February 27, 2020 - Recap/Review of Star Trek: Picard - Episode 6

Episode 6 of Star Trek: Picard is finally here and it immediately dives into action. Soji is having a dream about her younger self, if androids can even have younger selves, and she immediately springs back to the present when she hears her name. Soji and Narek have progressed to bedmates and their previous fight seems to have been put on the back burner, but it's fairly obvious that Soji does not overly trust Narek as much as she used to. Narek is done wasting time, meanwhile, and is asking invasive questions that are only serving to upset Soji.

On the ship, Dr. Jurati is outright lying to Picard about how Maddox died and Picard is falling for it. Picard is also discussing how to rescue Soji, but Elnor and Jurati seem to be on opposite sides of how to handle the situation; Elnor is eager for the adventure and Jurati seems to simply be serving as a spy for Starfleet. She is acting like a subtle, but anxious interrogator and doesn't seem to care that she has triggered anxiety in Picard; she only wants as much intel as possible. Elnor, however, can sense that her loyalties and curiosity is not genuine and calls her on her crap to the point where she gets mad.

I don't understand something: as intelligent and perceptive as Picard has been through his career, he couldn't seem to pick up on the non-verbal communication that betrayed Jurati as being dishonest about Maddox's death and her true intentions behind joining the mission to find Soji. Why couldn't he pick up on those non-verbal signals? Does his condition affect his ability to do that?

Jurati is so desperate to keep her true intentions hidden that she aggressively comes on to Rios and manipulates him into responding to her advances. Her behavior is not Starfleet and her willingness to employ duplicity may explain why Starfleet has fallen so far; perhaps many employ duplicity instead of honoring what Starfleet is supposed to stand for?

Narek and his sister converse yet again and Narek's sister calls him on the feelings he has developed for Soji, but Narek manages to stand strong against her maniuplations unlike in the past. Narek's sister seems to allow him the time he needs, but it's also evident that her patience with his methods will not last much longer. Narek continues on his way and continues questioning Soji to the point where he aggressively points out the anomalies that the station is detecting due to her 'differences.' When Soji attempts to discuss these concerns with her mother, she ends up undergoing a malfunction that sends her into a state of unconsciousness. She eventually wakes and goes into a frenzy that leads to her discovering that she is not who her memories or artifacts says she is. She ends up trashing her quarters and having a breakdown. When she tells Narek about her problem, he first pretends to care and helps her to undertake Romulan meditation to help her figure out why she is the way she is. Narek's sister watches suspiciously as Narek guides Soji into giving up the information they want. Narek uses soothsaying to manipulate Soji deeper into the wanted knowledge and the knowledge that she is a synthetic finally comes to light.

The crew of Rios's vessel is clearly at odds about how to access the Reclamation site, but Raffi surprises everyone by calling an old Federation friend and destroying a friendship to get legal access to the site. Unfortunately, it also seems that Raffi's disastrous visit to her son has retriggered her need to drink and so she is less than sober as the crew makes their way to the site. Rios and Picard, however, don't focus on her fall from sobriety and choose to be complimentary as her plan succeeds. I feel like this Starfleet contact will also tell Starfleet what this rogue crew is up to and there will be consequences when they proceed beyond the Reclamation Site. Rios even goes as far to sit and listen to Raffi's drunken, sorrowful ramblings about how her son doesn't love her before gently tucking her in to sleep the booze off. I rather like Rios, as he appears like he doesn't care, but he is quite paternal deep down. He also talks with Raffi frankly about the missio and Soji and it is Raffi who poses the question, "What does the Tal Shiar need with a Synth?"

When the rogue crew arrives at the Reclamation Site, Picard is tasked with beaming in alone and leaving everyone else behind on the ship. Picard does this and is treated to flashbacks of his time as Locutus until he is grabbed by recovering drones. Picard reels in terror until he is saved from his memores by Hugh and his warm greeting. Hugh is very comforting to Picard and recognizes that returning to the cube is hard for Picard to do; he shows patience for the terror that Picard expresses at being there. Hugh immediately senses that Soji is in danger and that Picard is there to help. Picard is deeply mystified about how Romulans could be of such help to the reclamation process and he comes to the realization that the Borg are actually victims, not monsters. A sense of healing comes to Picard as he realizes that assimilation and its effects do not have to be permanent and that recovery does not necessarily have to be perfect in order to be effective.

Narek attempts to murder Soji using a device, but Soji activates and escapes death. She meets up with Picard and Hugh as Narek instigates an alert, but Hugh helps them escape to the Queen's old cell for safety. As the Romulans find them, Elnor arrives after disobeying Picard's orders to stay on the ship. He buys Picard and Soji time to escape and helps Hugh hide from the Romulan soldiers.