Star Trek: Picard - S2 E2 - "Penance"
By: Maggie Lovitt
From Collider
March 10, 2022
‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 2 Episode 2 Makes the Crew of the Stargazer Pay Penance in a Twisted World | Review
The crew of the U.S.S. Stargazer awakens in a world where the Confederation—not the Federation—reigns as merciless conquerors.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Following the cataclysmic events of the premiere, Picard (Patrick Stewart) goes toe-to-toe with Q (John de Lancie) to get to the bottom of what happened and, in typical Q fashion, Picard is left with more questions than answers. Though Q does shed a little light on why the second episode of Star Trek: Picard is entitled “Penance.” Picard isn’t being forced to learn a lesson, he’s being forced to pay penance for his actions and inactions at the behest of Q, or maybe something bigger than Q.
Picard is horrified to discover that the cruel version of himself that exists in this timeline not only has a room full of trophies from the victims that he has conquered, but he owns Vulcans as slaves who fear him. In this reality, the Federation never set out to peacefully explore space, the Confederation sought out to conquer, enslave, and control anyone they saw as their lessers—which unfortunately is anyone who isn’t human. There is a lot of very blatant Third Reich imagery used throughout the episode, not just in Picard’s very authoritarian garb, but also in the starkly brutalist architecture in San Francisco.
Picard is not the only one to wake up in a strange new world. Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) wakes up to discover that in this reality the Borg never assimilated her and she is President Annika Hansen, a ruthless leader within the Confederation’s cruel rule. More alarmingly, she also discovers she is married to another official in the Confederation who is quite suspicious of her odd behavior.
Seven—or rather Annika—requests a private com channel to be opened up between her and Cristóbal Rios (Santiago Cabrera) who has awoken in the midst of a heated battle with the Vulcans. He cautiously accepts the hail from the president and they both carefully broach the topic of their current predicament. It’s truly remarkable how quickly everyone is on their feet—few people could jump straight into a discombobulating firefight.
Elnor (Evan Evagora) wakes up in the middle of Okinawa where he and several other resistance fighters have staged a fruitless attack against the Confederation, aiming to find vengeance for their attacks against Romulans. Fortunately for Elnor, Raffi (Michelle Hurd) finds him before the Confederation can kill him.
Back in San Francisco, Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) wakes up in an unfamiliar laboratory with a digital feline companion, and before she can get her bearings the president and her husband arrive to check on the prisoner they plan to execute. While Seven and Rios may be quick on their feet, Agnes is not and her fumbling causes Seven’s husband to grow a little more suspicious about the situation. The prisoner is revealed to be the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching) who explains that the time has been broken. The Borg have the innate ability to feel echoes of themselves across all timelines, which gives Seven and Agnes a clue as to what might be going on.
The crew of the Stargazer converges at the Confederation campus in San Francisco with Picard arriving right as Raffi and Elnor get into a bit of trouble. The trio heads off to meet with Seven, though her pesky Confederation husband poses a challenge for them. They are able to get the magistrate to leave them alone long enough for them to exchange what information they have gleaned from their new situation, though they still don’t have much of a plan for what they can do to fix it.
In Agnes’ lab, Picard questions the Borg Mother about what Q did to the past to create the converging timeline. She reveals that Los Angeles, 2024 is the when and where Q made a change and implores them to find “The Watcher.” They attempt to have Rios beam them aboard La Sirena, but security protocols prevent them from leaving San Francisco.
The final act of the episode is a race against time as the crew has to find a way to prevent the Borg Queen from being killed on stage during the Eradication Day event. While Agnes, Raffi, Elnor, and Rios try to concoct a plan to get all of them out of the Confederation safely, Seven and Picard have to go on stage to follow through with bringing an end to the Borg in front of a jubilant crowd of onlookers, anxious to watch the Confederation bring an end to yet another race of people.
Just when they think they’re going to be able to escape, Seven’s Confederation husband shows up, shoots Elnor in the chest, and holds the crew at blaster-point in a heart-racing cliffhanger.
