{"id":106245,"date":"2020-01-26T14:37:36","date_gmt":"2020-01-26T19:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/25yearslatersite.com\/?p=106245"},"modified":"2023-05-12T18:19:38","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T22:19:38","slug":"star-trek-picard-s1e1-remembrance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvobsessive.com\/2020\/01\/26\/star-trek-picard-s1e1-remembrance\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Trek: Picard S1E1 \u201cRemembrance\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Blue skies, smiling at me.” And after that premiere of Star Trek: Picard<\/em>, I\u2019m smiling right back at them.<\/p>\n

In case you didn\u2019t binge watch a ton of old episodes and movies to prepare, that song is a nod to the final movie, Star Trek: Nemesis<\/em>, where Data sang it as his wedding gift to Will and Deanna. At the end of the movie, B4 was humming lines from the song to himself, letting Picard know that some essence of Data still lived on inside his brother. The first scene goes on to also acknowledge the final episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation<\/em>, which ended with the principle cast members playing poker aboard the Enterprise-D and Picard joining them. The last line spoken on ST:TNG<\/em> was his, saying \u201cSo, five card stud, nothing wild, and the sky’s the limit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of limits, let\u2019s establish some ground rules for these reviews. I\u2019m a theories and analysis guy at heart, so I\u2019m all about watching the trailers, reading the social media groups, and theorizing about where the show is going and what lies ahead. If it\u2019s publicly available, we\u2019re apt to be talking about it here. I won\u2019t go into deep spoiler territory though\u2014reveals from people who\u2019ve seen future episodes or have inside knowledge from the production, that kind of thing. It\u2019s all about having fun and that\u2019s what I won\u2019t spoil here.<\/p>\n

So, all that said and done, it\u2019s time to\u2026engage.<\/p>\n

\"Picard
Laris coaches Picard before the interview.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been living. I\u2019ve been waiting to die.\u201d<\/h2>\n

If we were to describe Jean-Luc Picard in one word at the beginning of the episode, it would have to be \u201cmelancholy.\u201d Laris even uses that exact word to chastise him as they prepare for his big day. This is a man who has suffered a lot of loses. The loss of friends. The loss of career. The loss of faith. But most importantly, the loss of purpose. However, he\u2019s still passionate about raising awareness of the lingering impacts of the Romulan supernova, and that last spark is used against him by the unscrupulous HNN reporter.<\/p>\n

Picard\u2019s involvement with the Romulans piggybacks off where we left him at the end of Star Trek: Nemesis<\/em>. At the end of the movie, he had \u201cearned a friend in the Romulan Empire\u201d after the defeat of his clone Shinzon, and Riker was headed to the Neutral Zone aboard the Titan, because the Romulans had expressed an interest in peace talks with the Federation.<\/p>\n

In the interview, we get the official on-screen exposition dump on what happened to Picard since we last saw him on the silver screen. Much of this was established in the pre-show comic, \u201cPicard: Countdown,\u201d and the final Short Trek<\/em> Season 2 episode, \u201cChildren of Mars.\u201d (See my pre-series article, \u201cPrepping for Picard<\/a>,\u201d for more details about those.) The CBS All Access official after show, The Ready Room<\/a>, included an extra titled \u201cProducing Picard\u201d that also fills in a few details, and is definitely worth checking out this week.<\/p>\n

The Romulan sun was going to go supernova, with 900 million of their citizens across multiple planets as risk. They asked the Federation for help and, despite some political opposition, Picard \u201cpersuaded\u201d the Federation to support the rescue effort and was put in charge. A rescue armada was cobbled together from 10,000 warp capable ships, old and new, pieced together at the Utopia Planitia Shipyards in orbit around Mars. Then Mars was attacked, from inside, by their own synthetic workers. In the wake of the tragedy, many member worlds of the Federation used this as an excuse to pull out. Picard threatened to resign as kind of a bluff to force the Federation to stick with the plan, but they called his bluff and accepted his resignation. The rescue was abandoned, many Romulans were left displaced, and he has spent the next 10 years or so nursing his wounded dignity.<\/p>\n

He misses Starfleet, there can be no doubt about that. The fact that he named his dog \u201cNumber One\u201d shows how he\u2019s trying to recapture a bit of that glory in this mundane life he\u2019s sentenced himself to. But Starfleet left him well before he left Starfleet.<\/p>\n

\"Picard
Data’s painting from 30 years ago.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis Painting Is Called \u2018Daughter\u2019\u201d<\/h2>\n

