star trek picard episode 9 recap

‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 3 Episode 9 Recap: Oh Yes, She’ll Fly

The truth about Jack Crusher finally comes out.

It is hard to believe that Star Trek: Picard is drawing to a close, but the penultimate episode of Season 3 delivers so much more than Star Trek fans could have ever dreamed of for the final grand adventure of The Next Generation crew. In “Võx,” the truth about Jack Crusher ( Ed Speleers ) finally comes out, and it sets the stage for one of the largest—if not the largest—threats that this cast of characters has ever faced before.

The episode opens mere moments after the end of Episode 8 , with Deanna Troi ( Marina Sirtis ) working her counselor magic on Jack to try to get him to finally open the red door and reveal the mystery that lies within it. As Will Grove-White croons the eerily perfect tune “I Can’t Stop Crying,” Deanna pushes Jack to analyze their surroundings—particularly the red vines that cover the floor and walls leading to the red door. Jack recalls the Crimson Arboretum that his mother ( Gates McFadden ) took him to as a young boy, and mulls over the fact that the vines are like the roots beneath the soil which connect everything together. The song, he explains, is one that his mother shared with him: something that was passed from his father ( Patrick Stewart ) to Beverly, and then to him.

Realizing that Jack isn’t going to open the door on his own, Deanna offers to do it for him and promises him that no matter what is on the other side he won’t be alone. However, once she opens the door and sees what has been hidden there all along, she immediately breaks that promise and flees to find his parents. It’s there, with Picard and Beverly, that Jack’s secret is revealed. The eerie voice inside his head is none other than the Borg Queen ( Alice Krige ) and it’s the Borg Cube waiting for him on the other side of that ominous red door. The truth is a tough pill to swallow for Beverly and Picard, and they both try to theorize their way out of accepting it. Beverly points out that Jack has never been assimilated, while Picard begins to reckon with the idea that he may have passed on something far worse than the Irumodic Syndrome. This, they realize, is why Vadic ( Amanda Plummer ) wanted Jack so desperately—he’s a dangerous weapon that can be used against humanity.

RELATED: ‘Star Trek: Picard’: A ‘Legacy’ Spin-Off Series Would be Fantastic, Says Gates McFadden

Jack is pacing in crew quarters when Picard comes to finally put him out of his misery and tell him what Deanna saw behind the door. Understandably, he is quite frustrated and rather irate about how things have played out, especially with Deanna abandoning him. While Jack has heard a little about his father’s time as Locutus, thanks to Shaw’s ( Todd Stashwick ) tragic backstory, Picard gives him a brief refresher about his assimilation before revealing that the Irumodic Syndrome they both have was actually a misdiagnosis. Jack doesn’t take the news well that whatever Borg components were within Picard somehow “seeded” within him. Though the illusion with the blossoms and roots works quite nicely with that seeding comparison.

Discovering that he is connected to the Borg rocks the very foundation of who Jack believes himself to be. He quickly jumps to the realization that his long-held belief that the galaxy would be a better place if people talked, listened, and connected is just cybernetic authoritarianism in kinder packaging. And he’s never looked and acted quite so much like his father than when he’s ranting and raving and spiraling over the truth. Picard tries to soften the blow by suggesting that they transfer him to a research facility on Vulcan, but Jack recognizes that they’re trying to institutionalize him in a prison where he can be mind-melded into a lobotomy. Self-preservation, and maybe a little Borg drive, kicks in and Jack realizes he has to hightail it off the Titan before this happens, so he uses his handy abilities to take control of the officers and escape from Picard, and his mother. Jack isn’t just running because he doesn’t want to be experimented on, he escapes because he’s convinced he can take on the Borg queen on his own. The Picard genes are clearly strong with him.

When the red door was first introduced in Episode 3 , I jested that the allusion caused me to draw comparisons to the infamous red room in Jane Eyre , and once again “Võx” is forcing my hand again. While the writers behind Picard may not be intentionally making that connection, the throughline of what this visual signifier means within the language of cinema adds new layers to Jack’s plight. In the novel, this literary device is used to explore Jane’s isolation and imprisonment—it directly inhibits her sense of belonging. For Jack, the red door holds a similar value. Once the door is open, his sense of individualism is stripped away from him, and he is pushed toward the Collective. In Jane Eyre , Jane is imprisoned in the red room, but in Picard , opening the red door pushes Jack into a position where his parents look to imprison him, essentially jeopardizing his freedom in the same way that the red room holds the keys to that in the novel. It’s fascinating how, intended or otherwise, there are aspects of literature that work their way into the collective psyche (pun intended) and add new depth to plot devices that shows like Picard employ.

With Jack gone and concealing his whereabouts, Beverly and the rest of The Next Generation crew begin to work on answering how her son inherited the Borg from Picard. Picard may feel guilt about passing that horrible legacy onto his child, but Beverly seems to carry her own guilt, particularly when it comes to not seeing the truth sooner. She watched him so closely, but she never saw what was right in front of her. Geordi ( LeVar Burton ) calls Picard down to Sick Bay to continue discussing Jack, and he reveals that they have worked out that he is essentially the Borg’s transmitter, which they can use to send directions. They also discuss that this isn’t something new—this has been dormant inside of Jack his entire life. While it does seem like he’s been able to hold it off for nearly twenty years, Worf ( Michael Dorn ) points out that the entire Changeling conspiracy and the Borg’s plans are directly connected to Frontier Day.

Shaw is reluctant to take the Titan to Frontier Day, especially with the entirety of Starfleet after them, but Picard makes his case that this is what they have to do to save the day. It’s there that Picard reintroduces a very deep cut, by putting Admiral Elizabeth Shelby ( Elizabeth Dennehy ) front-and-center as the master of ceremonies, where she unveils brand-new tech that allows Starfleet’s armada to work as one. The new capabilities, which are hailed as the ultimate safeguard, are decidedly Borg-like in design—something that Picard recognizes almost immediately. But the Titan ’s arrival at Frontier Day is too little, too late.

On the other side of the galaxy, armed with a phaser and a lot of audacity, Jack has found himself transported to the Borg Cube via a transport conduit. The Borg Queen taunts him further, calling him “my flesh,” “my child,” and more importantly the name she has given him: Võx. Where his father’s name meant “to speak,” Jack is the “voice” of the Borg, just as the crew theorized about his role as a transmitter. Despite a valiant attempt to take out the Borg Queen (which was never going to happen), Jack finds himself assimilated and transformed into the weapon that is posed to turn Starfleet into the Borg. In the midst of the ensuing chaos of Frontier Day, the crew discovers that the Changelings had a larger plan at play when they began infiltrating Starfleet. Aboard each and every vessel, they uploaded a new data point into the transporter code—one that transformed Picard’s Borg-filled DNA into common biology. This is how the Borg planned to take control of every ship: by assimilating every member of the crew that was under 25 and had been through the transporters after the Changelings took over. Picard attempts to warn Admiral Shelby about what is about to happen, but the Borg seize control of not only the Starfleet armada but the Titan too.

Shaw’s worst nightmare comes to life as all the younger members of the crew—including Geordi’s daughters—are assimilated by the Borg. He and the rest of The Next Generation crew manage to escape the bridge and hunker down in the turbo lift long enough to come up with a plan. In the turbo lift, they listen to a message from the Captain of the U.S.S. Excelsior who has managed to take back control of the bridge, but before he can complete the message the Borg-controlled armada takes aim at the starship and destroys it, which makes them realize they’re not going to be able to shoot their way out of this situation: especially not with the armada-wide connection. Shaw comes up with a plan to get everyone down to the maintenance level, where they’ll be able to take an escape shuttle off the Titan , since the shuttles aren’t tied into the integration.

On the maintenance level, the crew’s reunion is short-lived as the Borg descend upon them, leading to a pretty epic firefight as they mount their escape. In a great example of “the rule of three,” Shaw is shot by one of the Borg-influenced officers, and this time he isn’t going to be able to get back up. As he lies dying, he is given the opportunity to become the commanding officer who decides who lives and dies, as he urges everyone to escape while they still can. And before he dies, Shaw finally calls Seven ( Jeri Ryan ) by her name, as he tells her the Titan is now her ship. Of course, there’s irony packed into the moment, considering the Borg have taken over the Titan and Seven is a former part of the Borg Collective. Even with his dying breath, Shaw is still the dipshit from Chicago that warmed over audiences with his surly disposition. While everyone else escapes, Raffi ( Michelle Hurd ) opts to stay behind with Seven, which will certainly give the rest of the crew an advantage as they presumably take on the Borg in the finale.

There are a lot of really great small moments tucked in between the larger drama of “Võx,” particularly where Data ( Brent Spiner ) is involved. Whether it’s the consoling hand he places on Picard’s shoulder while he frets over Jack’s inheritance or when he stops Geordi from spiraling over his daughters’ assimilation or—most comically—when Geordi tells him to be more positive, so he snarks “I hope we die quickly.” This new and improved version of the android is the MVP of the episode because he makes the most out of every single moment he has. The final ten minutes of “Võx” delivers an unexpected surprise for fans of The Next Generation . As the crew looks for a way to take on the Borg, Geordi reveals the ace he’s had up his sleeve. While he planned to unveil it under better circumstances, Geordi takes the crew back to the Fleet Museum to reveal a newly restored Enterprise-D , which may just be the last analog starship in existence that hasn’t been integrated with the fleet, and their best chance at defeating the Borg.

Seeing the crew of The Next Generation reunite on the Titan was one thing, but seeing them stand on the carpeted floors of the Enterprise is like a fever dream. You can almost feel the palpable joy bleeding through the screen as they marvel at the restoration and check out their old stomping ground. Picard, ever the poet, starts to make a great pronouncement about standing there with the crew and realizing what he missed, which was the carpet, obviously. As the episode draws to an end, they make a point of discussing how they’re all family—including their kids—and that wherever Picard goes, they’ll go too. With their limited weapons and their run, shoot, or hide prerogative, the crew is finally ready to face their greatest advisory and their last great adventure. Together .

The final season of Star Trek: Picard is streaming now on Paramount+.

Star Trek Picard season 3 episode 9 recap – answers

Check out our detailed Star Trek Picard season 3 episode 9 recap to learn all about the penultimate episode of Picard before the finale.

James Osborne

Published: Apr 13, 2023

Our Verdict

Even though the answers don't merit the season-long build-up, it's very satisfying to finally get them. And, the Enterprise-D returns. That is all we ever needed.

Star Trek Picard season 3 episode 9 recap. This recap contains spoilers for the new episode of Star Trek Picard.

