Star Trek: Picard (Season 3), Episode 4: If we look at Star Trek: Picard Season 3 as a long movie, then these first four episodes could be taken as the end of the first act in this movie. This fourth episode manages to close out a definite arc within the show itself, completes the Wrath of Khan homage it had been evoking for the past three episodes, and yet manages to be about big ideas and inter-relationships, which Star Trek has always been known for and idealized.
Star Trek: Picard (Season 3), Episode 4 Recap:
“No-Win Scenario”
In Star Trek lore, a “no-win scenario” usually refers to the Kobayashi Maru test, a test employed at the Starfleet Academy where the cadet tested had to captain a ship and face a literal “no-win scenario.” There is no possible outcome within the test where the captain of the ship could “succeed,” and the test was designed to teach the cadets to accept the no-win scenario as a form of unthinkable inevitability.
The episode opens with Picard sitting at a corner table at 10 Forward Avenue in 2396, getting his lunch. However, he is accosted by a bunch of young cadets who want to ask him about his encounter with the Hirogen and how he managed to escape from the Alpha. Interesting, because this mission sounds like it takes place after the events of Star Trek Voyager, as the Hirogen had usually been localized in the Delta Quadrant, which is why one of the cadets questions whether Janeway had advised him in any way.
Initially deflecting, saying he “isn’t one for stories,” Picard finally relents and recounts how Lieutenant Commander Worf had constructed a “deadfall trap,” making the hunter into the prey. He then urges the cadets to remember that even a no-win situation could seem manageable if the crew held steadfast in their determination, as that would inspire hope.
Five years later, in the present day, with the USS Titan following deeper into the gravity well, Riker orders more power from other systems. Still, Ensign Esmar (the Bajoran) informs them there is no system to pull power from. With the damage sustained to the ship’s systems, the main power is down to 9% and depleting faster every time they try to draw power. When Riker suggests pulling power from either the warp core or the impulse engine, Esmar warns that it might melt the warp core.
Riker finally takes the grim decision to divert everything to life support and sustain it for a few hours. He orders the crew to huddle in common areas to conserve life support—just then, a blinding flash heralds a bio-electrical wave that is going to strike the ship. Ensign Mura reports damage to the shields, warning that they will lose them altogether if they are not lowered between impacts. Riker, who has resigned, orders the shield to be lowered.
Riker goes to Picard and stops him from apologizing, informing him that the Titan is dead in the water and will be crushed by the gravity well within four hours. By that time, the life support would have already failed. Conceding that Picard had been right, Riker recalls how the burial of his young son Thaddeus resembled looking through a dark tunnel of nothingness, even though the depth of the grave was only six feet. Riker laments that their travels across the cosmos haven’t proven to him the existence of an afterlife or anything resembling one after death.
Riker had been unable to shake that feeling of all-encompassing emptiness. Deanna Troi, the empath (Betazoid), couldn’t stand to live with a man unable to feel anything, and Riker admits he could not live with it. That was the reason why he escaped to join Picard on this adventure, only to face this darkness again. He advises Picard to use these few hours to get to know his son, as this is unequivocally the end.
Seven of Nine reports to Riker that the body of the real Ensign Foster has been found in his quarters. Judging by the decomposition of the body, there are seven reasons that the changeling had infiltrated the ship days before the ambush on Jack Crusher. Riker orders her to keep it quiet. When Seven protests, Riker reasons that the morale of the crew is at an all-time low, and if Vadic’s mission was to capture and deliver Jack Crusher, she would have done so already.
He suggests that Seven’s rank could be reinstated, but her working in an unofficial capacity might work to capture the changeling, which Riker orders Seven to do. Back at sickbay, Ensign Foster’s body is being put in a body bag while Beverly counts down from seven to one until another bio-electrical charge hits the ship. Picard enters and requests that Beverly give him a few minutes alone with Jack.
Alone in his quarters, Captain Shaw is visited by Seven of Nine, to whom he comments sarcastically at how his ship had been done a bang-up job by his heroes. Seven gets straight to the point and informs him that there is a changeling on board. Judging by the state of the body, the changeling had been on the ship before they had picked up the Crushers. Thus, she reluctantly requests Shaw’s help, as they have a major personnel problem, and no one knows the ship better than Shaw.
Alone in the conference room, Riker begins a recording for Deanna Troi if the ship is recovered from the gravity well but is unable to begin a message coherently. Meanwhile, Picard takes Jack to the holodeck, which has been recreated into the 10 Forward Avenue bar, a place of great significance to him. He asks Jack whether he has been here before, to which Jack answers in the negative. Picard invites him to have a drink, something from his backyard, but Jack declines as he is not a “wine guy.” He asks for a whiskey on the rocks, preferably a cheap one.
