In Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 5 “Imposters,” a familiar face from Picard’s past makes their return while deeper conspiracies begin to unravel. Picard has to confront Starfleet for his involvement in endangering the lives of the crew of the Titan as deeper mysteries come to light about the Changelings. This episode digs deeper into the lives of the characters while the development of this season’s plot is starting to zip up the two side stories into one. This episode continues the series’ streak of creating fantastic character arcs, and closes out a huge arc with a major player from The Next Generation series.
WARNING! WATCH THE EPISODE BEFORE READING AHEAD TO AVOID SPOILERS!
The status of Jack Crusher remains a mystery. The pre-title sequence begins with the bridge crew checking on the status of the ship after taking a beating by Vadic in the Shrike. Jack Crusher, donning a Starfleet uniform, enters the bridge and shoots the members of the crew. Lt. Esmar was one of the last ones to survive, and a very ominous “I know what you really are” were the last words uttered before being engulfed by a strange, red infection and being shot thereafter.
Fortunately, the crew didn’t actually die, and the scene was a part of another one of Jack’s visions that appear to be getting stronger and more frequent with each episode. Although it may be somewhat difficult to predict what could be causing Jack’s visions or how his character came to be, subtle hints may reveal possible further ties to the Changelings. Furthermore, it helps to turn up the volume of the TV speakers or have a decent sound system with captions turned on to hear two very distinct voices when he has those visions.
Worf and Raffi are Star Trek’s Dynamic Duo
Worf (Michael Dorn) and Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd) have really gained some traction since we last saw them starting to work together. In this season of Picard, Raffi is working in the very shady underbelly of the planet M’Talas Prime as a Starfleet Intelligence operative.
On this planet, she is attempting to uncover a mysterious threat to Starfleet. Raffi was guided and watched by a handler as she was working, and, in a brilliant way of revealing himself as the handler, Worf saves Raffi at the very last minute before being executed by a Ferengi named Sneed in the second episode of the season. Eventually, Raffi and Worf have partnered up to gain more insight into the threats against the Federation.
Worf has pivoted into a more passive-aggressive approach by integrating more calm into his lifestyle, yet he’s ready to attack and defend at a moment’s notice. In contrast, Raffi lacks patience and deals out a lot of aggression and haste in her own approach to action. Worf is quick to point out these traits to her in a teacher-student moment when they are sparring with together on the ship, the La Sirena. These lessons come in handy when they confront Krinn, a crime boss and associate of Sneed back on M’Talas Prime.
Based on their training together, Worf devised a plan of deceit by sacrificing himself in a battle to the death with Raffi. After faking his alleged death at the hands of Raffi, Worf surprises Krinn and takes him hostage in order to interrogate him. Raffi and Worf then obtain an object that will help them gain entry into Daystrom Station (think Star Trek’s version of the highly classified location of Area 51 in Nevada).
The Return of Ro Laren
As mentioned earlier, major character arcs have been the central focus this season, especially when they include the cast from TNG. Beyond the main cast, however, lies someone who has strong ties to Picard. Making a huge, surprising entrance and tying in seamlessly to this episode’s writing is Michelle Forbes reprising her role as Ro Laren, this time bearing the rank of Commander.
Having appeared in 7 episodes and sporting the rank of Ensign on the TNG series, she comes back to face Picard as the apparent representative of Starfleet to provide a court martial hearing for Picard for his and Riker’s alleged treason.
It’s ironic to have Ro come back in a Starfleet uniform since abandoning Starfleet and joining a group of terrorists called the Maquis in the TNG series. However, the history between Ro and Picard still add an interesting touch to the story of this season. In short, Picard could be considered a mentor to Ro despite conflicting values and beliefs. Ro, however, thought otherwise, and essentially betrayed Picard.
When Ro begins to question Picard about his and Riker’s takeover of the Titan, and with special interest in Picard’s son, he notices that she is not wearing her Bajoran earring, a nod to a scene in TNG when Picard informed her that the wearing of that earring was against Starfleet uniform regulations, but allows her to continue wearing it due to her “faith”. It was nice to see this mentioned and brought up again because it does tie into their first meeting together, albeit different circumstances in this season of Picard.
