WHY WE LIKE IT: Romulan warrior nuns.
WHY WE DON'T: Are we still assembling the crew?!
REVIEW: Apparently, this is it. The cast is complete. We're heading out of the "pilot" phase with 60% of the season to go. At least, that's how it feels when you've grown up on the more episodic format of the The Next Generation (or most of Star Trek before CBS All Access essentially). Having just rewatched All Good Things, I gotta say this is more or less the first episode not to riff off the TNG finale's future sequences. Star Trek: Picard owes a lot more to All Good Things than I at first realized. Added to the crew are Elnor, a Romulan swordsman who Picard should have adopted 14 years ago, and the kid's really bitter about it, and Seven of Nine, which I knew was in the season, but was nonetheless a surprise at episode's end because I've taken not to look at the opening credits sequence in case a special guest-star gets spoiled. This is the first time Picard and Seven are seen together, but of course, he would know her just based on his history with the Borg. They'll probably address that history in the next episode.
For now, the continuity fill takes us to a Romulan relocation hub on Vashti, a small idyllic town in a beautiful oasis 14 years ago. There we meet young Elnar and the Sisterhood of Karn --I mean Candor, sorry, wrong franchise-- the Qowat Milat, Romulan warrior nuns devoted to truth and openness in stark opposition to the normal Romulan ethos. This is the Way (oops, sorry, did it again). Obviously, they're enemies of the Tal Shiar, and in the present time frame, with the town looking the worse for wear, Picard returns to enlist their help on his quest. I like the sort of samurai culture that's presented, Qowat Milat binding their swords to lost causes. Not hired swords, they choose who they protect. Elnor, trained as Qowat Milat though not a part of them on account of his gender, will join Picard on his quest, though like most of the cast, he's a bit antagonistic to our hero. Maybe Picard should have called his old Enterprise team in after all. Indeed, I'm not sure what to think of his recruitment of Elnor given that it seems to include emotional manipulation on his part. Or am I wrong to think he instigated a confrontation with angry Romulans in a segregated café for the purpose of putting himself in danger so the boy would intervene with crazy Romulan wuxia? Maybe he just wanted to challenge Vashti's new order and bit off more than he could chew, but I dunno.
Romulan space, at this point, seems fractured and filled with warlords and piracy. There's talk of one particular warlord with a classic bird-of-prey (who'll show up for a little action), Fenris Rangers who can't keep the peace, and a Romulan Rebirth movement, all the result of the Federation breaking its promise 14 years ago. The Romulan point of view is legitimate. By stopping mid-stream, all Starfleet has really done is weakened the Romulans politically, dispersed them to the four winds. As an Acadian, I understand this well because the British did the same to my people in the 18th Century and we still live with the consequences (enforced rurality, demographic weakness, economic stalling, young institutions, low concentration of wealth and political power, and this is almost a century and a half after a cultural renaissance). The current-day equivalent is Western foreign policy in a fractured Middle East. If the plot seems slow to develop, at least the world-building (how long have we waited for the Romulans to get PROPERLY developed?) is good.
Our heroes' ship is seen in action, but I'm afraid I still can't picture it in my mind. The design is just too boring, despite some intriguing interiors. Picard recreating his study from home in the holodeck feels quite artificial - the production spent money on it so it's a standing set no matter what - a bit like the idea that he wouldn't mention the Qowat Milat's "lost cause" criterion until it's dramatically appropriate. If he's being cagey so Jurati doesn't know how desperate the situation is, why eventually say it to her at all? That said, there are a lot of good lines in the episode, and I laughed out loud a couple times (Rios hating the hospitality hologram, Jurati thinking they named space for its negative values, Picard not being able to have a guilt trip without using a starship...). Oh yes, two more holograms are introduced including the amusing "Emergency Hospitality Hologram" and "Emmet", which is a cool name for the ETH or Emergency Tactical Hologram. I know it feels like a recurring gag at this point, but it's a gag I enjoy. I wouldn't even mind if every episode had a different holo showing up, to ridiculous excess. Rios is still reading his book on the existential pain of living with the consciousness of death, which I imagine will eventually dovetail with the theme of synthetic life(?), Raffi is still being angry and impatient (not great), and things continue to weigh heavy on Picard as his failure to convince Starfleet (and his giving up) is exposed, with a personal dimension added. Now if he could stop explaining the story so far to everyone he meets...
The Borg Cube gets little play this time around, with the big thing really being the Romulan myth of the Destroyer, calling to it unshackled demons, seems to presage the synth crisis. Soji now has trouble trusting Narek, but they still go on a slip and slide date. Against his better angels, he's planted the seed of doubt about her memories, knowing she'll research her own origins and perhaps unlock the information he needs. Needs, but doesn't really want to share with his nasty sister, their relationship as toxic as something on Game of Thrones.
A couple of minor points... Shout out to whoever picked Rios' music, by the way. Though the Cabarets (AKA the Matadors) are from the last 20 years, the arrangement introduces an occasional electronic sound to make it seem like this piece of psychobilly could be a new-ish hit in the 24th Century. It helps when the music isn't too well known. It usually feels like no new music has been written or published in centuries in Star Trek's future. And Seven's ship looked familiar, but I couldn't really place it. Then it struck me that it had a similar profile to the White Star from Babylon 5 and it had me wondering if calling it ugly (when it wasn't) was a shot across the bar to JMS' DS9 competitor.
LESSON: Honesty is the best policy.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: The plot needs to get into high gear, but what's being done with the Romulans is admittedly, to borrow a phrase from their cousin culture, fascinating.
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