User Reviews

Finally the exposition is over and we can get to the actual story. This episode is about 10 minutes longer than past episodes to make up for the long and somewhat boring exposition of the first 5 episodes (okay 4, like it or hate it, 5 was not much exposition).

Beautifully shot (that computer reflection Locutus scene gave me chills), masterfully performed (Picard letting his PTSD out again is great, plus the long awaited Hugh reunion is bound to be a crowd pleaser), and finally something worth watching happens on that blasted Artifact.

I can't wait to see where this heads, and I like the longer episode format. If you're gonna be a web series, you shouldn't be bound by a 45 minute episode allowing for regular commercials. Even Discovery got that right.

9.5/10, rounded up to 10 just because I was hoping to actually see Riker and/or Troi in the closing shot as a cliffhanger.

There was a good pace and it was thrilling. Silence the haters this was a great episode and it's a good show

When I say this is one of the better episodes, that is only to say it is less plodding and more relevant than most others. What should have been an enjoyably slow and cerebral episode with Picard finally coming aboard the Borg cube and Soji's realisation of what she is was for me mired by the agonisingly slow pace of the story through episodes 3-5. I enjoyed Picard's moments with Hugh and admittedly seeing the Romulan spy brother make some actual headway instead of just insisting to his bullish sister that he has a plan was satisfying to see. I just regret it took 6 episodes to see any semblance of these interesting perverse therapy strategies.

Those two elements of the episode however are still bogged down by the supporting cast and their side stories, both as painfully irrelevant as ever. The Captain is the closest to being an intriguing character, but even then that description is a stretch based on what we have had so far. Raffi just mopes around being miserable and has so far only existed to use her connections to pull strings for Picard of all people, a man who has 7 seasons and 4 movies worth of heroic acts to call in favours for, not to mention everything that happened off screen on the Stargazer and after Nemesis. Agnes feels guilty for killing Bruce and as you'd expect and Elnor just kind of sits there existing and saying things. They try for an emotional moment where he martyrs himself at the end of the episode and it lands with all the impact of a wet noodle. There is nothing to mourn or admire about the character's actions because he's done sweet F-all since his introduction.

I sincerely wish I had nicer things to say. I went into this series optimistically because I really wanted it to be good, but it all just reeks of a soulless writer's room who are spit balling this as they go to meet an audience demand instead of putting someone's dream to the screen. They injected gore and misplaced angsty drama and a depressing atmosphere because people liked it in GoT or something. It's like a Frankenstein patchwork of modern sci-fi TV tropes like edgy sex and evil governments and people addicted to booze and drugs, with Patrick Stewart's face printed on the front. Top it off with a Star Trek logo and voila, easy money. Those idiots will never know the difference.

At least Soji has become somewhat interesting. All that stuff about her dreams and her finding out about being a synthetic could've been better, but it worked for me. Picard has finally found her, so let's hope the story will move onward from now on. Still, this show suffers from extremely poorly written characters and cringy dialogue. The scene with the blonde girl and captain what's his name was so bad that I genuinly thought that we were about to find out that it was actually just a cheesy holo-deck simulation. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. Or maybe it actually was a cheesy holodeck simulation and they will reveal it in a future episode. I can't tell at this point.

After the events of the previous episode Picard has learnt that Soji is on the former Borg Cube known as The Artefact. He and his shipmates head there but will need to persuade the Federation to grant him official status so the Romulans will let him board... even then he will be the only person allowed to board the cube. Meanwhile, on the cube, Narek, is curious about the purpose of Soji's dreams; he also lets her know that all of her calls to her mother later precisely seventy seconds. This leads to her realising that there is something odd about her; she has no idea what that is though. Using these worries he persuades her to undergo a Romulan ritual which he hope will reveal the location where she was created.

This was a really good episode. Ever since Dahj was killed in front of him Picard has been trying to find her sister so it is great that he has finally got to the Borg cube where she is working. Of course there is clearly more of the story to come. The way Picard gets permission to board the cube is perhaps a little weak but not enough to spoil my enjoyment of the episode. The highlights were Soji being guided to a point where she might realise that her past isn't what she believes it was and Picard unexpectedly meeting an old friend aboard the cube. There is some fun action towards the end and a good sense of danger. The cast is on fine form; most notably Isa Briones who really impresses as Soji in the scenes where she starts to realise her memories might not be real, and Harry Treadaway as Narek; a delightfully ambiguous character. Overall I found this to be one of the series' best episodes to date.

Really good episode, I thought the Borg were completely gone after Janeway. Ioved seeing Hugh meet Picard again and the PTSD of Jean Luc being assimilated made it.

"Ohh it's not star trek" people... Just don't watch it then.

