Picard faces his traumas…

The Next Generation spin-off’s second season screeches to a halt as the best part of the episode is spent in addressing the childhood trauma that is currently holding Picard in stasis. While it has been hinted at in previous episodes this year, the single focus is on the dramatic event, which understandably upset the young Jean-Luc, but ultimately now proves him to be an unreliable witness.

When a show only has 10 episodes and has spent the previous two in building up some momentum, it’s a bizarre choice to focus on this trauma when there’s a bigger story that needs addressing. Are we to believe that Picard became the no-nonsense captain we’ve loved since 1987 all because of a misremembered event? It smacks of a bottle show logic or possibly trying to keep Stewart in the studio away from lots of people (a Covid deterrent?)

Fortunately, Seven is still on the case, recognising what has happened to Jurati, and adding some explanation as to why the Borg Queen’s host smashed out a bar’s window – a scene which one cynically suspects was inserted to allow Patrick Stewart’s wife to perform a song. Things pick up a bit when Picard visits Guinan, and we learn a bit about the relationship between El-Aurians and the Q Continuum. But how convenient is it that that bottle was to hand, and isn’t the ending just a minor rehash of Episode 3’s cliffhanger? And let’s not even talk about loved-up Rios.

Verdict: There’s three episodes left to save this season, which tonally continues to be all over the place. 6/10

Nick Joy