Review: Star Trek Picard, Episode 6: The Impossible Box

CONTAINS SPOILERS

I am constantly amazed at how quickly Star Trek Picard is moving through its plot.  Apart from the second and third episodes, which were slower and more expositional, the series has told a story - multiple stories, in fact - at a remarkable rate.  This is no exception, and is possibly the best episode so far (even better than last week's).

Picard has learnt from Maddox (who was brutally killed in cold blood by the no-longer-innocent Dr Jurati - maybe I'm overstating that) that Soji, the secret synth, is on The Artifact.  The Artifact is a reclaimed (i.e. stolen) Borg cube that the Romulans have established as a base of operations, where they reclaim Borg components from former drones.  The cube has lost contact with the rest of the Borg Collective, and is therefore shut down and entirely vulnerable (for now, at least).  So that's it - we're off to the Borg Cube, without any further delay.

Dr Jurati is plagued with guilt about her murder of Dr Bruce Maddox, and turns to drink, and then to Rios to either avoid, ignore or otherwise dodge her guilt.  Having a superpower that tells her when she's making a mistake is hardly a superpower - and it certainly wasn't working last week.  No, I don't have much sympathy for her at the moment, and the writers are going to have to make some revelations about what the Romulan Commodore Oh said to her to make her take Maddox's life.

The episode begins, though, with a return to Soji, who we see as a little girl.  Are these memories?  Is this a flashback?  No, we eventually see that this is a dream, answering the long-time philosophical question, "Do androids dream?"  Narek - conniving and deceitful Romulan - asks Soji if her dreams are creations of her imagination, or based on memories.  In Soji's case, it's almost entirely imagination, and we discover that Narek believes (correctly) that Soji is constantly having to try to resolve evidence about her true identity with her belief that she's a normal human being.  The scenes between Soji and Narek are much better in this episode, as we see Narek start to deliberately and directly exploit the self-doubt that Soji feels.

Even the scenes between Narek and his sister Narissa are better than usual, featuring less of a weird sibling vibe than usual, and getting on with the task of how to safely make Soji activate.  There's a spectacularly clumsy metaphor about a wooden toy box puzzle - Narek says it helps him think, Narissa says she just likes to break them open - well, we saw how that worked out.  The show doesn't dwell on it for too long, so I won't either.

Picard needs to gain access to a Borg Cube 'owned' by the Romulans and run by the Tal Shiar - the Romulan state police (think of the KGB, with pointy ears).  There's a nice contrast between last week's con trick and this week's total candour - the team decide to declare the truth from the beginning; that Picard has come to meet with the Borg Reclamation Project's Director.  Last week's con was a disaster that came to an abrupt halt, and the team reverted to absolute candour very quickly - so it's good to see them learning from their mistakes!  Raffi, who was reverted to smoking and drinking after the failed reunion with her son last week, is able to manipulate a Starfleet captain into giving Picard special diplomatic permission to board the Borg cube.  Otherwise, Raffi would rather smoke, drink, sleep and forget.  The women on the La Sirena are not in good places, and it will be fascinating to see how this develops - or unravels.

Picard is faced with his first return visit to a Borg Cube since he was kidnapped and assimilated by the Borg in the double-length Next Generation episode "The Best of Both Worlds" (one of the very best episodes of TNG).  I was delighted to see that the episode faced this head-on and handled it extremely well.  I hadn't considered that Picard hadn't been on a Borg cube since his first and only visit (especially since Voyager made frequent visits to the Borg) and the episode makes the most of this opportunity.  Maybe Picard visiting the cube will cause the Borg their to reactivate.  There's a timebomb ticking on that cube, and perhaps Picard will set it off.

