Spoilers! This review contains ALL THE SPOILERS!
The next scene finds Picard petting his faithful companion, Number One. He states the words, “There’s no legacy as rich as honesty.” This is a quote by William Shakespeare, and it is another wonderful nod to Star Trek: The Next Generation and Picard's love of the author.
Number One discovers a visitor on the property, and Picard seems instantly curious. She is wearing a hooded coat. She tells him that she saw his interview and asks him if he knows her. It’s evident to her that he’s uncertain, and she somehow knows it without understanding why she knows him so well. She explains what happened to her boyfriend—the man who was killed in her apartment. She tells him that throughout it, she kept seeing his face; that the same instinct that helped her fight the men attacking her led her to him. He quickly takes her inside the house. Later, after she seems to have settled, he notices a necklace of two rings joined together. Asking her what it was, she responds that her father gave it to her. As they spoke, she asks him if he’s ever been a stranger to himself, and he responds that he has many times. She reveals that her name is Dahj, and even though he is well known, she feels that her knowledge of him is older than that. He agrees that there may be something there, but he doesn’t know what.
She then goes to a room within the house to sleep, leaving her necklace on the table.
Picard dreams again. He sees Data in the vineyard and goes down to meet him. Data is painting a picture, and when Picard sees it, it is unfinished. It is of a hooded woman staring out at the ocean, but the face has yet to be painted. Both men are in their Starfleet uniforms. Data asks if he would like to finish it, but Picard says he doesn’t know how. Data responds that it is not true, and continues to hold the paintbrush out to Picard. Picard reaches out for it and wakes from his dream.
He looks above his mantle and sees that the picture above his fireplace is a painting very similar to the one in his dream, but the face is pointed toward the water and can’t be seen. He then discovers that Dahj has left early that morning. He then travels to the archives, where many memories of his time as a captain of the Enterprise wait for him. He pulls information from the archives, and finds that the picture in his home is one of two that were painted by Data, and the one in the archives is titled, “Daughter.”
In France, Dahj has found a place to hide and calls her mother, who informs her to go back to Picard. Dahj asks how she knows she went to Picard, but her mother avoids the question and strongly urges Dahj to go to Picard. She moves impossibly fast, looking through information on a view screen to find his location.
The next scene finds Picard coming out of the archive building, where he sees Dahj. He is astonished that she tracked him there, as people have to have a security clearance to get that information. She also tells him that she can hear things from far away. Picard then tells her about Data and his sacrifice many years before. He also tells her that Data painted her thirty years ago and that he thinks she is Data’s daughter, and that what happened to her (her activating) could have been a “positronic alarm bell.” She tries to deny it, but Picard lets her know that if she is who he thinks, then she is very dear to him. He asks her to go to the Daystrom Institute in Okinawa, and she tells him she was just accepted there. He asks her to be like the man he thinks created her, which is “all meaning; all courage.”
She realizes that people are after them, and they run into a building and onto a roof, where she fights many of them. And may I say, this fight is one of those that reminded me of “The Matrix meets Jackie Chan!” It was fantastic! One eventually hits her with some sort of acid, and she begins to disintegrate and eventually blow up, knocking Picard unconscious.
He wakes to find himself back in Chateau Picard. Dahj’s body was never recovered at the scene. According to the police, he was the only one at the scene, and she was never seen on the security feed. It is brought up that she could have had a cloaking device that would have kept her from being seen. Picard says that he owes it to her to find out who killed her and why. He then claims that he has been sitting around too long. He states that he hasn’t been living, but “waiting to die.”
The next scene finds Picard at the Daystrom Institute in Okinawa, where he meets Dr. Agnes Jurati. She laughs when he asks if a sentient being could be made out of flesh and blood, but they begin talking about it seriously. As it turns out, the Daystrom Institute is not allowed to make any more artificial lifeforms, but they can only operate theoretically. She eventually tells him that making a sentient being out of flesh and blood wasn’t something they had ever been able to accomplish, but it is possible that Data could have done it. He then was told that the double ring is a symbol of fractal neuronic cloning. The theory of Maddox is that the entire code of Data could be “reconstituted from one positronic neuron,” meaning that in some form, a part of Data is alive. He is then informed that these beings are created in pairs—twins—so now Picard knows Dahj’s twin is out there.
In the next scene, in the vast reaches of space, within a strange structure shown as the “Romulan Reclamation Site,” a man appears out of the smoke and walks to a woman by the name of Dr. Asher—a woman who looks exactly like Dahj. She introduces herself as Soji. He compliments her on her necklace—two silver rings joined together—and she tells him her father gave it to her, and her sister has the other; her twin. He then begins to talk about his family problems but quickly stops, claiming that she spends so much time fixing people that she probably doesn’t want to talk to him about his problems. She kindly tells him she would like to talk to him, and the camera pans out, eventually leaving the ship and giving a view of the entire structure; an old Borg vessel.
My thoughts:
The music during the beginning credits gave me a feeling of warmth and joy. It speaks to Picard's past and present, giving a hint to his future. The flute was such a beautiful touch and gives a very respectful nod to both Picard's past and to Star Trek: The Next Generation as a whole.
Picard's sweet Pitbull, Number One. I think this speaks volumes on how far Pitbulls have come in showing that it is not the breed that is violent, but their training and owners who are responsible in fostering a positive temperament. I think this is a nod to that ongoing struggle in setting straight the way people see Pitbulls. It speaks to Picard's willingness to accept and love animals and people of all walks of life, rather than accepting the actions of a few as the standard of the whole.
I had a feeling as I watched the previews that Dahj (although I didn't know her name at the time) would be an android, and I even wondered if it was some sort of long-lost daughter of Data's. I'm so happy to see that I was on the mark!
The dreams. They seem to have a lot of symbolism within, giving a taste of events to come without giving too much away.
The reporter. Was I the only one who thought Picard handled that so graciously and as patiently as he could? (Yes, I know he's a fictional character.) The writers are brilliant, giving so much in the dialogue and helping the audience to fully understand both the events happening in current time as well as the things that happened fifteen years before. Bravo to the amazing writers!
Picards love of ALL life. When Picard insists that it's not "Romulan lives" at stake, but "lives," that spoke volumes to me of his character. I think it is parallel to some of the issues we face today. Picard views all lives as precious, no matter who or what they are, and it resonates within me as I think of the world in general. The fact that he has two Romulans in his home, and they are dear friends of his, speaks volumes to his actions backing the words he says.
Dahj's mom. Was I the only one who got a little creeped out that she already knew what her daughter was up to? I can't wait until they dig into that little rabbit hole!
Soji's dad. Very curious to see him. Who is he? I think there will be a lot to uncover!
And my question of the day... Did Dahj actually die, or will we be seeing her later in the season? I can't really believe that we will only get one show with her for them to kill that character off.
I'm already excited about next week! Time to get some Earl Grey tea and call it a day!
Cheers, everyone!