History Recap / StarTrekPicardS3E04NoWinScenario

* OhNoNotAgain: As soon as Shaw mentions Wolf 359, Picard's face takes on a haunting look, showing he knows exactly where this is going and it's not the first time he's had a survivor of the battle confronting him.

* ImposterExposingTest: If the Changeling hadn't already been fooled by Seven's trap, they give themselves away as Ensign La Forge when they refer to Seven as "Commander Hansen", which La Forge would never do out of respect.

* SomberBackstoryRevelation:[[spoiler:Shaw describes his experience at Wolf 359 in a tense monologue, providing the context to explain why he is a {{Jerkass}} and CommanderContrarian. Captain Shaw’s namesake is a {{Shoutout}} to actor Robert Shaw, as his monologue scene revealing his backstory is an {{Homage}} to Quint’s SomberBackstoryRevelation scene in {{Film/Jaws}}.]]

* SomberRevealingBackstory:[[spoiler:Shaw describes his experience at Wolf 359 in a tense monologue, providing the context to explain why he is a {{Jerkass}} and CommanderContrarian. Captain Shaw’s namesake is a {{Shoutout}} to actor Robert Shaw, as his monologue scene revealing his backstory is an {{Homage}} to Quint’s SomberBackstoryRevelation scene in {{Jaws}}.]]

* Somber Revealing Backstory:[[spoiler:Shaw describes his experience at Wolf 359 in a tense monologue, providing the context to explain why he is a Jerkass and CommanderContrarian. Captain Shaw’s namesake is a Shoutout to actor Robert Shaw, as his monologue scene revealing his backstory is a {{Homage}} to Quint’s SomberBackstoryRevelation scene in Jaws.]]

-->'''Captain Shaw:''' Forgive me. At some point, "[[JerkAss asshole]]" became a substitute for charm.

-->'''Picard''': There will be a time when you will need to remember that, no matter how bleak or unwinnable a situation, as long as you and your crew remain steadfast in your dedication, one to another, you are never ever... without hope.

-->'''Shaw''': Look, you and I got off on the wrong foot. I underestimated you. You have great instincts, you're a natural leader, make a great captain one day. ...Which is something I totally would say...\\

* SeriesContinuityError: Shaw's first suggestion to find the Changeling is to find its bucket, as they need to periodically rest in liquid form. The need to rest in a container was a limitation specific to Odo, and he overcame it after [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E06TheAbandoned being taught by the other Changelings]]. Neither this Changeling or the one Worf and Raffi captured, being renegades from the Great Link, should have any need for a bucket to rest in their gelatinous state. For that matter, the prop bucket is a replica of Rene Auberjonois' bucket from [=DS9=] so Seven knows what to look for, when literally any sufficiently large container would serve just as well (Odo, for instance, [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E17TheForsaken was once forced to rest in Lwaxana Troi's blouse when the pair were trapped in a turbolift]]).

* SeriesContinuityError: Shaw's first suggestion to find the Changeling is to find its bucket, as they need to periodically rest in liquid form. The need to rest was a limitation specific to Odo, and he overcame it after [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E06TheAbandoned being taught by the other Changelings]]. Neither this Changeling or the one Worf and Raffi captured, being renegades from the Great Link, should have trouble maintaining their forms. For that matter, the prop bucket is a replica of Rene Auberjonois' bucket from [=DS9=] so Seven knows what to look for, when literally any sufficiently large container would serve just as well (Odo, for instance, was once forced to rest in Lwaxana Troi's blouse when the pair were trapped in a turbolift).

* AtLeastIAdmitIt: When Picard leaves, after Captain Shaw tells him about his {{Survivors Guilt}}, he turns to his crew to apologize for his [[GoodIsNotNice "lack of charm."]]
->'''Captain Shaw''': Forgive me. At some point, [[JerkAss "asshole"]] became a substitute for charm.

* FreudianExcuse: Turns out that the root of Captain Shaw's [[JerkAss dickish]] attitude towards Picard and Seven of Nine is because he's still dramatised by the battle of Wolf 359.

* SeriesContinuityError: Odo revealed that [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E06TheAbandoned he has no real need for the bucket after learning how to rest without it from the other Changelings]], so he kept it as a memorial keepsake. This makes finding [[SmokingGun the bucket]] even weirder since mature changelings don't need a bucket to rest after holding a solid shape for a certain length of time (especially since it looks like Rene Auberjonois' prop bucket from [=DS9=], rather than being some random bucket receptacle).

* SeriesContinuityError: Odo revealed that [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E06TheAbandoned he has no real need for the bucket after learning how to rest without it from the other Changelings]], so he kept it as a memorial keepsake. This makes finding [[SmokingGun the bucket]] even weirder since mature changelings don't need a bucket to rest after holding a solid shape for a certain length of time (especially since it looks like Rene Auberjonois' prop bucket from DS9, rather than being some random bucket receptacle).

In the present day, a hopeless Jean-Luc Picard stews at a window while Capt. Riker gets the status reports from the ''Titan''[='s=] bridge crew. TL;DR, shit's fucked: the ship doesn't have enough power to get out, and also doesn't have enough power to run life support for more than a few hours, especially as it's being shellacked by those bioelectric energy waves from the nebula. Riker visits Picard, acknowledges that Picard's more aggressive stance was correct in retrospect, and suggests Jean-Luc spend his last few remaining hours getting to know his son.

** Vadic is working for the Changelings, as shown when she cuts off her hand as part of a bizarre communication device and then reabsorbs it.

* TheCameo: Creator/MarinaSirtis makes her second appearance this season, communicatinh with Riker from Nepenthe.

* AmiguousSituation: Vadic cuts off her hand as part of a communication device that connects to the Changelings, but it's not clear if Vadic is fully a Changeling or just has a Changeling ArtificialLimb, as a Changeling wouldn't need to amputate the limb manually.

* TheCameo: Creator/MarinaSirtis makes her second appearance this Season in another cameo during Riker's communication with Nepenthe.

* MortonsFork: The grim situation facing the ''Titan''-A. If they don't divert power to the life-support systems ''now'', everyone's going to die from asphyxiation. But if they ''do'' divert said power, then the damaged Warp and Impulse engines won't have enough juice to get them out of the gravity well. And on top of all it, they ''have'' to use systems, but the more systems they use, the faster their remaining power is depleted.

** Vadic is indeed a Changeling, as shown when she cuts off her hand as part of a bizarre communication device and then reabsorbs it.
*** Similarly, if downplayed reveal, Vadic and her crew obviously weren't trying to collect the bounty in Jack's head. The Changelings were chasing the Crushers because they regard Jack as an asset and he's somehow important to their EvilPlan.

* BrickJoke: One that took 34 years to pay off. In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E11Contagion Contagion]]," Riker, with no weapons available, asked if tactical could arrange for him to throw some rocks at the Romulans. Here, he uses the tractor beam to throw an asteroid at the ''Shrike''.

* {{Foil}}: The confirmation that Shaw is a Wolf 359 veteran makes him one to ''Deep Space Nine'''s Benjamin Sisko. Shaw is very much what Sisko could've become if he'd held on to his trauma and anger towards Picard for decades.

** Similarly, if downplayed reveal, Vadic and her crew obviously weren't trying to collect the bounty in Jack's head. The Changelings regard Jack as an asset and he's somehow important to their EvilPlan.