In fact, Picard does cause two Borg drones to wake up, but only to prevent him from falling off a high-level walkway as he experiences disturbing flashbacks.  These are reclaimed Borg drones who have their individuality restored, and they welcome him on board.  There's a heart-warming reunion between Picard and Hugh, and we know that Picard is in safe hands, even in the most dangerous of places.  Picard was responsible for helping Hugh when he was an isolated Borg drone, and Picard helped Hugh restore his individuality in the Next Generation episode "I, Borg" (recommended viewing).  Hugh shows Picard around the cube (the Romulan-free parts of it, at least) and demonstrates the large scale of the Borg reclamation project.  At this rate, the Borg will outnumber the Romulans on the cube... there's a thought.

Soji faces her doubts about her identity, and discovers that everything about her - photos, childhood drawings, cuddly toys - everything - is only about three years old.  There's nothing that she owns that is older than 37 months, according to the quantum dating device she's using (Captain Archer used something similar in the Enterprise series).  Narek meets her, and offers to help her understand her dreams using some new (but apparently old) Romulan technique.

The second half of the episode becomes a race between Hugh and Picard on one side, and Narek on the other, to connect with Soji as she activates.  Narek takes Soji into a special room with some kind of meditation pattern on the floor; as he directs her through her dreams, she walks around a path that resembles some kind of Celtic knot.  It turns out that the room is not only special, but it's secure and sealed, and impervious to Borg sensors, so Narek can proceed uninterrupted.  Soji realises that she's fabricated, not a real human, and Narek traps her in the meditation room, with a brightly coloured toxic radiation from his impossible box puzzle.  Soji activates.  She rips up the wooden floor of the room, and then starts on the metal bulkhead below the floor, forming a hole in it and then jumping through it.  [Narek wants to go straight back into the room, but the doorkeeper says, "No, the radiation!" reminding me of Kirk, Spock and McCoy in Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan, which was reprised in the newer Star Trek film with characters reversed].

This enables her to be picked up on Hugh's sensors, and there's a literal race to find Soji.  Picard and Hugh win the race, and Hugh directs them to the queen's cell, which contains a spatial trajector (the Borg obtained this technology by assimilating the Sikarians - one of the species that Voyager met while on their journey home, and which had this technology).  The Romulans, however, don't want Soji to escape, and the heroes are pursued by a number of armed Romulans - who are swiftly despatched by Elnor, who has beamed in secretly to help Picard.

Picard:  "Elnor, I told you to stay on the ship."
Elnor: "Yes.  I didn't listen."  (sounds a lot like something Kirk would say)

Soji and Picard use the spatial trajector to go to Nepenthe (new planet, never heard of it), where they will reunite with the crew of the La Sirena.  Elnor and Hugh stay to cover their escape... and fade to black.

So, we've left Seven of Nine in a phaser fight on Freecloud; we've left Elnor and Hugh on the Borg cube in a sword fight.  It seems to me that Picard is leaving a trail of dead bodies in his quest, although I hope I'm wrong (we've spent too long with Elnor for him to be a disposable character, and we've known Seven for so long that writing her in for a single episode just to kill her off seems wasteful).

Next week: Soji and Picard have transported to a distant planet, and the crew of the La Sirena will have to travel more slowly at warp speed to rendezvous with them.  This will give Soji and Picard time to discuss Maddox, Data and Dahj and should slow things down somewhat.  Meanwhile, will Rios and the crew safely escape from the Romulans?  What will happen to Elnor and Hugh?  Will Narek get punished for letting Dahj escape?   Who, or what, is on Nepenthe, and why did Picard choose it?  Stay tuned!

Review: Star Trek Picard, Episode 5: Stardust City Rag

CONTAINS SPOILERS

After a short detour last week, Picard and his ever-growing crew are now on their way to Freecloud, to search for Bruce Maddox.

Bruce Maddox previously featured in The Next Generation episode, "The Measure Of A Man".  He claimed, on behalf of Starfleet, that the android Data was actually Starfleet's possession and should be returned to Starfleet HQ for experimentation, with a view to understanding what made him function, so that this could be replicated and more sentient androids could be built.  The episode featured a tense courtroom style drama, where the concept was excellent and the execution was a little wobbly:  Riker had to argue that Data was merely an object (and was very convincing) due to a lack of anybody else available with legal expertise.  My memory of the episode is that Bruce Maddox (scientist, robot specialist) came across as a bit of an idiot, despite Data wishing him well with his research.

