Star Trek: Picard season one finale recap: Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2

In the season finale of Star Trek: Picard, betrayals are unearthed, characters die, closure is found, and a new adventure begins.

It’s the season finale of Star Trek: Picard and the entire universe is at stake. Picard’s been placed under house arrest, while Soji has joined the rest of the synths in their crusade to summon a higher synth power that will decimate the universe. Picard’s requests to Starfleet have fallen on deaf ears, and now the Romulans are virtually at their doorstep. Who will destroy whom?

Now Narek’s the Good Guy?

Sutra let Narek go for no apparent reason. She could have killed him, and now that decision of hers is going to come back to bite her. Narek races into the Borg cube and finds Narissa. She’s survived and wants to kill the synths. But Narek has other plans. He asks Narissa to stay behind and get the cube’s weapons up. He grabs a bunch of detonators, purportedly to blow up the orchids that will undoubtedly attack the incoming Romulan fleet.

But Narek has another plan. While Rios and Raffi work the magic doohickey that the synths gave them to power up La Sirena, Narek arrives at their door wanting to help. He’s followed closely by Elnor who threatens to kill him. Rios talks the stab-happy boy down.

Narek believes that the story of twin sisters reigning destruction and horror down on the world was history – a history that will repeat itself if they don’t act now. Elnor considers these tales to be just that, stories. Narek’s plan is for Rios, Raffi and Elnor to take him captive into the synth settlement. They’ll camouflage the detonator in one of Rios’ footballs and once close enough, blow up the giant beacon the synths have activated to call their overlords.

Suddenly, Narek’s calling the shots and knows exactly what to do, while our main cast (full of actors of colour) stand about hanging on to his every word. It seems like a silly thing to gripe about, but I worry that the Star Trek: Picard creators are unable to see the poor optics of how their stories and scenes play out.

While Narek is off being a good guy, Narissa’s attempt to bring down the actual good guys goes sideways when she’s discovered by Seven. Narissa was eves-dropping on Seven and Elnor’s conversations and throws a comment back at Seven about putting a phaser to her head and killing herself. Elnor had earlier asked why the xBs continue living if everyone hates them and they have no home, and Seven asked if he’d like her to end her life since she’s an xB too. Narissa probably didn’t catch Elnor saying he wouldn’t want any such thing because he would miss Seven. Well, getting Seven angry is never a good move. Seven roundhouse kicks Narissa off a ledge and kills her ‘for Hugh’. Good for you, Seven.

Picard Escapes

Agnes Jurati had promised to give her life for her ‘children’, the synths. Since the overlords will be killing all organics, Altan Soong has decided to transfer his brainwaves into an android. Agnes is supposed to help him – he’ll survive, while she will sacrifice herself. He’s a jerk.

Agnes is not going to do any such thing. She wants to stop these monsters. Agnes scuttles Picard out of the settlement and they return to La Sirena, only to find it’s been deserted. So, what do they do? Do they call Rios and Raffi for their whereabouts? Do they hail Seven and ask her to help them? Nope! The two of them leave orbit and ‘make it so’ they can confront the Romulans on their own.

Here’s a kind reminder that Jurati has no skills – she’s supposed to be a synth specialist, but she has no talents whatsoever. Picard tried to fly La Sirena and couldn’t understand the controls. He’s a quick study, though, so he’s able to take off.

What’s this one ship going to do against a fleet of 200+ Romulan warbirds? Not much, but luck is on Picard’s side. The orchids battle the Romulans and that gives Picard enough time to contact Soji and offer his life to save the world.

But, Soji and the overlords are only one part of the problem. The Romulans prepare to fire on the planet, so Picard has to come up with a new plan to stall them. Jurati remembers the Picard manoeuvre, named for a clever tactic that Picard once used on the Stargazer. To re-create the move, Jurati programs the magical doohickey to project hundreds of La Sirenas, each with a warp signature. This works briefly, as the Romulans fire at will. Eventually they get the real ship.