History Recap / StarTrekPicardS1E02MapsAndLegends

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The circumstances of the failed Romulan evacuation are fleshed out, including how several species threatened to leave the Federation if they helped them. This episode was released on the day that the UK left the EU, [[RippedFromTheHeadlines one of the reasons being xenophobia]].

** Clancy informing Oh of Picard's claims of clandestine Romulan activities on Earth. While she doesn't belive Picard's (from her perspective) ramblings, Clancy still informs the SI Director out of, as she puts it, an excess of caution (just in case there ''is'' a grain of truth in Picard's claims). Unfortunately, of course, Clancy doesn't know the Director ''is'' part of said clandestine operations...

** Clancy informing Oh of Picard's claims of clandestine Romulan activities on Earth. While she doesn't belive Picard's (from her perspective) ramblings, Clancy still informs the SI Director out of, as she puts it, an excess of caution. Unfortunately, of course, Clancy doesn't know the Dirctor ''is'' part of said clandestine operations...

* ProperlyParanoid: The Romulan overseer on the inert Borg Cube gives a speech extolling the virtues of extreme caution, although anybody there who assumes anything different of the Borg or their technology is just [[TooDumbToLive being plain stupid]].

* MythologyGag: The [[KirksRock Vasquez Rocks]] have appeared in the franchise several times, most famously in ''The Original Series'' episode "Arena." Here they finally appear as themselves, identified by a caption.

** Averted with the Romulans in charge of the Artifact. They are seen delivering a workplace health and safety talk to the researchers about to start their day, reminding everyone of the hazards that they may encounter on the derelict Cube and the procedures that they should follow in case of an emergency.
*** The procedure in case of an emergency is "run." Although this may just be a Romulan joke.

Admiral Clancy contacts Commodore Oh, an Asiatic-looking Vulcan who heads Starfleet Security. She mentions Picard's ramblings about the Romulan assassins that killed Dahj, and has Oh look into it. Oh immediately calls for a "Lt. Rizzo," a human woman who arrives as Oh is scrutinizing surveillance footage from the fight in which Dahj was killed-- and catching details that someone apparently forgot to scrub, like the reflection of disruptor fire off a metal pole. Oh informs Rizzo that Picard has information about clandestine Romulan operations on Earth. Oh also reports that Picard mentioned Zhat Vash by name, and that he tried to get a ship to find Bruce Maddox, although she adds that Clancy didn't mention either of those points. (She refuses to answer how she knows.) She commends Rizzo for her passion, but reprimands her impatience-- a bad thing for a DeepCoverAgent to have. (Fun fact: Romulans are an offshoot of the Vulcan species, and there is literally nothing that would prevent a Romulan from HidingInPlainSight as a Vulcan. In fact, it's happened several times before.) She wants Rizzo to stay on mission -- even though their Romulan death squad screwed up by killing instead of capturing Dahj -- and Rizzo claims that she already has an asset working with Soji as well.

* DontAskJustRun: Workers at the Romulan Reclamation Site, actually a dormant Borg cube, wear grey hexagonal badges, which are implied to have anti-assimilation properties. As the Romulan overseer warns, if the badge turns green, it is heavily advised to flee the area immediately.

* KirksRock: Subverted with Picard going, in-universe, to the actual Vasquez Rocks in California (there's even a caption) to meet Raffi Musiker.

At Chateau Picard, Laris reacts [[DramaticDrop poorly]] when Picard expresses his intention of going back into space. However, given Clancy's reaction, he still has no idea how he's going to do that. When Zhaban suggests PuttingTheBandBackTogether -- Riker, Worf, La Forge -- Picard declines, not wanting his old friends to endanger themselves out of loyalty to him. Instead, he contacts an old associate: Raffi Musiker. Of course, when he arrives at her house, she greets him with a phaser rifle, telling him to turn around and get back on his taxi. He agrees, mournfully mentioning that now no one will ever get to the bottom of a Romulan conspiracy on Earth... Raffi asks if the bottle of wine that he brought is the '86.

