With time running out, Picard, Riker and crew must confront the sins of their past and heal fresh wounds, while the Titan, dead in the water, drifts helplessly toward certain destruction within a mysterious space anomaly.

As with other episodes this season, we begin with a flashback, this time to five years previously when Picard was quizzed by adoring cadets. Jean-Luc used to have a very different attitude towards life and family, but now that there’s another clock ticking down (four hours until the Titan is crushed, maybe sooner before air support is gone) he uses what remaining time he has with his son, Jack.

Members of the crew devise a way to track down the Changeling, but the more pressing matter is how to power up the ship, which is down to 9% power. As with the best Trek, the day is saved by clever people coming up with intelligent solutions, and there’s a nice throwback to TNG’s opening episode.

If this is the ‘ship in distress’ episode, it feels like we’re ready to move on to addressing the season’s main focus – what was stolen from Daystrom, and why. But for the first time this year, sections of the episode felt languorous, and while the action sequences are accomplished, the pacing was just a little off.

Verdict: The Titan crew engineer their way out of a no-win scenario and there’s some essential healing taking place, but I’m ready to move on a bit. 7/10

Nick Joy