Well, they can’t all be awesome. This wasn’t the worst episode of Picard, I didn’t outright hate it nor did I think it jumped the shark or anything like that. But it is the worst episode of the season so far. Dominion is a bottle show, with cliffhangers from last week still hanging.

Riker, Worf, and Rafi are noticeably absent, save for a quick moment where a changeling takes Riker’s form for a moment to taunt Seven. Vadic puts Riker in the fridge or a storage unit or something and takes time to invade the Titan.

Well, I get ahead of myself. A lot happened and it did move the plot forward but due to the issues with having a bottle show, there are some real WTF moments. I don’t mean you’re shocked by revelations, I mean moments when you think:

“The bad guy is 3 feet behind Sydney, just pull the trigger!”

The Titan is on the run trying to get help from anyone they can. Seven contacts Tuvok, a captain now and way too gray for a Vulcan. She tests him and he appears at first to be the real deal, but no. Then he threatens them, taking on Riker’s form in a really disconcerting moment.

Vadic contacts her superior, who tells her again to get Picard’s kid. Interestingly, he appears to not be a changeling, referring to her and the rest of the changelings as if he isn’t one. Who could it be?

Meanwhile, Picard and crew hatch a plan to draw Vadic out. It’s not a terrible plan, but of course, it goes wrong and Vadic ends up taking over the ship. Before that happens, thanks to some force field shenanigans similar to what Data pulled in Brothers in Season 4, they trap various changelings in place. This allows us to get Vadic’s backstory.

In a nutshell, she is pissed because she was captured by the Federation where they poked and prodded and basically tortured her in order to turn her into a weapon. I know Section 31 is a bit shady, but this is way over the line for me. The Federation, even at its worst, only did what was absolutely necessary. I think back on Sisco bringing the Romulans into the Dominion War, killing a Romulan to do it. It was bad, no doubt but you can buy into it. It wasn’t done for any enjoyment.

The torture of prisoners after the war was over? Even Section 31 wouldn’t do that. And they certainly wouldn’t use 21st-century-style hypodermic needles. They have all those sprays and laser stuff. That’s one of the things I love about Star Trek, the medicine is almost always non-invasive. They don’t need to use crude instruments anymore. The whole thing really puts the Federation into evil territory.

Then there were some moments with Jack which pretty much puts to bed any idea of Irumodic syndrome. That was not going to be a thing and we all knew it from the very beginning. Unless space-Alzheimer’s gives you telepathy and lets you remote control a person. Yeah, that didn’t really work for me.

Vadic’s story does make her a bit sympathetic but really, she’s Darth Vader in the first Star Wars. She’s a henchman, a second fiddle for the real bad guy. Who we still don’t know.

Meanwhile Data and Lore are fighting for control of his new body. Lore creates havoc and Geordi has a tearful moment to get Data to take back control. I do love seeing LaForge and Data back together in an engine room working on technobullshit again.

We still don’t really know why they took Picard’s body. It has to do with Frontier Day where he was supposed to make a speech. Maybe make a clone of him. Something that would pass all screenings except with a nuclear bomb hidden in his butt or something.

Shaw has had very little to do except get injured again when they took over the ship. I really hope they give him more as I have been really enjoying his character but the last two episodes have sat him out for some reason. He’s the captain of the darn ship last I checked.

I expect a nice bounce back in Episode 8 leading to the conclusion of the series. This episode isn’t quite as bad as I’m making out, but it’s certainly not at the standards that have been set this season.

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