1.06 "The Impossible Box"

Picard goes to the Borg cube to try and rescue Soji, and is reunited with an old acquaintance while in the process, the former Borg Hugh. But Soji can't be found; Narek has taken her so that he can manipulate her into revealing where she was built.

THE GOOD

-Finally some significant plot movement. Picard finally finds Soji and Narek finally executes his plan.

-The scenes on the cube were all good, for a change. Seeing Picard and Hugh reunited was cool. And the reclamation of the "ex Bs" was interesting, as was the dream manipulation.

THE BAD

-The "romance" between Jurati and Rios is cringe-inducing. Their dialogue is especially painful. Neither of them have anything interesting or intelligent to say in their scenes together. Absolutely zero chemistry.

THE UGLY

-It got swept under the rug. "Maddox died? The EMH witnessed a murder? Ok who cares onto the next unnecessarily convoluted plot point."

-Elnor just appears on the cube. No explanation of how he got there. Elf powers, I guess.

Soji would have to be an idiot to continue to have a relationship with someone like Narek and his blatant disrespect and dishonesty. It is simply not believable that any woman would continue to have a relationship with an utter creep like that, much less in a moment of vulnerability turn to him for guidance and go into the Vulkan meditation room.

As at least one other commenter noted, the amount of booze in this series is shocking and completely non-Star Trek. It's also kind of sickening to see booze glamorized on modern television. This is a major departure from the original Star Trek vision - one of many departures including gore and cursing that are unforgivable.

And again the cadence of this series is unbearably slow, another completely non-Star Trek thing. Considering that the actual content of each week's episode is only around 1/2 hour, they manage to really drag things out ad somnium (to the point of sleeping).

The whole thing about Soji's dream of being a child is just ridiculously slow and tedious. The scene in the Romulan meditation room draws the tediousness out and is barely believable - as though there is some mystical power in that particular room to invoke memory of the dream in Soji? I'm sorry, but yes this is supposed to be *science* fiction which is interesting, but not just made-up mystical gobbeldy-gook.

Finally, I found Agnes' come-on to Rios to be somewhat sickening and, in terms of character, once again classically non-Star Trek. She just killed a former lover in cold blood. Apparently she's mourning the act and steeped in guilt, but then she goes to Rios to get it off her mind "for a few hours". Ugh. Just ugh.

My thoughts:

• The Voyager callbacks are everything. Beyer is all over this and it shows - we got a callback for Once Upon a Time (Flotter lunchbox) and Prime Factors (Sikarians)

• Hugh and Picard reuniting made me a bit emotional - it was such a relief to finally see someone not resenting Jean Luc or mad at him.

• Picard clapping after Raffi managed to get the clearance was confusing, yes, but we must understand that was the difference between them facing certain death or going in with VIP treatment so to speak inside the cube. It was a big deal, and Raffi sacrificed her friend's trust for Picard. I get why he clapped - yes it was tone-deaf because she was wasted, but I get it.

• The Romulan meditation was a big no-no for me because it was written in an extremely lazy way. Seriously, they made up weird Romulan names as an excuse to have her close her eyes, walk around in circles while forcing her to describe a dream we'd already seen. It should have been shorter, and should have been more elaborate.

• The effects on the Borg cube really sealed the deal for me, when it came to selling the eerie atmosphere. It's another reminder of what we can get production wise in 2020 compared to a show from the late 80s.

• I am absolutely in love with Elnor and it's time to accept it. The way of absolute candor really just means he'll be delivering the same invaluable zingers as Data, and to some extent, Seven. He's the odd one out and it's delicious.

• After Episode 7, we will run out of scenes from trailers/TV spots. The Will/Deanna scenes + the "forest" planet with the girl wearing a hood are the only ones left. I can safely say I have absolutely no idea where they will go with this on 8, 9 and 10.

Dr Jurati kisses Rios in this episode. Bad news for him given what she did to the last man she loved.

Where was that EMH doctor by the way? He saw a murder taking place. There ,must be some protocols to tell the captain about what he saw.

The Impossible Box started out as another underpowered episode. The drunk Raffi manages to get a temporary pass to allow Picard into a Borg cube in Romulan space.

It is only when Picard gets inside the cube, the episode kicks up several gears. Picard's trauma as Locutus returns. His meeting with Hugh who takes Picard to show the other people who were once Borg.

As for Soji she discovers the truth about herself and of Narek. The episode does go a little Blade Runner with false memories.

Star Trek: Picard is a television series that is still unsure of what it wants to be. Like those former Borgs who have been dis-assimilated, it is trying to find its identity. Only at the end of this episode I thought it was taking its first steps in the right direction.