Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 8 Review: Surrender
Diana Keng
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Despite not resolving anything about the Changelings' Frontier Day plot, arguably the entire point of the season, Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 8 manages to feel like a victorious conclusion.
Like the Titan's escape from the nebula (punctuated beautifully by Riker's asteroid toss at the Shrike) on Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 4, Vadic's defeat and the Shrike's destruction is an apex moment, both incredibly satisfying and questionable in strategic acumen.
With only two outings before the curtain falls on the series, there is a sense of luxury in how much time we spend on the Enterprise-D's crew reunion.
That's not to disparage the high tension and apprehension built around the Titan's hostage situation.
Vadic is an A-list villain to the very end: cutting off the ship's systems; toying with the crew, cowering about the ship; following through on her threats to the lives on the bridge.
The only regret is that there is no one among our hero posse that ever rises to share a scene with Vadic.
She is a Baddie with Big presence who shows no interest in engaging with her prey. She's no Q.
She has no curiosity about solids or the Federation, no temptation to empathize, no respect for them except perhaps for their tenacity and temerity in eluding her grasp.
Vadic: Tell me about someone who loves you.
Mura: My son.
Vadic: A son. Picard has a son. Why don’t you tell him to come up here?
Mura: I can’t. Because I’m Starfleet.
Vadic: Now you see what control looks like?
All that being said, Vadic has never been more than a lieutenant in this war effort. She followed orders -- with fanatical fervor -- that came down from someone higher up. Someone we have only seen as a manifested goo face.
Her commander's fixation on capturing Jack Crusher is all-consuming. With Vadic eliminated, I have no doubt they'll be coming at him from all directions.
Of course, they've lost a lot of their element of surprise now.
The Titan team is prepared and on alert for imposters now. Furthermore, so few are left; if they employ a good buddy system and implement a comprehensive detection system for the giveaway radiation, they should see new changelings coming from a light-year away.
Greetings, USS Titan. This is your friendly, positronic, pissed off security system, back on line. Unwanted guests and monologuing protoplasms, I am initiating an immediate shift change.
Data
And they have Data, the newest yet oldest version of their friend ever.
Watching Data turn Lore into a positronic analogy of The Ship of Theseus is perhaps the most elegant solution for the Data-Lore conflict that could have been executed.
Lore: What is happening?
Data: I merely discovered the error in your deception. That my memories are not without value to you. I knew that because they belong to me, you would see them as trophies and be unable to resist them. You took the things that were me and, in doing so, you have become me. We are one now. We are me. Goodbye, brother.
Lore: Goodbye, brother.
Part of what held Data back from the authentic human experience was his lack of an id. His programming never allowed for selfish or petty urges.
With Lore folded into his personality mix, Data can be as vindictive as the situation deems appropriate. And now, he'll even feel the satisfaction of the bad guys getting their comeuppance. Yay, Data! Trivial but enjoyable emotions, FTW!
Who else cheered at the sight of Tasha Yar's holo-portrait? Data's trinkets may be our last trove of Next Generation Easter Eggs as we climb towards the final climax of the series.
Lore: Reminiscing, are we? Scanning through your meaningless memorabilia? In my mind, you would find mightier things. Symbols of power, conquest, the only sensible measure of the success of a life. While you collect trinkets.
Data: These trinkets are my memories. The only sensible measure of the worth of a life.
Data gives Lore lots of hints (along with his life's souvenirs) as to what his plan is, but Lore's never been good at seeing Data's transparency as anything more than a weakness.
My memories define me. I am who I am because they exist. Even though I do not share your desire to dominate, I recognize, given my current state, I am powerless to stop you.
Data
Like Hologram Janeway on Star Trek: Prodigy, the memories he's collected have grown his programming into a unique and faceted individual.
His friendships are irreplaceable. His worth to the world is more than his abilities.
In short, Data is loved, and that makes him mighty. Mighty enough to triumph in the most holistic way over his brother.
Where Lore sought to push Data out, Data won by holding him closer than he could've ever imagined.
Lore: Tell me. Why are you giving me these things?
Data: Because you have had nothing while I have had everything.
With Data restored, I'll own there's a wonderfully gratifying feeling to finally see all Picard's peeps gathered at the table.
Even Worf gets a little warm and fuzzy.
I have slaughtered countless enemies over the years and considered sending their heads to all of you, but I was advised that that was… passive-aggressive.
Worf
But are they really all there? My spidey senses are tingling.
This brings me back to my suspicions about Troi, as much as it breaks my heart.
I still can't wrap my head around how Vadic knew with such certainty that she'd capture Riker on Daystrom Station that she prepared by having Troi there as leverage.
As I postulated on Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 6, what if Geordi or Picard had been captured instead? Did Vadic have Leah Brahms (you know you're thinking it, too) and Laris locked away on the Shrike as well?
We know that the changelings have been able to wring personal insights out of their captives. They did it to Tuvok. Why wouldn't they do it to Troi? Especially if they also captured Kestra to use to force Troi to talk.
So they capture Troi and Kestra, use Kestra to force Troi to divulge enough information to convince Riker it's her, mimic the half-Betazoid's abilities to "sense" the darkness Jack carries with him, and get Beverly's blessing to help guide him through his Red Door.
Let’s be clear then, shall we? I am not a changeling. I have never changed into or from anything. I am who I am. A talker. Not sleight of hand, but sleight of word. All just to distract from this, this, this feeling that I have … I’ve always been different.
Jack
Since when have Troi's powers been such that she can mind-meld with others?
Jack's Red Door seems to be common knowledge among the changelings. Vadic certainly knew a lot more about his abilities than he did a week ago.
Oh, Jack Crusher, what’s it like? Roaming from planet to planet, species to species, but never able to outrun that awful, constant shadow of isolation, loneliness. A life in service to others, a calling. Or was it guilt? Did you always know deep deep down what you are?
Vadic
What will the Red Door open onto?
All indications -- flames, visual and auditory hallucinations, red eyes -- seem to point to Pah-wraiths as improbable as that seems, considering they were an exclusively Deep Space Nine species.
To be fair, the changelings also originated in Deep Space Nine. Could their quest for vengeance on the Federation have dovetailed with the Pah-wraith's desire to burn the universe? Will opening the Red Door release them from the Fire Caves? Is Jack their Emissary?
But how did that happen? And what could be in Picard's biological brain that could connect those non-corporeal beings to Jack?
Jack: I’ll say this, you don’t spend a lifetime practicing the art of charismatic deflection because you want to invite people in.
Troi: Well, as a counselor, I would normally wait for you to seek me out but I think we can both agree that the quickest path to the truth is what everyone needs right now.
Yeah, as much as I want Troi and Riker to be reconciled and set to play happy families with Kestra the moment the Frontier Day festivities are in their rearview, I cannot shake the feeling the real Troi and Tuvok are sharing a cell somewhere dark and unfriendly.
With Vadic and the Shrike dispatched, Frontier Day hours away, and Jack poised to open a door in his mind to who-knows-where, it's anyone's guess what the final two scripts hold for us.
One thing I'll put money on. If Shaw survives (and I'm not saying he does by any means), he's going to take a LONG leave to somewhere he can vent for hours about irresponsible legacy commanders who take his ship and fly the crap out of it.
What are your theories, Fanatics? Who's coming at them next?
What do YOU think is in Hangar Bay 12? Because you KNOW that's going to come back on us soon. Hit our comments with your best guesses!
Diana Keng was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on X.
