Three billion combinations only one solution with the Rubix’ Cube… um, the Impossible Box.
This is possible their best episode thus far. At least, the one I enjoyed the most. Like all of Star Trek Picard, there are things I like and things I don’t. There’re more things I did then didn’t.
The writing, cinematography and Stewart’s acting really conveyed Picard’s lifelong trauma of assimilation. It was done well, from the flashes of flashback to Stewart’s clenched body. I felt Picard’s discomfort at being back in the place of his traumatization. The walls breathed, which was creepy. The crane shot after Picard collapses is disorientating as the lights and darkness blur together.
Having been assaulted, I’ve learned to live with the trauma, but it never really goes away. And it can be hard to be back in the place where it happened. So I appreciate how the show handled Picard’s PTSD.
I loved Picard’s reunion with Hugh and the whole sequence of “reclamating” the Borg victims. I can’t wait for the eventual Hugh and Seven moment.
On the flip side, Raffi’s bender was so over the top in the beginning. She chugs from the bottle like a cliched hobo. The show just can’t be subtle with anything. It’s all exaggerated to make sure we get it… yeah, she’s an addict. Most addicts, and I speak from personal experience as a recovering one, hide their addiction because of shame and guilt. She’s been triggered by seeing her son, understandable. Then again, maybe now she has no f’s given. Yet the whole thing seemed cliched, like TV addict as opposed to actual addict.
For me, I would’ve like it had Rios gone to get her. She reluctantly opens the door after several attempts to get Rios to fuck off. It opens. Her cabin is a mess. She’s high and drunk AF. Refusing to help at first. Rios convinces her. She takes one toke and a slug before going onto the bridge. But she doesn’t do it on the bridge.
The best portrayal of addiction is in The West Wing episode, “Bartlet for America.” The way Leo talks about his alcoholism is spot on. He says, “I don’t get drunk in front of other people. I get drunk alone.”
Also her cabin sure was tidy for someone on a bender.
However, I do love that scene where Rios puts her to bed. Michele Hurd did a fantastic job there. Although, later when Rios brings her coffee, Raffi doesn’t seem like she’s been on a bender just merely waking up from a normal night’s sleep. Maybe if she got up, took a toke then drank the coffee… oh well.
Finally, something interesting happens on the cube. Although, getting there was laborious to watch. I couldn’t care less about the whole Narek, Romulan intrigue stuff.
Also, how’d Elnor get on the Cube at the right spot to help when Picard couldn’t beam out. Because the writer needed him to!
8/10 for me. (Mostly because I enjoyed it a helluva lot more than previous weeks.)
Next week, The Rikers!