So I'm struggling with the need to go and find Bruce Maddox, since he was such an idiot last time we met him (many, many years ago).  But the plot says we have to find him since he can help track down Dahj's android twin sister, Soji, so off we go to Freecloud.  Bruce Maddox believes it's possible to recreate Data's entire synaptic system from any one part of his brain (the equivalent of recreating a human being from one cell with its DNA).  Will this episode answer this question?

 The episode begins, as all Picard episodes have, in flashback, as we see Seven of Nine escaping from some form of Borg Reclamation Lab.  Humans (possibly) are experimenting on former Borg and attempting to salvage them for parts - whatever it is, it's inhumane, unpleasant and painful.  Seven sneaks into the lab and kills one of the unfortunate Borg, who she calls, "My child" as she pulls the trigger to her phaser.  It appears that Seven has newly-developed history with Borg experimenters.

We are quickly introduced to Bruce Maddox, who appears to be drinking to kill his conscience, or to settle his nerves.  Freecloud is a shiny, clean bar (as we see it), filled with less-than-perfect characters.  Although there were only a few characters shown - a thug; waitresses in sequin costumes and so on on - Freecloud looks clean, but is less than salubrious.  Indeed, the welcome to Freecloud offers maximum security, financial services, and a liberal approach to personal freedoms.  A wretched hive of scum and villainy, if you ask me.

Seven, recovered from last week's battle, discusses Picard's plan with him.  Of all the characters we've met, Seven has changed the most.  She's still as stern as she used to be, but she's softened around the edges.  She drinks bourbon, and wears her hair down.  Now a member of the Fenris Rangers (new to Star Trek), she agrees to help Picard on his quest.  This raises questions among the rest of the queue; Raffi reminds us that Seven used to be Borg, "like him," (I'd forgotten that, useful reminder), and she's from the Delta quadrant.

While we're filling in back-story, we learn that Jurati and Maddox had a personal relationship.  So, maybe she isn't just out here looking for him for the good of science.  There has been speculation online that Jurati has been planted in the crew by evil Romulan Commodore Oh - this remains to be seen.

After a few hologrammatic pop-ups, the crew track down Maddox (that was thankfully quick - information security on Freecloud isn't everything it's cracked up to be), and realise that he's being offered for sale to the highest bidder - namely the Tal Shiar.  His captor (who spiked his drink), is named Bjayzl and she butchers ex-Borg for parts.  Since the crew can't buy him, or break him out, Seven decides to offer herself as trade.  And if you thought that this would be a permanent trade, you've not been concentrating :-)

Freecloud is like Las Vegas in the distant future - holograms, lights, all turned up to eleven.  The team beam down in what can only be described as fancy dress.  Picard with an eyepatch made me laugh out loud.  Rios has to find his cheerful extrovert and make the deal - to trade Seven for Maddox.  "Mr Quark of Ferenginar has provided references of your transaction with the Breen."  The Quark?  The Ferengi barkeeper from Deep Space Nine?  That got me laughing out loud again.

There then follows the tense negotiation - this is honestly played for comedy, and I was smiling and smirking all the way through the setup, the plan, the French Pirate Picard; Elnor realising that this is a con, and then being told to keep his mouth shut.

Raffi, you may recall, is not here for Maddox.  She made it clear that she's along for the ride and has business of her own to attend to - a Gabriel Hwang, who is in the medical district of Freecloud.  Have we seen the last of her?  She immediately beams down to meet Gabriel and has an awkward conversation.  I must say that I appreciate the speed of this story - we meet Maddox, we start trading for him; Raffi searches for Gabriel; finds him, and immediately beams down into the difficult situation.  And it quickly transpires that Gabriel is her son, and wants nothing more to do with her after she abandoned her family to go and chase down her conspiracies.  That ended as quickly as it started.

