“Seventeen Seconds” Reveals ‘Star Trek: Picard’s Surprise Enemy
The Borg. Romulans. Even Ferengi are villains you expect on Star Trek: Picard. “Seventeen Seconds” is how long it takes for that to change.
Previously on Star Trek: Picard, Beverly Crusher gave Jean-Luc the ol’ “I had your secret baby” stare. We also meet Captain Vadic and her nightmare ship the Shrike. And as the Titan races into a nebula to hide from Vadic, Raffi gets a last-minute rescue from Worf: Silver Fox Edition.
We have a lot of questions to answer. For one: why has Beverly kept Jack a secret from Picard for over two decades? Who is Vadic? Why does she want Jack Crusher? And how does the terrorist attack Worf and Raffi are investigating connect with all of the above?
Good news, everyone! This week’s episode actually answers (or at least starts to answer) all of these questions.
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To Boldly Recap “Seventeen Seconds”
We begin in the past. Specifically, we begin with the day Will Riker’s son Thad is born. In the first season of Picard, we learn that Riker’s son is dead. This will be important later. In the moment, Riker and Picard discuss fatherhood. Apparently, Thad’s birth was a rocky one and it takes Riker seventeen seconds to get to sickbay and see Thad born safely. Riker tells Picard he hopes he will know what it’s like to be a father someday.
Back on the Titan, the ship hides. Sidney LaForge visits Seven of Nine, calls her by her correct name, and gives her a pep talk. And Picard and Crusher have “the talk”.
So, why didn’t Beverly tell Jean-Luc they had a son? When did they even have a son? Right before Beverly leaves the Enterprise, she and Picard have a date. It ends up being their last date, they break up, and afterward, Crusher finds out she’s pregnant.
Beverly doesn’t intend to keep Jack a secret first. But then Picard gets kidnapped by Romulans. And then shot at by Remans. And then a million other insane things happen, at which point Beverly realizes this is just how it’s always going to be.
Beverly couldn’t keep her husband safe. She couldn’t keep her first son Wesley safe. She’ll never keep Picard safe. The only person whose safety she can control is her son’s. So she abandons her entire life. Picard is furious. What kind of father might he have been if he’d only been given the choice?
Related: the reason Jack Crusher has an English accent is because he studied in London. Also, Beverly did tell Jack about Jean-Luc, but Jack decided not to reach out.
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The Titan’s New Old Captain
Riker talks to Jack. Picard talks to Riker. Picard and Jack do not talk. The Shrike reappears, seemingly able to track the Titan. Not only does the Titan take heavy damage, but so does Captain Shaw. Shaw does the only thing he can do: he relieves himself of command and places Riker in charge as captain. Riker has Picard fire a torpedo at the Shrike and then blow up the torpedo, using the blast to blow the Shrike far enough away for the Titan to escape.
Picard thinks they should take an offensive position. Riker thinks the opposite and he’s the captain. The hitch is that it’s not safe to go further into the nebula. So Riker starts to leave the nebula entirely hoping the engines will be fixed in time. The Shrike appear and uses its portal weapon to keep the Titan from escaping. They keep getting pulled through one portal and appearing back where they started. Picard says they must fight but Riker just runs back into the nebula to hide again.
Jack goes to Seven and says he thinks the ship is leaking something, leaving breadcrumbs for the Shrike to follow. Seven agrees to help him test his theory. They discover that there is a Deuterium leak AND that there is a saboteur onboard who made it so no one would detect the leak. Picard thinks they can use the deuterium leak to trick the Shrike. Riker thinks that can use it to escape.
Most importantly, Jack encounters the saboteur, punches him in the face, and the saboteur’s face shifts. He’s a changeling!
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Worf and Raffi Are Also in “Seventeen Seconds”
When Raffi awakens she finds Worf. She is shocked, annoyed, and impressed. Or, as I like to call it: the Raffi special. Worf tells Raffi that a human named Titus Rikka is the one who paid Sneed to lie about the portal weapon and terrorist attack. Worf says he and Raffi will work together to find out who he’s working for, what’s really happening, and stop it.