Picard, with his housekeeper Laris, visits the apartment of the slain Dahj Asha. Laris performs some forensics to try and reconstruct what happened. Intercut with this investigation is an InfoDump where she and Picard's groundskeeper Zhaban explain what they learned when they were members of the Tal Shiar, the Romulan SecretPolice (which explains Laris' forensic skills). Apparently, there is a cabal ''within'' the Tal Shiar, an AncientConspiracy called the Zhat Vash who are fanatically opposed to synthetic life. Back in Dahj's apartment, Laris discovers that a Romulan CleanupCrew came by and scrubbed everything down to the molecular level... but by playing a hunch, they get into Dahj's computer and discover that the calls she made to her sister are off-world.

Back on the Borg Cube, Soji and Narek have been [[BoldlyComing getting to know each other]]. He asks about what it's like to live on a Borg ship, extracting its technology and trying to un-assimilate its drones. She asks if they're allowed to sleep together, and he simply suggests they keep it a secret -- something Romulans are good at doing.

Picard is visited by his physician, Dr. Moritz Benayoun, who served with him on the ''Stargazer''. Picard is trying to get himself certified for active service, but Benayoun informs him he has an abnormality in his parietal lobe; it could cause any number of problems, but all of them end the same way. Having said that, Picard meets (and, in many cases, exceeds) all minimums for interstellar duty, and cleared. Unfortunately, Picard's next trip, to Starfleet HQ, ends even worse. He visits Adm. Kiersten Clancy, C&C of Starfleet, and requests to be reinstated with a ship and crew assigned to him, so that he can go save a RidiculouslyHumanRobot; in the event this causes too much interstellar furor, [[SmallNameBigEgo he is content to be demoted to Captain]]. Clancy yells him out of her office for "sheer [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] hubris" -- asking for favors after denouncing Starfleet ''on live broadcast''. She points out that Starfleet's decision to leave the Romulans to their fate was about TheNeedsOfTheMany: helping them was unpopular ''throughout'' the Federation, and a good fourteen species had [[WeAreStrugglingTogether threatened to secede]]. In Picard, she sees not greatness, but the ramblings of an old man. She sends him away, request denied.

Aboard the Borg Cube, Soji helps a new Trill intern suit up and walks her through the safety spiel: certain sections of the cube still have active Borg drones, and the reclamation crew wear badges (which turn green in the presence of trouble) to keep them safe. Having said that, the dangers are largely on a personal level: Soji and Narek are able to reassure the woman (Dr. Naáshala Kunamadéstifee, of Trill Polytech) that the Borg have essentially "cauterized" this cube away from the Collective. Narek then joins Soji as she and a Romulan doctor surgically remove Borg implants from a now-former drone. Although the doctor is dismissive of the drone, Soji speaks to the recovering former Romulan in its mother tongue: "You are free, my friend."

Admiral Clancy contacts Commodore Oh, an Asiatic-looking Vulcan who heads Starfleet Security. She mentions Picard's ramblings about the Romulan assassins that killed Dahj, and has Oh look into it. Oh immediately calls for a "Lt. Rizzo," a human woman who arrives as Oh is scrutinizing surveillance footage from the fight in which Dahj was killed -- and catching details that, apparently, someone forgot to scrub, like the reflection of disruptor fire off a metal pole. Oh informs Rizzo that Picard has information about clandestine Romulan operations on Earth. Oh also reports that Picard named Zhat Vash, and that he tried to get a ship to find Bruce Maddox, although she adds that Clancy didn't mention either of those points. (She refuses to answer how she knows.) She commends Rizzo for her passion, but reprimands her impatience -- a bad thing for a DeepCoverAgent to have. (Fun fact: Romulans are an offshoot of the Vulcan species, and there is literally nothing that would prevent a Romulan from HidingInPlainSight as a Vulcan. In fact, it's happened several times before.) She wants Rizzo to stay on mission -- even though their Romulan death squad screwed up by killing Dahj instead of capturing it -- and Rizzo claims that she already has an asset working with Soji as well.

