Whereas all that is occurring, Raffi (Michelle Hurd) is engaged on a plot of her personal. Now an spy for an unseen Starfleet contact, Raffi has infiltrated the legal underground — she had connections after years of drug dependancy — and is in search of a mysterious weapon stolen from a Federation house station. The weapon is, kind of, a portal gun from the online game “Portal,” however highly effective sufficient to swallow up buildings and starships. Raffi witnesses the Starfleet recruitment constructing getting sucked into the bottom, solely to be dropped once more from a mile up. The devastation is huge, however “Picard” has the nice style to proceed with the investigation moderately than wallow in dying and tragedy.
The episode ends with Picard and Riker on board Crusher’s ship, assembly the mysterious younger man Jack, who publicizes he’s her son (odd that he is named after her useless first husband). It is Jack the masked baddies at first needed. Jack is brash and legal — positively a Han Solo kind. An enormous pointy warship seems out of a nebula. Reduce to black. It is all very thrilling.
“Picard” is clearly being written much less like a thriller sequence a la “Misplaced” and extra like a characteristic movie. The change is appreciated. Stringing alongside a season-long thriller is a irritating strategy to watch TV; simply because it labored for “Misplaced” does not imply it will each time, or ever once more. The opening episode of “Picard” would not a lot plant the seeds for mysteries, however introduces components to be explored later. We’ll get to know Jack, after all. We’ll meet up with Crusher. And, most significantly, we’ll respect the connection between these characters.
This new season is so, so a lot better than what got here earlier than.