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Posted in: Paramount+, Review, Star Trek, streaming, TV | Tagged: Jonathan Frakes, paramount, patrick stewart, Review, star trek, Star Trek Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 3 Review: The More Things Change
Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn & Michelle Hurd turn in a gem of an action-filled episode of Paramount+'s Star Trek: Picard.
The latest Star Trek: Picard follows up on the eventual reunion between Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) and her former Enterprise-D captain and on-and-off again love Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in the episode "Seventeen Seconds." The U.S.S. Titan-A is in a dangerous battle with an overpowering enemy Vadic (Amanda Plummer), and her ship, the Shrike. We also catch up with Raffi's (Michelle Hurd) savior from the sting that went south. The following contains minor spoilers.
Star Trek: Picard: A Conspiracy on Multiple Fronts
To say that Vadic seems to be one, perhaps maybe three steps ahead of the Federation would be an understatement. Any previous ship battles in nebulas you experienced in Trek's past, I'm looking at you, "Wrath of Khan," you can completely throw out because it's still early, and there's a long game to be played here. After we get some expected blanks filled in from the Beverly-Jean-Luc reunion, the bulk of the episode is trying to find out how to get the Titan out of the mess that it's in. Shaw (Todd Shashwick) is incapacitated but not before handing the reins over to Riker (Jonathan Frakes, who also directed the episode), with his former captain "acting" as his first officer in a role reversal.
Also in deconstructing the problems separately are Seven (Jeri Ryan) and Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) as they find out there is more to the Titan's predicament than they realize. The two share a good rapport with each other. The main focus of the tension, however, might come as a surprise in Riker and Picard as they try to sort out how to out-maneuver the Shrike. The earlier is adopting a defense-specific strategy on brand with Shaw, while the latter wants to mount a counteroffensive. While not exactly the level of the 1995 Naval classic Crimson Tide with Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington, I was quite impressed with Stewart and Frakes' performances as it rivaled the times Kirk (William Shatner and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) bumped heads on The Original Series.
Too often, we get lulled into their camaraderie, we forget they have their styles and methodology for tackling the problems. As we never got a Captain Riker series, we've been exposed to his command style less than a handful of times on TV. I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out in the next few episodes. The other arc continues with Raffi and her handler, who we discover is Worf (Michael Dorn). Marina Sirtis (Troi) wasn't kidding when she said how much of an MVP he's becoming. Rather than going down the rabbit hole alone, Raffi is working with the "legend" on unraveling the conspiracy and ties to the franchise's syndicated past. I could watch them do "good-cop, bad-cop" all day.
Written by Jane Maggs and Cindy Appel, Star Trek: Picard tops itself again in raising the bar even higher that's on par with The Next Generation's finest moments. There's also a nice tribute to Deep Space Nine star René Auberjonois. Star Trek: Picard streams Thursdays on Paramount+.
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 3 "Seventeen Seconds"
9/10
Star Trek: Picard stars Patrick Stewart & Jonathan Frakes (who also directed) are in their finest form in this jam-packed episode, while Michael Dorn & Michelle Hurd almost steal the episode in their A-arc storyline. This has the potential to be the best season of Star Trek in the Paramount+ era.
Credits
Director
Jonathan Frakes
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