Picard, meanwhile, is virtually chewing the scenery as his French Pirate.  Bjayzl recognises Seven as Annika, and all comedy is immediately dissolved into tension as things appear to be going very wrong, very quickly.  There was a close personal relationship was between Seven and "Jay", and Seven is now clearly very angry at Jay, seeing this as her opportunity for revenge for all the ex Borg that Jay butchered her way through.  In simple terms: it's complicated.  Picard drops the disguise and the accent almost immediately, realising he's been played and Elnor blows any shred of cover that they had.  During the tense stand-off that follows, Seven explains that Jay and her kind were responsible for the capture and dissection of ex-Borg, including the one we saw at the start of the episode.  This particular ex-Borg was Icheb, who was a recurring character in the Voyager series - a young former Borg who was separated from the Collective as a child, and who Seven came to see as family.  Since Jay was overseeing the dissection of Icheb (while he was still conscious), Seven was forced firstly to shoot him to save him any further suffering, and also to come looking for Jay for revenge.  This is very, very, well written and delivered.

The rescue proceeds, and the emotion and tension of Seven's scene are abruptly replaced with the reunion of Bruce Maddox and Agnes Jurati.  This episode is a real rollercoaster, as we go straight into Seven's goodbye to Picard.  We have never seen Picard and Seven discuss their shared experience of being assimilated and separated from the Borg, and it's fantastic to see that the writers take their opportunity to do this, even if it is briefly.  And this isn't goodbye.  Seven beams straight back to Freecloud, two phaser rifles in hand, and starts shooting.  Is she going to shoot Jay, or not?  Is Seven going to survive the security guards, or is she going to go out in a blaze of glory?

Bruce and Picard discuss Dahj and the way her Mom AI caused her to activate; Dr Jurati is eavesdropping on this conversation in a way that is deliberately filmed to look sinister.  Maddox has a number of revelations, including knowing where Soji is.  Is Maddox going to survive his injuries?  Is Jurati going to kill him?  You may not believe me, but I honestly thought she was going to inject him with something lethal to stop him talking, and from the moment she dismissed Picard.  She delivers a typical tragic-heroine monologue about knowing too much; wishing he knew what he'd done - apparently, creating the synths has caused multiple unseen issues across the galaxy - and so on.  My view?  I don't understand why she killed him, despite her cryptic monologue, when it would surely have been possible to keep him alive a little longer.

This episode was outstanding.  The pace of the story was remarkable - after the slow build-up of previous episodes, we are now moving at warp speed, assimilating and then discarding seemingly critical characters at will.  This was exciting, tragic and emotional at all times.  And - maybe not coincidentally - we saw nothing of the Borg cube or the weird Romulan siblings.  This was an episode of Picard that kept the focus on him and his crew (and on Seven, who could always carry an episode), and was all the better for it.

Review: Star Trek Picard Episode 4: Absolute Candour

CONTAINS SPOILERS

So, Picard is finally out in space.  The first time Star Trek took off on an arc-long mission into unknown space, we were with Captain Archer looking for the Xindi, and that was widely regarded as a plotting mistake.  It wasn't written well, with lengthy detours and difficulties in motivation and tempo.  And so, when I realised that Picard wasn't going to go directly to hunt down Maddox on Freecloud, I became concerned.  All voyages that take detours get bogged down and lose their way, and it never goes well.

Nevertheless, Picard wants to go to Vashti, en route to Freecloud.  Vashti, as we discover during the pre-credits sequence was one of the first Romulan Reclamation camps set up even before the Synth attack on Mars, and Picard was well-regarded there, due to his key role in the Romulan evacuation.  There is a special Romulan group on Vashti, known as the Qowat Milat - inaccurately but simply described as Romulan warrior-nuns; assassins that you can hire (except they aren't assassins and you can't hire them).  Most importantly, they are the feared enemies of the Tal Shiar, and they believe in absolute candour (which is the exact opposite of typical Romulan behaviour).