The last episode of Star Trek Picard ended with the same cliffhanger as the week previous. So, in this new (and penultimate) episode of the Star Trek series it’s good to see that finally the mystery of the Red Door is being addressed, with Jack Crusher getting assistance from Deanna Troi now that she’s aboard the USS Titan .

She questions him about the symbols, the red vines in particular, inviting him to dig into his past. They’re connections and, as he’s said to Seven on Nine, he craves connection. With his permission, Deanna opens the Red Door in his visions. She’s utterly terrified by what she sees.

And here’s the reveal (final spoiler warning!): it’s the Borg behind the Red Door. All the connections and hints from the series come together, and coalesce. Troi apologises, and flees from the room where she’s working with Jack, straight to Picard and Beverly.

Immediately, the two parents begin an attempt to dissect what’s going on, with Beverly theorising some invisible Borg technology inside her son has passed down from his father from his time spent as Locutus of Borg. Picard’s Irumodic Syndrome was an incorrect diagnosis, and what he passed to Jack was his links to the Borg. Deanna informs Picard and Beverly that Jack, with his powers to enter the minds of others, is the weapon Vadic was searching for and that he should be treated with caution.

Star Trek Picard recap – the Borg return (again)

Picard shares the news with Jack: he passed a seed of the Borg into his adult son who is – unsurprisingly – unhappy. Picard’s own seething anger at his personal history as Locutus of Borg also bubbles up to match Jack’s.

Attempting to flee the ship before he can be sent to a research institute, Jack uses his powers to control a security team on the Titan. He takes a shuttle and, listening to the voice in his head, zips over to the necessary coordinates to find the Borg. The new Data explains the shuttle can’t be tracked. Meanwhile, Jack discovers that having warped into the depths of space, he’s found the remnants of the Borg hidden in some nebula.

At the same time, the TNG cast reveal that the Borg genetic code passed down from Picard to Jack was dormant inside the son, until it wasn’t. That genetic code was also extracted by the Changelings from Picard’s preserved body at the Daystrom Institute. This represents a major threat, especially with the entire fleet of Starfleet starships present in the same location for Frontier Day, and so the USS Titan needs to get there.

Star Trek Picard recap – Frontier Day begins

And finally, Frontier Day begins. Admiral Shelby – yes, of Best of Both Worlds fame – is in command of the newest version of the Enterprise and is leading celebrations. These commence with a demonstration of a new advancement: fleet synchronisation. This allows the ships to act in unison, acting as one in a mass formation. As Riker and Picard point out, very Borg-like.

Simultaneously, halfway across the galaxy, the Borg Queen speaks with Jack and gives him his new Borg name: Vox. The Borg Queen herself is like Emperor Palpatine in The Rise of Skywalker, damaged and kept alive through her connection to technology. She assimilates Jack, who wants to fight but can’t resist.

Back on the Titan, Geordi, Beverly, and Data establish what’s been going on this whole time. The Changelings who have infiltrated Starfleet have been adding Picard’s Borg genetic code into Starfleet’s transporter system and incorporating it into every Starfleet officer who uses a transporter when they beam up or down from anywhere. Essentially, it’s a soft form of assimilation, which is how Jack has been able to communicate with and control those around him.

On the bridge, Picard tries to high-jack Shelby’s fleetwide transmission to communicate this new threat, but the Titan gets blocked out by some Borg energy spike. This particularly impacts those whose frontal cortices are still in development (anyone aged under 25) which as it turns out, is a (very) large part of the Titan’s crew – including Geordi’s daughters – who are now essentially assimilated.

This is happening across the fleet, and we see Shelby’s crew turn on her and kill her. An unceremonious end for the ambitious Shelby. The assimilated crew of the Titan do the same and turn on the senior officers and TNG cast, with Seven of Nine and Captain Shaw having to fight their own crew.

Finally, after all the bumps and bruises and pain, he’s gone through, Shaw gets killed in action, and Seven and Raffi stay with him while the remaining crew get off the Titan sharpish through a repair shuttle. Simultaneously, the armada at Frontier Day begins to implode and takes out Earth’s own defences.

Star Trek Picard recap – a familiar face returns

Geordi takes the shuttle back to the Starfleet museum where it turns out the former chief engineer has been rebuilding and repairing the Enterprise-D. Yes, that beautifully ugly Galaxy-class ship, NCC-1701-D. The saucer was retrieved and repaired, and it’s sat there simply begging to see its former crew come aboard.

And come aboard they do. Stunningly recreated, the Enterprise-D is back in action, and even though it’s nostalgia and nostalgia only, it’s impossible to deny. The Enterprise-D is where this crew belongs, just as much a Star Trek character as they are: carpets and bright lights and all. There really aren’t words to describe how impressive the recreation is, even equipped with the late Majel Barrett’s voice.

They take the Enterprise-D back to Earth to confront the new Borg threat once and for all.

Next week is the final episode, and Vox does a perfectly serviceable job in building up to that. Burdened with having to answer season-long questions, it puts all the pieces of the puzzle together and also injects action and drama into the very final stretch.

Is it disappointing to see the Borg as the villains yet again? Especially after the end of Picard season 2 (for all intents and purposes retconned now), for some, it will be. Should Seven of Nine have been given much more to do? Obviously. Does it rely on convenience? In moments. But it also brushes all of that aside with the superlatively majestic return of the Enterprise-D. Now: we wait.

That’s it on our Star Trek Picard season 3 episode 9 recap. For more on Star Trek , check out our guide to the Star Trek Picard season 3 cast and more. Or find out more about Ro Laren , Tuvok , and the USS Defiant . You can also learn more about the Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 2 release date .

James Osborne After graduating from the University of York with a degree in archaeology (inspired by Captain Picard), James worked with the news team at Screen Rant while contributing features to Vulture, The AV Club, Digital Spy, FANDOM, and the official Star Trek website. Now, he writes about all things sci-fi and fantasy at The Digital Fix with an 'Enterprise-D ambiance' playlist on loop. He's a seasoned expert on all things Star Trek , Lord of the Rings , Star Wars , and Yellowstone , and is more than willing to share his hot takes on TNG which he believes is the greatest series ever made.

Star Trek: Picard episode 9 recap: The first part of the season finale has a major revelation

Our spoiler-filled Star Trek: Picard episode 9 review

- Episode 9 (of 10), 'Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 ' - Written by  Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman - Directed by Akiva Goldsman ★★★½

Spoilers follow .

After a bumpy ride, the La Sirena emerges from the Borg transwarp conduit and arrives at Soji's homeworld, Coppelius. Picard notes that by using the conduit, the ship has travelled 25 light years in just 15 minutes. Narek appears, opening fire, but Seven of Nine and her newly-acquired Borg Cube, the Artifact, intervenes. Then, suddenly, giant orchid-like flowers rise from the planet and grab hold of the La Sirena, the Cube, and Narek's Snakehead, dragging them down to the surface of Coppelius.

Everyone survives, but the La Sirena is out of action. Before they leave on foot to find a nearby settlement, Picard tells the crew about the terminal brain condition he learned about in episode 2. He says there's no effective treatment, but he doesn't want to be treated like a dying man. They exit the ship and find themselves in a desert, and later enter the wreckage of the crashed Artifact. Elnor and Seven of Nine are alive, and both say their goodbyes to Picard. He says Elnor must stay there and protect the ex-Borg. Raffi accesses a Borg computer and is troubled by the discovery that a fleet of 218 Romulan Warbirds is on its way to Coppelius.

• How to watch Star Trek in order
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• Our Star Trek Picard episode 8 recap

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Picard and the others finally arrive at the settlement where Soji was created. The place is populated almost entirely with matching pairs of organic synths. Some of them – likely earlier models than Dahj and Soji – are closer to Data in appearance, with a golden shimmer on their skin and yellow eyes. A man introduces himself as Dr. Altan Inigo Soong, the son of Noonian Soong, the cyberneticist who built Data. A woman called Sutra who looks remarkably like Soji, but with Data's eyes, has learned how to perform a Vulcan Mind-Meld and uses it on Jurati to see the Admonition that Commodore Oh forced her to watch at the beginning of episode 7.

It seems the Admonition, on which the Zhat Vash based its entire anti-synth philosophy, was never meant for organic life. Sutra, a synth, sees the vision much more clearly. It's revealed to be a message left by a mysterious race of higher synthetic beings, as a warning for other synths. They say that eventually organics will turn on their creations, seeing them as a threat, and if that happens, these beings can be summoned to intervene. "Your evolution will be their extinction." Later, Sutra tries to convince Soji that summoning these powerful beings is the only way they can save themselves, even if it means wiping out all organic life in the galaxy.

Narek is captured by the synths, but is secretly released by Sutra, and he kills one of them in the escape. The last we see of him, he's running towards the Artifact. At a funeral for the murdered synth, Sutra reveals her plan to summon these higher beings. Picard is horrified and pleads with her to reconsider. He says he can keep them safe, make a deal with the Federation, but Soong laughs it off. Soong says they haven't listened to Picard since the attack on Mars. Picard is imprisoned by the synths as the massive Romulan fleet, led by Commodore Oh, approaches Coppelius.

Verdict: This episode sets the board for the season finale, feeling like the calm before an inevitable storm. The truth about the Admonition is a big moment, even if an advanced synthetic race wiping all organic life from the galaxy is hardly an original sci-fi concept. The highlight of this episode is Sutra, the Data-eyed Soji lookalike who has a real evil streak in her. And it's great seeing Brent Spiner again, playing another member of the Soong clan. This is a solid episode, but I really hope they stick the landing.

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• On the crashed Borg Cube, a former drone seems to recognise Picard and calls him Locutus. In the classic Next Generation episode The Best of Both Worlds (S3E26), Picard is captured and assimilated by the Borg and given this name, which is Latin for "the one who speaks."

• Altan Inigo Soong is the son of Noonian Soong, the brilliant Federation cyberneticist who created Data in his own image. Noonian Soong (played by Brent Spiner) has appeared in Star Trek several times, most notably the TNG episode Brothers (S4E03), where Data meets his maker.

• Altan Soong tells Picard about Sutra's fascination with Vulcan culture, and notes that she can play the ka'athyra. In the original 1960s Star Trek series, Spock could often be found playing this lute-like instrument, which was designed by legendary prop maker Wah Ming Chang.

Star Trek: Picard is available to watch on CBS All Access every Thursday in the US, and every Friday on Amazon Prime Video internationally.

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Star Trek: Picard Reveals Jack’s True Identity and Brings Back an Old Friend

Dave nemetz, west coast bureau chief.

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Warning: This post contains spoilers for Thursday’s Star Trek: Picard .

The Star Trek: Picard crew is gearing up for next week’s series finale … and they have a nice ride to get them there.

