Previously on Star Trek: Picard: The timeline is broken. After the crew is sent to a totalitarian nightmare timeline, they realize Q went back in time to change the present. That timeline’s Borg Queen (BQ) helps them travel to 2024 when the incursion happened.
Picard confronted his childhood trauma but Tallinn knows there’s more to it. Raffi is spiraling over Elnor’s death which has affected her relationship with Seven. Rios beamed Teresa and Ricardo to the La Sirena.
Meanwhile, the Borg Queen (BQ) has co-opted Jurati’s body to assimilate Earth. At the end of last week’s episode, “Mercy,” BQ tells Soong that if Renee Picard goes on the Europa Mission, he’ll lose his legacy so he must stop the Admiral. She starts assimilating soldiers and the crew knows she’s coming for the La Sirena.
Ready to explore the end of the road not taken in Star Trek: Picard’s “Hide and Seek?” Let’s engage!
RELATED: Read our full recap of Star Trek: Picard’s episode 8 “Mercy”, here.
We’ve Looked Better
It’s nighttime at the chateau. Rios (Santiago Cabrera) discovers BQ activated the transporter remotely. He sees soldiers beaming into the field outside the chateau. He, Teresa (Sol Rodriguez) and Ricardo Steve Gutierrez) run as BQ/Jurati (Alison Pill) beams onboard with assimilated soldiers. She finds BQ’s dead body, “Well, we’ve looked better.” She injects wires into the body which clothes Jurati in a BQ appropriate outfit.
Using Tallinn’s (Orla Brady) transporter, Picard (Patrick Stewart), Raffi (Michelle Hurd), Seven (Jeri Ryan) and Tallinn beam outside the chateau. Picard wants to defend the ship no matter the cost but they didn’t bring much to fight with, just phasers and a phaser rifle. Rios finds them. Soldiers continue to transport in. The team takes cover. It doesn’t look good.
Pictured: Michelle Hurd as Raffi, Jeri Ryan as Seven, Santiago Cabrera as Rios, Orla Brady as Tallinn, and Patrick Stewart as Picard of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: PICARD. Photo Cr: Paramount+ ©2022 ViacomCBS. All Rights Reserved.
How May I Be of Service
BQ/Jurati tries to inject wires into the ship to no avail. We see an illusion of Jurati and BQ apart. Jurati’s not going to let BQ take the ship. She’s been poking around BQ’s mind and knows BQ is lonely too and that’s why she hasn’t killed Jurati.
BQ fails to access the ship again. Jurati points out that the Confederation will be a threat in 400 years if BQ continues. BQ says they know that now and will prepare. BQ fails to access the computer again because a keycode is required. Jurati says she used the signal that BQ uses to control the Borg to put a fractal lock on the ship’s systems. BQ can’t get it from Jurati’s mind because Jurati didn’t memorize it.
To rub it in more, Jurati discovered the La Sirena can make a hologram of anyone that’s ever been aboard. Remember all the holograms that look like Rios? So she created an Emergency Combat Hologram based on Elnor. He appears and says, “How may I be of service?” Jurati encoded the key in Elnor. He takes down the soldiers on the bridge.
Under attack, Seven tells the others that the soldiers are not people, they’re Borg. A soldier throws a flash-bang and it sends Picard into a childhood memory.
A Future Worth Fighting For
He’s with his mother and father relaxing at home. Young Jean-Luc wants to play. His father jokes, “Don’t break anything.” He then tells his wife that she seems more present lately. They haven’t had an “incident” in some time. He means well but it definitely sets her back. She decides to play hide and seek with Jean-Luc.
In the present, more soldiers beam in. Rios gets shot in the arm. Picard instructs Tallinn to beam Rios, Teresa and Ricardo to safety, Rios says he’ll come back. As soon as he’s transported, Picard makes Tallinn turn the device off so Rios can’t. Once beamed to Tallinn’s apartment, Rios quickly realizes he’s locked out.
