Recap / Star Trek: Picard S1E01 "Remembrance"

"I don't want the game to end."

It's the year 2399. Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Starfleet, retired) grants his first interview in many years, serving also as an Info Dump on the continuity of the "Prime" timeline since it was last seen in 2379. Specifically, when Starfleet became aware of the supernova that threatened Romulus with an Earth-Shattering Kaboom (see ALT: Star Trek (2009)), he led a Homeworld Evacuation fleet. However, partway through the evacuation, "synths" attacked and destroyed the Utopia Planitia shipyards on Mars (see DST: "Children of Mars"); Starfleet, which never really approved of saving Romulans anyway, took the opportunity to cancel the whole business, as well as to pass a Ban on A.I.. Picard resigned in protest and answered a Call to Agriculture, returning to Chateau Picard to make wine with the help of two devoted Romulan refugees— where the series begins.

All of this brings him to the attention of Dahj Asha, a Mysterious Waif who shows up at the vineyard one day. She was relaxing with her Xahean boyfriend and celebrating her acceptance to the Daystrom Institute of Technology when masked Mooks arrived, murdered the boyfriend, and tried to abduct her... only for Dahj to experience a Traumatic Superpower Awakening and display unprecedented degrees of Waif-Fu. Seeing Picard's face on live TV (denouncing Starfleet for abandoning the Romulans), she instinctively feels that she can trust him. However, she only stays long enough for a cup of Earl Grey before disappearing, afraid to put him in danger.

Picard experiences a Dream Sequence involving his old friend Data attempting to finish a painting of a young woman. Picard visits his storage cubicle at Starfleet Archives to see the original, which Data gifted him during their time together. Data named it "Daughter." The figure looks exactly like Dahj. After she tracks him down again (on a command from her "mother"), Picard explains his belief that she is somehow Data's descendant, and promises to help her. Unfortunately, more assassins arrive; by shattering the helmet off one of them, Dahj reveals them to be Romulan. They are well-equipped too, with lots of Ray Guns, Teleport Spam, and a Suicide Pill that releases highly-corrosive acid, which one commando combines with a disruptor for explosive effect. Dahj, despite her unprecedented degrees of Waif-Fu, does not survive.

Picard visits the Daystrom Institute, where he meets Dr. Agnes Jurati, the planet's leading cyberneticist— insofar as that means anything, given the Federation's regulations. She explains that she was recruited by Dr. Bruce Maddox (see TNG: "The Measure of a Man"), who pursued his dream of artificial life well past his one Guest Star appearance, but retired after the Mars attack. She shows Picard the remains of B-4 (see TNG: Star Trek: Nemesis), who was disassembled after Data's attempts to use him as a Soul Jar failed, and she explains that, without Noonien Soong's neural nets (the real ones, not the early prototype seen in B-4), true artificial intelligence has remained beyond the grasp of science. However, Picard shows Dr. Jurati a Memento MacGuffin: Dahj's necklace, which contains the symbol for fractal neuronic cloning, a scientific process that Maddox was attempting to perfect and that, if successful, would create a Ridiculously Human Robot. Or rather, two of them. Dahj, Dr. Jurati proclaims, must have a twin.

Somewhere in the Beta Quadrant, a Romulan named Narek greets Dr. Soji Asha, the twin sister of Dahj, who is working on the biggest Romulan science project ever: an abandoned Borg cube.

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Tropes:

• Actor Allusion: Patrick Stewart gets a twofer.
  • During the interview, Picard compares the attempted evacuation of Romulus to Dunkirk. Patrick Stewart was born only a month after Dunkirk, and his father was one of the soldiers evacuated, although the experience left him with PTSD and caused him to be abusive to Stewart and his mother.
  • While getting up from the explosion, Picard looks over his life and concludes that he is only waiting to die. He made a similar exclamation in Logan.
• Alphabet News Network: Picard is interviewed by a reporter from FNN.
• Anachronism Stew: In-Universe— the Cold Open takes place on the Enterprise-D, but Picard is much older than he was when he commanded her, and Data is wearing the uniform that debuted with the Enterprise-E. Justified, as it's All Just a Dream.
• Apocalypse How: Mars suffered a planetary extinction in the Class 4 to Class 6 range, depending on what degree of life still hangs on there. When the synths bombed Mars, they ignited the atmosphere, which is still burning in the present day of the episode.
• Armor-Piercing Question: The FNN reporter violates her agreement and asks Picard why he left Starfleet. Picard gives her an Armor-Piercing Response leading to "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
  Reporter: What was it that you lost faith in, Admiral? You've never spoken about your departure from Starfleet. Didn't you, in fact, resign your commission in protest? Tell us, Admiral, why did you really quit Starfleet?
  Picard: (mumbling) Because it was no longer Starfleet...
  Reporter: I'm sorry?
  Picard: Because it was no longer Starfleet! We withdrew. The galaxy was mourning, burying its dead. And Starfleet slunk from its duties! The decision to call off the rescue and abandon those people we had sworn to save was not just dishonorable, it was downright criminal! And I was not prepared to stand by and be a spectator. And you, my dear, you have no idea what Dunkirk is, right? You're a stranger to history. You're a stranger to war. You just wave your hand and -pfft!- it all goes away. Well, it's not so easy for those who died, and it was not so easy for those who were left behind. We're done here. (gets up and walks away)
• Artistic License – Space: The episode retcons Star Trek (2009), stating that the supernova that destroyed Romulus in 2387 was of the Romulan sun itself, rather than a distant star as the film had implied (and confirmed in the tie-in comic Star Trek Countdown). While this addresses the scale problem in the former concept, it introduces the new problem that a star big enough to turn into a Type II supernova would be unlikely to ever have any Earth-like planets around it: larger stars have shorter lifespans and produce more radiation, and the star would expand and incinerate any planets formerly orbiting in their habitable zone millions of years before going nova. (Source material addresses this by hinting that the supernova was in some way not a natural occurrence.)
• Ban on A.I.: Following the synth attack, Starfleet banned synthetic life. This primarily refers to artificial humans, but it's not made clear if it extends to all forms of synthetic consciousness, such as sapient holograms like the Doctor, as there is a hologram working as the Index at Starfleet Archives.
• Big "NO!": Picard shouts this as Dahj is killed, along with a Futile Hand Reach.
• Black Dude Dies First: Dahj's boyfriend is a dark-skinned Xahean, and is also the first character to die (stabbed by one of Dahj's attackers) in this series.
• The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In:
  • One of the assassins kills Dahj's boyfriend with a throwing knife to the chest, which embeds itself perfectly dead-center in his body.
  • Dahj then uses the same trick against a Romulan assassin.
• Blown Across the Room: The overloading disruptor explosion sends Picard flying head over heels away from it.
• Broken Pedestal: Picard resigned from Starfleet in disgust over their using the Mars incident as an excuse to abandon the Romulans as their sun was going supernova.
• Call-Back:
  • Bruce Maddox is referenced, having been a part of Starfleet's android research until the technology was outlawed. The Daystrom Institute, first mentioned in the The Next Generation episode "The Measure of a Man" (and itself named for Richard Daystrom), is also featured as a setting.
  • Picard and Data share the first lines of the episode and of the series, mirroring TNG's premiere, "Encounter at Farpoint". Similarly, they start the episode playing poker, which is how "All Good Things" concluded^note although the entire main cast of TNG was playing at that point.
  • The episode opens with "Blue Skies", the song that Data sang at Riker and Troi's wedding reception, and B-4 hummed at the very end of Star Trek: Nemesis.
  • Dahj's boyfriend is a Xahean, a species introduced in Star Trek: Discovery.
  • Picard says that Data always wanted a daughter, a reference to his failed attempt to create Lal in "The Offspring".
