Now on the run, Picard and the skeleton crew of the USS Titan must break into Starfleet’s most top-secret facility to expose a plot that could destroy the Federation. Picard must turn to the only soul in the galaxy who can help: an old friend.

My biggest fear going into this season was that nostalgia would take over and ruin everything. In this episode, nostalgia takes over and gives us everything we wanted. From the hero ships over the years floating outside the fleet museum, letting us hear DS9 and Voyager themes playing as we see the Defiant and Voyager respectively on display – added in with Seven’s sentiment “I was reborn there”, to the trinkets and surprises scattered around Daystrom station.

But it all seems fitting as a tribute to the era and the era that made it all happen as the Next Generation crew finally gets back together. Worf and Raffi arrive to much rejoicing. They have the key to getting into Daystrom, and there’s a plan in motion. Even better. Titan’s gone off grid and dropped its transponder? Wonderful. From there we have to threads. The main one being a heist drama. Then the other running for help. Both complete the Next Generation crew puzzle nicely.

Breaking into Daystrom station almost felt like an alternate re-run of Picard and Riker boarding the Eleos. This time it’s Riker and Worf alongside Raffi with Riker expecting to play with nostalgia himself teaming up with Worf on a mission again. But as playful as he wants to be, the new Worf doesnt play back like he used to and Raffi’s more all business. When they get stuck, as Starfleet still finds the Titan despite dropping their transponder, forcing Titan to escape for help, the Daystrom mission becomes a tour of past Trek.

A Genesis device. Attack tribble. Kirk’s body taken from Veridian 3. But at the same time, it becomes so much more and all the better for it. What they need to uncover is what else Vadic has that’s significantly more valuable than a devastating weapon of mass destruction. The answers lie within the mainframe of Daystrom Station. To get there a riddle must be solved….

….but we’ll get to that. While Riker and the gang wander around Daystrom, Picard has a place to go as the Titan falls under fire. Despite objections from Sidney LaForge, she sets the course to the one person she doesnt want to see. Her father, a rather pissed off Geordie who’s not exactly pleased to see the man who put his daughter in danger.

Geordie’s story was in itself a fascinating character study. Years removed from the adventure and excitement of his time on two Enterprises’, he’s now a Commodore and curator of the fleet museum, looking for a quiet like where he can focus on family. Boith daughters have followed in his footsteps. One, Alandra, stayed with him in a safe job. The other is now in the thick of the action as a pilot on the Titan and the rift between them is obvious. Sidney is far from the favourite as she wanted the adventure her father had. He wanted her to be safe and lives in fear for her. Watching that story play out was a nice touch, having Geordie come to terms with her decision and how proud she was of her – while Alandra shows her own need for adventure by helping Jack steal a cloaking device from another ship in the museum – the Bird of Prey Kirk acquired in The Search for Spock.

The undercurrent of family differences being torn apart by all being too similar with different motivations was a very nice side plot anchored by the fact that LeVar Burton was given a story to get his teeth into. Right up to the realisation that his kids stole the cloaking device and tried to plug it into Titan, only to roll up his sleeves and show them how to make it work properly…. But the idea of family runs deeper than genetics in this episode. It’s the Next Gen Family that needs to be complete.

That completion comes from Daystrom. Strange Things are afoot at the Circle K. And Riker’s ahead of the game. Daystroms security system throws some tests. The big one being one anchored in the trailer. Moriarty. The holographic character brought to life to thwart Data as Geordie misspoke and the holodeck has shockingly bad security protocols. He appears as Riker’s trying to figure out torturing high pitched chords being played to taunt them. And then it all clicks into place.

With a flashback going right back to the first episode of their time together, Riker connects the dots. The chords he’s hearing make him whistle the tune. Pop goes the weasel. The entire thing is a wonderful tease, and the most obsessive fans know whats coming well before Moriarty appears. When they find the fragments of everything – B4’s body, a new golem body and the last surviving Soong’s message – there’s a certain emotion in seeing the resurrection of someone who struggled to feel them.

Look. I can see the utter nonsense in bringing Data back. We saw him sacrifice himself. Then found out he was still running and ask for death and Picard give it to him. We knew Brent Spiner was back as Lore. But to counter the idea that Adam Soong’s family, who started this all with his initial experiments in the 21^st century, would end up realising the narcissism behind their work to leave behind a blend of everything to create perfection…. I’ll take that. If only because, despite the contrived backstory, there’s no Next Gen reunion without Data. Even if it’s a golem created with every Soongdroid mind absorbed into one.

It’s not the same Data. It’s Data 3.0. But that they convincingly pulled it off works wonders. Especially as, yet again, it only adds to the story. What does Data 3.0 know about what was stolen from Daystrom? “Jean Luc Picard.” Does that answer anything? No. But they stole Picards body. They wanted Jack in custody. If this episode focused on family, it ended on what exactly is Picard’s DNA worth?

Filled with Easter eggs, excitement and again more questions – the mystery continues and it’s oddly fascinating to see the climaxes every week making us want more…

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Worf playing his own little games in ‘practising deceit’ in trying to find out if Seven and Raffi are truly no longer together or if it was a cover. Sadly they are estranged.
• In Nemesis, Riker couldn’t remember what Data was whistling when they first met. As a practised musician, and a man suffering nostalgia bug, it was nice to see him working it all out. Not only that, but seeing a remastered scene of that first encounter between Riker and Data was wonderful.
• Though the emphasis in the fleet museum was the Defiant, a Constitution class in the TOS configuration, and the Voyager, others appeared in the background including Doug Drexlers refit NX01 with secondary hull and an Akira Class: The USS Wersching. Named after Annie Wershing who played the Borg Queen in Picard and died of cancer in January.

▷ MORE

▷ MORE

▷ MORE