Picard: Monsters

In some ways, I found the latest episode of Star Trek: Picard to be a bit of a "heavy lift," asking the audience to venture a bit outside the norm for a Star Trek episode. At the same time, I think it might have been an even stronger episode had it been more of a departure.

Tallinn ventures inside Picard's mind to try to rouse him from his coma, finding herself in a fairy tale dreamscape where the young Jean-Luc is tormented by monsters. Elsewhere in his mind, the older Jean-Luc is locked in a confrontation with a therapist seemingly evaluating his fitness for duty. In the real world, Rios debates telling the truth to Teresa Ramirez, while Seven of Nine and Raffi learn what happened to Jurati.

The "real world" plot lines of the season barely progress this week, leading me to wonder if there could have been a version of this episode that took place entirely in the non-literal space of Picard's mind. Absent the artificial insistence that "the clock is ticking," could this episode have taken an even longer or more abstract look at the demons inside Picard's head, and really presented us with a truly different episode of Star Trek?

It might be that I wanted more time in "dreamland" because it was giving us a lot to process. It was frankly a bit shocking when this season revealed to us that Picard's mother was abused by his father. That asked us to reevaluate everything we've long known about the character, and perhaps even what we thought about life in Star Trek's future writ large. Now, just when we've come to terms with all that, it's suddenly revealed that none of it was true; in fact, Picard's mother had mental health issues, and the young Jean-Luc got all the facts twisted up to a point where he mistakenly blamed his father for it. That's just as big an ask for "the future" -- "there's still spousal abuse in the future" gives way to "there are still mental health issues in the future that carry enough stigma that you bury the truth in your subconscious". And it's an arguably even bigger ask for the character of Picard -- "he left Earth because his mother told him to" gives way to "Picard got this story crucially wrong, and never forgave his father for it".

Plus, amid all that, factor in the long-time Trekkers who are also wondering about the older brother, Robert, that the show makes no mention of at all. (Could this buried truth have informed the emotional rift between them?)

Perhaps an "all internal" episode would have given us more time and space to process all that. (Though it's clear that the season is planning to drop another shoe there before we're done, so maybe I shouldn't get too comfortable.) Certainly, it would have given us even more of the intriguing fairy tale visuals of Tallinn's "quest," and more fun one-on-one between Patrick Stewart and excellent guest star James Callis.

Although... it very likely would have lost some of the surprise factor. There was a very clever bit of misdirection in this episode. Tallinn's true identity as a Romulan was an obvious revelation dangled in front of the audience, that I believe it was meant to figure out ahead of time. The "pointy ear shaped" device she donned in the real world was a metaphorical flashing light put there to draw attention. Anyone who sussed out what it meant for the later character reveal could sit back, relax, and think themselves smart for being ahead of the story... and in doing so, cease any speculation about the dream world story. That left the door open to be surprised at the revelation of the therapist's real identity, and the bait-and-switch of Picard's memories of his mother. A clever bit of construction.

Like I said earlier, the "real world" stories didn't progress much, so I really don't have a lot of thoughts there. Rios' paraphrase of Star Trek IV dialogue was fun ("I'm from Chile, I only work in outer space"), even if he rolled over on the truth a bit too easily. La Sirena had an unintentionally funny revolving door this week, as Seven and Raffi arrive then leave just before Rios arrives with Teresa and her son.

In the final act, Guinan reappeared. (Another opportunity for Ito Aghayere to show just how well she's captured the essence of Whoopi Goldberg's portrayal without stooping to a simple impersonation.) The fans get some fun insight into "what is the deal between Guinan and Q?", answering questions they've been asking since way back in TNG season two. (Though we don't get anything on why Guinan was so terrified of "the Watcher" earlier this season; Tallinn has seemed perfectly nice so far.)

Then, since the audience is already in a mindset to think of old Star Trek episodes, they get to speculate whether ubiquitous working actor Jay Karnes just happens to appear as an FBI Agent at the end of this episode, or is reprising a character he played in Star Trek: Voyager?

(My speculation has turned more toward "what exactly is Q's deal this season?" From all the contextual clues about Picard's buried family past and Adam Soong's quest to invent a daughter, I'll put my money on "something bad happened to Q's son.")

There was something oddly compelling to me about this episode, even if it objectively stalled the overall plot momentum a bit. I think it must be that the hour provided a lot to think about, which is something the best Star Trek episodes tend to do. Not that I'd call this a "best" Star Trek episode, though. I'd give "Monsters" a B.