Star Trek: Picard S01E05 Stardust City Rag

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This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on February 20, 2020). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

Star Trek: Picard S01E05: A somewhat uneven mix of Las Vegas heist caper and serious themes. Parts I greatly enjoyed (the outfits, Patrick Stewart going overboard), other parts (the opening scene in particular)…not as much. Not bad, but not as good as prior episodes.

  • Oh, sure, they bring back one of the Borg Babies, just to kill him off? Okay, sure, it’s motivation, and ties into Seven’s story, but it’s a sad end to what was an interesting Voyager character. (And while for those who know the Voyager backstory, it’s part of a much larger arc and works for motivation, for those who don’t make that connection, could this come off as another “fridging” moment?)

  • Lots of fan service (tranya, and both Mr. Mott’s barbershop and Quark’s Bar have apparently either gone franchise or just moved to Freecloud).

  • More info on the Fenris Rangers, as it turns out that’s what Seven has been doing. I did like the look at what Seven’s been up to over the past 14 years, and I hope this isn’t the last we see of her in this show.

  • Given the horrible surgery of the opening scene, and it being obvious that Bjayzl was still in the same business, I’m entirely okay with Seven’s taking her out.

  • That name, though…. Bjayzl? I was half-convinced that it was “vajazzle” at first.

  • Raffi’s detour to try to reconnect with her estranged son fleshed out her character’s story more, and introduced a few more pieces of the conspiracy puzzle, but did seem like it wrapped up pretty quickly. And his wife seemed rather nonplussed at meeting her husband’s estranged mother, as well. Important pieces, but maybe wrapped up too quickly?

  • There was suspicion that Jurati was going to be a bit problematic, and now it’s pretty clear that her meeting with Commodore Oh likely included giving her some amount of information about Soji being “the destroyer”. There’s definitely more to come here.

  • And it’s finally confirmed that Dahj and Soji’s mom isn’t a real person, but an AI construct that helps keep them under control.

  • Bruce Maddox was definitely not the person we met all those years ago on TNG. Lots of “mad scientist” vibes in this show (Maddox, Bjayzl, all the staff on the Artifact…).