I was delighted to see Raffi's gentle insistence that they stick to the plan.  My concerns about the plot wandering off course are alleviated.

Picard does not get the reception he was expecting at Vashti - his suggestion that his crew, "Call Central Station and tell them it's me," was not well-received on the planet.  We continue to see the Picard is not as welcome as he used to be, and his name doesn't carry the gravitas it used to have - Starfleet are not impressed; Raffi is not amused; the Romulans aren't much impressed either.  Picard isn't a has-been, but he's not the hero he thinks he is, or was.  Nevertheless, he beams down... and still gets a cold reception.  I suspect this is because Starfleet stopped the evacuation of Romulus following the attack on Mars.  Nonetheless, he is welcomed again by the Qowat Milat, and I spy another crew member joining Picard's band of three musketeers.

On the Borg Cube/Romulan Reclamation Camp, Soji and the Romulan brother continue to play cat and mouse.  After an initial burst of interest in this relationship, this has settled down into a steady game of espionage and counter-espionage.  Thankfully, there is plenty of intrigue in the Borg Cube and the secrets it holds to keep their relationship interesting, although sliding down a shiny corridor seems a bit mundane and decidedly disappointing. They're both keeping secrets, but they're open secrets - they both have information they could trade. She has information on her past; he has information on the Borg.

There is an extended and creepy scene between Narissa and Narek, the Romulan sister and brother who are trying to uncover the identities of all the synths.  Their relationship is downright weird, and makes for some unpleasant and uncomfortable viewing.  Narek has his plan - to enable Soji to uncover her true identity slowly and through questioning her own personal history - and to be fair, it seems to be working.  His sister, however, driven by jealousy or pressure from the Tal Shiar (or whoever) wants results sooner and is losing patience.

Back on Vashti, Picard's mixed reception continues.  He's welcomed by the older members of the Qowat Milat, but their young ward, Elnor, is unhappy and bitter at Picard, and reflects the feelings of the rest of the planet's population.  Picard attempts to recruit Elnor to his 'quest', outlining the story so far, and Picard's need for - well, a bodyguard.  He has his own ingenuity; Raffi's paranoia and skills in security; Jurati's science skill, Rios at the conn - if he was assembling a bridge crew, then he needs someone at tactical.  In the absence of a suitable Starfleet Klingon, he's hoping to recruit a Romulan.

However, Elnor is not willing to follow Picard in his quest.  There is significant and deeply-felt resentment to Starfleet for abandoning the Romulans - collectively, to their fate on Romulus, and across the planet, for leaving them in a poor, barren wilderness.  Picard is the personal embodiment of all that these Romulans resent, and this is made abundantly clear through various devices, the most obvious of which is the "Romulans only" sign on the outdoor cafe (Picard tears it down at tramples on it.  Classic), and culminates in a sword fight in the town square.  Picard is in no state to defend himself, and declines to fight.  Elnor flies in (well, almost) and with a swift swipe of his sword beheads Picard's would-be attacker.  It's brutal, it's quick, and it's surprisingly gore-free - think of a lightsaber wound.  Picard is disgusted and appalled by Elnor's actions, and after their swift beam-out demands that Elnor does not engage in battle again without Picard's approval.

The final sequence of the episode is the space battle between the Romulans (in an antiquated bird of prey) and Picard's crew on the La Sirena (The Mermaid).  The Romulans may have an out-of-date ship, but they also have the planet's orbital defence system on their side.  There's no real sense of danger here - the arrival of the Emergency Tactical Officer, an inept Spanish-speaking hologram, sees to that - but the ship is taking shield damage.  The crew are aided by the surprise arrival of a small, agile fighter vessel, which helps Picard and crew disable the Romulan bird of prey.  It's exciting stuff, with phasers and flying - and the battle results in the small fighter being critically damaged.

Classic moment of the episode: "Open a channel" from Picard, on somebody else's bridge, acknowledging a hail from the damaged fighter's pilot.  Clearly there are some chains of command to be sorted out, but it played out well.