Raffi and Worf capture Titus Rikka and give him the ol’ good cop/bad cop routine. They think Rikka is going through withdrawal, but he’s not. He just can’t retain his shape indefinitely because he’s ALSO a shapeshifter!
Raffi and Worf get Rikka to admit he stole the portal weapon along with other enemies of the Federation. They blamed the Romulans to keep the Federation spinning. But they actually stole something much more dangerous from Daystrom station. Rikka does not say what, though. Raffi and Worf kill him when he tries to slide away in liquid form.
Worf tells Raffi there is a rift in the Great Link and a terrorist faction of changelings split off. Worf learned this from a “close friend” in the link (Odo). Starfleet doesn’t want this information out because it might trigger another Dominion War. Worf and Raffi formally team up as partners to find a way to get to Daystrom and find out what the real weapon was that got snatched.
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Fatherhood (and Doom)
After being knocked out by the changeling, Jack has a vision of Seven surrounded by growing red tendrils. “Connect the branches, find me,” a voice says. And there’s a red door? Welcome to the mystery box, everybody!
In actuality, Jack was exposed to the deuterium gas and has to be rushed to sickbay where he nearly dies. Picard rushes to be by his son’s side–it takes roughly seventeen seconds to get there. Beverly saves Jack’s life and the two look at one another like maybe they could be a family after all.
While the leak on Titan is shut down, the changeling placed a bomb on board which goes off and prevents the Titan from warping away. Picard finally convinces Riker to mount an attack. The Titan fires, but the Shrike is ready for them. It uses the portal weapon to send the Titan’s weapons fire back at itself.
The Shrike retreats as the Titan sinks into the gravity well and into certain doom. Riker tells Picard to get off the bridge. “You’ve just killed us all.”
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To Boldly Review “Seventeen Seconds”
Showrunner Terry Matalas said that these final ten episodes were more than a “TNG” continuation. And now we know at least a part of what that means. A new Dominion War–well, sort of. If you don’t know, changelings completely upend the Federation during the Dominion War on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. And considering that we know the Federation will eventually disband thanks to Star Trek: Discovery, this feels like an important step in that devolution.
What I’ll give Picard is this: Vadic is the scariest representative of the Great Link we’ve ever seen. We don’t know what she’s after, we just know it’s bad. And watching her repeatedly rope the Titan’s dopes again and again is so impressive you almost want to root for her just to feel like you’re on the winning side.
The tenseness of “Seventeen Seconds” is off the charts when it works. Shaw surrendering the captain’s chair to Riker feels heavy. And in all the scenes in sickbay, you can actually feel the weight of the crew’s deaths.
One of my favorite parts of this episode is that someone on the Titan literally has to look out the back window. They have to eyeball it to see the Shrike in time. And just when you think you’ve got the whole portal weapon under control, Vadic uses it to make the Enterprise fire on itself. All that absolutely rules.
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Worf and Raffi Are Seriously in This Episode
I’m not sure you’ll hear this argument anywhere else, but the Worf and Raffi plot might actually be my favorite thing from “Seventeen Seconds”. These two actors crackle with energy and excitement when they’re on screen together. And while the shapeshift plot does not go much further with this pair, we do get a look at the scope.
All this could easily feel like boring background radiation. The reason it doesn’t is that it provides us with important information we need–that the portal weapon is not the real end game here. But mostly it’s just that the actors just crackle with energy when they’re on screen together. Michael Dorn is always good, but he gets something really special with Michelle Hurd as a proverbial sparring partner. Not only is there that great tension, but the jokes really hit, too.
Raffi and Worf are funny together. And I want to be clear: I don’t usually feel like the humor lands on Star Trek: Picard. Jean-Luc’s fake French accent from season one and the Borg Queen karaoke from season two typify how bad and weird the humor usually is on Picard. But Worf’s juxtaposition between violence and lead? Chef’s kiss. Good stuff.