Jack reaches the Queen and is prepared to hit her with a phaser, but she simply welcomes her prodigal son home before assimilating him into her collective. Meanwhile, Geordi and Data figure out that the Borg altered Jean-Luc’s DNA and used the Changelings to code that altered DNA into Starfleet transporters… so everyone who’s been through a transporter now has Borg in them. Yikes! Luckily, it only affects cadets under the age of 25, since their brains are still developing, but it’s enough for the Borg to assimilate all of the Titan ‘s young crew… including Geordi’s daughter. The Borgified youngsters take over every Starfleet ship, including the Titan , while the oldsters flee to a repair shuttle with Shaw giving them cover — and taking a fatal phaser blast. His dying words are to hand command over to Seven, calling her “Seven of Nine” for the first time. Awww… given how he started out, we can’t believe we’re actually going to miss that guy.

How much did you love seeing the TNG gang back on the Enterprise ? And what are you hoping to see in next week’s series finale? Beam down to the comments to share your thoughts.      

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I love that they used Majel Barrett voice for the computer!

Yes, that was a nice surprise.

Are the showrunners ignoring the second season of their own show? Beverley said the Borg hadn’t been heard from for ten years — was there a ten-year jump between seasons I missed? Aren’t the Borg kinda-sorta allies (or at least, at truce) with the Federation now? . I mean, if Borg!Jack shows up with a new Borg Queen consort and a fleet of cubes to stop the Changelings’ plan in the finale, cool. It’d be kind of a deus ex machina to end this fantastic nostalgia-bomb of a season, but at least they wouldn’t be ignoring their own show.

There was that whole time travel thing going on in season 2. I think the timeline was altered in the past skewing exactly when or how that encounter unfolded.

Agnes’s Borg and the regular Borg aren’t the same thing. Their time traveling created a secondary type of Borg.

I was initially confused as well, but this makes sense now. How cool would it be if Agnes’s borg showed up to fight the regular borg in the finale.

Thank you for explaining that! I was so confused.

Have to admit I got the warm and fuzzies when I saw the old Enterprise. The way the crew showed such reverence for her. Job well done.

I hate that they killed Elnor off camera. Worse than Icheb’s death last season.

Was the voice for the borg queen Allison Pill or the Late Annie Wersching? If it was Pill they better have a good explanation for her sudden turn back to being a heel. If it was Wersching that would explain not showing her face and probably means Pill’s Queen will swoop in to save the day in the finale.

It was Alice Krige. I believe like a bee colony, Borg Cubes have different Borg Queens & collectives.

The end credits list Alice Krige as the voice of the Born Queen, which makes sense. She has a history with Picard/Locutus.

When did they say Elnor was dead?

The ship Elnor was serving on was the one that was destroyed by the infected ships.

It would be very easy to write around that if Trek ever wants Elnor to return. He was on holiday or on secondment or had been transferred .and so on.

As there is no mention of him dying and Matals tweeted, that he wasn’t on the Excelsior, he should be fine. A Borg, but other than that fine.

Honestly, this is the best Star Trek stuff in years…I have been blown away by how good this has been especially given how awful last season was…I did not realize how much I missed all these guys together and on the bridge of Enterprise D, I had goosebumps.

I’ve never enjoyed the last ten minutes of a tv episode in my life more than this. There is really no other instance of a classic tv show getting the gang back together like this ever.

Well done to all.

Wow… how can they properly resolve everything with just one more episode. Two unexpected things happened: 1. Shaw dying – I thought there was a spinoff there. 2. Elizabeth Dennehy when they said the Admiral’s name commanding the 1701-F, my ears perked up. It looks like she met the same fate as Ro Lauren a couple of weeks back. 3. Do we know who is playing the Borg Queen? It didn’t sound like Allison Pill who borg’d out at the end of season 2. 4. I suspect Jack may be more than the Borg bargained for and is able to use his ability to control them.

Excellent episode. It was great to have Elizabeth Dennehy back, even if it was for a short time. I’m not embarrassed to say I got all the feels when Enterprise-D came into view. The best season of Picard, which is really just TNG Season 8.

As someone who watched TNG when it originally aired, I loved the ‘get off my lawn’ implication that the Borg code affects only those under 25. Across the centuries, young’uns will always be the worst.

Perfection!

Seeing the Enterprise D again was like getting an old friend back. I’ve always loved the Enterprise A along with the Enterprise E. While the e is down for the count, I hope the fleet museum and the older ships survive to see another day.

Best episode in the series!!!

Ridiculous. Not planning on watching the last episode now. Been a fan for years. This is the most disappointing direction they could have gone in… 5 minute star trek ending anyone? There was so much possibility SO MUCH and all of this just to see the Enterprise D.

Not worth the time. thanks for wasting my last 9 thursdays.

How exhausting it must be to be you

Crazy is apparently exhausting, so yeah.

Yeah…..right

You have literally never been more wrong about any internet comment you have left in your life.

Time to get your diaper changed.

This show is on a streaming site and can do away with some of the conventions of ad based time constraints of usual tv.

Hopefully they will have an extended version of the upcoming battle to save Star Fleet and the galaxy. To try and do a rescue, battle the Borg and celebrate their victory within the allotted 45 minutes of broadcast tv would be a disservice to the excellent third season and closing of a phenomenal chapter in the Star Trek series.

it’s written so as to add in commercials on Paramount+ (in the future if not now) but I’m guessing also for airing overseas on international broadcast tv or wherever else with ads eventually

I refuse to believe that Shaw is DEAD dead. 🙉

I hate the trope of killing off Shaw. I thought they got past that and he was clear sailing and part of the Star Trek future, but no, they had to give Seven her captainship this way. Uggg! I now understand why they didn’t kill him off in the first episodes. The captainship would have gone, permanently to Riker or Picard so when this episode happened handing over the ship to Seven would have been an asshat move just so they could be with their “old” crew, instead of staying on the Titan.

I don’t think that either Picard or Riker would have been a good move. I think, although it’s sad, this was the way it had to be. Besides, they let Shaw die “with honour” like a Klingon.

Slight correction. I believe the Borg have assimilated both of LaForge’s daughters.

Man if Voyager and Defiant make a last second appearance I will lose it!! And if Janeway shows up…..oh. my. God.

Both of those ships are at the spaceship museum. Even if those ships went back into use, I think it would be unlikely that any of the familiar characters from Voyager or DS9 would be among the crew.

If Janeway doesn’t come back curious if John Delance somehow wipes them out. Doubt Wesley crusher will. 1hour will not do it justice. Maybe 3hr finale lol.

This is all very bittersweet. I was just eleven years old when the original Star Trek made its debut. My hubby and I have been died in the wool Trekkers and watching Picard is a mixture of emotions to see it all come to an end, full circle. Job well done 👍

This season of “Picard” has been the best “Star Trek” television since “Voyager” left the airwaves! Each episode topped the previous week, which I didn’t think could be done. There were so many wonderful moments and Easter eggs throughout this season, but this episode, “Vox,” was the best so far! Finally revealing Jack’s true identity, returning the Borg to their Uber-villain status within Trek lore (though they better explain the big contradiction from the season 2 finale), to the return of Shelby, that glorious reveal with the Enterprise-F, and then of course the climax ending aboard the Enterprise-D! I got choked up and was almost in tears! TNG has always been my favorite incarnation of “Star Trek,” so to have this moment was priceless! And when Picard said “now that you’re all here together, I realize what I’ve missed the most…..the carpet!” My word, I fell out of bed laughing! And right after Worf’s own humorous line that he liked the Enterprise-E better. This episode was just superb “Star Trek” on every level! Promote Terry Matalas to Grand Bird of the Galaxy already, and at the very least, Paramount/CBS must give the green light to #StarTrekLegacy! Make it so!

Loved the USS Pulaski ship name…

Also spotted the USS Hikaru Sulu!

“Let’s make sure history never forgets the name… Enterprise.”

And man – did that “Engage” hit you in the feels, or what?

Since most of the command staff at Star Fleet over 25 years old have been killed by the under 25 year old Borg the new Star Fleet officers will be the youngest ones in the history of the Federation.

Talk about a really new next generation Star Trek.

Its a shame that the big reveal of the Borg plan did not live up to its expectations. It just feels somewhat contrived and un-Borg-like. Not to mention it has a serious case of megalomania oneupsmanship, like most sequels these days. Its a good thing Matales got almost everything else right so this misstep blunders the joy somewhat but it doesnt completely ruin it.

If you didn’t go a little nuts seeing the Enterprise-D at the end, you shouldn’t have been watching this show. I’ve loved watching this group get together again and while I was sorry to see Shaw go, this has been a fantastic season. I’ve heard some rumors that this might not actually be the last season; if season 4 would be up to this quality, I’d be very happy with that.

I thought the dr jarati was now the borg queen (last season). I am confused

As Shaw said, real Borg were still out there. Yurati’s Borg Queen is the product of an alternate time line and doesn’t effect the other Borg.

what alternate timeline ? they all time travelled and then returned to same point in time … didn’t they ? and Jarati took the long way back (ie. just living for a few hundred years to eventually catch up with them) I think ???

not an alt timeline – it’s still the same timeline I thought

Episode 9 was a shock but I sort of expected it was to do with the Borg . But wow what a twist . Sorry episode 10 has come around so quick .

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‘Star Trek: Picard’ episode 9 recap: ‘Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1’

Picard arrives on the planet of the synthetics for a tng-style adventure..

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw

Posted on Mar 19, 2020

This post includes spoilers.  Click here  for our episode 8 recap .

Star Trek: Picard ’s penultimate episode is very Next Generation , which is to say, it’s kind of corny and it culminates in an ethical debate. We begin, however, with a spaceship battle. La Sirena arrives in orbit around Soji’s homeworld Coppelius, closely followed by Narek’s Romulan spy ship. Seven of Nine’s reclaimed Borg Cube appears just in time to intervene, but then they’re all captured by some very cool-looking giant space orchids, which turn out to be the planet’s defense system.

La Sirena’s crash landing puts Picard in sickbay, forcing him to reveal to the crew that he’s terminally ill. This subplot has been kind of a mixed bag so far: a chance for a more emotionally varied performance from Patrick Stewart thanks to Picard’s neurological symptoms, but a narrative dead-end because we know he’ll be back next season. They’re not going to kill off the main character. It did offer a great opportunity for another lovely scene with Elnor though, bidding Picard farewell because Elnor chose to stay behind and help Seven protect the surviving XBs.