Seven wants to divide and conquer so they can get back the ship. She with Raffi and Picard with Tallinn. Tallinn lays down phaser rifle fire. The soldiers suddenly stop firing. We hear Soong (Brent Spiner) in the field. He has an offer but Picard knows what he really wants, “The promise of legacy reveals the rot that is hidden underneath it.” Soong replies, “I know a future worth fighting for.” Picard says he does too.
Soong taunts Picard saying he knows Picard is familiar with Soong’s new Borg friends. Picard asks why Soong wants this parlay because he already knows BQ told Soong if he helps her take the ship, she’ll then destroy the Europa mission from orbit tomorrow and so Soong has his future. Soong says, “The enemy of every experiment is the rogue variable. The unknown. That is what you are to me.”
Soong says, “I take the path of least resistance to the future and you and your friends have one.” Oh, Soong, you do not know the weight of the word “resistance” when it comes to the Borg. They die if they refuse. All of a sudden Picard hears his child self, “Maman, where are you?” We see young Jean-Luc playing hide and seek. Picard has an idea, Soong will have to find them first. The soldiers start firing.
Rogue Variable
Raffi and Seven creep through the chateau dodging soldiers. After a fight, the two use both their combined might to drive a knife into a soldier. As Tenacious D once said, “That’s f*cking teamwork.”
Surrounded, Picard tells Tallinn there are tunnels below the house. (I did scream here because I guessed this was going to happen in the first episode). He can’t remember the entrance though. He has another memory of the hide-and-seek.
Young Jean-Luc finds his mother, but her mood is dark. She suggests continuing down below. She opens a bookshelf that’s a secret door. Jean-Luc tells her his father has forbidden him to go down there. She says she will be less sad down there even though he’s scared. She says, “You’re my light, Jean-Luc.” Her mood grows darker still, “Guide your own way. Find me.”
Picard finds the bookcase. He and Tallinn go down.
A Dangerous Playground
Tallinn recognizes the tunnels from the jury-rigged mind meld she did with Picard. He shares that the French resistance used the tunnels in World War II. Tallinn says in the memory, the tunnels felt unusually dark. Picard shares that he looked for his mother but lost her. Tallinn says “this is a very dangerous playground.” There’s a memory of his father searching for young Jean-Luc. Then Picard tells Tallinn the tunnels lead to a hatch on the other side of the vineyard.
Pictured: Patrick Stewart as Picard and Orla Brady as Tallinn of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: PICARD. Photo Cr: Trae Patton/Paramount+ ©2022 ViacomCBS. All Rights Reserved.
Seven is focused as they look for weapons. Raffi says she sounds like a captain and should’ve joined Starfleet. Turns out she tried but Starfleet shut it down because she’s Borg. Captain Janeways even went to bat for her but she gave it up and went “full Ranger,” instead.
Seven notes there’s a dozen Borg between them and the ship 50 yards away. Again, Raffi says she’d make a great captain and when they get out of this… Seven cuts her off, “We’re not getting out of this.” They both know it’s true but they go forward anyway. They sprint across the vineyard under fire.
BQ/Jurati looks for ECH Elnor. He finds his sword.
Pictured: Allison Pill as Jurati of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: PICARD. Photo Cr: Trae Patton/Paramount+ ©2022 ViacomCBS. All Rights Reserved.
In LA, Rios tries to figure out how to transport back to France. Ricardo sleeps. Teresa says he’ll get his friends killed because he’s injured. She picks up a tricorder to help his wound. She’s amazed by it all.
Soong searches the chateau for Picard. He sees unsettled dust by the bookcase and finds the door. He tells the soldiers to search for other entrances.
Pictured: Madeline Wise as Yvette Picard of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: PICARD. Photo Cr: Nicole Wilder/Paramount+ ©2022 ViacomCBS. All Rights Reserved.