Dr. Beverly Crusher contacts Picard during the interrogation over the ship’s PA system to inform him that the test results on the Changeling that duplicated Ensign LaForge’s likeness are complete. He sees a private message on one of the ship’s panels, and plans to join Beverly in sickbay. He is escorted by Ro and two of her security officers until she pulls a phaser pistol on him and instructs him to go to the Holodeck instead. It appears that 10 Forward just happens to be the best place to go for storytelling, confessions, and even therapeutic talk. It is a bar, after all.
With the phaser pistol still pointed at Picard, he pulls out his own hidden phaser underneath the bar, courtesy of Guinan, but not without turning off the safety protocols of the Holodeck first. Ro then informs Picard that she had to resort to confronting him this way to ensure that he is who he says he is. With knowledge that Changelings have compromised Starfleet, Ro and Picard begin to trade words with each other and express their different perspectives on how their relationship developed.
Ro expressed her resentment that Picard wanted to “mold [her] in [his] image” while Picard makes the argument that she and he had a “bond based on mutual respect.” It was at this moment that both Ro and Picard felt a certain pain having both felt betrayal. It was the sincerity in each other’s way of expression that led them both to believe that they are being truthful, and, as a result, both of them relent and put their phasers down.
Ro then informs Picard that Starfleet is compromised and that the anticipated “Frontier Day” celebration, the birth of Starfleet, may be the event that the attack on the Federation occurs along with the destruction of the Starfleet Recruitment Center by Vadic’s portal weapon. It is also when Ro tells Picard that she has two operatives on the ground that are working for her and gathering information on whatever the Changelings are after. Without saying, and revealed later in the episode, those two operatives are Worf and Raffi.
Later, Ro goes back to the USS Intrepid and orders her two security officers to return with her, but not before talking with Picard and secretly putting an object in his hands. She mentions that she left do what was she thought was best for her, and that Picard got to know her as much as she would have liked to have known him. Picard then finds that the object placed in his hands is the Bajoran earring of Ro.
The Crew of The Titan on The Run
With Ro going back to the USS Intrepid via the shuttlecraft she used to board the Titan, the two security officers accompanying her plant an explosive on the shuttle before teleporting back onto the Titan. It is also worth mentioning that much of the crew of the Titan have been transported to the Intrepid in the interest of finding out who is still a legitimate member of Starfleet. This leaves the Titan with a skeleton crew left to carry out its functions. With no time to be within transporter range of the shuttle, Ro makes a bold and daring decision to sacrifice her life by running the shuttle with the explosives on board, into one of the warp nacelles of the Intrepid. Picard then advises Captain Shaw to take this opportunity to run. Captain Shaw understandably hesitates since the rest of his crew are on the Intrepid. With the Intrepid powering up its attack and defense systems, the explosion on the nacelle makes it look as if the Titan attacked the ship, therefore framing the Titan. Shaw makes the decision to make their escape as Riker points out that Starfleet will now be after them after what had just occurred.
Message in a Bottle
The Bajoran earring that Ro gave to Picard was not just a memento of her, but rather a highly secure storage device. Riker, aware of some classic spy tactics, gained access to the earring to reveal to Picard a mountain of information detailing Ro’s investigation into Starfleet “all the way up to command”. Worf then came up as an incoming transmission to the surprise of Picard and Riker, but not before asking about Commander Ro. The reaction of Jean-Luc’s face pretty much communicated to Worf about her actions. This was a clever use of the subtle nuances that are tied to specific characters especially for a character like Ro Laren. Moreover, this allowed for proper closure to her character and the relationship ending on a little more positive note for Picard, but not without the sacrifice she made in a very selfless act. What showrunner Terry Matalas has done to bring some background to her character in the huge gap of a timeline since last seeing her fit well into the overall story of this episode.
Overall, this episode was another hit when it comes to developing a story focused on character arcs. It’s also finally good to see that by this halfway point, the audience is bound to see Worf and Raffi leaving M’Talas Prime and join the rest of the crew on the Titan. It will only be soon enough until we see the entire main cast of The Next Generation united on screen in an entire episode.
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