Whilst certainly not enough on its own to save a season that has largely gone off the rails, this eighth episode of "Star Trek: Picard" was better than the last few have been. At the very least it remembered some of the storylines that previously seemed forgotten.
Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Guinan (Ito Aghayere) are interrogated by FBI Agent Wells (Jay Karnes) who believes them both to be aliens. By accident more than judgement, Well's is closer to truth than he knows, but his delaying of Picard's progress might prove fatal for the whole world. Raffi (Michelle Hurd) and Seven (Jeri Ryan) meanwhile close in on Borg Jurati who is getting ready to begin assimilation.
As I say, better is not quite the same as good. The whole FBI storyline doesn't really ring true, in retrospect. Wells is apparently a joke agent, obsessed with Aliens (with good reason it turns out) but was able to organise a swathe of highly armed tactical officers in order to arrest Picard in the first place. Again, all this feels like story added to slow the season down and pad it out, rather than one that intrinsically plays into it. Rios is spinning his wheels on the ship too. We address the Q storyline a bit more, but it's really still unclear why he's "dying" or what's going on with his power or how he managed to walk into an FBI building unchallenged.
Jurati is, and should at this stage, be main thrust of the storyline. She teams with Brent Spiner's Adam Soong to further her endeavours. Soong is a weird character. A brilliant scientist, who also seems to have unlimited capital, but is angry when refused funding, and who also knows how to hire the worlds top mercenaries. And has not been arrested for the hit and run even though several people saw it and it was established there was CCTV covering all of the NASA gala.
Still a jumble of ideas and storylines mixed into an unsatisfactory mess, but at least better than last week.
Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Guinan (Ito Aghayere) are interrogated by FBI Agent Wells (Jay Karnes) who believes them both to be aliens. By accident more than judgement, Well's is closer to truth than he knows, but his delaying of Picard's progress might prove fatal for the whole world. Raffi (Michelle Hurd) and Seven (Jeri Ryan) meanwhile close in on Borg Jurati who is getting ready to begin assimilation.
As I say, better is not quite the same as good. The whole FBI storyline doesn't really ring true, in retrospect. Wells is apparently a joke agent, obsessed with Aliens (with good reason it turns out) but was able to organise a swathe of highly armed tactical officers in order to arrest Picard in the first place. Again, all this feels like story added to slow the season down and pad it out, rather than one that intrinsically plays into it. Rios is spinning his wheels on the ship too. We address the Q storyline a bit more, but it's really still unclear why he's "dying" or what's going on with his power or how he managed to walk into an FBI building unchallenged.
Jurati is, and should at this stage, be main thrust of the storyline. She teams with Brent Spiner's Adam Soong to further her endeavours. Soong is a weird character. A brilliant scientist, who also seems to have unlimited capital, but is angry when refused funding, and who also knows how to hire the worlds top mercenaries. And has not been arrested for the hit and run even though several people saw it and it was established there was CCTV covering all of the NASA gala.
Still a jumble of ideas and storylines mixed into an unsatisfactory mess, but at least better than last week.