The End Is the Beginning

The title of the third episode of Star Trek: Picard was "The End Is the Beginning." But it might also have been called "The End of the Beginning," as it got Picard back out in the stars and off on his mission.

Picard tries to persuade his former XO, Raffi Musiker, to help him procure a ship to search for Dahj's sister -- but there's a bitter history between them after Picard's resignation from Starfleet. Meanwhile, Romulan operatives continue their attempt to cover up operations on Earth... and continue their efforts to extract information from Soji Asha. Soji is after information of her own, working with former Borg drone Hugh to question an ex-Borg Romulan aboard the Romulan Reclamation Site.

As with the prior episode, "Maps and Legends," there was quite a lot of exposition in this episode. But the writers of the series have some clever ways of getting the audience through it. They've spread it out a bit through these first three episodes, treating them almost as a single unit to launch this new story. (And, appropriately, having the three all directed by one person, Hanelle M. Culpepper.) They often intercut two different scenes together to draw in your attention when either scene on its own might run too long and dry.

They're also very good at sketching a strong character in just a few quick lines of dialogue. I'm already sad that Laris and Zhaban aren't going with Picard on this adventure, because their banter with each other and "the Admiral" have been a real highlight of these first three episodes. On the other hand, we've been introduced to two equally compelling characters -- actual main characters on the series -- to fill the gap.

Raffi Musiker is interesting in a number of ways. It's interesting to see another XO who served under Picard besides Riker, one with whom his relationship really decayed. There might also be some subtle stuff about her character conveyed in the fact that she was so down and out. We've been repeatedly told on Star Trek that no one on Earth wants for anything, that there's no money, no scarcity of resources. Yet Musiker was living in relative squalor. (At Star Trek famous Vasquez Rocks -- actually identified as such for the first time!) This suggests that to some extent, she chose this... right? Or that a distinctly un-Starfleet like faction with the organization worked to push her down? However this all happened, Mussiker seems a much more broken character than we're used to seeing among Star Trek humans, and I'm looking forward to more.

Cristóbal Rios is another intriguing character, a roguish loner that feels more in tune with the Star Wars universe than with Star Trek. The death that drove him to leave Starfleet seems like back story we're surely going to get more of at some point, and feels sure to be interesting when it comes. In the meantime, we know he's vain enough to make all the holograms who operate his ship look like him. And we know there's some connection between him and Musiker we have yet to learn.

Rounding out Picard's collection of broken people is the freshly broken Doctor Jurati, who has just killed someone for the first time. I appreciate how, thus far, Jurati hasn't been written as too much of the scientist cliche. She is socially awkward, and is often meant as comic relief, but her mannerisms aren't dialed up to maximum to achieve either of those goals.

Another character added to the mix this episode was Hugh, reintroduced to us from The Next Generation. I'd love to know all the details about how he got to where he is now, but I appreciate the restraint of not overloading the fan service here. The focus instead was on showing us another form of bigotry rearing its ugly head: just a few episodes into Picard, we've seen anti-Romulan racism and anti-synth bias. Now, Hugh shares with us discrimination against ex-Borgs. And actor Jonathan Del Arco is able to imbue this with an extra bit of venom, likely drawing on his own experiences as an openly gay actor and outspoken LGBT activist.

The story seems to be fully spun up now, with Picard actually off on a ship. (He said "engage." How long until we get a "make it so?") Meanwhile, Soji inches closer to learning her true nature. And plenty of other compelling irons are in the fire. Why did the Borg sever their link with this cube? Did it have anything to do with what they learned of "the Destroyer" from these Romulans? Will we be catching up with Bruce Maddox soon, or is the quest to find him going to last longer?

Star Trek: Picard remains the show I'd most like to binge right now. Since we can't, it'll be the show I most look forward to each week. I give "The End Is the Beginning" a B+.