Hello all!
Ric here with a review on Star Trek Picard’s episode six, “Bounty”.
I’ll preface this by saying that this felt the most fanservice-y episode of the series
thus far and I did enjoy it, although it was almost a little too much.
However it does seem to be all in service to the plot and overall theme of the show,
so I’m fine with that.
The central themes of this part are those of legacy and looking into the past to guide
where you are going.
Any episode that has the cast confronting elements of their personal and general Star
Trek history is going to be replete with moments of pointing at the screen from viewers accompanied
by the phrase, “I know that thing!”.
Speaking of…
So I’m going to get this out of the way first before I get to the review.
Let’s explore the ships around the Athan Prime Fleet museum, or as many as I can.
It’s great to get some canonical endings to these ships.
There is the NX-01, but not only that, it is in its refit form, complete with the additional
engineering hull that was installed, giving the classic Starfleet shape to Archer’s
command.
Ahead of that, we have a Klingon D7 battlecruiser, followed by the Bounty, the featured Bird
of Prey from “the Voyage Home” that completed a time travel slingshot to the past under
the command of James Kirk.
Which is pretty fitting that shim helps them, considering that the Bounty was being crewed
by a group of aged Starfleet officers operating outside of Starfleet jurisdiction.
Next to that of course we have the Constitution Refit class, USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A, the
vessel that was rechristened as the Enterprise on presidential orders and granted to Captain
Kirk post court martial, then ahead of that we have the USS Titan-A, posing as a museum
piece but rightly placed next to a prior Constitution class, the old Mark 2, considering this is
considered the Mark 3 or Neo-Connie.
Ahead of this we have what I think is Picard’s first command, the USS Stargazer featured
in “the Battle”.
Next up is the USS New Jersey, a vessel bearing the 2267 era Constitution look down to a T.
As far as I could tell this is a new addition the lore, but it looks like it would have
been one of the last ships to retain this shape of constitution before the line was
overhauled to the Mark 2 Refit.
Ahead of that we have an Akira class, I cannot make out the name from what we see, but these
were constructed to confront the Borg and are still in operation as seen in Picard season
2.
Next to that is the USS Excelsior NCC-2000, Captain Sulu’s vessel and originally the
transwarp prototype.
After that failure however it went on to serve as the baseline class for one of the longest
serving lines in Starfleet.
Then we have the USS Voyager, the furthest travelled Starfleet vessel, apparently stripped
of all its innovations from the future.
Ahead of that is a nebula class with the weapons pod loadout.
On the next rung down, there is a Sabre class docked here, a Dominion War era attack ship
as well as a second Akira, next to the most notable vessel of that conflict, the USS Defiant,
it's a shame Worf did not get a chance to look at it once more.
Next to that was a Romulan Bird of Prey, not sure how that ended up in a Starfleet display
however.
From the end credits, we can also speculate that the USS Pioneer is there too and from
Picard’s season 2, we learn in the background that the Enterprise D saucer section is there
too.
I presume these are inside the Museum as it is a Spacedock class station, which features
a massive internal hanger.
Much of this episode focuses on the past and legacy.
We visit the fleet museum and get to examine (in passing) old heroes of Star Trek and one
poignant moment is when, in the description of legacies, the camera pans across the older
vessels then on to the Titan A saying how legacy is not just retreading the past, but
innovating forwards.
Of course the lineages we are examining are not just the ships sat in their docks, but
the characters themselves.
Seven spends a moment reflecting on Voyager, her old life, a home for 4 years and a family
that took her in.
The emotion at play on her face was nostalgic, affectionate and a touch sad, a slight longing
for times passed, but a time that informs her actions to this day.
The young Crusher too continues to come to terms with his father being Admiral Picard,
and like the name of Enterprise being passed down, Jack has inherited many traits from
his father.
Initially we are told that his visions are the early markers of Irumodic syndrome afflicting
him far earlier than they did in Picard.
For now, these visions are dismissed as just that, but I think there is still more to them,
but for now, the show is putting a pin in it and moving on.
Sydney LaForge gets a lot of time in the spotlight here too, with her reflecting Jack’s own
struggle with a legendary parent.
She too did not follow in her father’s footsteps as an engineer, unlike her sister, Mica Burton’s
Alandra.
Her and Jack even bond over this, much to her father’s chagrin and while their parents
reach an impasse, it falls to them to take matters into their own hands.
Geordie to reflects on his past on the Enterprise and how he chose to risk his life back then,
another dose of hindsight informing his present actions, eventually spurring him to help.