And who is the mystery pilot?  None other than Seven of Nine, who insists on a replacement ship before passing out.

So, Picard gets two crew members for the price of one.  We have Rios as the captain (or first officer, depending on the situation); Jurati at Science; Raffi at Ops; Elnor at Security or Tactical or both, and now Seven.  As Kathryn Janeway would tell you, every bridge crew needs a Borg.  Now, hopefully, on to Freecloud.


Footnotes:
Why, when the holomatrix of Picard's study is paused, and the birds freeze in mid-air, does the fire in his study keep burning?
Again with the f-bomb.  Seriously, writers:  why? It's as unexpected and unwelcome as a wrong note played loudly during a piano recital.

Review: Star Trek Picard, Episode 3 The End is The Beginning

CONTAINS SPOILERS

At the end of last week's episode of Star Trek Picard, I realised that there are a number of timebombs neatly installed in the plot:

The Borg Cube:  at some point, the Borg are going to either reawaken, or another cube is going to come along, and wreak havoc and destruction across the Romulan outpost.  You can't mess with the Borg; the clock is ticking.
Soji - initially, the question was, "When will the Romulans realise she's a synthetic?  Is she going to be safe?" and that changed last week, to, "Will Soji realise she's a synthetic before the Romulans decide to either capture her or start dismantling her?  When will she activate?"  Tick, tick, tick...

Picard - when will he get onto a starship?!

This is in addition to the various other questions - is the pointy-eared Commodore Romulan or Vulcan?  (We assume Romulan, but who knows?).  Who is the woman that Picard visited in the middle of the desert?  And so on.

Episode 3 briefly reminds us of the attack on Mars and Utopia Planitia, and then shows us, in flashback, Picard's immediate response and his plan to resume the evacuation of Romulus, prior to its star going supernova.  We see the relationship between Raffi and Picard - she was his assistant, Exec Officer or similar.  Picard gave Starfleet an ultimatum: accept his well-written, well-thought-out plan for continuing the evacuation, or accept his resignation.  I enjoyed this quiet scene - I too had considered that the Romulan Tal Shiar agency may have been responsible for the attack on Mars, and I had discounted it - it's good to see this being discussed on screen - and we see this through the episode; "that's why they call it a cover-up".  We see how Picard was surprised by Starfleet accepting his resignation and dismissing his rescue plan, and Picard looks increasingly arrogant or excessively self-confident - the hubris that Admiral Clancy accused him of last week is starting to appear believable.  Did he really just think he could waltz into Starfleet HQ with a plan and go sailing off to rescue the Federation's long-time enemies?

I do wonder if Mars could be burning - as an entire planet - without an oxygen atmosphere?  

I was delighted to see that Raffi starts her conversation with Picard by accusing him of having some nerve to show up.  His resignation from Starfleet led to her getting fired, and Picard really, really is over-playing his hand (and is rightly called out for it).  She reminds him that he wasn't "such a chatterbox, back in the day", and she joins the list of people who criticise him for the media interview he gave in episode one.  Last week, we saw how Starfleet is not what it was; this week, we see that Jean-Luc is not who he was either.  Challenging stuff.

It's hard to say if Picard is truly repentant for his selfish actions, or if he's desperate for help, but his grasp of the Romulan situation within the Federation is clear and accurate.  Raffi, for her part, is still convinced that the Romulans truly did orchestrate the attack on Mars, but refuses to follow Picard "down another rabbit hole" as she did before, having paid dearly for her previous connection with him.  She offers him a pilot, but isn't going along with him.

Commodore Oh - the Romulan commodore, meets with Doctor Jurati from Cybernetics.  They've been keeping tabs on her.  Another timebomb starts ticking:  what will Oh get from Jurati, and when?