  • Picard's archive has the "Captain Picard Day" banner hanging on the wall. Models of the Stargazer and the Enterprise-E Captain's Yacht can also be seen.
• Celebrity Paradox: In a very roundabout way — in Picard's dream, he and Data listen to a diegetic rendition of "Blue Skies" as sung by Bing Crosby. They may or may not be aware that he had a granddaughter named Denise Crosby — who bears a very striking resemblance to the late Tasha Yar.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: After Dahj activates, it takes all of a dozen seconds for her to kill three Romulan assassins.
• Darker and Edgier: The brutal murder of Dahj's boyfriend, and her Curb-Stomp Battle of the men who did it, shows that this series will be more hard-edged than Star Trek: The Next Generation.
• Dies Wide Open: Dahj cries over the corpse of her boyfriend, whose eyes are "staring" at nothing, which is how she knows that he's dead.
• Do Androids Dream?: When Dahj starts to realize that she's an android, she freaks out, insisting that she has to be human because she has memories of her childhood. Picard dismisses her concerns and reassures her that those memories are hers, and that if she is in fact Data's daughter, then she is more dear to him than she could imagine.
• Dodge the Bullet: Dahj evades several disruptor blasts from the Romulan assassins.
• Dramatic Sit-Down: Jurati has to sit down when she's overwhelmed by the significance of what Picard tells her about Dahj.
  Jurati: I really... really wish you'd come here on my day off.
• Dutch Angle: In the first Dream Sequence, the camera tilts diagonally shortly after Picard begins gasping in fear.
• Evil Wears Black: The Romulan commandos have an all-black uniform, including opaque black helmets.
• Exotic Eye Designs: Dahj's boyfriend, being Xahean, has eyes that blink from the sides.
• Eye Cam: Laris is out of focus and Zhaban is outright blurry to Picard when he awakens while recovering from a head injury.
• Faceless Goons: Leading to a Dramatic Unmask of their Pointed Ears that shows them to be a squad of Romulans.
• Fade to White: Picard's first Dream Sequence ends in a brief flash of white light caused by an explosion that fills the whole screen.
• Fake Memories: Played with. Dahj says that she remembers her father, a xeno-botanist, who filled their house with orchids and even named one type after her. Picard doesn't discount the memory, saying that it is hers and no one can take it away from her.
• Fantastic Flora: The filaments or styles ^note they look like styles, but one flower has at least two (there's only one style for each blossom), so they may be filaments of the orchids in Dahj's apartment move on their own.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • During Picard's interview, the FNN reporter implies that trying to rescue the Romulans from the death of their world was a mistake, as they were the Federation's oldest enemies. Picard hits back that he was trying to save lives, species and history be damned. Starfleet higher-ups evidently agreed with the reporter; after the attack on Mars, they cancelled any further rescue attempts (although the next episode states that this was at least partly due to interference from the civilian government).
  • Since the synth attack on Mars, artificial lifeforms have been subjected to a major case of demonization. During the interview, the FNN reporter pointedly asks if Picard ever lost faith in Data (to which Picard emphatically states "never"), and when Dahj realizes her artificial nature, she freaks out, seeing them (and herself) as nothing but killing machines before Picard manages to talk her down.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: A billboard in the establishing shot of Boston indicates that Kassidy Yates has been able to build her shipping business to greater heights than ever after the Dominion War.
• Foreshadowing: Data painted two copies of "Daughter". This foreshadows that Dahj is actually one of twins.
• Future Imperfect: Picard uses Dunkirk as an analogy for the evacuation of Romulus. His interviewer just nods as if she has no idea what he's talking about; Picard calls her out on it later.
• Gratuitous French:
  • Picard talks to his pet dog in French, who is carrying a small dead animal in his mouth.
    Picard: Je sais que tu penses ramener ça à la maison, mais c'est hors du question! Ne fais pas semblant de ne pas parler français. On s'est pratiqué. ^note That last sentence is actually incorrect French, its meaning being closer to "We have practised each other." (I know you're thinking of bringing that in the house, but it's out of the question! Don't pretend you don't speak French. We practised.)
  • Zhaban thinks that Picard is being overly dramatic when the latter says "Bien, à la guillotine, alors" (Well, to the guillotine, then) before his interview with the Federation News Network reporter.
• Gray Rain of Depression: Considering that Earth has a weather control system, it's awfully convenient that it's pouring rain when a depressed Dahj is wandering the streets after witnessing her boyfriend's murder.