Jack is surprised that the holodeck is running given the state of the ship, but Picard explains that the holodeck runs on a separate independent power source, such that the crew could utilize it in times of distress. While Jack sarcastically comments on how this “tropical paradise” is as good a place to die on while the ship implodes around them, Jack’s question feels like one of those pesky fandom questions that finally resolves some of the questions fans had regarding the Holodeck (especially Voyager).
Jack tries to refer to the “elephant in the room”—the lack of hair. We realize that humor is Jack’s defense mechanism to break the ice. Picard then finally cuts to the chase, asking Jack directly why he decides not to get to know his father. Instead of answering his father directly, Jack deflects and regales him with a story about one of his adventures.
Back at Shaw’s quarters, Shaw explains to Seven about the changelings, considering that she has never encountered one before. Calling them “walking, talking clay dough,” able to replicate voices, speech patterns, and mannerisms on sight, Shaw explains that the only way to identify one is to ask them a personal question the Changeling wouldn’t know and would answer wrongly, or check if the character behaves differently from his normal patterns. As Shaw explains, if he were a changeling, he would have apologized to Seven by now, having gotten off on the wrong foot and underestimated her; he truly believes she would be a great captain one day.
Seven rolls her eyes but understands Shaw’s reasoning. Shaw also reveals that the changeling is unable to hold their solid structure for a long period and has to reconstitute in their liquid state in a receptacle. He shows her an outline of the receptacle based on Starfleet’s files on Odo. He explains that the receptacle would contain residual goo, which could help her scan for the changeling by inputting it into the computer in the biochemistry lab. Another bioelectrical wave strikes the ship while Seven tears through Foster’s quarters, ultimately finding the receptacle hidden in one of the light fixtures. She finds the “resi-goo” in the receptacle Shaw had foretold.
On the bridge of the Shrike, Vadic walks over to a nearby console and cuts her hand over it. The hand turns into a levitating face, revealing that she is a changeling. Vadic informs the levitating face, which we believe is her boss, that the Titan cannot escape gravity well. When ordered to pursue it, she believes that it is suicide with the “payload” on her ship. Her boss threatens her, saying that it is suicide to pursue it and that anyone is expendable at the cost of the mission, which is delivering the asset Jack Crusher. Vadic agrees, and as her hand reconstitutes into her arm, she orders the portal device to be disengaged from the ship and follow the Titan inside the nebula.
Back at 10 Forward Avenue in 2396, we find Picard regaling the cadets with his adventure with the Children of Tama (TNG Season 5 Episode 2: Darmok) and how their communication system depended on metaphors. One of the cadets asked him to regale his mishap with Jack Crusher, to which he admitted that he might have been a tad bit reckless.
In the present, a group of young cadets requests to enter the holodeck, asking if it’s private. As Picard beckons them in, Jack looks around at the holodeck recreation of 10 Forward Avenue Bar and realizes the importance of this sanctuary, but as he explains to Picard, he doesn’t need it. Picard explains that they all need connection and urges Jack to look around. This finally allows Jack to open up, revealing that he had grown up on his own, and while he had his mother, he was content with being an outsider, not wanting a “moment.” Picard, however, refutes that perhaps he does.
Seven, meanwhile, calls the biochemistry lab to get the resi-goo scanned. The biochemistry lab is closed to conserve power, but she insists it’s an emergency. Immediately, an ensign draws a phaser and kills one of the crew before turning and vaporizing the pot in Seven’s hand. Seven pulls her phaser and blasts off one of the ensign’s arms, revealing the changeling regenerating his arm back. He charges at Seven, who fires several more shots until the changeling reconstitutes itself in its gelatinous form and escapes through the vents.
Back at the holodeck, Jack asks about the “worst jam” that Picard has been in other than the current situation. Picard reveals that it involved Jack’s namesake. Furthermore, Picard reveals that back when they were on the USS Stargazer, Jack Crusher Sr. and Picard had met two delightful young women on vacation in Argelius IV. Picard decided to “borrow” a shuttle for him and Jack to accept a romantic invitation. On their way back, a micrometeoroid shower strikes the shuttle at high speed, disabling the engines and life support. And Picard had disabled the communications so that their “borrowing” of the shuttle would remain unheard of.
