Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Ep 7 is the seventh chapter of the 3rd season of an American scifi space opera television series created by Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer, and Alex Kurtzman for the streaming service Paramount+. The series is a spin-off of Star Trek: The Next Generation (STTNG) with the titular character Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) as its central focal point.
S P O I L E R S
Entitled “Dominion”, Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Ep 7 presents to us the origin of Captain Vadic, this season’s main villain. We discover that Vadic – a changeling – was tortured and experimented on by Section 31 (Starfleet’s dark ops division) in order to create the virus that almost destroyed the Dominion, events depicted in Deep Space Nine. Vadic manages to take control of the Titan, with Jack Crusher finally in her grasp. The other mystery that needs solving is what is the other-worldly force within Picard and Crusher that provides the latter telepathic powers, demonstrated in this chapter?
However, Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Ep 7 is not without its flaws. The resistance of Riker and Troi to Vadic’s interrogation is left off-screen and thus not felt by the audience. La Forge’s battle for Data’s “soul” as Lore looms large is great for characterisation but rather boring to behold – they both just stand there and talk! Which we guess is the problem when you have a main cast in their seventies! Also, even for diehard Trekkies, there were way too many references to other Star Trek movies and series that required a measure of research to understand, so how would any casual viewer cope? Fan service is good but not at the expense of engagement.
In the final analysis, while this episode was engaging and enjoyable, it seems to set up a narrative cul-de-sac with Vadic and the changelings in control. How will Picard and co get out of this dilemma? Three parts left to resolve! Recommended.
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