At Chateau Picard, Laris reacts [[DramaticDrop poorly]] when Picard expresses his intention of going back into space. However, given Clancy's reaction, he still has no idea how he's going to do that. When Zhaban suggests PuttingTheBandBackTogether -- Riker, Worf, La Forge -- Picard declines, not wanting his old friends to endanger themselves out of loyalty to him. Instead, he contacts an old associate: Raffi Musiker. Of course, when he arrives at her house, she greets him with a phaser rifle, telling him to turn around and get back on his taxi. He agrees, mournfully mentioning that now no one will ever get to the bottom of a Romulan conspiracy on Earth... Raffi asks if the bottle of wine he brought is the '86.

Aboard the Borg Cube, Narek receives a holographic visitor: it's Rizzo, whom Narek makes fun of for having undergone cosmetic surgery to get rid of her pointy Romulan ears. He -- the asset Rizzo has assigned to Dahj's sister -- reports that he has made progress with establishing friendly contact with the other target, and that he's on top of the situation. (Rizzo smirks at the rumpled bed.) She informs him that if he hasn't gotten any results by the time she visits, she'll take over the operation herself.

-->'''Zhaban:''' "Zhat Vash" is a term sometimes used to refer to the dead -- the only reliable keepers of secrets.\\

'''Laris:''' No, fitting, because that's the sole purpose of the Zhat Vash -- to keep a secret so profound and terrible, just learning it can break a person's mind.

* BloodlessCarnage: Averted. The laser welder F8 uses in the flashback burns big, messy holes in whatever it hits compared to a phaser.

** In "The Measure of a Man", Guinan warned Picard that TheFederation might create an army of "disposable people." Well, they did just that -- and [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters lost control of their creations]].

* CleanupCrew: The Zhat Vash cleaned up all the evidence of their attempt to kidnap Dahj, leaving her apartment immaculate. Laris even notes they went to the trouble (and risk) of erasing all the evidence down to the molecular level just in case someone with Romulan equipment decided to investigate.
* ClickHello: The first thing Raffi does when she sees Picard is pull out a phaser rifle and tell him to turn around and get back in the taxi that brought him there.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The circumstances of the failed Romulan evacuation are fleshed out, including the fact that several species threatened to leave the Federation if they helped them. This episode was released on the day that the UK left the EU, [[RippedFromTheHeadlines one of the reasons being xenophobia]].

* FailedASpotCheck: InUniverse when Oh points out disrupter fire reflected on a handrail on the security footage of Dahj's assassination.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: Laris is afraid that since Picard knows about Zhat Vash, they'll try to eliminate him.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: A second-person variant -- when Benayoun visits Chateau Picard to deliver the medscan results, he tells Picard to pour himself something stronger than Earl Grey.

* InterspeciesRomance: Soji, an android who thinks she's human, is in a casual sexual relationship with Narek, who's Romulan.

* LackOfEmpathy: A Romulan surgeon performing the reclamation procedure on a Borg drone callously dubs one subject of an unknown species "Nameless," to Soji's disdain; as far as Soji is concerned, not knowing a species' name doesn't mean they should pretend they don't have one. The Romulan doctor replies that "Nameless ''is'' a name."

** Picard refusing to go PuttingTheBandBackTogether for his former ''Enterprise'' command crew carries some heavy [[invoked]]RealitySubtext, in that the whole ''TNG'' cast are also very close friends in real life, even over the years since it stopped airing and the films came and went. As noted under the Trivia page for ''Picard'', Creator/PatrickStewart only agreed to the new series once it was clear it would not simply be a ''TNG'' reunion and continuation.
** Picard finds Jurati reading Creator/IsaacAsimov, and says he just doesn't "get" science fiction, which is a trait that he shares with his actor.

* NeckSnap: Done OffhandBackhand by a synthetic [[ExcuseMeWhileIMultitask while he hacks into a LCARS panel]].

** Averted with the Romulans in charge of the Artifact. They are seen delivering a workplace health and safety talk to the researchers about to start their day, reminding everyone of the hazards they may encounter on the derelict Cube and the procedures they should take in case of an emergency.

* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: Defied; Zhaban suggests that Picard reunite the old ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Enterprise]]'' command crew for his mission, but Picard refuses. He knows [[UndyingLoyalty they would all join if asked]], but after Data's sacrifice, he doesn't want to put them in danger again.

* SecretCircleOfSecrets: Laris points out that the term SecretPolice has little meaning in a society that practises compulsive secrecy. Turns out there's an organization called the Zhat Vash that's so secret, even former Tal Shiar operatives like Zhaban dismiss it as a fairy tale.

* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: The Zhat Vash apparently exists to protect some terrible secret, related to why they hate synthetic life. Laris doesn't know what it is, but thinks it's the sort that could break someone's mind. It's also implied that they are ''everywhere'' and have existed for thousands of years, and they are shown to have infiltrated Starfleet.

Picard is visited by his physician, Dr. Moritz Benayoun, who served with him on the ''Stargazer''. Picard is trying to get himself certified for active service, but Benayoun informs him he has an abnormality in his parietal lobe; it could cause any number of problems, but all of them end the same way. Having said that, Picard meets (and, in many cases, exceeds) all minimums for interstellar duty, and cleared. Unfortunately, Picard's next trip, to Starfleet HQ, ends even worse. He visits Adm. Kiersten Clancy, C&C of Starfleet, and requests to be reinstated with a ship and crew assigned to him, so that he can go save a RidiculouslyHumanRobot; in the event this causes too much interstellar furor, [[SmallNameBigEgo he is content to be demoted to Captain]]. Clancy yells him out of his office for "sheer [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] hubris" -- asking for favors after denouncing Starfleet ''on live broadcast''. She points out that Starfleet's decision to leave the Romulans to their fate was about TheNeedsOfTheMany: helping them was unpopular ''throughout'' the Federation, and a good fourteen species had [[WeAreStrugglingTogether threatened to secede]]. In Picard, she sees not greatness, but the ramblings of an old man. She sends him away, request denied.

* RealityEnsues:
** Despite the loss of their homeworld, the Romulan Empire still exists, after a fashion, just reorganized into the Romulan Free State; while the loss of Romulus was a devastating blow, off-world installations and colonies allowed the Romulans to survive, albeit in a diminished state.
** Picard turns up at Starfleet Headquarters, and the man at the desk -- being a much younger officer -- doesn't recognize him.
** Picard asks Starfleet to return his flight status -- days after he brutally criticized them in a widely broadcast public interview on FNN, ''and'' fourteen years after his resignation while protesting official Starfleet policy -- and all for a mission that he can't justify with any concrete evidence. Unsurprisingly, Admiral Clancy denies his request and gives him TheReasonYouSuckSpeech [[ShutUpKirk on top of it]].

* EnemyMine: The reveal that Picard's trusted servants are former members of the Romulan secret police says a lot about how the political landscape has changed, given that in the ''TNG''-era they would regard each other, if not as enemies, than certainly with suspicion.

** The flashback to 2385 shows a few of the workers on Utopia Planitia mocking and insulting the synthetic workers without caring if they're in earshot, one of them justifying this with a dismissive "it's not like they're people." The group's leader also calls them "plastic people". And this is ''before'' the synths rebel and start killing everyone.

*** The procedure in case of an emergency is "run". Although this may just be a Romulan joke.

* RedAlert: When the synthetics are hacked and take over the orbital weapons. Not that the alert does anyone the slightest good; F8 kills anyone who intervenes, then everyone else including himself.

* EnemyMine: The reveal that Picard's servants are former members of the Romulan secret police says a lot about how the political landscape has changed, given that in the ''TNG''-era they would regard each other, if not as enemies, than certainly with mistrust.

** The flashback to 2385 shows a few of the workers on Utopia Planitia mocking and insulting the synthetic workers without caring if they're in earshot, one of them justifying this with a dismissive "it's not like they're people." And this is ''before'' the synths rebel and start killing everyone.

-->'''Trill''': My residency was supposed to start six months ago, but the Romulan Free State revoked it when I was halfway here. I have no idea why, or why they finally reinstated it.\\

'''Laris''': No, of course, if it's important to Jean-Luc Picard, it must be important to the ''whole galaxy''.