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Hmm. I guess this whole season might be an alternate timeline thing, thanks to Q. Not the Mirror Universe, but still, a bit much of that in Star Trek lately, don'tcha think?
"General" Picard, the "Confederation", a Borg Queen with freckles, Eradication Day, Romulan slaves, and skull trophies of Gul Dukat, General Martok, and Sarek.
The "Watcher" they're going to go see in Los Angeles has to be Guinan, right?
A decent episode, I suppose. Agnes cracked me up a few times. What did you guys think?
Wait. The article says Vulcans. Were the slaves Romulans or Vulcans?
They looked Romulan to me.
The slaves were Romulan as I remember what was said in the episode. General Picard had defeated the Romulan Empire earlier on.
I want to be friends with Agnes. She's hilarious. But they're setting her up for something to do with the Borg. All that stuff about not feeling like she belongs - being a part of a collective would fix that, wouldn't it?
I hadn't thought of Guinan as the "Watcher", but it makes sense. An El-Aurian would be perfect for the job.
I guess I feel like this episode is setting up to be a re-write of "The City on the Edge of Forever". And that was a great episode of TOS, so it's natural to borrow from it a bit.
I thought that same thing watching - She may end up being the new Borg queen in season 3.
She's being groomed. Same as the queen was sort-of grooming Seven for the same in Voyager, IMO.
I absolutely LOVE all the mirror universe episodes in all the different series. I know this is not quite mirror universe but an alternate timeline, but that's close enough for me to consider this to probably be an awesome season.
Agnes stole the show when she was fast-talking explaining how she knew "7 Shots Annika" as her old drinking buddy. Loved the husbands look of basically "I'm sorry I asked."
Great episode, and looking forward to more.
I dunno. I think what I like most about Trek is all the positive future stuff—the lack of war, poverty, and disease (at least among humans); the imagined future tech (especially replicators, the ultimate game changer in labor-saving technology); and the general portrayal of humanity being good, honorable, and intellectually-curious people (especially leaders). The mirror universe tosses most of that out the window, being basically an opposite reality. I can only take so much of that, myself.
Yeah, lol. That was some quick thinking.
I'll be back tomorrow after watching the episode tonight.
Interesting the writers started with this time splinter... It was a little too convenient on where the characters were for them to all come together. I know... there are only 3 seasons with 10 episodes each so things need to move along quickly. Other than that I was highly entertained!
Agnes is always fun.
Picard acting the role of fascist general was so good I'd wished we'd seen a whole series of that character. I'd hate him soooo much! It would be fantastic.
I've always been obsessed with the Borg queen. She's a unique character and well played in this last episode.
Agreed. I'm not usually much on mirror universe type episodes, but I liked this one. Picard was great. It's like he had the energy he was lacking as a good guy. But I thought the same of Philippa Georgiou in Discovery. Not sure what that says about me.
This Borg queen gives me the chills. You can see the wheels turning, even when she's silent. Especially when she looks at Agnes.
Right? Have you seen the sneak peek for next week! OMG!
I hadn't seen it until now. Chills!
I think I heard some of that menacing Borg music from First Contact in there. Awesome.
Thanks for posting that. I was looking for some kind of preview for next week to go along with the article, but couldn't find one at the time.
Picard is a fresh new variant of Star Trek that makes things interesting in many dimensions, has excellent special effects, a great storyline (so far) and remains within the realm of believability.
Contrast Picard with Discovery. Discovery seems to be pure formula: as though the writers are executing an engineering process rather than engaging in imaginative artistry. They seem to try to cover a broad checklist of politically correct items and are always playing the extreme element with high volume. Great special effects, good story lines, but everything is just so exaggerated and unrealistic. And the very dominant element of personal emotion / drama is too much for a Star Trek variant.
Picard is a winner. After probably a dozen episodes I could no longer bring myself to watch and try to like Discovery.
So much so that it feels forced. I made it to about the third or fourth episode of season 3 and haven't watched since. I might catch up someday, but I'm definitely in no hurry, especially with Picard on now, and Strange New Worlds on the horizon.