Mercy

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).