Star Trek: Picard - S3 E4 - "No Win Scenario"
March 9, 2023
‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 3 Episode 4 Recap: Truth and Consequences
Picard and Jack finally get a long-overdue bonding moment in "No Win Scenario."
With its fourth episode, entitled “No Win Scenario,” Star Trek: Picard Season 3 delves into the tenuous relationship forming between Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his newfound son Jack (Ed Speleers), which plays out against the backdrop of the dire situation that the crew of the Titan finds themselves in, after Picard’s impulsive decisions in Episode 3. While the family drama plays out aboard the starship, Captain Shaw’s (Todd Stashwick) distaste for Picard and the Borg finally comes into focus, with revelations about the last time Shaw crossed paths with Picard.
Following last week’s tense closing moments, Episode 4 opens in a far more upbeat manner, with a flashback to five years ago. While Picard nurses a drink at 10 Forward, a gaggle of starry-eyed Starfleet cadets approach him—all eager to hear his triumphant tales from his travels out amidst the stars. One of them asks about his encounter with the Hirogen, which Star Trek: Voyager fans may remember from their numerous appearances in the series, and he launches into a rather eloquent recollection about the event, which he turns into a neat little teaching moment too. He explains to the cadets that his encounter with the Hirogen taught him that when the time comes, you must remain steadfast to your crew, no matter how dire the situation is. Which is a perfect segue into the predicament that Picard finds himself in, in the present storyline.
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Here's one of the new phaser pistols for the show. Quite a departure from the TNG-DS9-VOY era.
A Vulcan Kal-toh game in Ensign Foster's quarters.
Is Vadic supposed to be a Changeling or what? She cut off a hand which then liquified like Changelings do, but why the knife? Odo never had to use anything to remove pieces of himself in DS9. He once gave Bashir a sample by letting a tiny bit of his finger simply drip off into a test tube.
And what's up with the knife itself? Here's a replica of the Reman "Jackal" that Shinzon used in Star Trek: Nemesis. It's exactly the same as the one Vadic has. Is she in league with the Remans or something? I suppose the knife style could be Romulan as well. The Changeling that Worf and Raffi captured last week did say that Romulans stole the Portal Weapon from Daystrom. There has to be a connection there.
Here's Vadic's boss(?) talking through the weird Changeling-matter communication thing. Now we know that she's a part of something larger (my guess is the rogue Changeling faction), but why do they want Jack Crusher so badly?
Here's a continuity error. When Seven killed the Changeling on the Titan, it didn't turn to ash like in DS9. Even the one Worf and Raffi killed last week poofed into ashes when they shot it. For some reason they had Changeling-Sydney just lay there as a dead body.
Space Jellies!
Finally, what's the deal with Jack's visions? He keeps seeing root things and a door with red light shining through.
The vision from last week.
***
It didn't take long for Riker and Picard to get back on good terms.
Pretty good episode. There hasn't been a bad one yet.
Knives and edged weapons for Star Trek designed by famed knife designer Gil Hibbens. He and his company also designed all the edged weapons for TLOTR movies.
Maybe the settings on the phasers were different.
Weapon settings never used to matter. Even Changelings that died from injuries would desiccate into a dry, ash-like substance upon death (like the one in the DS9 episode "The Ship").
I'm still an episode behind, but I'm enjoying it as much as the last 2 seasons.
Oh, I'm enjoying this one much more than the first 2. So far at least.
I thought the flashbacks took up a bit too much time in this one, but the end sequence, showing Picard telling Jack (without knowing who Jack was) that he never needed any family except Starfleet - well, that was just heartbreaking. The flashbacks were a buildup to that, so it sort of paid off.
Glad to see Shaw redeem himself, but also glad to hear Seven call him a dick without repercussions
And the ending was classic Trek teamwork and problem-solving in the face of overwhelming odds. The type of thing Geordi and Data might have pulled off, or B'Elanna and Seven.
Is it ok to say that I really want Vadic to wash her damn hair?
With her hair combed the way it is, and sometimes falling onto her face as well as some shots where she was smoking or held something to her lips... It almost seemed like they were going for a Hitler look with her. I could be wrong, but it sure was an easy way to identify her as a bad guy.
He knows he's a dick, lol.
Picard dropped the F-bomb, too. I don't think I like the cussing. It feels so out of place in Star Trek.
There have been whole articles online talking about it. Personally I don't really care either way.
I'm with you on this. I'm not used to it, but it doesn't bother me. It is a continuity problem, though, since The Voyage Home says we stop cussing in the future.
Same here. Cursing on TV began with ST:TOS on The City On The Edge Of Forever where Kirk utters the words. "Let's get the Hell out of here." at the end of the episode.
Yeah, Kirk had difficulty with it, haha – "Well, a double dumbass on you!"
Mild stuff like hell and damn doesn't bother me, but the harsher stuff does. Not necessarily in other shows or movies, just on Star Trek. To each their own I guess.
Dig, have you watched the next episode yet? Looking forward to discussing it.
I'm finally caught up!
Last night's ep was so good.
Cpt Shaw is a trip!
He is. He comes through in a clutch situation, too, which is better than I'd expected at the start.