Both Picard and Jack improvised a system of diverting power between docking thrusters and life support, “inching” their way through a ten-hour trip back to the Stargazer. Looking at his son Jack’s reaction to hearing this story, he wonders whether Beverly has already told it. Before Jack could answer, Shaw entered the holodeck, hobbling on a cane, complimenting the “harrowing tale of survival” and also Beverly’s liberal use of pain medication.
He asks whether Picard has ever brought up how he and Shaw met for the first time. Looking at their confused visages, Shaw reveals that he had been aboard the USS Constance on stardate 444002.3, thirty-four years earlier on the battle of Wolf 359 (TNG Season 3 Episode 26 and Season 4 Episode 1: The Best of Both Worlds). Shaw reveals that forty starships had engaged in the battle against a single Borg cube.
Shaw had been in engineering during that moment when the ship had been hit. He had been randomly chosen from a list of 50 survivors by a lieutenant to escape via escape pods. Since then, Shaw has wondered if the lieutenant has made a mistake by choosing a “dipshit from Chicago.” Shaw then revealed to Jack that his “old man” had been on the cube during the battle, assimilated by the Borg and called Locutus.
According to Shaw, Picard had been so deadly, “they gave him a goddamn name.” We realize that Shaw had been traumatized by the event, but it also gives us context on how the events of Wolf 359 affected the larger Star Trek universe. That event had been the inciting incident for the pilot episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, in which Sisko underwent a similar traumatic event. Now, Shaw’s recounting of the incident hammers home the deadliness of the Borg within the Star Trek universe. We see Jack trying to shut him down, but Picard stops him, saying it is alright and that he understands, before leaving the holodeck. Shaw apologizes to the cadets, saying, “at some point, asshole became a substitute for charm.”
Jack catches up to Picard in the corridor, assuring him that he is not explaining himself, but Picard says he is glad to catch up with him. Beverly catches up with the two of them and explains that she had been counting the time between the energy waves from the gravity well striking the ship and discovered a pattern resembling suspicious contractions during childbirth. If these smaller waves were any indication, the ship wouldn’t be able to take these hits any longer. They have to escape, but they have no power until Jack suggests riding the concussions of these energy waves and hitching a ride out of the nebula.
They pitch the idea to Riker, who rejects it, calling it insane, while Jack and Picard insist it can work. Beverly explains that they were swimming in the amniotic fluid of a spaceborne lifeform and reminds them they had encountered similar creatures like the one on Farpoint (TNG Episode 1: Encounter at Farpoint). When Jack tells Riker to manually navigate the ship out of the nebula, as Picard had before at the Stargazer, Riker explains that he had heard the shuttle story and that the Titan is not a two-man shuttle.
He explains the risks involved: using the thrusters would drain the power, the sensors that would help them navigate the asteroid field aren’t working, and the power array could explode. Riker advises to follow Starfleet protocol and wait for a rescue, to which Picard grimly states that “no one is coming.” Looking down at the recording he had been planning to leave for Deanna, Riker states that even in death, at least they would be able to leave something behind.
Coincidentally, Beverly, too, uses Deanna’s example to state that the only way they could work together efficiently is if they began to trust each other. Urging them to look around, Beverly reminds them that they are again in this exact position where they have been countless times before, in a ready room solving a difficult situation to warp out of certain death, and they should continue to do the thing they have spent the majority of their lives excelling at. Picard agrees, reminding Riker that, like all the other situations they had been in before, they will face this one too together.
Finally giving in, Riker hatches a plan outlining that the nacelles must be manually opened for the Titan to potentially absorb radiation from the energy wave that would go directly to the warp core. Explaining the plan to the entire crew at the bridge, Riker admits that it’s a risky maneuver. While he isn’t aware of the comings and goings of the crew, he does know that they can efficiently maneuver out of tough situations. If they worked together, they would be able to get out of this situation as well.
Picard and Seven also manage to rope in Shaw, with Shaw realizing that while the Titan has undergone its fair share of retrofits, the nacelles are still two decades old, and they would need an old “grease monkey” to help open them. Shaw sighs and tells Seven to meet him in Nacelle Control in five minutes.
Beverly informs Riker that they will need one more energy wave to make it work. Shaw and Seven meet at Necelle Control, where Shaw gets to work “hot-wiring” the nacelles. He hypothesizes that this is the most vulnerable moment for the changeling to strike. Both he and Seven come to a realization, and Seven informs Riker. Back on the bridge, Picard instructs Jack to stay on the bridge with his mother while Riker instructs him to divert power from all systems to the thrusters. As Ensign Esmar warns that they only have a few minutes of life support, Riekr instructs the crew to take a deep breath and hold it.