This week sees the advertised arrival into the series of Hugh - the show has recruited the original actor and his voice is immediately recognisable as the Hugh we met decades ago.  He's a former Borg who is now actively assisting the Romulans in their plan to reclaim the xBs (ex-Borgs).  Soji and Hugh (not yet named) are working together on the xBs.  Hugh, as executive director of this program, allows an interview between Soji and one of the reclaimed Borg; Soji believing that 'a shared mythical background' will be benificial between societies.  We meet the 'disordered', assimilated and separated Romulans who are all suffering the mental consequences of that assimilation and separation process.  It's a scene that's reminiscent of an asylum, with quiet muttering and a general disturbed atmosphere.  One of the key Romulans, Ramdha, is an expert on ancient mythology, and Soji would like to talk to her as an xB who could reframe their experiences through a shared framework.  However, Ramdha - as an xB - remembers Soji "from tomorrow".  Ramdha appears to know that Soji is more than she appears.

Narek, Romulan secret operative, has a short scene with his sister, Lt Rizzo (who appeared human in the previous episode).  There's nothing much to say about it, except that it shows their ongoing sibling rivalry.  Let's move on.

Picard finally beams onto a spaceship, and the music (subtle as ever) plays a suitable fanfare riff from the TNG theme.  It immediately transpires that the pilot, Rios, has been stabbed in the shoulder, and is being helped by his ENH (no, not an EMH - this is Navigation, not Medical).  The pilot immediately reminded me of Han Solo... drinker, smoker, scruffy-looking... when asked about his injury, he replies, "I didn't die;" when questioning Picard, he asks, "Are you breaking any laws or intending to?" with a tone that suggests he's not bothered either way.  He's not in Starfleet; he's more Harry Mudd, even though he is former Starfleet, and Picard identifies him as "Starfleet to the core".  Nonetheless, Picard hires him to take him on his mission. 

Picard returns home to prepare for his journey, and his plans are rudely interrupted when the Romulan Ninjas storm his chateau.  This was genuinely tense - I realised at this point that it was quite possible within the plot for Picard's two Romulan friends to get killed.  In fact, they nearly did, and were all saved by the unexpected arrival of Doctor Jurati, clumsily wielding a Romulan blaster (without a stun setting).  This was gripping drama, and I enjoyed it, almost as much as I did the immediate revelation that Commodore Oh is NOT Romulan - she's Vulcan.  Like I said - we assume as little as possible!

One of the Romulan Ninjas is captured alive and can therefore be interviewed.  Or should that be interrogated?  The interview between Soji and Ramdha is cross-cut with Picard's interrogation of the Romulan prisoner, and the two scenes run in parallel, as the tension and volume of both discussions increase at the same time, and end with a suicide (the prisoner) and an attempted suicide (Ramdha).  The conclusion of Soji's discussion - the grab for the phaser, the struggle and the fight - causes her to partially activate.  She knows more than she should, moves more quickly and precisely than she ordinarily could... timebombs are ticking.

Dr Jurati makes a very compelling series of arguments for going along with Picard - he accepts, and so Rios, Jurati, Raffi and Picard set off together to search for Bruce Maddox on  Freecloud (looks like an online gambling site to me, but who knows?).  After all the phaser fire and fireworks, the episode - in fact, the series so far - has earned its moment:  Picard stands on the bridge, and with appropriate and suitable fanfare building, raises his right hand and delivers the line that will finally take this series out into space.

"Engage." 

Review: Star Trek Picard, Episode 2: Maps and Legends

CONTAINS SPOILERS

In my review of last week's episode I mistakenly assumed that the destruction of Utopia Planetia and the whole of the Mars colony directly lead to the deaths of thousands of Romulans. The flashback scene at the start of this week's issue - and then further revelations - make it clear that the annihilation of the Mars colony by the synthetics led to the destruction of many of Starfleet's ships and this prevented Starfleet from rescuing more Romulans.  It's a minor point, but I suspect it will have major repercussions.

This week's episode was another fascinating instalment, building on all the threads that were started last time: Picard starts his investigation into Dahj's death with the assistance of his Romulan friends, while we learn more about Dahj's twin, and her relationship with the Romulan.