As much as I feel like we’re just spinning wheels waiting to connect Worf and Raffi to the rest of the plot, they’re stuff is still fun.
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On the Subject of Beverly, Jack, and Riker
Just like last week, there’s a lot of good in this latest episode of Star Trek: Picard, but there are a couple of things that chafe against my understanding of these legacy characters which mars my personal enjoyment. Your ability to enjoy this season, I suspect, will hinge upon whether or not you believe Beverly Crusher would keep Picard’s own son a secret from him because he’s too extra. It’s an interesting character choice and a big swing, but if you don’t buy it, you won’t like it.
I felt myself similarly bristle when Riker tells Picard, “you’ve just killed us all”. I’m not saying it’s impossible that Riker might think that in the moment. But I am saying that William Thomas Riker would never in a million years say that on the bridge in front of all those officers. Not to Picard. Not to ANYONE.
And while we’re on a critical tear here, can we talk about this idea that Jack Crusher’s English accent exists because he “studied in London”? That’s as legit as saying “it’s genetic” which Crusher also suggests. I get that it’s sort of a joke, but what a clunker. Jack’s excuse for his accent is about as when Madonna tries to sound British.
I hate it. I don’t mean to sound too harsh here, but it’s just a weird explanation. And while we’re at it…
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The Mystery Box
Jack is having visions. Why is Jack having visions? And what does it have to do with this terrorist changeling faction? I can already tell you this much: I don’t care. This is some Lost nonsense. It’s the proverbial smoke monster. It already feels like it’s going no place good. And in point of fact, the reason I feel that way is that we’ve already had unsuccessful visions-as-plot on Star Trek: Picard once before.
Remember when Soji was having visions back in season one? And then we learned that she’s an android and that other artificial life from an alternate dimension wanted to commune with her and kill all organics? Remember how unsatisfying that was? I can feel myself bracing for something like that again.
This feels like the most unnecessary part of the plot by far. Why not have Jack’s connection to the changelings be the result of his own ill-thought direct actions? Or why have a connection between him and them at all? It’s like the last fashion accessory you put on before leaving the house: you don’t really need it. Star Trek: Picard does not need this. In fact, it might actively be detracting from the plot and character work that is humming along so nicely.
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Stray Observation Lounge
Blissfully there are not a ton of “look at me, I’m a reference” level Easter eggs here. Worf says he’s the son of Mogh. And he gives the whole Klingon recipe, really. House of Martok. Son of Serge. House of Roshenko. Bane to the Duras family. Slayer of Gowron. Honestly, he’s about one step away from being the holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx. That’s a Lwaxana Troi reference, you’re welcome nerds.
Otherwise, all other references directly tie to the plot. Most notably all the changeling stuff. Worf refers to a friend in the Great Link and he obviously means Odo. Really the only other major wink to the past comes when Vadic chases the Titan. There’s a little musical motif there that’s almost identical to Khan Noonien-Singh’s theme in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan.
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Questions, Queries, Quibbles
Well, we’re stuck wondering what that voice inside Jack Crusher’s head is now, aren’t we? Is he really Picard’s son? Is he synthetic like Soji? Or is something else entirely going on? Is it relevant that his vision involves Seven of Nine? Are we do for more Shenanigans?
There’s a lot of talk about how there are organic readings inside the nebula. Presumably, we’ll be finding out what kind of life is in the nebula’s gravity well next episode. But really, the big question surrounds the rest of the legacy cast. We get a Troi flashback this week but we don’t know what she’s up to now. Where is Geordi
And now that we know that Worf and Raffi are headed to Daystrom, where the heck is Lore? Daystrom and androids are pretty hand in glove so one assumes those things are connected. We also still need to know why Shaw is so angry, especially at Seven and Picard. Perhaps we’ll get some backstory there next week?
All in all, “Seventeen Seconds” continues this third season’s tradition of working more than it doesn’t.
3.5/5 stars
