Picard 1x3 "The End Is the Beginning"

rating: ***

the story: Picard sets out to recruit an old colleague to his cause.

review: Notice I say "old colleague," not [insert name of Next Generation character here], which is similar to what the second episode did in recalling Picard's Stargazer days, although in this instance it's filling in some of the space between Star Trek Nemesis/Star Trek (2009) and Picard, in which of course Picard kept doing things even though we weren't watching, and met and did things with people we had never seen before.  I love that he got to have a vibrant life like that, sort of unlike how the original crew, in six movies...never really did.  Like, any of them.  (It's true, by the seventh movie, Generations, Sulu is reported as having made the time, and of course he did have his own ship in Undiscovered Country, and as George Takei loves bringing up, would've had one as early as Wrath of Khan, where of course Chekov is serving aboard another ship.  But this is already a large digression.)

And at some point, I might even start dropping the names of this supporting cast, but as it stands, these characters are still developing, and Picard is, well, Picard, and he's literally the guy in the name of the series this time, so for the time being, I'm going to continue talking mostly about him.

So we actually see the aftermath of his decision to leave Starfleet, fourteen years earlier (which, again, as with Discovery, is the first time in Star Trek lore that the production format has been comfortable to just show flashback moments without some convoluted method to get there, and that's one of the most refreshing elements of the modern franchise), and [New Character] is kind of miffed that not only does Picard get a chance to just walk away, but his retirement is also far more comfortable.  It's an interesting wrinkle of a future Star Trek always described as humanity no longer struggling with issues of equality.  The complaint might not even be much more than Picard having something, anything, to fall back on (in his case, the family vineyard), but it might also, as it seems on the surface, to suggest that equality doesn't always feel so equal, even if you're not an artificial life-form (which is sort of the crux of the series).

We meet another new character, too (a pilot that sort of feels like the Rogue One pilot, only more interesting, since he's got his own EMH literally designed after him), and the team is officially coming together.  We even see Hugh, I think, for the first time, helping the android duplicate as she investigates one of the Romulans reclaimed from the Borg (in the process revealing a prophecy twist that I sort of had to chew on a little).  Hugh, the drone we met way back in "I, Borg," now looking not particularly drone-like at all (unlike when we last saw him, in "Descent Part II"), so that you might not even realize who he is without his name being mentioned, being treated not as a big deal (yet) but just a supporting character feeding some connective tissue in the plot.  That's pretty interesting.

It's also interesting that the pilot dude has a personal EMH (whom he treats much as the Doctor was in early episodes of Voyager, as something that can be switched off at his convenience), which as I've noted is part of the intricate tapestry of prior artificial life bigotry in Star Trek lore, and either unique to people like this guy who are not particularly Starfleet mainstream or an exception to the new crackdown (or old, depending on whether Voyager meant to imply that the whole EMH series was scrapped, or just the original models).  Anyway this EMH is another of the many British accents cropping up in the series, which I find interesting, whether as a nod to Patrick Stewart or for some other production reason (such accents being traditionally more rare in the franchise).

There was a review I had read of the series before it launched that suggested Picard was ultimately too talkative, and far too coy about getting Picard's crew together.  If it was based on these first three episodes, I think plenty of valuable attention was given to the points of view for parties so far introduced.  It's better for Picard to be surrounded, if not by Next Generation characters, then by individuals who get to think about matters for themselves.  Too often, Star Trek (and other such platforms) assume the good guys are just going to agree and send them off on their merry way.  (To paraphrase Worf, not everyone is going to be merry.)

So this is another winner.  Next time: fencing!

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Some more valuable insights into what's familiar, and what's new.
• series - Several key characters are either seen for the first time or outright introduced.
• character - For a series named after a single character, this box sort of needs to be checked permanently, and fortunately, Picard keeps doing exactly that.
• essential - The slow pace of the second and third episodes means the storytelling is most rewarding to those actively watching.  You can't just drop in and be wowed.

notable guest-stars:
Jonathan Del Arco (Hugh)