Deron Generally
Deron GenerallyStar Trek: Picard
Paramount Plus
Season 2 Episode 9
Hide and Seek
Picard and his crew fight for their lives as they come under attack from a new incarnation of an old enemy. But to survive, Picard must first face the ghosts of his past. Seven and Raffi
The battle for La Sirena begins as Jurati/Borg Queen returns with a mini collective of mercenaries to take over the ship. Rios and the others are forced to flee and Jurati becomes more like the Queen as Picard and the others make their way to the chateau and face off against the Queen’s small army. Things are finally starting to get interesting as Jurati asserts herself and shows that she isn’t the weak link in the story. She finally shows the character growth I wanted from the beginning of the season.
Picard and his team are pinned down outside of the ship as Jurati fights the Queen both in her mind and with the return of a member of the cast that got the short end of the stick storywise this season. As exciting as things are starting to get, the momentum gets blown to hell by taking Picard into a flashback at the most heavy handed of moments. When the action returns to the present, Picard does something tactically stupid before a completely uneccesary verbal tet a tet with Soong that adds nothing to the story.
Raffi and Seven discover that they can work together as long as their interactions involve killing. The scene was really well done, but a little too dark visually. Picard and Tallinn have another series of impromptu therapy sessions as the tension builds around them. We finally find out what happened to Seven when Voyager returned and frankly, another story that should have been given more time and consideration. Instead, we get more of Picard’s mother and her struggles. Struggles that could have been a lot more compelling if they didn’t feel so shallow.
There’s some great action in the episode though. The return of Elnor in hologram form was well done and his scenes are excellent. Picard is finally confronted by Soong as Jurati fights back against the Queen and she finally does something that is interesting. Picard finally confronts the truth about his life and the legacy of his mother.
The episode has some interesting themes and moments throughout. As a Trek fan, it changes a fundamental moment in the character’s past. I like that the story actually explains that change with the revelation of the truth. The conclusion of the episode is weird on a lot of levels because it fundamentally changes so many things that defined Picard and his adventures. It’s an imperfect episode that has a lot of intriguing moments within it that I actually enjoyed on some level.
Star Trek: Picard S02XE09