In the tunnels, Picard has another memory. Young Jean-Luc looks for his mother. He finds her sitting. He wants her to go back up where she can teach him more constellations. She says heartbreakingly, “Did you know that space is so vast, so infinite? It takes billions of years for that tiny pinprick of light to make that lonely journey from its star to our eyes. The brilliance you see in the night sky, Jean-Luc, that exquisite light is just an echo, really, of a star that has long since faded. Like me. When you remember me Jean-Luc promise, promise me you will ignore the coldness of the dying star and remember instead her light. And the infinite love she so very much had for you. ” His father calls for them.
Tallinn and Picard enter a room. Back in the memory, a young Jean-Luc and his mother run into the very same room and his foot goes through a plank. She keeps running. His father finds him. Tallinn asks Picard what became of his mother. He says they found her and his father locked her in her bedroom.
Young Jean-Luc stands outside the bedroom. His mother says he’s the only one that can save her. He unlocks the door. Before Picard can go any further, they hear the soldiers coming through the tunnels.
They try to get through a locked door but Soong finds them. Picard finds an old gun and fires it then the lock. They go through.
Regaining the Advantage
Pictured: Evan Evagora as Elnor of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: PICARD. Photo Cr: Trae Patton/Paramount+ ©2022 ViacomCBS. All Rights Reserved.
As BQ/Jurati closes in, Elnor escapes to a room right when Raffi and Seven enter. He breaks it to Raffi that he’s a hologram. Elnor says he is the key to the locked system. Seven wants access even though it would give BQ access too. Elnor unlocks the ship.
Raffi knows Elnor isn’t real but confesses that she kept Elnor back because she was frightened to be alone. He says Elnor’s last thoughts of her were not of blame but of love. Seven opens a hatch to clear a way to the transporter.
Picard remembers that one direction in the tunnels goes to the chateau and one to the fields. They go towards the fields but see a green laser sight. They turn the other way.
Seven accesses the transporters. Seven transports the soldiers into the stone of the tunnels. Tallinn and Picard see this gruesome sight. He says, “We seem to be regaining the advantage.” They head towards an exit to the solarium.
Elnor detects only one Borg left. BQ/Jurati enters with a pipe. She has a transport inhibitor. Elnor and BQ/Jurati begin combat. He knocks her down. Seven and Raffi aim phasers at her.
Seven tries to appeal to Jurati to fight BQ. BQ sends cables from her body to disable Elnor. One knocks Raffi down and then pierces Seven’s stomach leaving a mortal wound. BQ takes control of the ship.
Raffi tells her not to let Seven die. BQ/Jurati says there are common words among all species. Love. Hope. Fear. And one more common, futility. Raffi tries to shoot but is knocked down. BQ/Jurati continues, “It is the imperfect nature of all organic things to fight an unwinnable battle against an undefeatable foe, death.” She takes a knife.
The sun rises. Picard and Tallin are in the solarium. Soong and two soldiers find them.
BQ/Jurati tries to stab Seven but can’t. Confused, she sees wetness on her hand. Fallen tears. We see the illusion of Jurati and BQ separate. Jurati says the chemicals BQ used to take over her body can work both ways. BQ hurt her friends releasing chemicals that let Jurati wrestle control back. BQ unsuccessfully tries to stab again.
Arrogance
Picard tells Soong he doesn’t understand the future he’s about to create.
Images of Borg Cubes exploding appear around BQ. Jurati says this is how it always ends for BQ because of her arrogance. BQ lives with the death knell of her species across infinite timelines. She fears loss and longs for connection, longevity and discovery like they all do. Only BQ offers it without choice. Jurati proposes, “What if we ask for it. You and I.” They can help beings like the one (Seven) dying at their feet.
BQ doesn’t want to collect from scraps. Jurati says it’s second chances. What if they take the ship and build a better Borg based on salvation. One that embraces uniqueness. She points out that Seven used her Borg half to serve the best of her humanity. “Let’s build a universe of Sevens. Let’s start with this one.”
Soong says goodbye. The soldiers aim at Picard and Tallinn.
