hope the Watcher/Supervisor doesn't descend into existential twaddle, but otherwise I was very impressed with this episode.
So: Seven and Raffi have to stop a coach (I strongly suspect the use of a phaser, because acting like hitch-hikers isn't going to work).
Picard has to get his instructions from Laris The Watcher. Why is Laris being so secretive? And, just out of interest, why did the Borg Queen direct Picard to Guinan instead of the Watcher? Just curious.
Agnes has to keep the Borg Queen out of her mind. I really don't rate her chances. Sorry, but I don't.
And all Rios has to survive his rescue attempt!
Have we seen the last of Guinan in this series? I doubt it.
And how has Q come to lose his powers? Who's caused that?
All will be revealed... (I hope)
No comments:
Post a Comment