The Impossible Box

The latest episode of Star Trek: Picard was arguably the most "plotty" so far, uniting two previously separate story threads and thrusting the narrative forward. But because of this, it wasn't able to find as much time for as many of the stronger character moments as the series has typically featured.

Picard reaches the Borg reclamation site. His hope is to find the android Soji, but first he'll have to confront his own past as Locutus; this is the first time he has set foot on a Borg cube since his own assimilation. Meanwhile, Narek is close to triggering Soji's latent memories.

A well-told story isn't all about the surprises. But it's perhaps because so much of what happened this week was expected that the episode didn't thrill me quite as much as others so far. We all could guess that Soji would "activate" at some point, and we all knew she and Picard would eventually unite. So watching those moments play out felt a bit slow paced. Still, there were good scenes along the way.

The episode's title, "The Impossible Box," might refer not only to Narek's Rubik's cube-like toy, but to the Borg cube itself, and to the difficulty for Picard in going there. The scenes dealing with his very particular form of PTSD were my favorites of the episode. In particular, Hugh showing him the recovery process was moving, and I could have enjoyed even more interaction between the two. (However, the writers probably took the wiser course in their restraint; this show does have to function for people who have never watched The Next Generation or its movies, hard as it may be for me to imagine such a person tuning into this.)

I also quite liked the scene in which Raffi called on an old friend to secure diplomatic credentials for Picard. It was, on the surface, breezy and fun, with everyone wowed by Raffi's skill as she worked an angle (even while drunk) to get what she wanted. But the less obvious tragedy in the scene, of course, is that it's not what she wanted at all. In fact, the final line from her friend, telling Raffi never to call again, was a perfect encapsulation of her still ongoing trauma: she burns down every relationship bridge in her life to help Jean-Luc Picard.

The rest of the episode, like I said, moved the story along, but in the expected ways. We all know what Soji is, Narek knows what Soji is, and we know Narek's motives are evil -- so the slow burn of him unlocking her memories wasn't the most engaging part of the story. But at least the episode wasn't spinning it wheels in this; Soji did "activate," Picard did find her, and now we're moving into more unknown and interesting territory.

And it wasn't as though the episode ignored the other characters; it's more that I was a little confused by what we saw. Elnor remains fun in his lethal prowess and lack of guile, though his "sacrifice" in staying behind at the end, rather than going with Picard and Soji, felt more than a bit contrived to me. (Side note: that fancy "trajector" technology they used to escape the cube? A reference to a first season Star Trek: Voyager episode.)

Doctor Jurati jumping into bed with Captain Rios? Well, sure, people do stuff like that to "cope" with personal trauma. But it felt a bit out of left field, as though concocted by process of elimination to use the two characters who otherwise were at the margins this episode. I would have preferred to see more of the friendship between Rios and Raffi -- though I'm glad for the taste we did get.

Still, I'm mostly picking nits, as the series thus far has been strong enough that an episode that isn't is strong for me only seems so by comparison. It was still a solid B and my book, and maintained my excitement for what comes next.