Rios tries to fix the transporter. Teresa doesn’t want him to leave. Rios says he doesn’t belong there. He kisses her then tries to say something right when the transporter comes online and beams him to the solarium. He vaporizes a soldier with a Confederation gun which knocks the key from Picard’s childhood on the floor. Rios wrestles with the other soldier.
Raffi begs for Seven’s life. BQ/Jurati shoots wires from her hand into Seven.
Rios’ gun drops. Soong picks it up, “I bet you don’t have to be from the future to fire this thing.” Rios says sure but you do need to have the right DNA. “If you hold it too long, well, boom.” Soong throws the gun in the air as it explodes. When the smoke clears, he’s gone.
The Cost
BQ/Jurati tells Raffi that Seven will live but there was a cost. Seven has Borg implants again. Raffi asks BQ/Jurati if it’s Jurati she’s talking to. BQ/Jurati says, “Yes. No. I think we are becoming something new. Something better.”
Rios heads for the ship. Picard picks up the key. We see his mother asking little Jean-Luc to let her out.
Pictured: Orla Brady as Tallinn and Patrick Stewart as Picard of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: PICARD. Photo Cr: Trae Patton/Paramount+ ©2022 ViacomCBS. All Rights Reserved.
Picard says he’s having the “strangest memory.” Tallinn says to follow it. He does. It leads to little Jean-Luc finding his mother hanging in the solarium.
We see what happened to his mother while Picard talks of the moments in time we all wish we can travel back to, pieces of life better lived in reverse. Those moments might rewind into joyful beginnings. However, this moment of his mother’s death, he is powerless to reverse.
He was told his mother was ill however he only ever thought she was inspired. His father locked her in the bedroom. She begged Jean-Luc to help her by saying she needed him. And “this the part I’ve spent my whole life trying not to remember.” We hear the Star Trek: Picard theme song. Picard thought he was saving her. If he had left the door closed she might have become an old woman and they could have had tea together. “I loved her. Desperately.” This scene was incredibly heartbreaking to watch.
Tallinn talks of this being a source of great grief, pain and guilt. A reason to run from ourselves or away from each other. “Love can be a curse but always and completely, it’s a gift.”
We see young Jean-Luc throw a rock through the solarium window as Tallinn embraces Picard.
(If you or someone you know has thoughts of self-harm or suicide, help is available right now. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides free, confidential support for anyone in distress 24/7. Call 1-800-273-8255 to speak with an advocate today and get the help that you deserve.)
On the ship, Seven tells Raffi, it was nice being ordinary without her implants. Raffi says that’s impossible, “You are the most extraordinary person I know.” Raffi ponders what Seven could be if she stopped running from her Borg nature.
BQ/Jurati says it’s time to go. Sevens says half of her is their friend. Maybe in time all of her can be. BQ/Jurati says perhaps but now their deal must be honored. A ship for a life. She says to tell their admiral, the future will have no need for a Borg Slayer and the Europa Mission must not be postponed. “To succeed there must be two Renee’s. One who lives and another who dies.” She beams Raffi and Seven to the field and takes off.
Everyone’s together. They know that Soong will still try to stop the Europa mission. Seven tells Picard of the BQ/Jurati’s message about Renee. Picard refuses to accept an outcome that hasn’t occurred. They have work to do.
RELATED: Keep up with Star Trek: Picard this season with our recaps!
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Great recap! I just wanted to mention that the thing Picard’s mom says about starlight taking billions of years to reach earth is wrong. The visible stars in the sky are less than 1000 light years away, so it takes less than a 1000 years for their light to reach us. None of these stars are gone. One day Betelgeuse will explode, and it will take 650 years for us to see the explosion, so maybe that’s already occurred, but probably not. The milky-way galaxy is only 100,000 light years across, the Andromeda galaxy is only 2.5 million light years away. You get my point. You need a very powerful telescope to see galaxies or quasars more than 1 billion light years away. You get my point. It makes me crazy when I see this misinformation on a show. The writers should get some fact-checkers!