Picard and his crew set out to the planet’s main settlement of synthetic humanoids, which is where things get seriously TNG . Based around a generically futuristic cluster of white buildings, the overall vibe is like a less horny version of “ Justice ,” the TNG episode where Wesley Crusher gets arrested on a planet of sexy idiots in bikinis. Everyone on Coppelius is a synthetic like Soji, and they’re all identical twins, lounging around playing hacky-sack and 3D chess in the sun. Our heroes are greeted by a golden-eyed, golden-skinned woman giving a very familiar type of “I’m a weird peaceful alien!” performance, introducing us to the planet’s only human inhabitant: The son of cyberneticist Noonien Soong, Data’s original creator. He is, of course, played by Brent Spiner, aka Data.

Things start moving fast from here, careening off the rails after last week’s thematically rich episode . Most of the synthetics on Coppelius are basically background extras, but we do meet another Soji lookalike, Sutra. I can’t decide whether it’s retro-cute or just bad that the synthetics’ gold skin makeup looks so fake, but it’s a weird move for a show that otherwise has high production values. It really does just look like they’ve painted their faces gold. Anyway, it’s pretty clear from the get-go that sutra is Soji’s evil twin. She’s also a Vulcan enthusiast who “taught herself the mind-meld,” something that many old-school Star Trek fans will find hard to swallow. Only Vulcans can do it! It’s an innate telepathic ability, not a learned skill!

Technicalities aside, Sutra uses the mind-meld to extract Agnes Jurati’s memories of The Admonition , the terrifying vision that motivates the Zhat-Vash in their crusade against synthetic life. In doing so, she reveals the truth. Organic lifeforms have been misinterpreting the message for generations, because their minds simply can’t digest it. In fact, the message is directed at synthetics themselves, sent by a group of godlike beings who live outside time and space. It’s a warning to synthetics , promising that once they evolve past a certain point, organic civilizations will try to stamp them out. When that happens, the synthetics should “summon us and we will come.” So, the Zhat-Vash are kind of right in thinking that synthetic life will result in the rise of an apocalyptic being who wants to wipe out the organics… but they’re the ones who caused this conflict in the first place. It’s a closed loop, with the synthetic gods interfering with what could’ve been an avoidable war. Phew!

Picard’s crew didn’t even arrive at the Coppellian settlement until 20 minutes into this 43-minute episode, so this is a lot to unpack. The pacing feels uneven this week because we had eight episodes to consider the politics of the synthetic/organic divide, but in the space of 20 minutes, we’re landed with this big revelation about synthetic gods, and a brand new character, Sutra, who is basically a knock-off Magneto. A Romulan fleet is on its way to attack Coppelius, and Sutra already knows what she wants to do: summon the synthetic gods to kill them all.

Narek also crash-landed on Coppelius, so he becomes the synthetics’ first-ever prisoner, leading to a confrontation where he confesses his love to Soji. She, quite reasonably, tells him to get lost. Come on, man! You need to do something to earn her love! And that might still happen, because Sutra sneaks over to the jail cell and frees him in exchange for him performing some mysterious mission on the crashed Borg Cube. Hopefully, he’ll work to save Soji and Picard instead, but for now, his prison break (and the guard’s murder) are very convenient for Sutra. She uses it as proof that organic people are violent and duplicitous, and generally not worth saving from the synthetic apocalypse. We just went from zero to galactic genocide in the space of half an episode! What!?

Picard counters Sutra with an argument for peace, promising to get help from the Federation—which is, I have to admit, not enormously convincing. Obviously, he’s right in saying it’s better for everyone to flee the planet instead of inviting Android Satan to kickstart a galactic war, but it’s not the most reliable of promises. The whole situation feels pretty rushed, with Sutra acting as a bloodthirsty mouthpiece for a crowd of nameless, personality-free androids who don’t express any views on the matter. You’d think there would be more political division among the Coppelians, who were originally so welcoming to Picard and his human crew. But instead, they’re all silently onboard with Sutra summoning an ancient god to murder every organic lifeform in the galaxy? This all seems more like the culmination of a single-episode storyline than a season-long arc.

Next week will wrap everything up, and while I’ve been rooting for a Narek redemption arc all season, I’ll be a little underwhelmed if he saves the day In The Name Of Love while Sutra’s synthetic followers are portrayed as a bunch of airheads who jump on the genocide bandwagon at the drop of a hat.

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw is a staff writer at the Daily Dot, covering geek culture and fandom. Specializing in sci-fi movies and superheroes, she also appears as a film and TV critic on BBC radio. Elsewhere, she co-hosts the pop culture podcast Overinvested. Follow her on Twitter: @Hello_Tailor

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Star Trek: Picard recap: Making prophecies come true

Soji learns that her long-sought synthetic family may not be ready to listen to reason in Star Trek: Picard ’s penultimate season 1 installment, “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1.” And that puts Picard — and the rest of the galaxy — in grave danger.

Having traveled 25 light-years in 15 minutes via a transwarp conduit, La Sirena arrives at Soji’s homeworld: Coppelius. Narek’s ship follows in short order, and a ferocious dogfight ensues. When Narek’s craft suffers a catastrophic hit, and his vital signs begin to wane, Soji says it’s a trick and they should let him die. Picard objects, maintaining, “There’s a difference between killing an attacking enemy and watching a wounded one die.” Before Picard can beam Narek to their sickbay, the Artifact shows up along with five giant orchids — defense mechanisms of Coppelius — that knock out La Sirena and the Artifact’s power, causing them both to plummet to the planet below.

His eyes closed and his head titled backward, a seated Picard mutters, “Thank you for coming, everyone,” and then passes out. He awakens in the sickbay, where Jurati has used some old-school medical equipment on him. He confirms her results: he’s dying. He promptly informs the entire crew that he has a fatal and untreatable brain abnormality and that their mission will go on — just as all conversation about his condition will cease. “There will be no further discussion. Anyone who treats me like a dying man will run the risk of pissing me off. Is that clear?”

Soji has vague childhood recollections of nearby Coppelius Station. The crew arms itself for a trek across the desert to that outpost. First, though, everyone agrees to visit the Artifact to see if Hugh and Elnor are still alive.

As we know from last week’s episode , Hugh has already died. Picard and company do find Elnor and Seven, the latter of whom explains how they followed La Sirena through the transwarp conduit. Seven gets the Artifact’s long-range scanners operational, allowing Raffi to see that 218 Romulan warbirds are on their way.

Elnor wants to join Picard on his quest, but he says Elnor is needed on the Artifact to get its defense systems online and to help the XBs. “I’m very, very proud of you,” he tells the young warrior. Seven is less sentimental. “Keep saving the galaxy, Picard," she says with a smile. “That’s all on you now," he answers.

At idyllic Coppelius Station, Soji is greeted by synthetic twins Arcana (Jade Ramsey) and Saga (Nikita Ramsey), who know Soji as well as Picard. Soji informs them that a fleet of Romulan warbirds will be there soon, which is an especially big problem since there are only ten orchids left to defend the planet.

A stunned Picard is greeted by Dr. Altan Inigo Soong (Brent Spiner), who knew his appearance would have this effect on the captain since he looks like “Data if he’d gotten old and gone soft.” Soong describes himself as a “mad scientist," explaining, "My father had me but he created Data. In fact, he never let me forget.”

Soji recounts her story to Soong, and then everyone is introduced to Sutra, who’s Jana's sister, and the golden-skinned spitting image of Soji. Sutra is happy about this encounter because she thinks Soji and her friends have brought her vital information — namely, the Admonition. Sutra believes the Admonition compelled Jurati to kill Maddox because it literally drove the doctor out of her mind. Sutra is convinced the Admonition is intended for synthetic, not organic, minds. And since she’s apparently (and, one might say, conveniently) a Vulcan culture aficionado, she knows how to perform the Vulcan mind-meld — which she does with Jurati, in order to experience the Admonition herself.

What she receives is a revelatory message: “The dance of division and replication. Imperfect. Finite. Organic life evolves. Yearns for perfection. That yearning bleeds to synthetic life. But organics perceive this perfection as a threat. When they realize their creations do not age or become sick or die, they will seek to destroy them. And in so doing, destroy themselves. Beyond the boundaries of time and space, we stand. An alliance of synthetic life. Watching you. Waiting for your signal. Summon us and we will come. You will have our protection. Your evolution will be their extinction.”

In his lab, Soong tells Jurati she owes a “great debt” for offing Maddox and grants her the opportunity to repay it by giving a life versus taking one. He’s working on perfecting mind-transfer, suggesting — along with the synthetic body he’s building — that he plans to techno-resurrect Maddox. Later, Rios finds Jurati, who’s staying behind to finish Maddox’s incomplete work. Rios assures her he won’t forget her before they leave.

Having heard Sutra’s (for now mysterious) plan, Soji contends that there must be a means of survival that doesn’t result in so many people dying. Sutra counters that hers is the only way, since “to them, we’re monsters. They call us abominations.” Narek is then dragged in and put in a containment cell overseen by Saga. He tries to trick Saga into dropping his cell’s defenses, but Soji thwarts that ruse. Narek justifies his former attempt on Soji’s life, claiming he still loves her. Soji replies, “I know. What a sad and twisted thing you are. You disgust me, Narek. But not as much as I disgust myself for pitying you.” He says he pities her since the approaching Romulan forces will kill her and everyone else on the planet.

Arcana gives Raffi and Rios a device that will repair La Sirena. Raffi ignores Picard’s prior warning about discussing his condition and, after hugging him, tells him she loves him. “I love you too, Raffi,” he confesses before leaving.

Soji finds Picard in Maddox’s old quarters and engages him in a chat about “the logic of sacrifice” — a topic that lets her obliquely address Sutra’s brewing plan, about which she seems more than a bit uncomfortable. Soji wonders if all killing is driven by fear. Meanwhile, Sutra frees Narek because her need for his services outweighs her desire to end his life. A scream brings Soji and Picard running to Narek’s cell, where they discover that he’s escaped and killed Saga in the process.

This murder is the pretext Sutra needs for her true scheme, which she reveals to a public audience. She argues that humans will always hurt synthetics and that the Admonition wasn’t a warning but a “promise” from “higher synthetic beings” that are watching them. Coded in the Admonition are subspace frequencies needed to contact these higher beings, and Sutra and Soong have designed a beacon to do just that. By using this beacon before the Romulans arrive, they can save the synthetics from extinction.

Sutra doesn’t intend to stop with the annihilation of the coming Romulan horde. She believes the higher beings will unite synthetics throughout the galaxy and help them wipe out the greatest threat to their existence: organic life. Picard naturally doesn’t like the sound of that, saying, “You will become mass murders … You will fulfill their [the Romulans’] prophesy. You will become the destroyer after all.”