• Happy Flashback: Picard's dreams of Data; he admits that the worst part is waking up, as he doesn't want the dream to end.
• Heartbeat Soundtrack: Dahj's heartbeat is heard briefly after the commandos place a bag over her head.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Picard laments his Achilles in His Tent behavior, saying that he was too busy shutting himself off from the world and "nursing his offended dignity" to do the right thing.
  Picard: I haven't been living. I've been waiting to die.
• Hologram Projection Imperfection: There's a noticeable glitch when Dahj is talking to her mother, implying that she's not real, either.
• Homeworld Evacuation: Attempted with Romulus. Picard spearheaded the construction of a fleet that would be able to evacuate their entire planet before the supernova. Unfortunately, Starfleet was never really on board with the project, so when the synths went rogue and hijacked the ships to attack Mars and the Utopia Planitia shipyards, they saw it as the perfect excuse to abandon the effort entirely. Such a flagrant disregard for life sickened Picard, so he resigned in protest.
• I Never Told You My Name: When Dahj calls her mother and says that she tried staying safe with someone but left because she was afraid, her mother tells her to go back to Picard. Dahj is immediately suspicious, saying that she never told her mother who it was she went to see. Her mother gives a lame excuse, then gets Dahj to go back to Picard, in a tone that seems to compel Dahj to do so.
• Immoral Journalist: The FNN reporter that interviews Picard in a live broadcast goes back on her word not to bring up his retirement from Starfleet, has an obvious bias against Romulans and synths, and interrupts Picard in the middle of responses to steer the conversation toward her intended topic. Picard eventually bull-rushes her with a short but brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech and ends the interview.
• Instant Death Stab: Dahj's boyfriend immediately drops dead after he's knifed in the chest.
• Interspecies Romance: Dahj (who believes that she's human, but is actually an android) is dating a Xahean.
• Invisibility Cloak: Zhaban thinks that Dahj has a personal cloaking device that prevents her from showing up on security feeds.
• Left the Background Music On: The episode starts with Bing Crosby's rendition of "Blue Skies" that's quickly revealed to be playing in Ten-Forward in Picard's dream.
• "London, England" Syndrome: We get an estate and country variant with "Château Picard, France." It's interesting to note that there is a real place called Château Picard in Saint-Estèphe, France that has a vineyard and produces wine, although the one featured in this franchise is fictional because it's located in La Barre.
• Manchurian Agent: Dahj, when her head is covered, suddenly turns into an unstoppable warrior who easily overpowers and kills the three sent to apprehend her. It's then revealed that there's at least one more like her.
• Match Cut: The two circles that form the pendant of Dahj's necklace Dissolve into two rings of interstellar gas that glow bright green, possibly the remains of the Romulan star.
• Memento MacGuffin: Dahj's necklace tips off Picard and Dr. Jurati that Dahj has a twin sister.
• My God, You Are Serious!: Jurati initially believes that Picard is joking when he inquires about the creation of an Artificial Human.
  Jurati: How can I help you?
  Picard: You can tell me if it is possible to make a sentient android out of flesh and blood.
  Jurati: (laughs) No, really. How can I... (realizes that Picard is serious) Is that why you've come here?
• Mysterious Waif: Dahj— with good reason, as she is actually a Ridiculously Human Robot.
• Nightmare Sequence: The episode opens with Picard and Data playing poker. Data eventually wins with five Queens^note all Queens of Hearts, as it happens, then Picard looks out the window to see Mars being laid to waste before waking up.
• Nothing Up My Sleeve: A double-barreled disruptor pistol is shown deploying from a Romulan commando's arm as he teleports in.
• Obviously Evil: The very first shot of Narek is a mysterious, dark figure emerging from a large mist of steam with ominous music playing in the background, and he walks in slow-motion towards the camera with a sinister facial expression. Even before he speaks to Soji, we know that he's bad news.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • When the Romulan assassins realize that Dahj's programming is kicking in, they rightfully panic, right before she wipes the floor with them.
  • When Picard shows Dr. Jurati Dahj's necklace and her expression immediately changes from one of good humor to one of deep concern and fear.
    Jurati: I really... really wish you'd come here on my day off.
• One-Word Title: The episode's title is "Remembrance."
• Overcrank:
  • The scene briefly slows down right after Dahj's head is covered, which signals that she's activating.
  • As part of Narek's Obviously Evil introduction, he walks menacingly in slow-motion towards the camera.
