Now that Jean-Luc Picard is back on a ship, he wants to return the planet Vashti, where 14 years earlier, he abandoned a group of resettled Romulans upon his resignation from Starfleet. In part, he hopes to make amends. But moreover, he hopes to persuade one of the warriors of the Qowat Milat to join his cause.
If this episode admittedly is a bit of a distraction from the main story line that had been set up already, there are at least two consolations: we are still adding new main characters to the cast (judging by the opening credits), and it was actually quite good. This episode continues to flesh out the Romulans in more detail, the Star Trek franchise finally giving them their due like the Klingons or Vulcans, or other races who've been around since the beginning. Here, we get the clever conceit of a group that is in many ways the opposite of Vulcans: instead of repressing and concealing emotion, they celebrate emotion as something to be laid bare, always.
We've fallen into a bit of a pattern when it comes to episode structure, but it's one that is serving the show very well. The teasers tend to jump back 14 years in time, to the days around the Mars synth attack. Here, it's to show us Picard in better times, and it's delightful. We see a wonderful blend of classic Picard character and evolution. He's bringing all his diplomatic skill to bear with the group of Romulans, and is very much in his element -- that's all familiar. But he's less rigid than in The Next Generation years, more relaxed with himself, more comfortable around children (which is called out specifically, assuming you didn't notice it yourself right away), and embracing a journey of self-discovery.
This isn't just fan service, though. This is to set up how deeply Picard has broken these people's trust. One can debate how much of this was truly his fault, but the point is that it really doesn't matter to the Romulans of Vashti. (Side note: are Vashti and Zhat Vash meant to share some implied Romulan root word? Or do the writers just really like the sound of "Vash?" Is Picard's old archaeologist love interest going to show up at some point?) Even in his diplomatic, smooth-talking prime, there's nothing Picard could say to these people to apologize enough, to earn their forgiveness. Only the enlightened Qowat Milat, who can assume he speaks with "absolute candor" when he says he's sorry, can take him at his word.
That brings us to our new character, Elnor. He seems like he can bring a lot to the mix. Like Musiker, he's a character who has a history with Picard. He also has a built-in naivete to him that might give us Data-like moments: his nature is to be completely honest in all things, he's never really traveled off-world, and he's been raised the only male in a group of females. All of these seem conceived to give him a different perspective and demeanor that the show can use. Also, of course, he's a lethal warrior with a hair trigger that Picard must keep on a tight leash. (The real-world, cultivated cliche of the pit bull dog that Picard has back at his vineyard.)
Over on the Borg cube, things didn't progress too much. It was nice, though, to see that Soji isn't without guile, developing a bit of mistrust of Narek. That he could answer that and spin her back to his intended path is a credit to his skills, but I like that he had to use those skills. Elnor is our most naive character on the show, not Soji.
The episode served up other treats too. We got to see a classic-style Romulan warbird, lifted from the original series episode "Balance of Terror." There was great expense in the Vashti village set; though it wasn't large, it was convincing, and filmed in a way that added a sense of scale to it. (Credit director Jonathan Frakes!) Still more holograms that look like Rios were introduced to fun effect, each with a new accent (or even a new language -- thanks again, universal translator, for knowing when not to translate to English for the sake of drama). And then, of course, the big final moment: the return of Seven of Nine (who has never actually interacted with Jean-Luc Picard before, that an audience has gotten to see).
In all, I think this episode was a very strong B+. It may have been a side quest (hell, Picard's even using the word "quest" to describe what he's doing!), but I was with it the whole way.
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