‘Star Trek: Picard’ Recap: This Is a Musical Now

Season 2, Episode 6: ‘Two for One’

Let’s begin with the most important “Picard” news of the week: The show is bringing on most of the original “Next Generation” cast next season. This is incredible, exciting news! It’s always fun to look forward to more content involving your favorite show.

That is, until you consider that most of the post-“Next Generation” outings for the crew haven’t been well received by audiences. Of the four movies involving the cast, only “First Contact” was considered a hit. But it’s still exciting. We haven’t received a real update on what these characters have been up to since “Nemesis,” and I wonder if the reunion fun next season will include rekindling the romance between Picard and Dr. Crusher.

Let’s table that and any further speculation for now, however, because we need to talk about something far less exciting: the current season, which seems to be going off the rails. This episode was the shortest of Season 2 so far, running slightly more than a half-hour. It’s also the rare “Trek” episode that takes place almost entirely in one room and in real time.

I’ll give “Picard” this much: They’re willing to break conventions. But some of the choices seem shortsighted, and this week a choice the writers made last season came back to bite them.

The biggest subplot of the episode involves the Borg Queen implanting her consciousness (or something) into Jurati. It is unclear why the Queen is so fascinated with Jurati. She seems bent on making Jurati into a confident person; to bring her out of her shell. It’s a noble aim, but the Borg Queen caring so much about an individual seems out of character for what we know about the Borg. Even the Queen’s fascination with Data in “First Contact” can be explained by Data locking out the main computer and the Borg needing access to those codes.

Regardless, Jurati keeps putting herself in positions where she needs the Queen to do super-techie things in order to save the crew. This allows the Queen to push Jurati to live her best life, including making her passionately kiss Rios in public. (Side note: It feels like the show is headed toward Rios wanting to stay in the 21st century to be with the doctor who treated him when they arrived to this century.)

There’s also the continuing presence of the Watcher, who tells Jean-Luc that she has never spoken to Renée or interacted with her thanks to some kind of Watchers “code.” This once again raises the question of what the Watcher actually does, or why the audience is supposed to care about her presence. (The Watcher says this is the best way to keep Renée safe. Don’t ask why. Just go with it.) If anything, the Watcher’s spying on Renée — reading her text messages, viewing her therapy sessions — makes her a highly unsympathetic character.

Renée doesn’t seem ready for this mission, but Picard and his crew are intent on her going through with it, based on what they assume will save their original timeline. (The later conversation between Renée and Picard comes off as tone deaf and manipulative rather than as a pep talk to get Renée on the flight.)

Adam Soong upbraids Picard and has him thrown out of the event. Soong is a wealthy benefactor for the Europa mission, and has enough juice that he can simply whisper to someone and have Picard removed. Later in the episode, Soong’s daughter discovers a bunch of headlines calling her father a “mad scientist” who is known for illegal genetic experimentation. So why does Soong have this much sway at an event like this? Why would money from such a toxic figure be accepted by the institution behind the launch? (It’s unclear whether this is a private expedition or something N.A.S.A. is funding.)

Even so, Picard needs to be saved from Soong.

This leads to one of the more baffling moments in the history of “Star Trek,” which is saying a lot. The Queen causes the lights to go out and Jurati begins to sing. No, really: sing. She belts out “Shadows of the Night” by Pat Benatar and the band joins in, as if this was all just part of the set list. (Alison Pill has an amazing voice!) The proper reaction from those around Jurati would be to have her escorted out for causing a disturbance. Instead, the band is like, “OK, I guess we have a singer now. Thank goodness we know the Pat Benatar song in this exact key just in case something like this happened!”

Jurati takes a bow with the Borg Queen and is talking to herself the whole time. None of this seems strange to anyone in the audience!

Not content with throwing him out of the event, Soong decides to run Picard over with his car. Here’s where some of the uneven writing undermines the plot: The show tries to build tension by implying that Picard’s life is in danger, but we know from last season that it is not. Picard is literally not human anymore. He died last season and was brought back to life as a synthetic being. Why is he even bleeding? When the doctor examines Picard later, she should be wondering why this human she is examining looks like a machine on the inside! (One other question: How did the crew get Picard to the doctor’s office?)

The explanation seems to be that the Watcher will use something called a neuro-optic interceptor to go inside Picard’s mind and rescue him from the coma. (Here’s another idea: You could just repair Picard later. Because he’s a machine.)

The episode ends with Jurati strolling away from the event, apparently now fully possessed by the Borg Queen. Maybe she was on her way to do karaoke.