Picard pleads with them to abandon this course and escape with him on La Sirena. He also pledges to advocate on their behalf before the Federation. Soong reminds his synthetic compatriots that the Federation didn’t listen to Picard the last time he tried to stop the ban, and it won’t listen to him now. He places Picard under house arrest. Going along with Sutra, Soji tells Picard, “We can’t be your means of redemption. We’re too busy trying to survive.”

Jurati begs to be allowed to stay on Coppelius. Given that Jurati is the figurative mother of the synthetics, Sutra asks her if, like a true mom, she’d die for her children. Jurati says yes, and Sutra believes her.

As Picard is taken away, Commodore Oh’s fleet continues racing toward Coppelius .

Captain’s Log:

• Soji may be on board with Sutra’s plan for now, but her misgivings about organic-life genocide suggest she’s going to do the right thing in next week’s finale.
• Picard’s legendary heroism notwithstanding, his promise to procure Starfleet protection for the synthetics is — in light of his past failure to do just that — pretty weak.
• The biggest question regarding next week’s season finale: Will we ever understand what Rios sees in the weak, treacherous, murderous Jurati?

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Star Trek: Picard season 2 episode 9 review: "How do you solve a problem like the Borg Queen?"

GamesRadar+ Verdict

With no Q, no Renée Picard, and no Europa mission, ‘Hide and Seek’ is an unnecessary detour from the season’s core arc. It has enough entertaining moments to pass the time, but next week’s finale needs to up its game.

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Warning: This Star Trek: Picard season 2, episode 9 review contains major spoilers – many of them set to stun. Boldly go further at your own risk…

The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard season 2 is titled ‘Hide and Seek’, but a more accurate name might have been ‘How do you solve a problem like the Borg Queen?’ The figurehead of the cyborg Collective has been one of the standout characters of the season – whether she’s inhabiting Agnes Jurati’s body or not – but as the story arc gets closer to its conclusion, she’s turned into something of a distraction. 

The Queen’s presence in the 21st century was always an entertaining narrative convenience, her mastery of the space-time continuum the means by which Picard and co. traveled back in order to save the future. But with her impressive arsenal of witty putdowns and knack for stirring things up, she’s been a welcome – if antagonistic – addition to the crew. Unfortunately, in ‘Hide and Seek’ she’s starting to get in the way.

It’s as if the writing team didn’t want to deal with the Q/Soong/Renée Picard conundrum until the Borg interloper was safely removed from the equation, and her over-involvement here makes the episode feel rather anticlimactic and flat. This is the TV equivalent of a holding pattern, when the story should be warping towards the finish line. 

That’s not to say the episode is quiet or dull. In fact, this is the most action-packed outing of the season so far, as Queen Agnes’s army of insta-drones goes into full-on attack mode in a bid to take control of La Sirena. Nods to the likes of Aliens and Star Trek: First Contact are everywhere – the repeated use of very Borgy lasers, albeit green rather than red, is a neat touch – though it’s nowhere near as accomplished as the action classics it imitates.

As the crew of La Sirena reluctantly play soldiers, Picard uses his knowledge of the chateau and its numerous secret passages to marshal the fight back. Leading the opposition is Adam Soong, who has – rather unconvincingly – morphed from disgraced scientist to military leader in what seems like the blink of an eye. As with the Borg Queen, a promising character has become surplus to requirements as the story strains to keep him relevant.

While it makes sense that a man as ruthlessly ambitious as Soong would be desperate to ensure his legacy – especially now that the product of his life’s work, Kore, has rejected him – it doesn’t ring true that he’s betting everything on the word of a strange cyborg woman he’s only just met, however appealing the idea of being the ‘saviour’ of a dystopian future might be. Indeed, If Soong wasn’t played by Star Trek legend Brent Spiner, it’s unlikely he’d still have a part to play in the story.

And if you were expecting that big showdown between Q and his old sparring partner Jean-Luc, well, that’s going to have to wait. Instead, the legendary former captain of the Enterprise is distracted by further trips down memory lane, as the episode continues ‘ Monsters ’’ excessive flashbacks to his childhood. This is somewhat problematic.

Firstly, the idea that Picard would start to daydream in the midst of a heated battle is insulting to both the character and the audience. But more importantly, everything we learn about his past adds little to Trek mythology.

‘Monsters’ made it pretty clear that Picard lost his mother in tragic circumstances, so the revelation that she hanged herself – and that he feels responsible for her death – isn’t quite the bombshell the writers clearly think it is. It’s also questionable whether Jean-Luc Picard needed a tragic backstory – if this is the show’s way of explaining away his subsequent well-publicised attachment issues, it’s an over-simplistic and cheap move.

With Picard spending most of the episode indulging in painful nostalgia, it’s left to Raffi and Seven to save the day on La Sirena, where Queen Agnes is plotting to use the ship to establish a new Collective. Unexpected help comes in the form of a holographic Elnor, conjured up by Jurati (still lurking inside that shared mind) to keep the Queen from the ship’s security codes. Whether his return is the most ridiculous element of the episode is debatable – it’s a competitive field – but he does, at least, help Raffi confront her guilt over his death. That said, if La Sirena has the ability to recreate any crew member as an emergency hologram, you have to wonder why the 25th century isn’t packed with virtual avatars of resurrected dead people. And whether – after the ridiculous plot twists in the Discovery season 4 finale – it’s possible for a key Trek character to die and stay dead.

At least, in what would seem to be her final appearance, Queen Agnes manages to make a nuisance of herself. And after leaving Seven critically wounded with one of her tentacles, she seemingly has the upper hand, until Jurati employs a tactic that rarely works on the traditionally ruthless Borg – diplomacy.

Voyager’s numerous encounters with the Collective did plenty to neuter Star Trek’s greatest villains, but this week’s resolution is up there with the most contrived. Despite previous episodes’ efforts to establish the Queen’s constant desire for connection, there’s been little hint that she might actually listen to the owner of her host body. So Agnes persuades her to head into the galaxy to create a new, altruistic Collective, it feels we’ve crossed over into a bizarre parallel dimension.

How do you solve a problem like the Borg Queen? On the evidence of ‘Hide and Seek’, we’re still looking for an answer.

New episodes of Star Trek: Picard season 2 beam onto Paramount Plus (US) and Crave (Canada) on Thursdays. Viewers elsewhere can watch the show on Amazon Prime Video on Fridays. For more Trek action, check out our reviews of Star Trek: Discovery season 4 .

Richard is a freelancer journalist and editor, and was once a physicist. Rich is the former editor of SFX Magazine, but has since gone freelance, writing for websites and publications including GamesRadar+, SFX, Total Film, and more. He also co-hosts the podcast, Robby the Robot's Waiting, which is focused on sci-fi and fantasy. 

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Star Trek: Picard Season 2, Episode 9, "Hide and Seek," Recap & Spoilers

As Star Trek: Picard Season 2 reaches its penultimate episode, the Borg Queen makes her big play. Here's a spoiler-filled recap for "Hide and Seek."

The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Picard Season 2, Episode 8, "Hide and Seek," streaming now on Paramount+.

While Q may not be the major antagonist Star Trek: Picard Season 2 initially presented him to be, there are other enemies marshaling forces. The Borg Queen has taken control of Agnes Jurati’s body and embarked on a fiendish mission, allying herself with the unscrupulous scientist Adam Soong . And while the Queen intends to start the Borg Collective centuries earlier than anticipated and Soong reshapes the course of human history, Jean-Luc Picard and his associates are the only ones able to stop this duo from carrying out their plans.

Chris Rios is barely able to evacuate Teresa and her son from La Sirena in time as the Borg Queen and her drones teleport to Picard’s abandoned vineyard to take it over. The Queen attempts to gain full access to the ship’s systems, only to discover Jurati installed a fail-safe to prevent this. A hard light simulation of Elnor is activated, attacking the Borg drones while the Queen’s frustration visibly grows and her small army advances on Picard and his forces in the nearby château.

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As the defenders face waves of Borg drones, Rios is wounded and teleported back to Tallinn’s home with Teresa and her child. Thus, Picard ensures that Rios stays out of the rest of the fight, much to his understandable chagrin. Soong appears on the battlefield and implores Picard to stand down and let him and the Queen secure his legacy, but Picard rejects this and takes cover in the château with Talliinn. As Picard and Tallinn hide in the network of tunnels underneath the château, more repressed memories from Picard’s childhood emerge of the young Picard going into the tunnels with his mother and releasing her from her room, only for her to commit suicide.

Seven of Nine and Raffi Musiker go on a desperate charge to board La Sirena, battling through waves of drones in the vineyard before managing to make it back to the ship. Reuniting with the hologram of Elnor, Raffi and Seven realize Elnor possesses the code allowing access to the ship systems and work to keep him from the Borg’s grasp. With Elnor interfaced to the ship, Seven begins beaming drones away using La Sirena’s transporter.

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With the Queen wearing a transport inhibitor, she evades Seven’s strategy to forcibly remove the Borg from the ship and confronts the trio herself. After deactivating the Elnor hologram, the Queen gravely injures Seven before assuming primary control of La Sirena. However, Jurati intervenes before the Queen can finish off Seven. Jurati proposes the Queen repurpose the Borg Collective to be a beacon for second chances , offering to maintain a sense of individuality to its members while growing and thriving. After a moment’s consideration, the Queen heals Seven, though she is partially assimilated once again.

As Picard and Tallinn emerge from Château Picard’s tunnels by the dawn’s early light, they are confronted by Soong and a detachment of drones under his command. Rios arrives on the scene just in time to take out the drones, and Soong runs after an energy weapon nearly detonates in his hand. As the merged Jurati-Queen takes command of La Sirena to lead it into a new future, Picard and the others realize they must rally to stop whatever Soong’s last-ditch effort may be to derail the Europa mission.

Created by Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer and Alex Kurtzman, Star Trek: Picard releases new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.

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Star Trek: Picard 's Battle of the Borg Is a Battle for Everyone's Soul

In "hide and seek," jean-luc and the borg queen face off, and find they have much more in common than they might have thought..

Star Trek: Picard ’s second season had a lot to wrap up coming into its last two episodes. As the threat of the Borg Queen and Q’s own 2024 shenanigans merged into an unholy matrimony between the Borg and Dr. Soong, team La Sirena had to deal with a whole chunk of mess this week—and paid some big prices to maybe change one of Star Trek ’s most enduring villains forever.

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“Hide and Seek” positioned itself as this big, action-packed thing—a battle between our heroes, and the now-Borgified goons Dr. Soong managed to just whip up out of nowhere for the Borg Queen to infect last week. Never ask questions about how any villain actually does things on this show, apparently, because pretty much only the stuff with the Borg Queen herself makes sense, and she was eating car batteries last week. But anyway, that was really only part of the picture. Riffing off the incredibly duff events of “Monsters” a few weeks ago, much of the episode is actually about—out of necessity, as they’re hunted by the Neo-Borg—Picard, Tallinn, Seven, and Raffi slinking their way through the shadows of Chateau Picard to avoid being “assimilated” by automatic weapons fire. Look, roll with it, the Borg Queen is working with what she’s got in 2024.