Picard goes on a classic Dixon Hill investigation into Dahj's death, and the death of her boyfriend, by visiting her flat and investigating the crime scene.  Laris, Picard's Romulan friend has a useful array of gadgets to help the investigation along, and it becomes apparent that the Romulan secret-secret-police have been involved.  I mentioned last week that there was bad blood between the Romulans and the androids, but revelations this week show that these pre-date the Mars attack and the aborted rescue plan for Romulus.  The Romulan secret-secret police, called the Zhat Vash (even more secret than the Tal Shiar) have a loathing for artificial intelligence of any kind, and are tracking down any synthetics they can identify, and terminating them.

It becomes clear that Dahj knew and communicated with her twin sister, and Picard learns that her twin is off world. This all makes sense and is explained well. So, Picard needs to go out into space, and for that, he needs to return to Starfleet, and for that he needs medical clearance.  This is not a formality; the series again taps into Picard's alternative future from The Next Generation's finale All Good Things by giving Picard a disease in his parietal lobe. This part of his brain was identified in All Good Things when Dr Crusher explained there were warning signs he could develop irumodic syndrome - a form of 24th century dementia. Here, the news is delivered by Dr Benayoun - I'm sure I've seen him before. This is a clever move, since it continues to tie the series to its history without bringing someone like Dr Crusher into the story - she would add too much emotional backstory that would need to be addressed.

The music around the Borg cube last week was excellent and there is no subtlety in the Star Trek theme blasting out as Picard arrives at Starfleet Headquarters.  This contrasts sharply with his undignified arrival at Starfleet (the receptionist doesn't recognise him), and is merely a precursor to the shoddy treatment he gets from the Admiral he meets. She drops the f-bomb (a Star Trek first) and calls him out for his "hubris".  That went well, then; so much for the fanfare.  This scene makes two things perfectly clear: this is not the Star Fleet we used to know, and it has certainly not changed for the better.

As Admiral Picard offered to accept a temporary demotion to Captain, I was reminded of Kirk's similar demotion to a role he excelled in (at the end of Star Trek IV) and of Kirk's warning to Picard in Generations - don't let them take you off the bridge of a ship; don't let them promote you out of it.  This made the verbal slap in the face even more dramatic.

Still, Picard is Picard and he has his ideas. To quote Kirk again: "The word is no. I am therefore going anyway."

Meanwhile, Dahj's twin sister Soji is living and working on the Romulan-claimed Borg cube.  The setting one Borg cube alone says, "Danger!" (even if it's 5843 days since the facility's last assimilation, a very funny way of telling us that the Romulans have been on the cube for 16 years - before the Mars attack) but as an unidentified synthetic working among Romulans, we know Soji's life is a ticking time bomb - as soon as she is discovered, she will be killed.

Except, in a major development, we discover that the Soji's friend, new arrival Narek, is actually an undercover agent who does know her identity - even though she doesn't.  The Zhat Vash have agents within the ranks of Star Fleet - and a Romulan commodore at that - and they are using Star Fleet's intelligence to track down the synthetics.  There are more questions than answers, but this is fascinating, and as I mentioned earlier, this is really not the Star Fleet we used to know. Not at all.

There are some gory scenes as we get a glimpse of what the Romulans are doing on the Borg cube. They aren't rescuing "xBs" - presumably people who were Borg but can be saved - but stripping Borg drones for spare parts and saleable items. This is as gruesome as it sounds, and is carried out in a way that could best be described as disassembly-line surgery.  I'm already backing the Borg to reawaken and start assimilating the Romulans.

Picard goes to meet an old 'friend' - her identity isn't clear - to arrange a ship and a crew, and while her first response is to draw a phase and tell him to leave, there's plenty of unmentioned history between the two. So, Picard is still stuck on Earth - no sign of him returning to his usual environment of outer space. At least not yet.

This was another great episode - the revelations about the Romulans in Star Fleet has set the tone for the series. There isn't any phase fire in this episode, apart from the flashback scene at the start, but there are still plenty of fireworks.