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Posted in: Paramount+, Review, Star Trek, streaming, TV | Tagged: Ed Speleers, Gates McFadden, jeri ryan, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, patrick stewart, Review, star trek, Star Trek Picard
Star Trek: Picard: Season 3 Ep. 2 Review: Cerebral Space Chess Match
Paramount+'s Star Trek: Picard S03E02 "Disengage"dials up the tensions right out of the gate as Speleers, Stashwick & Plummer shine.
When we last saw Jean-Luc (Patrick Stewart) and William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), they found themselves in the vessel Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) and Jack (Ed Speleers) are on when she sent the encrypted distress call battling an uncertain enemy. Meanwhile, things couldn't get more tense between the U.S.S. Titan-A's Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick) and first officer Cmdr. Annika Hansen/Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). The following contains minor spoilers for the Star Trek: Picard episode "Disengage."
Star Trek: Picard: Unraveling Jack's Past
We come to find out from the premiere episode that Jack Crusher, who shares the name of Jean-Luc's best friend, Wesley's (Wil Wheaton) father, and Beverly's late husband, is Beverly's son. Not everything is as it seems as he, Jean-Luc, and Will try to make sense of their situation. We also start scratching the surface of the rabbit hole of his past, along with what he and Beverly have been doing outside of Starfleet, hanging around at the border. Naturally, the bulk of the action takes place on Beverly and Jack's vessel, the SS Eleos XII and the Titan. We also meet the season's "villain" in Vadic, played devilishly by Amanda Plummer as she chews every scene she's in pure Shakespearean fashion. She's as overconfident as her ship is powerful and sure, the scenes are formulaic, but the execution is so exquisite.
Every major cog running that machine works so well, especially Plummer, Ryan, Stewart, Frakes, Speleers, and Stashwick. If there's one thing I "have" to gripe about following the premiere episode "The Next Generation" that borders on nonsensical and one that involved executive producer and showrunner Terry Matalas was that one fan was tired of hardass by-the-book bureaucrats among the ranks of Starfleet that might get in the way of our heroes. But then, it's like some fans forget how storyline and character development work, as well as the importance of a structured narrative. Are people not allowed to create "characters" anymore without checking off the boxes of some trope they're personally inconvenienced? This is, in part, why I don't pay attention to much of the current discourse and vitriol because it doesn't fit 100 percent of their ironic utopian Star Trek series. There's nothing wrong with deconstructing and criticizing a series, but we're beyond splitting hairs at this point.
The other major developing arc is Raffi (Michelle Hurd) and her attempt to unravel the conspiracy that threatens the Federation. Naturally, her handlers at Starfleet Intelligence hamstring her efforts to dig deeper since we're playing up the loose canon card. As she tries to Columbo her way deeper, she gets into the seedier circles because undercover work takes a toll. Just when we think our hero might be down and out, another familiar face emerges in a surprisingly more badass fashion than Beverly's reintroduction. Who that is, along with Jack's "big secret," are probably things you can easily guess.
Directed by Doug Aarniokoski, who also directed the season premiere and written by Christopher Monfette and Sean Tretta, the stakes are raised, and nothing is wasted from the top on down. Plummer, the daughter of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) star Christopher Plummer, has her father's charm and delivery far more worthy of a final adversary as Vadic than Tom Hardy's Shinzon from Nemesis (2002). I might lose my shit if she says, "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!" New episodes of Star Trek: Picard stream Thursdays on Paramount+.
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 2 "Disengage"
9/10
Director Doug Aarniokoski and writers Christopher Monfette and Sean Tretta build upon an already strong Star Trek: Picard season premiere with the follow-up episode "Disengage." All the original cast members shine in some very impressive ways, as do series newcomers Ed Speleers, Todd Stashwick, and Amanda Plummer. Another classic Star Trek episode.
Credits
Director
Doug Aarniokoski
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