The penultimate episode ofStar Trek: Picardattempted to make up for a lack of action and a lack of movement towards the end of the story in one big swoop. As is usually the case, that tends to make for a hurried and harried episode. There were quite afew episodes ofPicardthat came before where it feels like a little less time-wasting could have made Episode 9 that much better. Having said that, despite some bumps and cringe-worthy moments, it’s not a stretch to say that this was one of the best episodes of the season. It’s certainly the best of the last few.
There was a running theme throughout the episode, and it wasn’t all that hard to break down the code. “Love conquers all” was certainly a saccharin idea that did in fact, make things even more cringe-worthy at certain periods of the show. However, there’s also something to this, especially when talking about dealing with a race ofaliens like The Borg, who have long been one of the big evils of the entireStar Trekuniverse. Those kinds of villains usually don’t think about something like love as a power. In fact, the Borg Queen makes it very clear that they see it as a weakness. It might have been a bit heavy-handed, but this episode did manage to show that it can be a strength in a way that wasn’t entirely poorly carried out.
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“Hide and Seek” picks up where theprevious episode ofPicardleft off, with the Borg Queen launching an assault on the crew as they work to try and get back to the future. She’s managed to transform several soldiers that she got with the help of Soong into Borg troopers and appears to have the crew easily outnumbered. On the other hand, this is also the first part where the show seems to have some odd plot holes. These highly trained soldiers that are now quite literally killing machines don’t seem to be much of a match against what is a rather rag-tag group of survivors. In fact, for most of the episode, it’s about seven or eight Borg going up against two or three resistance fighters in the form of Seven of Nine, Raffi, and sometimes Picard when he’s not just running.
Granted, the point of “Hide and Seek” is that the resistance is usually hiding and taking out Borg soldiers in a sort of guerilla approach. As the battle unfolds the episode covers a number of past traumas that members of the crew are having to get over. The biggest and still most pointless is that of Picard’s childhood, where he continues to figure out just what his mother was really like. As the audience has learned inprevious episodes ofStar Trek: Picard, he had long thought of his father as a monster who basically drove his mother to death. It turns out that his father was just trying to keep her alive and protect young Jean Luc from the dangers of a mother who suffered from severe depression.
Despite that storyline being mostly solved, it’s still hard to figure out just what exactly it has to do with the broader point. What exactly does that have to do with how the future was twisted and warped? Most ofthis season ofStar Trek: Picardhas made it very clear it’s incredibly important. Most of this ninth episode did the same. It’s still an open question. There is also the open question as to why the writers so desperately want to resolve the Raffi and Elnor storyline with a happy ending. They wanted to do it so badly that they even created what seems to be a brand-new creation that’s never appeared in theStar Trekuniverse before. If it has popped up, it’s certainly not something that’s been around much.
The Emergency Combat Hologram is of course like the Emergency Medical Hologram that wasmade famous inStar Trek: Voyager. For some reason, the ECH was created in the form of Elnor and even apparently has all his memories. The line “I share the recollection of Elnor’s final breath” is not only sappy as all get out, but makes very little sense in the grand scheme of things. If someone is wanting to enlist what is basically a robotic warrior, why would they give him thoughts and feelings and emotions and the understanding of death? It’s a small nit to pick perhaps, but it’s also so very obviously done as a way to resolve a plotline that it is hard to ignore.
One area that the show has done very well, throughout the season and in this episode particularly is the other love that seems to be brewing on the crew. Raffi and Seven of Nine appear to be pairing off together but it has long been a rather subtle nod here and there. Considering thatStar Trekhas never been all that good at handling romance when it comes to subtlety, this aspect is something to give plaudits to because there isn’t any romantic music swelling in the background followed by a deep, passionate kiss. Rather it appears that the romance is brewing while the people falling in love understand now isn’t really the right time to start a bit of lip-lock.
What wasn’t remotely subtle was the megalomaniacal behavior of Soong, who showed that he’s actually a bit of a sociopath in previous episodes. However, it didn’t appear that he was a psychopath. However, this particular episode seems to have him taking that final step towards murderous madman, and quite frankly, he simply isn’t scary enough to be that. There’s also the fact that he seems rather naive when it comes right down to it. In taking theword of the Borg Queenas to how his actions are going to change the future. It seems like someone as smart as he might realize that he was being manipulated. However, as has been a big problem for most of the series, it appears as though the writers simply didn’t care about that particular plot hole.