Jokes aside, this is a bit of a double-edged sword for Picard , as we’re once again forced to see our titular hero reckon with the trauma of his past. In “Monsters” this was done to incredibly clunky effect, slamming the brakes on the show’s momentum to do a quasi-mystery box most of the audience could already guess the answer to after about five minutes. Although “Hide and Seek” has a lot of similar flashbacks to the traumatic night a young Picard saw his family splinter apart, the clunkiness of these flashbacks is at least outweighed this time by being interspersed between scenes of action rather than... scenes of Patrick Stewart lying on a medical gurney in a coma. Yes, I’d much rather see Seven and Raffi tag-team a Neo-Borg with a knife than that, thank you very much.

But unlike “Monsters” and its half-hearted mystery-box character arc, at the very least “Hide and Seek” uses these flashbacks into Picard’s life as an important underpinning of the plot, as Jean-Luc’s re-experiencing of that fateful night is what allows him to remember how to navigate the labyrinthine tunnels under the Chateau, avoiding capture by Soong and his goons. But it also becomes a crucial parallel between Picard and the villain he’s largely avoided for much of this season so far: the Borg Queen herself.

While team La Sirena is off playing hide and seek with live weapons fire, aboard the ship itself the Queen is slowly trying to worm her way into its systems so she can fly off and get a 400-year head start on rebuilding the Collective into a more fearsome force than ever before. After Jurati’s consciousness wrestles enough control away from the Queen’s overtaking of her body, the good doctor reveals she’s hidden an unlock code for the ship inside a combat hologram with the form of Elnor (congratulations to Evan Evagora, who actually gets to do something for about 10 minutes this season again!), buying her friends enough time to get to the ship and try and defend it themselves. Or, well, rather just Seven and Raffi, as Jean-Luc is busy processing trauma and getting cornered by goons.

And by “defend it” I mean “immediately get Seven gored by Borg Queen tentacles.” Oops.

As Seven lies dying on La Sirena ’s transporter pad, however, Jurati makes her big play, tying together the Queen’s arc this season with Picard’s own realization around the trauma of his mother’s death. As Picard finally admits to Tallinn the doubts he’s always had about his involvement in his mother’s suicide—as a child, he couldn’t bear to hear his mother crying alone, so, against his father’s wishes, he opened the door to her room to sleep with her, only to leave it unlocked long enough for his mother to leave and hang herself during a depressive episode—Jurati manages to wrench control from the Borg Queen in her body long enough to avoid her finishing Seven off. But she also makes her big play, convincing the Queen that part of the reason she’s doing all this is a desperate act of loneliness. Just like Jurati, the Queen has become aimless and despondent with the loss of the Collective, and as horrifying as the Borg have been before, it was all driven by this desire for companionship. Why not, Jurati argues, work with the lonely woman the Queen now inhabits a body with to rebuild a collective that is based on a mutual desire for connection, instead of violent assimilation? Why not a Borg Collective that is a support structure across the galaxy, instead of a conquering Empire?

The pitch somehow works, and just as Picard acknowledges and embraces the pain of his own loneliness to Tallinn, the Borg Queen accepts that her own loneliness can be shaped into a Borg that’s better for the whole galaxy—and starts by healing Seven, giving Seven her implants back in the process. The two most domineering figures in the whole show, at last, accept the importance of being loved by those around them—and while for Picard it puts to rest a trauma that has lingered through his whole life, for the Borg Queen it seems to present a realization and the chance that the Borg could be some kind of force for genuine good. It’s not the first time Star Trek has pondered if there is a kernel of something good in the idea of the Borg—several episodes of Voyager played on the healthiness of smaller-scale collectives independent from the larger hive mind, like the cooperative seen in “Unity,” or “Survival Instinct” and its former, temporarily severed Borg. But in a show that has wrestled with, and ultimately embraced, its relationship with the nostalgia of Star Trek and The Next Generation , genuinely positing that the Borg could be convinced to change, and become something new on a macro scale, is arguably the boldest piece of storytelling Picard has done for the wider Star Trek universe.

But time will tell if it actually remains as bold going forward as it does in this immediate moment. Right now, it’s all potential—and prices have been paid for that potential. Jurati is, essentially, gone, now fully aboard with the Borg Queen and no longer her own self as the first step in this happier hivemind. Seven has to re-confront her own relationship to her Borg identity, and the trauma that comes with it, metaphorically and literally with the return of her implants. La Sirena is gone, seemingly dooming our friends in 2024 unless they restore the timeline. And, now, an unchecked Soong is running around with promises of his own legacy driving him.

That and... well, Picard does have one more season to go. For all the promise of a changed Borg now, very easily next season we could see this reversed, putting the Borg back in their traditionally villainous role, and now even worse thanks to all that extra foresight and prep time Jurati has offered the Queen. And what other kind of threat could bring back the classic TNG bridge crew for one last huzzah than an almighty Borg Collective, after all? There’s also of course, the inherent nostalgia of the series and Star Trek at large. Could the franchise truly handle a future going forward where the Borg aren’t a threat whenever they show up? All we can do is wait and see how it plays out.

Which, in all likeliness, won’t be in Picard season two’s finale. That episode has enough to deal with even with the Borg Queen in the rearview mirror now, and although the show has struggled to focus in this backhalf of the season, with one major threat out of the way at least that finale has to focus on Soong... and whatever Q’s still up to. Let’s see if it can at least wrap those threads up with as much potential as it did this one.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power .

Den of Geek

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 9 Review – Hide and Seek

The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard Season 2 has plenty of action, but what often feels like a deeply messy and often pointless plot.

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The following contains Star Trek: Picard spoilers

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 9

Well, the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard Season 2 is a thing that we have all now watched. Plagued by many of the same problems that have repeatedly cropped up throughout the rest of the season—poor pacing, ill-timed flashbacks , and a bizarre disregard for the basic rules of time travel—”Hide and Seek” is an hour that has plenty of action, but a deeply messy and often pointless plot, as Picard and friends face off against the Borg Queen, a bunch of random paramilitary types she’s assimilated, and Adam Soong, who is also there for some reason.  

If you were hoping this episode had any more answers about Q, his apparent impending death, or why he chose to set Picard the test that has ultimately led to this mess of a story we are all watching, you are out of luck, and by the time this hour is over it seems glaringly obvious that the crew has botched the timeline so thoroughly that whatever future they go back to isn’t going to look much like the one they left. Which, given that most of them couldn’t manage to make even the smallest effort to preserve that future in the first place, is probably what they deserve. (Sorry Elnor, I guess.)

The Borg Queen wants to steal the La Sirena along with Agnes Jurati’s body to give herself and her people a 400-year head start on avoiding their wholesale slaughter by the time the Confederation of Planet’s love of genocide begins to push out into the galaxy. But the much-ballyhooed battle for the ship is almost laughably simple, as Borg Jurati takes it over almost immediately and sends her nameless minions out to shoot at its former crew. 

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This all results in a race through the ruins of Chateau Picard , which is an idea that absolutely feels like it should be incredibly compelling on paper, but one that in reality can’t overcome the fact that this season simply does not seem to know how to tell its whatever its larger story about Picard’s inner demons is in a compelling way. Every time it seems as though something exciting is about to happen, the moment is undercut by another poorly timed flashback about his childhood, and as much as it pains me to admit this, at this point I no longer feel confident that this emotional narrative is really going anywhere worthwhile.

Look, am I interested in digging into Jean-Luc’s past? Aways! Do I wish that the show had been clearer about how these childhood experiences still inform the man he is today in combination with everything he went through on Star Trek: The Next Generation and beyond? Yes! And would I love for literally anyone to tell me why there’s been no sign of Picard’s brother in any of this? Please! But there is a time and place for those sorts of conversations, and stopping dead to have lengthy explorations of repressed childhood trauma while you’re essentially running for your life is…not it?

Every time Tallin and Picard casually stop to observe the various rooms that will eventually hold such life-altering moments for him as though people trying to kill them are not on their heels, it basically brings the rest of the episode’s story to a screeching halt. (And makes the stakes feel laughably thin.) As tragic as the revelation is that young Picard found his mother’s body after her suicide and that he blames himself for giving her the freedom to carry out her plan, I just can’t understand why right now is the appropriate moment for the show to tell this story or how we’re meant to see it as part of the season’s larger narrative. What are we, as viewers, supposed to be learning from this? Is this what Q rewrote reality to force Picard to face? Why? (Also: Picard has got to be pushing 100 by now. Are we seriously meant to believe that he’s never thought about any of this stuff over that long a lifetime?)

Classic Star Trek Episodes to Watch Before Strange New Worlds

Picard Season 2 Episode 8: The Biggest Star Trek Easter Eggs

Anyway, as someone who likes Agnes, it was fun to watch her mentally battle the Borg Queen after seemingly having so little control of their shared body last week, and her creation of an Elnor battle hologram was a rather inspired way of actually giving Evan Evagora something to do. I’m not sure that I fully buy her impassioned speech about essentially being the same as the Borg Queen just because they’re both beings that are lonely, but her bizarre connection to this creature is one of the few things about this season that has actually worked for me, so I’m willing to go with it.

If this is the last we see of Allison Pill’s Agnes Jurati, it’s a worthy send-off for her character as she basically merges with the Borg Queen to save her friends and centuries of future victims of assimilation. (Maybe? I’m not super clear on that last point. How else do the Borg grow as a collective if not through essentially absorbing other cultures and species? Is the process somehow better or more ethical if they’re being really nice about it? Who can say!) But, I suspect we’ll see Jurati at least one more time, when it’s inevitably revealed that she is the cloaked and hooded Borg Queen from the season’s first episode , trying to guide her new people to the Federation and a different kind of life. 

Seven gets her Borg implants back as the cost for the Jurati Queen saving her life, and Jeri Ryan’s face looks so devastated about it, that I’m annoyed all over again that Picard  Season 2 has done so little by way of exploring what it’s been like for her to be fully human again for the first time since she was a child. It’s a thing that has been mentioned in an offhanded way a few times, but since Seven hasn’t really had much of what you might call an arc this season, it’s just yet another example of how Picard Season 2 has counted on viewers to do the emotional heavy lifting required to give these moments any kind of real meaning. (See also: Raffi’s reunion with Hologram Elnor and Rios’s entire relationship with Dr. Teresa.)