Beverly informs Riker that the wave is going to hit in two minutes, which gives Shaw that much time. Riker then hands the conn over to Picard, the only pilot experienced with “flying blind.” As Picard takes the center seat, a familiar smile graces his face as he orders LaForge to bring them about to position them for the wave aft-thrusters at one quarter before giving the familiar baritone order to “Engage.”
Back at the nacelle control, as Shaw works to open the nacelles, LaForge comes down to help them, saying that Riker had sent her. As Shaw instructs her to hand over the torch, LaForge asks whether they would be able to fly with one cover open. Just then, Seven points her phaser at LaForge, revealing that she had categorically instructed Riker not to send anyone down here to help. LaForge addressing Seven as “Commander Hansen” proves to be the clue for Seven to fire the phaser at LaForge, killing her and revealing the changeling. When Shaw asks how she knew, Seven reveals LaForge’s moniker to her as a sign of “respect.” A fantastic callback to the first episode, when Seven had been seething at being called “Commander Hansen” by Shaw.
The real LaForge is at the helm, working on the thrusters. As Riker asks for an update on the nacelles, Shaw informs him that they are “open for business.” We see the nacelle covers the opening. But they have the asteroid field in front of them, and LaForge has no contact sensors. Picard asks Jack to call out the contacts while ordering the thrusters, just like he and the senior Jack Crusher did in the Stargazer.
On a particularly close call, Picard chooses to trust Jack’s instincts and kill power on the thrusters such that the Titan would fly below the asteroid. With up to 98 percent thrusters and no more power to divert, Riker orders power diverted from life support. Lieutenant T’veen counts down before the wave is supposed to hit, and like clockwork, the wave hits, and we see the energy wave going through the open nacelle covers directly into the warp core, bringing systems back online. Wasting no time, Picard orders LaForge to gun it, and they ride the energy wave. T’veen reports that the nebula is changing around them.
Mura suddenly shouts out, saying that the Shrike is directly in front of them. Having had enough, Riker orders Mura to open a tractor beam, and in a move similar to what the Shrike had done to the Titan, he uses the tractor beam to throw an asteroid directly at the Shrike, disabling it. As the Shrike tumbles while the Titan flies by, Beverly asks whether he just threw an asteroid, to which Captain William Riker, back at his element, mutters, “Goddamn right, I did.” The Shrike crew, meanwhile, frantically reports that the warp core has gone into emergency shutdown to prevent critical detonation and that impulse engines are offline. We see Vadic dejectedly sitting, having lost to her quarry again.
Shaw and Seven arrive at the bridge just as the Nebula begins to break apart, giving “birth” in a way as we see thousands of jellyfish-looking life forms swim around the ship. Beverly whispers the Starfleet motto, “To seek out new life,” and as the crew sees the view, Riekr instructs them by completing the motto and adding a new flair of his own, “Let’s boldly get the hell out of here.”
Star Trek: Picard (Season 3), Episode 4 Ending Explained:
At 10 Forward Avenue five years earlier, Picard wraps up his story to the cadets, explaining that one was only as good as the crew they were a part of. As he finally tries to go back to his lunch, someone else suddenly speaks up from the bar—Jack, wearing a hat and trying to look inconspicuous. He mentions how Picard went on about his crew and life in Starfleet, but he wonders: what about life outside of Starfleet? What about an actual family? Unaware of who he is now, Picard simply says that he considers Starfleet to be all the family he ever needed. In the present, Picard recalls that memory and finally realizes Jack’s reluctance to get to know him and how he knew the story.
Reaching out to Deanna over comms, Riker explains that having witnessed a birth, he was reminded of the existence of a whole universe around him, which could simultaneously be beautiful and amazing. As Troi remarks that Riker hasn’t said something “lovely” like that in a long time, he concedes that he hasn’t and that it is his fault, and he will try to fix things between them. When Troi asks whether Riker and Picard are in trouble, Riker, with a serene smile, states he doesn’t know yet.
We finally hear the admiral’s log after a long time.
“Admiral’s log, stardate 78183.10 We have managed to escape death at the hands of our unknown enemy. Although we’re temporarily free from the terror of the Shrike, too many questions linger. Who is this Vadic? And what exactly does she want with my son?”
Jack splashes some water on his face in his quarters when he again sees the red spreading roots growing over the walls through the mirror. The vision disturbs him, and as he closes his eyes, he sees a red door, apocalyptic visions, and voices echoing and repeating, “Find me.” Jack’s visions might be the reason the changelings are looking for him because Jack subconsciously might know the location of the individual calling out to him, the same individual the changelings are looking for as well.