Enter Dahj into the story. And exit just as quick. Now that was an amazing surprise. When she died, I was stunned. Look at this Star Trek<\/em> show pulling off a Westworld<\/em> <\/a>or Watchmen<\/em> <\/a>level plot twist. Nice job writers.<\/p>\n

Dahj has been hired as a research fellow in artificial intelligence and quantum consciousness. Pretty impressive sounding. Her twin sister, Suji, is a doctor who spends all day \u201cfixing broken people.\u201d Sounds like she\u2019s more into the humanities, but nonetheless working at a doctorate level. A pair of smart girls.<\/p>\n

Her would-be kidnappers talk about her \u201cactivating,\u201d and when she does, she just \u201cknows\u201d how to fight off multiple armed attackers, hack high-security computer systems and hear conversations a block away. She also knows Jean-Luc Picard. Knows on a deep level that she is safe with him. Picard also has an inkling that he knows her as well, and it takes a dream of Data painting out in the vineyard to remind him. He goes to his personal Starfleet \u201cquantum archive\u201d to check, and sure enough, it is her face on Data\u2019s painting. A painting titled \u201cDaughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dahj finds Picard outside the archives and they talk. He explains that she may be Data\u2019s daughter and a synthetic like him (only much better, obviously). In a touching moment, he tells her that she may be dear to him in ways that she cannot understand, and that he will never leave her. After all, if Data was like a son to him, she would be his granddaughter.<\/p>\n

\"Picard
Dr. Jurati recognizes the symbol on Dahj’s necklace.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI really, really wish you’d come here on my day off.\u201d<\/h2>\n

Picard had wanted to take Dahj to the Daystrom Institute, but now he has to go it alone. He owes it to her to find out who killed her and why. Enter Dr. Agnes Jurati and what\u2019s left of the Institute after the ban on synthetics. It\u2019s a ghost town and they are completely handicapped from doing any actual work.<\/p>\n

As she and Picard talk, we find out that Bruce Maddox recruited her to the Institute, but disappeared himself after the ban went into effect. He had a theory, fractal neuronic cloning (what a wonderful technobabble term), that would have allowed Data\u2019s code and even memories to be reconstituted from a single positronic neuron. Dahj\u2019s necklace, given to her by her father, was a symbol for this process. Added bonus: the process would create a pair of synthetics. Twins.<\/p>\n

\"Picard
Narek just happens to bump into Suji.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSo there\u2019s another one.\u201d<\/h2>\n

So now we have a \u201cfind the girl\u201d setup for the rest of the season. We already know where she is though, living aboard a Romulan \u201creclamation site,\u201d aka a Borg cube. That\u2019s gonna be a tough place for Picard to visit. She is not only living aboard the Borg cube, but apparently also working there, perhaps as a kind of ship\u2019s counsellor for the crew, if I may be so bold.<\/p>\n

She meets a Romulan, Narek, who is new to the site. In the course of their conversation, he reveals that he had a brother that was lost, very unexpectedly, a year ago. Hmm. Just the kind of thing that could radicalize a young man. Or maybe that\u2019s just a cover story to get him closer to Suji, since it apparently appeals enough to make her want to listen to his story on her time off. The actor, Harry Treadaway, played the title bad guy in the Stephen King series Mr. Mercedes<\/a><\/em>, so I can\u2019t help but be instantly suspicious of him. We\u2019ll see how it plays out.<\/p>\n

The real question is, what is the connection between the synthetics and the Romulans? Dahj is attacked by Romulans intent on kidnapping her. The rogue synths attacked Mars to destroy the Romulan rescue armada. Dahj\u2019s would-be kidnappers are Romulan, and they wanted to know \u201cwhere are the rest of you\u201d and \u201cwhere are you from?\u201d It seems like the Federation is possibly finding itself in the middle of a secret war between the two factions.<\/p>\n

Despite the Federation\u2019s withdraw from the rescue, it appears that Romulans and humans have gotten much tighter in the last few decades. There are Romulans living on Earth at Chateau Picard. Suji is living and working at a Romulan \u201creclamation site.\u201d The anniversary of the Romulan supernova is a solemn day in the Federation.<\/p>\n

Along with synthetics and Romulans, we also have the Borg to deal with. The other big surprise this episode was the Borg cube reveal at the end. There\u2019s a Borg cube shown in the opening credits, and there was a Borg drone seen in the preview clips. And of course we have ex-Borgs Seven and Hugh in the cast. Sure seems like the Borg are going to play a role in this season.<\/p>\n

\"Picard
Picard offers Data milk for his tea.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Easter Eggs<\/h2>\n