Picard 1x2 "Maps and Legends"

rating: ***

the story: Picard begins to learn more about what happened, and moves toward his response.

review: This second episode settles Star Trek: Picard into a regular rhythm, a talky rhythm, which for me isn't a bad thing at all, something I've really wanted to see from the franchise for ages, just letting a story unfold without introducing formulaic elements to satisfy imagined requirements.  Characters have long conversations.  Some will consider the results "infodump," such as learning about an even more secret Romulan operation than the Tal Shiar, but again, I've never had a problem with that kind of storytelling.  If it's news to a character, as it is to Picard himself, it's worth talking about, period.  And that's kind of the whole episode.

Shockingly or not, Picard has one of those conversations with a belligerent Starfleet admiral who ends up rejecting his offer to rejoin the fleet so he can figure out what's happening.  This has been a Star Trek trope forever, with one of the first famous examples being Star Trek: The Motion Picture (although Kirk had a much more favorable outcome, in a scene viewers don't even get to witness).  Starfleet admirals are famously about the exact opposite of the main characters in a Star Trek series; they're darn close to antagonists most of the time.  And this one's no different.  It's just shocking that Picard (as Kirk experienced in a different movie, The Search for Spock) has to go rogue again (which, as I noted for the first episode, he did in Insurrection as well) rather than be welcomed back with open arms by a grateful Starfleet (as fans would expect for a beloved character).

We learn other things as well, such as the real role that hunky Vulcan will be playing (as to whether or not he actually fulfills it is perhaps another Ash Tyler experience, as depicted in Star Trek: Discovery).  We meet another of the main characters at the end of the episode.

But really, I think my favorite moment of the episode is Picard reuniting with...an old Stargazer colleague.  As obvious partisans to his Enterprise days, fans would expect Picard to have affection mostly for Next Generation characters, but even that series long acknowledged that Picard's career began well before then.  Aside from the occasional glimpse, we never really got to see too much of the Stargazer, and the life Picard led aboard it (aside from the Crushers, obviously), much less the people who used to define his life.  And this is twenty years after even Picard's Enterprise days.  For him, everything's in the past (and most depressingly, even his good friend Data).  So to spend some time with a Stargazer colleague is just one of the many ways the series allows Picard to inhabit a world far removed from shipboard activities, which as an admitted fan of Deep Space Nine, I always liked to see in the franchise (although even that series could've used time away from its station).

I like the leisurely approach.  I like that the series is letting itself breathe.  I like that there's ample time to talk, to reflect.  And yes, to anticipate.  There's plenty of time for other faces, bigger developments.  It's truly wonderful to be experience Star Trek in such a fresh way with such a dear friend.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Learning new things about the Romulans!
• series - Continues to let itself ease into the story, and its cast.
• character - An important moment for Picard as he realizes Starfleet won't help him.
• essential - If you yearn for more dramatic developments, you will probably find this one harder to appreciate.