• Projected Man: Index, a hologram with the appearance of a human woman, is the user-friendly directory at Starfleet Archives.
• Ray Gun: The Romulan commandos are armed with doubled-barreled disruptor pistols.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: On the anniversary of the supernova that destroyed Romulus, Picard reluctantly takes part in a live interview on the Federation News Network. It quickly turns to tabloid hackery in the questions, and Picard eventually loses his civility and dishes out a scathing rebuke of the Federation's dishonorably and criminally neglectful inaction towards the Romulans' catastrophe. All live on FNN for so many to see.
• The Reveal: The attack on Mars and Utopia Planitia is explained in greater detail here. Mars was being used as a staging ground for the construction of a fleet of ships to evacuate Romulus. The synths hijacked the ships and used them to attack Mars and the shipyards for reasons unknown.
• Ridiculously Human Robot: Maddox was actually able to perfect Dr. Soong's design and create an artificial lifeform completely indistinguishable from humans.
• Scenery Porn:
  • The episode begins with shots of various nebulae, and they're stunning.
  • The forested hills that are beyond Picard's vineyard (they can be seen behind his outdoor dining table) are picturesque.
• Screaming Woman: Dahj screams at the top of her lungs after she witnesses her boyfriend being murdered.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • Picard resigned from Starfleet when, in the wake of the synth attack, they completely abandoned the effort to rescue the Romulan people from the impending supernova.
  • Bruce Maddox left Federation space shortly after the ban on synths was instituted in order to continue his work on sentient androids.
• Subverted Catchphrase: Picard's sorry state is driven home when he orders Earl Grey tea not hot, but decaf.
• Super-Speed: If the audience hasn't guessed it already, a clue to Dahj's nature is shown when she does a lighting-fast data search for Picard's location, just like Data could do.
• Super Spit: One of the Romulans spits some kind of acid which starts to dissolve Dahj. She's then blown up by his overloading weapon for good measure.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: After being set up as a major character, Dahj is killed by one of the Romulan assassins right when it looks like she's won.
• Switch to English: One of the Romulans who attempts to abduct Dahj speaks in Romulan before being told to speak English.
• The Tell: According to Picard, Data fakes a tell by dilating his left pupil. His real tell is when his eyes are neutral.
  Picard: You have a tell.
  Data: That is impossible, sir.
  Picard: Every so often, you dilate your left pupil — ostentatiously, I might add — in an effort to cheat me into thinking you have a tell, but your true tell is: you don't have one. When your eyes are neutral, that's when I know you're bluffing.
  Data: Hmm. Now that you have told me that, Captain, I am confused about which deception to employ.
• Tempting Fate: Zhaban assures Picard that the FNN reporter will abide by the agreement to not bring up Picard's resignation from Starfleet. Guess how that goes...
• There Is Another: When Jurati explains that synths like Dahj are created in pairs, Picard realizes that there's another one like her out there. Cut to a ravaged Borg Cube under Romulan control, where Dahj's twin Soji is working.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Dissolved by acid and blown up by an overloading rifle? The Romulans really wanted Dahj eliminated, didn't they?
• Tomato in the Mirror: Dahj never thought she was anything but human, and doesn't react well to the truth given that androids are now considered dangerous murderers.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Dahj, after a group of attackers murder her boyfriend and attempt to abduct her. Right after they put a Bag of Kidnapping over her head, she proceeds to kill every one of them despite being unable to see.
  Attacker: She's activating! She's activat— *whack*
• Unnaturally Blue Lighting: There's blue lighting in the Parisian alleyway where Dahj contacts her "mother."
• The Unreveal: Even Starfleet doesn't know why the synths attacked Mars.
• Wham Shot: The final shot of the episode is the Romulan Reclamation Site being revealed to be a derelict Borg cube.
• With My Hands Tied: Faceless Goons teleport into Dahj's apartment, murder her boyfriend, and shove a sack over her head so she can be hauled off for interrogation. She proceeds to kill every one of them despite being unable to see.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Dahj uses a German suplex and a DDT when attacked at the Starfleet Archives.
• Yes-Man: Zhaban jokingly sucks up to Picard.
  Zhaban: (sees Picard dressed up) Extremely dignified, sir.
  Picard: (re his tie) Look at this knot. It's ridiculous.
  Zhaban: Maybe, but I want to keep my job.

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