Category: Picard

Picard and his crew try to stay inconspicuous and keep eyes on Renee, while Jurati finds herself in a constant negotiation for control of her own mind and body with the Borg Queen. Picard is startled to see another familiar face at the gala, one who knows at least something about who he really is: Adam Soong. Soong tries to give him a warning, and then tries to turn the tables on Picard, but before things can go any further, Jurati provides a distraction, the endorphin bump from which allows the Queen to take over completely. Picard finds Renee and tries to give her a pep talk designed to keep her from backing out of the Europa mission, unaware that Soong is there to force that decision by targeting Renee for a hit-and-run “accident”. Picard pushes her out of the way and he becomes the victim of the hit-and-run instead. Rios calls on Dr. Ramirez, whose clinic he was admitted to earlier, to try to save Picard’s life, but even with his vital signs stabilized, he remains in a coma with an unusually high amount of brain activity. Tallinn thinks she can gain access to his subconscious and bring him out of it, but while Picard’s crew is occupied with his immediate fate, Renee is not protected – and Jurati, with the Borg Queen now fully in control, is at large in Los Angeles.

written by Cindy Appel & Jane Maggs
directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by Jeff Russo
additional music by Sam Lucas

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Michelle Hurd (Commander Raffi Musiker), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Orla Brady (Tallinn), Isa Briones (Kore Soong), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Brent Spiner (Adam Soong), John de Lancie (Q), Annie Wersching (Borg Queen), Penelope Mitchell (Renee Picard), Sol Rodriguez (Dr. Teresa Ramirez), Alexandre Chen (Cute Waiter), Ren Hanami (Director Lee), Michelle Haro (Guard #1), Shaw Jones (Guard #2), Richard Leacock (Commander Musa), Zach Sowers (Security Guard #1), Kareem Stroud (Security Guard #2)

Notes: The OV-165 shuttle identified by Renee Picard can also be seen in the opening credits of every episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. The song “Shadows Of The Night”, made famous by Pat Benatar’s 1982 recording, actually dated back to being written for the soundtrack of the 1980 Tim Curry film Times Square, though the song was left out of the movie and thus dropped from the soundtrack. Other artists recorded the song before Benatar’s version, which made it to #3 and won her a Grammy Award. Amusingly, either Jurati/the Queen selected a song that was already on the band’s setlist, or the band was unusually well-prepared in the event of an impromptu performance of “Shadows Of The Night”. Alison Pill did do her own singing, which appears on the season two soundtrack.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Inside Picard’s subconscious with him, Tallinn can only watch as Picard psychoanalyzes himself (in the guise of his own father, in a Starfleet uniform his father never wore) and constantly hearkens back to memories of his mother when he was a young boy. His memories center on the family chateau, and the tunnels beneath it, and other than fleeting glimpses of a physical struggle between his parents, Picard’s mind gives up only hints of anything further. He awakens and decides to go on the offensive, asking Guinan to summon Q, an ability he knows she possesses as an El-Aurian. Returning to La Sirena, Seven and Raffi discover that Agnes Jurati is, to some unknown but growing extent, occupied by the Borg Queen; Seven worries that their trip back in time may have brought a far greater danger with them than anything Q has done. After witnessing Tallinn’s mindlink with Picard in her clinic, Dr. Ramirez asks Rios, point-blank, who he is…and he tells her, and then takes her and her son to La Sirena to prove it. In a Los Angeles dive bar, the Queen-as-Jurati no longer cares how much attention she is drawing to herself. In another bar, Guinan uses an ancient ritual to bring Q to her and Picard…but instead they’re arrested in an FBI raid.

written by Jane Maggs
directed by Joe Menendez
music by Jeff Russo
additional music by Sam Lucas

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Michelle Hurd (Commander Raffi Musiker), Orla Brady (Tallinn), Isa Briones (Kore Soong), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), James Callis (Maurice Picard), Madeline Wise (Yvette Picard), Sol Rodriguez (Dr. Teresa Ramirez), Ito Aghayere (Guinan), Jay Karnes (Agent Wells), Ivo Nandi (LeClerc), Steve Gutierrez (Ricardo), Dylan Von Halle (Young Picard), Marti Matulis (Prisoner), Oscar Torre (Bartender), Travis Walck (Jester), Cyrus Zoghi (Red Bearded Guy)

Notes: Maurice Picard had been seen before, again courtesy of Q, in an older form in Tapestry (1993), though he had died some time before that (and, as he claims here, with his hair intact). Guinan’s ritual hand gestures were previously glimpsed in another comfrontation with Q in Q Who? (1989). Jay Karnes previously guest starred in another time-hopping Star Trek story (Voyager‘s Relativity episode in 1999), and his appearance here had some corners of internet fandom convinced that he must be playing the same character. Another guest star, James Callis, is better known to genre TV fans as Gaius Balter in the 21st century reboot of Battlestar Galactica.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

In FBI custody, Picard and Guinan begin to suspect that Agent Wells, their captor, may be acting without authorization. But whether he’s unhinged or not, Wells is also aware that Picard and a group of other uninvited guests were present at the Europa mission gala. Wells has Guinan taken to another room while he interrogates Picard. Guinan gets a visitor as well – Q finally appears, annoyed to find her on Earth in this time period. Raffi and Seven find Jurati, but everything points toward the Borg Queen being in complete control, until Jurati passes up an opportunity to kill Raffi. Having exposed Dr. Ramirez and her son to the truth, Rios finds that he can’t control anything on his ship, thanks to Borg encryption forced into his system by Jurati before she left. A message left for her by Q tells Kore everything about her past and her father’s history of genetic experimentation – and Q offers her the ability to step into the outside world. Picard turns the tables on Wells, asking why it’s so important for him to prove the existence of aliens in 2024, and the results dredged up from Wells’ childhood memories prove fascinating. Jurati, needing advanced electronic components to give her the ability to assimilate, finds an appropriately unethical ally in Adam Soong.

written by Cindy Appel & Kirsten Beyer
directed by Joe Menendez
music by Jeff Russo
additional music by Sam Lucas

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Michelle Hurd (Commander Raffi Musiker), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Orla Brady (Tallinn), Isa Briones (Kore Soong), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Brent Spiner (Adam Soong), John de Lancie (Q), Sol Rodriguez (Dr. Teresa Ramirez), Ito Aghayere (Guinan), Jay Karnes (Agent Wells), Kay Bess (La Sirena Computer), Jackson Garner (Young Wells), Steve Gutierrez (Ricardo), Nanrisa Lee (FBI Agent), Charles Maceo (Merc One), Eduardo Roman (Vulcan #1), Chuti Tiu (Vulcan #2), Oscar Torre (Bartender), Cyrus Zoghi (Red Bearded Guy)

Notes: Seven’s memories of being assimilated at a young age were explored in more detail in numerous episodes of Star Trek: Voyager (The Raven, 1997; Dark Frontier Part I and Part II, 1999). Voyager fans who had spent the week since Monsters speculating that Jay Karnes’ Picard and Voyager characters were related were in for a letdown, but Agent Wells’ flashbacks to meeting Vulcans at a young age may (or, just as easily since they apparently had a ship with working transporters, may not) have had some connection to the Vulcans left behind on Earth to live in Carbon Creek (2002).

LogBook entry by Earl Green