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."