Star Trek: PicardSeason 2 Episode 3 titled, “Assimilation” takes on the task of balancing one of the all-time bestStar Trekthemes in having people from the future be fish out of water in the present. However, the show is also taking on some other themes while making a few politicalstatements in a way that onlyStar Trekcan. What seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle a little bit is the main plot of the series so far, which is finding The Watcher and fixing both the crew’s past and its present.
WhilePicardhas done a very good jobof moving the story along so far, it seems like it started to grind to a halt a bit in the third episode of the season. Part of that could simply be that there are nine episodes in which this story has to be navigated. That might mean there’s going to be time to focus on the storyline in 2024, and some of the problems that the crew are already noticing about America and earth. So far, it’s been a relatively light touch. However, it also feels as though that light touch might have been setting up what’s going to be a much deeper dive into immigration and ICE issues. Those issues have apparently gotten a little bit worse just two years into the future.
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The Beginning Of The End Of Utopia
One of the more interesting premises in this particular version ofStar Trek’s blast into the past is that the assertion is that things go pretty bad for the Federation not long after our own time. The question of course, is how that’s going to really work, considering the story of the Federation has always been that the human race went through a period where it was truly a collection of horrible people and then it eventually woke up and decided to form the utopia that Picard and his crew know now. It will be interesting to see if the show really goes out of its way to explain how something that happened well before the collapse of a civilization that comes in every timeline is affected in 2024. It’s also possible the writers are just hoping the audience is going to forget that particular detail.
It would be more than a little strange ifStar Trek: Picarddid try and paper over what has been well-established canon about how the Federation started. Especially since that canon was highlighted the first time Picard met theentity known as Q. It’s possible all of this is going to be explained by The Watcher, but it feels a little bit like claiming 2024 is when the birth of the Confederation started is going to be a problem for the show moving through the season and jibing with the rest of the franchise. In that regard, it feels like the show made a misstep in its excitement to make a statement about how things are going rather poorly in our own very near future.
The Borg Queen
WhileSeven of Nine, Rios and Raffi are exploring California in order to try and find The Watcher, Dr. Jurati and Picard have stayed on the ship in order to try and get more information from the Borg queen. It turns out that this particular side story is both very good but also feels just a little bit … off. While the Borg Queen has always had a bit more personality than her drones, this version of her felt a bit more “evil” than “driven.” She’s been someone who mainly wanted to take over as many places as possible and wanted to add as many people to her ranks, but she hasn’t seemed quite a conniving as she did in this particular episode. To be clear, one of the reasons that the Borg Queen has always been such an impressive enemy is her cold calculation. Smiling and laughing about the discomfort of Picard and his crew seems more than a little odd. There’s also the fact that they’re all trapped in the past and she’s making bargains seems more like a Bond villain than aStar Trekvillain.
However, that scene also has a very good sequence that shows that allows Allison Pill to shine once again. She continues to not have nearly enough screen time inthis season of Picardwhile being one of the best characters. She also happens to be one of the most filled-out characters, mainly thanks to her little comments including this episode where she talks about how sometimes she feels like sparring with Picard for the sake of sparring with him.
Instead, Jurati issparring with the Borg Queeninside the villain’s head, in an attempt to get her restarted. That also means that the queen is able to look around inside Jurati’s head and Pill’s character narrates all the places the borg goes. That narration in turn leads to a rather funny “oh she’s in the humor room, nothing there but mirrors for deflection.” This isn’t the first time that the doctor has given the audience a view of how she looks at herself. She was quite the scene stealer and the entire “side mission” might have been the best of the show, especially when Picard couldn’t figure out whose hand was grabbing him. It was a very interesting look into how it feels to be assimilated as well, hence the name of the episode.
In all, this was yet another very nice installment ofStar Trek: PicardSeason 2, where most of the strikes against it were more of a warning of what might next, rather than anything that was particularly detrimental in this episode. This episode even has a couple of very moving moments mixed into the action as well as that “fish out of water” humor thatStar Trekdoes so well. Seven of Nine’s astonishment that a stranger actually likes her was a nice little touch and Raffi’s “you and 2024 should get a room” comment was delivered with the perfect amount of sarcasm.
Star Trek: Picardseason 2 is streaming on Paramount Plus with new episodes available every Thursday