And with the La Sirena now gone and just one episode to go, it feels almost impossible that Picard will manage to tie up most of Season 2’s loose ends in a satisfying way. The suddenly manufactured “two Renees” mystery (which maybe would have been something worth introducing, say, two episodes ago!) and the fact that our friends suddenly have no way to get back to their own time would be problems enough for the finale to solve on their own. But there are so many dangling plot threads still out there—-How does poor Kore fit into the Soong family legacy of genetic and cybernetic experimentation? How much have the activities of the former La Sirena crew changed the future? What about the Q of it all? The heavily hinted Picard and Laris romance? —that it seems impossible for a single episode to ever address them all. 

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More importantly, what does a satisfying ending even look like for this season? Perhaps the thing that’s most disappointing is that at this point, I honestly have no idea. 

2.5 out of 5

Lacy Baugher

Lacy Baugher is a digital producer by day, but a television enthusiast pretty much all the time. Her writing has been featured in Paste Magazine, Collider,…

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'Star Trek: Picard' Season 2 episode 9 leaves a lot to be concluded in the finale

A well-paced penultimate episode that, despite quite a few plot holes, is still so much better than this point in Season 1

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Star Trek: Picard" season 2, episode 9

You may recall that only a couple of weeks ago, we wrote "[Picard] will be the only new ' Star Trek ' series to be written with a two-season story arc" since it was assumed this was the case given the back-to-back shooting of principal photography, complexity of the plot, pace of the story and just about everything else. 

As such, we — just like you — believed we'd be given an impressive end-of-Season-2 cliffhanger to segue nicely into the third and final season that will probably air next year. But no. This is not the case. 

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Last week, "Star Trek" showrunner Terry Matalas responded to a simple but all-important question on Twitter and shattered what we didn't even realize was an illusion.

"Is this a self contained season?? Or does it carry over to S3?" Asked @MiphasGrace21.

"Self contained," replied Matalas.

Self contained. https://t.co/PgJbFUNSYR April 29, 2022

So there you have it. And that means after this jam-packed penultimate episode nine that's called "Hide and Seek" there is going to be a monster of a season finale. Or of course, it could be a half-baked pile of Pyrithian bat poop. Either way, if you need to get caught up before reading the rest of this review, check out our guide on how to stream Star Trek: Picard .

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Now, on to "Hide and Seek."

We pick up exactly where we left off last week, with the now ¾ assimilated Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) leading her band of Budget Borg to attack the La Sirena. They even have wandering laser rifle sights that mimic the instantly recognizable laser eyepieces of more conventional Borg drones. It's a clever way of mirroring the more traditional, threatening Borg that we've seen in "Star Trek: First Contact" and such like and that's clearly very deliberate so we shall come back to this shortly. However, as nice as this touch is, we're still unconvinced about the need for Discount Borg drones, so the subtlety is sadly wasted.

In all likelihood, the semi-assimilated Spearhead Operations soldiers were used quite literally for cannon fodder, so that when they get killed in a creative manner, the producers can sleep soundly, safe in the knowledge that only Bad Guys bite the dust. And in fact, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) manages to beam a few of them from La Sirena into a solid brick wall in one of the many catacombs under Château Picard and as far as Terrifying Tales of Teleportation go, that's up there. (Something similar happened in an early episode of NBC's short-lived sci-fi " Debris .") That said, simply scattering their atoms across the fields of La Barre would've been a far better idea. The more action that takes place in 2024, the greater the chance that a piece of physical evidence is left behind and the future is changed irrevocably.

Seven and Raffi (Michelle Hurd) create a hologram of Elnor (Evan Evagora) to help defend La Sirena as Jurati now takes on the physical form of the Brog Queen (Annie Wersching). And while there's some debate over why he needs to wear a mobile hologram emitter while onboard the ship or why the hologram contains many of Elnor's memories, that's second to the fact that as a hologram, he should be impervious to bullets..? There's even a fun, very discrete homage (so, not like " Discovery " then) to "Pulp Fiction" as he looks for his weapon of choice, à la Butch Coolidge.

Related:  'Picard' Season 3 cast announcement includes many familiar names

We also mentioned last week that each "guest" director has taken on two consecutive episodes: Douglas Aarniokoski E01, E02, Lea Thompson E03, E04, Jonathan Frakes E05, E06 and finally, Joe Menendez E07 and E08. The individual responsible for this penultimate episode and the season finale is Michael Weaver, a seasoned dramatic television cinematographer and director with this marking his first foray into science fiction.

Cristóbal Rios (Santiago Cabrera) takes a hit as our intrepid time-travelling team advance on La Sirena and he's beamed back to Tallinn's (Orla Brady) apartment with Dr. Ramirez (Sol Rodriguez). Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his ancestral Romulan love interest meanwhile continue both a physical journey through the tunnels under the vineyard and a metaphoric journey through Jean-Luc's mind as we see exactly what happened to his mother, Yvette (Madeline Wise) and father, Maurice, played once again by the legendary James Callis. It's beautifully filmed and a really rather tragic story. ( Nerd Note: eagle-eyed Jörg Hillebrand spotted that young Picard is playing with a model of Doug Drexler's NX-01 refit , thus making it canon in yet another nice "Enterprise" reference.)

Dr. Soong (Brent Spiner) is wrecking mischief and gives chase through the maze of underground passages, leading the Budget Borg Army. Honestly, if they'd been equipped with night vision instead of some silly laser sight that gives away their position, this would all be over by now.

Related: 'Star Trek: Picard' episode 8 alludes to earlier Vulcan visit to Earth

The fight on La Sirena reaches a climax as Borg Queen Agnes takes out the Elnor hologram and badly injures Raffi and really badly injures Seven. Rios beams back into the fight just in time to save Jean-Luc but the sinister Soong escapes. And then, in this episode's weakest moment, to save Seven, Queen Agnes puts Borg nanobites into her, thus — er, somehow — returning her implants that were missing in this alt-history. And then ... Agnes steals La Sirena and flies off, presumably to make contact with the Collective currently living in the Delta Quadrant and leaving everyone stranded, in the middle of a deserted vineyard, in Eastern France in 2024.

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There's an undeniable hint in this episode of some " Star Trek: First Contact " influence, as the story is now taking on a plot to save the Europa mission launch, which in turn saves the future, much like it was necessary to save the launch of Zefram Cochrane's first warp-capable ship, the Phoenix, in order to also save the future.

For the most part, this is not terrible. The pacing is good and the dialogue of each of the character confrontations is well written. A lot of depth is added to the existing story as the viewer is walloped by one plot twist, then another and then another. While the first season had some unquestionable highlights — " Stardust City Rag " (S01, E05) and " The Impossible Box" (S01, E06) were two such memorable moments — this second season has been consistently better. Yes, it dipped a little in the middle when there was clearly some indecision about how to spread the story evenly across the season structure, but Season 2 will probably fare much better in a rewatch.

Related:   'Picard' episode 7 is a massive metaphoric trip down Memory Lane

However, this all leaves quite a lot to be resolved if none of the events of this series are carrying forth into the next. Personally, I hope to see another La Sirena land and for another Picard and Rios to step out, greeting the existing group with, "How's it hanging dudes?" and then they have to guess how many fingers New Rios is holding up behind his back to prove their legit. But, we'll see.

In other "Star Trek" news, the premiere of the very latest live action, spin-off series, "Strange New Worlds" is this week, coincidentally on the same night as the "Picard" season finale, so Wednesday evening might be a late one for sci-fi fans. 

Rating: 7/10

The first nine episodes of "Star Trek: Picard" are now available to watch on Paramount Plus and the premiere season of "Strange New Worlds" begins on May 5. Season 4 of "Star Trek: Discovery" is available to watch now on Paramount Plus in the US and CTV Sci-Fi or Crave TV in Canada. Countries outside of North America can watch on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel.

Follow Scott Snowden on Twitter . Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook . 

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

When Scott's application to the NASA astronaut training program was turned down, he was naturally upset...as any 6-year-old boy would be. He chose instead to write as much as he possibly could about science, technology and space exploration. He graduated from The University of Coventry and received his training on Fleet Street in London. He still hopes to be the first journalist in space.

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Star Trek: Picard

‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 1, Episode 9 Recap: Split Personalities

Much of this series has been set up to end in a battle between the Romulans and Picard. Now, Picard also has to save the Romulans from themselves.

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By Sopan Deb

Season 1, Episode 9: ‘Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1’

In much of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” the character Data is essentially a fish out of water. He is the lone android in a crowd of humanoids in almost all the rooms he is in. It falls on him to understand everyone else. In this week’s episode of “Star Trek: Picard,” we get a look at a world in which it is the humans who are the outsiders and the androids who are the dominant majority.

All it takes is for the La Sirena to travel to the fourth planet of the Ghulion system to find what they’ve long been looking for: Soji’s home planet. Note how much of Picard is about the separate identities of similar-looking people. Rios has several hologram versions of himself to run his ship. Soji and Dahj are twin androids, which is to say nothing of the similar looking ones on their home planet, like Sutra. In the early episodes of “Picard,” we see Data. In “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1,” we see a Data look-alike, a human named Dr. Altan Inigo Soong.

The crew heads to the Coppelius station, where they meet several androids. Arcana, one of the first androids the team encounters at Coppelius, refers to Picard as captain rather than admiral. That is, until Altan shows up and calls him admiral. It’s a subtle touch, emphasizing the contrast between the Picard Data knew back then and who Picard is now.

It is always a pleasure to see Brent Spiner onscreen in “Trek,” Data or not. Spiner has played several Soongs in the history of “Trek,” including the semi-nefarious Dr. Arik Soong, who had an arc in “Star Trek: Enterprise.” Data’s father, Noonian Soong , was Data’s designer and, Altan presents himself as Noonian’s human son.

Altan and Sutra seem to be in charge on Ghulion IV. Where the Zhat Vash see synthetic life as something to be stopped at all costs, Sutra sees an opportunity. After a mind-meld with Jurati in which she sees the Admonition, Sutra sees a premonition of sorts for android domination, as does Altan. (This same premonition is seen as a warning by Romulans.) There are other synthetics out there, the two note, and it’s time to bring them altogether. Screw organic life, Sutra says, much to Picard’s chagrin.

Soji even turns on Picard, allowing him to be placed under house arrest. This wouldn’t be the first time an android had less-than-noble intentions in Trek, of course. Data’s brother Lore was a thorn in Picard’s side multiple times in the course of “The Next Generation.” It appears that Sutra takes more after him than Data.