Even the Moriarty simulation comments about how these tired old warriors have their lives
and history writ upon their faces.
With the USS Titan on the run from Starfleet we see that they have taken to dropping false
subspace transponders across erratic warp trajectories in order to throw off their pursuers.
It’s a good aside that shows how they are managing to keep ahead of the fleet, that
and the Titan can maintain warp 9.99 without issue.
One small gripe however, it gets mentioned later on that the Titan was discovered the
minute it reached Daystrom Station because all the Starfleet ships are effectively networked
and share their IFF information, meaning that creating a phoney identity for the Titan will
not work.
This was told to the crew by Georie LaForge, yet it seems like a fleetwide development
every captain would know.
Picard and Riker can be excused because they have been out of touch with the latest in
Starfleet procedure, but Shaw and Seven?
I think they would have known this.
Shaw meeting with Geordie revealed an unexpected angle to him, but one that fits perfectly
well with his career, he may disregard Picard and Riker, but he idolises Commodore LaForge
for his engineering skill and contributions to ship design.
This episode is also replete with reveals, one of which was caused by the slight misdirection
of the trailers, with the recovery of the synthetic Golem housing a conglomeration of
the Soong types’ minds and even Soong himself.
It is described as being predominantly Data, but with all the minds and personalities of
the Soong family inside it, for now however, we get to see a “new” Data emerge, although
confused.
While wonderful to see once more, I think it’s clear that in time, these new personalities
will merge into a gestalt personality.
I was convinced that the Daystrom AI would be Moriarty, but not quite.
Moriarty was just a single projection conjured from the mind(s) of Data in recognition of
Riker.
I would have honestly liked to have seen a whole episode with the away team evading a
Moriarty A.I, but the whole puzzle was ironed out within minutes, which I feel did dampen
the threat level.
But it was all a red herring anyway.
So bringing “Data” back again for a third time?
Not sure how I feel about it, one of the universally liked things from Picard’s season 1 was
the farewell he and Picard had as his mind was disabled in its finality.
I’m going to have to sit with this and see how it pans out, because I don’t think it
necessarily cheapens the earlier death but… yeah.
Can’t lie though, I appreciated seeing Brent Spiner back again as Data, even this new version.
It was interesting seeing him switch between the mannerisms of Lore, B4, Data and Soong.
Other Section 31 finds included a Genesis II device, which I initially thought was the
Pegasus Cloak, the corpse of James T. Kirk, recovered from Veridian III which is a little
morbid there.
And a genetically modified aggressive attack tribble which takes issue with Worf.
Of course the second big reveal is that the Changelings were after the body of Jean-Luc
Picard, who must be moderately horrified to learn his corpse ended up in the hands of
Starfleet Intelligence and Section 31.
This furthers the theory that something about Picard and Crusher is special, something connected
to Irumodic Syndrome and that his DNA or mind may hold something the Changelings need.
A remnant of his time as Locutus perhaps, after all, he could still hear and feel the
Borg, even when disconnected so something of the collective was left with him.
So, Vadic is a changeling, which is something I was a little vague on.
She seems very… unhinged and un-changeling-like, even smoking cigars and delighting in the
twist of the knife.
Generally the Dominion era changeliges were ruthless for sure, but cold and simply had
a disregard for Solid life bordering on dispassionate.
She makes reference to a desire for there to be unity once more, and I wonder if she
aims to unify the Great Link of her people into one voice again, as it was before the
Dominion War.
Odo’s return brought with it a new view of Solid life, which has caused a schism in
the Great Link, an hitherto unthinkable stance.
These renegades could be attempting to force cohesion once more.
So, for me, the episode in full was not one of my favourites this season.
I enjoyed every moment of it, but even having reflected on it over the course of this review,
much of my enjoyment came from the references and nostalgia to prior Trek series.
Considering the subject matter of legacy in lineage woven throughout, it was understandable
that it would rely a lot on hindsight however.
It was a joy to see Geordie again and he was pretty much exactly how I pictured his return
and I’ll put a pin in how I feel about “More than Data’s” return until it plays out.
Still a fantastic episode, that continues the trend of Picard season three being the
best of them but maybe just a little, and I stress “a little” too heavy handed with
extraneous callbacks for my liking.
Things like the Section 31 relics could have been trimmed and it still made plot sense,
although the fact that they are harbouring the bodies of Enterprise captains was established
by the remains of James Kirk earlier on, so maybe I’m being a little harsh.
Thanks for watching this review of episode six, I’ve been Ric and I’ll see you later
for another one, thanks again and goodbye!