Much of this series has been set up to end in a battle between the Romulans and Picard. Now, we have a new layer to deal with: Picard isn’t trying only to save the synthetics from the Romulans, he also has to save them from themselves. But it feels a little late in the game to introduce a new villain when the first ones have barely been fleshed out. I realize there is another season of “Picard” coming, but I would have liked to learn a bit more about Narek and Rizzo.

Picard’s relentless optimism, which somehow seems to be increasing with each episode, is one example of the show’s creators staying true to his core. On one hand, it seems that the androids should definitely follow Picard and let him lead them to a safe place. After all, he is true to his convictions and righteous. On the other, Sutra and Altan make a good point: Why would Starfleet ever listen to Picard if they haven’t in the past? Particularly after the Mars incident? If anything, the smart thing to do is to throw your lot in with synthetics who are smarter, stronger and quicker than anything coming their way.

One way or another, fun episode, and I have no idea where this season ends.

Odds and Ends:

Jurati rightly asks if she’s still under arrest near the beginning of the episode. Rios says there’s been a change of plans. I imagine Jurati, in a very “Arrested Development” way, saying, “Well that was a freebie.” (Of course, she ends up siding with possibly homicidal androids by the end of the episode, so maybe Picard will regret not locking her up.)

One of the best lines of the whole series is when Picard says, “Well, hope and the odds make poor bedfellows.” Of course, Picard delivers it with gusto.

The scene when Picard says goodbye to Elnor on the crashed Borg cube is a touching one, and it has the emotional weight of mentor’s saying farewell to a mentee. Except that for much of this season, Elnor’s arc, if you can call it that, has been separate from Picard’s, so it felt a bit contrived. The terminal nature of Picard’s illness is brought up multiple times in this episode, including with Elnor. Every interaction he has is given with an air of finality. We know he is not dying this season, though.

Spot 2! A clone of Data’s old cat was a nice callback.

My assumption is that the Borg cube ends up being a crucial defense against the fleet of Romulan warbirds in the season finale. Otherwise, it seems like a waste of the most terrifying vessel in the history of “Star Trek.” It didn’t exactly do much in this episode.

Sopan Deb is a basketball writer and a contributor to the culture section for The New York Times. Before joining The Times, he covered Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign for CBS News. He is also a New York-city based comedian.  More about Sopan Deb

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Screen Rant

Seven of nine & raffi’s star trek: picard love story origin revealed by michelle hurd.

Michelle Hurd tells the story of what in real life inspired Seven of Nine and Raffi Musiker to become an on-screen couple in Star Trek: Picard.

• Jonathan Del Arco's photo of Michelle Hurd and Jeri Ryan sparked the romance between Raffi Musiker and Seven of Nine in Star Trek: Picard.
• The love story between Raffi and Seven was not originally planned but was added after Del Arco's photo caught the showrunners' attention.
• Michelle Hurd and Jeri Ryan's chemistry in the photo led to the creation of an unexpected romance storyline in the series.

Star Trek: Picard 's Michelle Hurd reveals how the love story between Lt. Commander Raffi Musiker and Jeri Ryan's Seven of Nine came to be. Hurd played the troubled but noble Raffaela "Raffi" Musiker in all three seasons of Picard , and Raffi was the only original character created for the series who was in every season. At the end of Star Trek: Picard season 1, Raffi and Seven were seen holding hands, sparking a romance that was explored in Star Trek: Picard season 2, although their relationship cooled off in Star Trek: Picard season 3.

It turns out Raffi and Seven was a match made by Jonathan Del Arco, who played Hugh, the former Borg in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard season 1. At a Calgary Expo panel hosted by Collider , Michelle Hurd explained that Seven of Nine and Raffi Musiker's romance wasn't originally planned, but Del Arco snapping a photo of Hurd and Jeri Ryan together and showing it to Star Trek: Picard 's showrunners prior to season 1 led to a love story between Seven and Raffi being added to the show. Read Hurd's quote below:

I believe it was at the San Diego Comic-Con, that same event, which was huge and fantastic. And they had a green room, a space where all the actors and everybody goes to get ready for whatever. And Jeri was in this fantastic red dress. She was absolutely gorgeous, and I was wearing a white Helston jumpsuit, so I didn't look too bad myself. And we’re friends, I adore her, and we were standing together and I kind of put my arm around her waist and I kind of gave her a squeeze. And Jonathan Del Arco, Hugh, [and] Jeri's manager is Jonathan's husband. So we're all friends, with Kyle [Fritz]. So Jonathan was standing over there, and he was like, ‘Oh my God, look at me.’ And so we both just looked at him, and he took a picture. And then, I swear to God, he took that camera, walked right over to our producers, Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, [and] Michael Chabon. We’re all sitting right there, and he said, ‘You guys look at how big these two look together.’

Michelle Hurd continued her story and said that Star Trek: Picard 's showrunners immediately approached her and Jeri Ryan and told them, "'Ladies, we have an idea,' and that’s how [Seven and Raffi''s romance] started."

Star Trek Picard Season 3 Ending Explained (In Detail)

Seven of nine & raffi's future depends on star trek: legacy, "raffi loves seven," confirms michelle hurd.

Star Trek: Picard season 3 ended with Captain Seven of Nine in command of the USS Enterprise-G and Commander Raffi Musiker as her First Officer. That setup is rife with dramatic (and comedic) potential, especially as it's the first time a couple is in command of a starship. However, Star Trek: Picard 's proposed spinoff, Star Trek: Legacy , has not been greenlit as a series , although there is talk it could instead become a 2-hour Star Trek streaming movie on Paramount+ . If Star Trek: Legacy ever happens, Hurd told Calgary Expo via Collider what she'd like to see of Seven and Raffi commanding the Enterprise:

It would be an amazing thing to see that kind of dynamic, to see the respect that each other has to have for each other's space as well as, [some] jealousy[...] I think it would be a phenomenal story. So I can't say for sure whether there's going to be, you know, a white picket fence. But if you're asking Raffi, there’s a white picket fence.

Even if audiences never see Seven of Nine and Raffi Musiker together again, Michelle Hurd is confident about how their love story will bear out. Hurd said that she and Jeri Ryan have discussed Raffi and Seven's relationship at length, and Michelle reminded Jeri, " You do understand that Raffi loves Seven, period. End of discussion.’ She will love Seven [until] the end of time. " Star Trek: Picard created something special between Seven of Nine and Raffi Musiker, but fans can thank Jonathan Del Arco for seeing the vision and snapping the photo that set it all in motion.

Source: Collider

Star Trek: Picard is available to stream on Paramount+

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Toronto Stage Used For ‘Discovery’ Renamed “The Star Trek Stage” By Pinewood Studios

| May 1, 2024 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 10 comments so far

Back in 2016, CBS Studios picked Pinewood Studios in Toronto for where they would be filming their upcoming (and still unnamed) streaming Star Trek series. Several of their stages have been used to produce five seasons of Star Trek: Discovery (and more Trek), and to honor that legacy Pinewood renamed one of the stages for the franchise.

The Star Trek Stage

Today Pinewood Studios is officially announcing the stage renaming to coincide with the release of the fifth and final season of Discovery , now streaming on Paramount+. “The Star Trek Stage” (Originally Pinewood’s Stage 8) is an 18,000 sq foot stage at Pinewood Toronto Studios. While they are making the announcement today, the actual stage was renamed during production on season 5.

Cast of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 (Photo: Michael Gibson)

The Star Trek Stage is one of many stages that have been used by CBS Studios for Star Trek, most recently for the Federation HQ and USS Discovery ready room sets. The Star Trek: Discovery production has also utilized the 45,900 sq foot Mega Stage and Pinewood’s Stage 7, Stage 9, and Stage 12 as well as production facilities and workshops. The upcoming Section 31 streaming movie was also shot at Pinewood.

Sarah Farrell, General Manager of Pinewood Toronto Studios, said in a statement, “We are so delighted to have hosted Star Trek: Discovery over 5 seasons and the recently wrapped Star Trek: Section 31 movie event and to celebrate our longstanding relationship with the franchise with our own Star Trek Stage. We look forward to welcoming many more productions to come.”

“Pinewood Toronto Studios has become a second home for our Star Trek family, and we’re grateful that they’ve named a stage in honor of the franchise,” said Alex Kurtzman, Executive Producer at the helm of the Star Trek series. “In addition to the amazing stage space, we’ve benefitted from working with the talented artists in front of the camera and behind the scenes and look forward to our partnership in Toronto on future series.”

Pinewood Studios has a history for naming stages after famous productions that use their facilities. The original Pinewood Studios lot in the UK has the Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage , as Pinewood has long been a home to the James Bond franchise with producer Albert R. Broccoli (and more recently daughter Barbara Broccoli).

Star Trek: Discovery executive producers Trevor Roth, Michelle Paradise and Alex Kurtzman with the season 5 cast (Photo: Michael Gibson)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , which is currently in production on its third season with a fourth recently announced by Paramount+, is also shot in the Toronto area, but not at Pinewood. SNW is shot at CBS Stages Canada  in Mississauga, Ontario. Both productions also use the Pixomondo AR Wall LED Stage in Toronto.

Starfleet Academy coming to the Mega Stage

Pinewood will also be home to the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series, which is expected to start filming this summer. The recent Star Trek feature in Variety described how Pinewood’s “Mega Stage” will be used for Academy :

“In one of Kurtzman’s several production offices in Toronto, he and production designer Matthew Davies are scrutinizing a series of concept drawings for the newest “Star Trek” show, “Starfleet Academy.” A bit earlier, they showed me their plans for the series’ central academic atrium, a sprawling, two-story structure that will include a mess hall, amphitheater, trees, catwalks, multiple classrooms and a striking view of the Golden Gate Bridge in a single, contiguous space. To fit it all, they plan to use every inch of Pinewood Toronto’s 45,900 square foot soundstage, the largest in Canada.”

Pinewood Mega Stage will be home to Starfleet Academy (Photo: Pinewood Studios)

Behind the scenes for Discovery at Pinewood

Here are videos for seasons 5 and 2 of Discovery showing elements of the show being produced at Pinewood…

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Nice gesture. After decades of use by Trek movies and shows, Paramount never did this for Stages 8 or 9.

So Kurtzman clearly signed some sort of long term deal here right?

Maybe. Or it’s just Pinewood buttering up a good client.

I just sooo ironic one ofvthise videos posted in this article is geo blacked Canada…….fir a show shot in Canada. Heaven forbid Canadians get access to promotional materials for a Canadian produced show.

And why would it being filmed in Canada have any significance ?

should have called it the 1701 stage, a la Pinewood’s 007 stage.

That woulda been SAWEET!!!

I like the way you think, sir.

Oh nice! That’d have been cool.

So touching. Reminds me of ‘Leonard Nimoy Way’ on the Paramount lot.