We begin with Picard on an operating table, and then flashback to How We Got Here.
Jurati, with the Borg Queen's help, breaks out of her restraints and hacks the gala's database. As the episode progresses, it becomes clear that the Queen is a very active co-participant in the two of one that is Agnes Jurati's corporeal form, not only influencing her actions but at one point generating an EMP so that Jurati can distract everyone by jumping on the stage and belting out Pat Benatar's "Shadows of the Night." It's an uneasy alliance, with the Queen angling for control... and looking for an endorphin rush via which to hijack her host.
Raffi notices Rios has been starry-eyed ever since meeting the doctor Teresa. Raffi advises him to hold his tongue, since romancing someone from a different century is antithetical to trust. Meanwhile, Tallinn and Picard make their move on Renée when she decides to formally withdraw from the mission. Unfortunately, they are intercepted by Dr. Soong, who has made a generous donation to the Europa Foundation and is now on the board of directors. With this authority, he tries to have Picard removed by security. This is when Queen Agnes does her "go on stage and do karaoke with a jazz band" distraction. Picard, unhindered, speaks to Renée and convinces her to remain on the mission.
Dr. Soong, goaded by Q's words, falls back to Plan B: to run over Renée with a car. He fails when Picard shoves her out of the way, hitting him instead. While Renée retreats to quarantine, her place on the Shango confirmed, Rios and the others get the admiral to Teresa's clinic, completing the loop from the beginning of the episode. She uses the defibrillator paddles, but he remains in a coma. Tallinn, who has various technology on her, suggests using some of it as a jury-rigged mind meld.
Meanwhile, Soong confesses his failure to Kore, who is perturbed enough by her father's words that she breaks into his computer. There she learns that she is merely the latest of many, many attempts at cloning and genetic engineering.
Raffi is squeamish about the idea of the "jury-rigged mind meld," but eventually gives in. "How much worse could it possibly be?" The Answer Cut depicts Agnes Jurati, now fully possessed by the Borg Queen, loose on the streets of LA.
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: Q told Adam Soong about "Picard" in the last episode, seemingly referring to Renée, but his actual target is Jean-Luc, whom he's been instructed to keep away from Renée. It's then Double Subverted when he recalls Q telling him to get rid of Renée.
- Black Eyes of Evil: Jurati gains these when the Borg Queen takes her over.
- Breaking the Bonds: With the Borg Queen's help, Jurati snaps off her handcuffs like they're made of paper.
- Car Fu: Adam Soong comes out of nowhere to run down Picard.
- Celebrity Paradox: At the astronauts' reception, Jean-Luc tells Renée that "Dr. Jemison" is going to give a toast. This is apparently the real-world astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison — who had a cameo appearance on the TNG episode "Second Chances."
- Character Tics:
- Renée tugs her earlobe when she starts to get overwhelmed.
- Jurati notes that Rios raises his eyebrows when he's worried about her.
- Chekhov's Gun: Picard previously described being in the Borg Hive Mind as a kind of euphoria that keeps individuality suppressed. In this episode, the Queen encourages various hedonistic behaviors in Jurati to drive up her endorphins to the point that the Queen can take over her body.
- Continuity Nod: The shuttle that Picard asks Renée to talk about is the one from the Star Trek: Enterprise opening titles.
- Disposable Vagrant: While Kore is doing an Internet search on her father, text from an article on the screen shows that he experimented on homeless military veterans.
- Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Jurati doesn't realise she's been upgraded with super strength until she asks for the Queen's help.
- EMP: The Borg Queen is able to generate a small EMP from Jurati as part of a distraction.
- Foreshadowing: When Tallinn intercepts Renée's text to Q, she swears softly in Romulan, which foreshadows the reveal in the following episode about her identity.
- Grand Theft Me: Jurati has to give the Queen more control to unleash the super strength to break out of the handcuffs. Later when Jurati provides a distraction by singing to the Gala crowd, it creates enough endorphins to allow the Queen to take over entirely.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: Jurati knocks out the security personnel in the control center, and though the gas is designed to erase short-term memory, the guards seemingly don't question why they both passed out.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Jurati's plan to save the cop without killing the Queen, their only way home, required her to allow the Grand Theft Me.
- In Medias Res: The episode starts with Picard seemingly dying with blood coming from his mouth, then flashes back 34 minutes prior to show how he got there. This repeats a few times with different scenes of him being treated, each time closing the gap.
- Instant Sedation: Jurati's Knock Out Gas works instantly, knocking out the guards from several meters away.
- Journey to the Center of the Mind: This is what Tallinn suggests to bring Picard out of his coma.
- Kill the Lights: The Borg Queen cuts the power to the Gala to enable Jurati to distract everyone with her musical number.
- Knockout Gas: Jurati's plan to leave her in the clear to hack the mainframe, which also induces short-term memory loss so they forget about her.
- Late to the Realization: It's only when she's done with her song that Jurati realizes too late everything from getting drunk to making out with Rios to singing has been the Queen pushing her endorphin levels to the point she can take over Jurati's body.
- Mad Scientist: Kore discovers Adam's lab, his video journal entries, and a newspaper headline that calls him this verbatim.
- Magical Defibrillator: Picard has a heart attack when he gets run over, the crew take him to Doc Teresa who shocks him and gets his heart back into rhythm. It also sparks & sends electrical feedback into the defib machine, since he had an artificial heart before becoming a synth.Teresa: Does he have any conditions?
Seven: He's... had some transplants.
Teresa: 'Some'? How many?
Raffi: ...All of Them. - Ms. Fanservice: Jurati, in her red dress, shows even more cleavage than last episode.
- Mundane Luxury: Rios is amazed by real cigars, wood matches, and non-replicated food.
- Out of Focus: Seven doesn't even have a minor part in the plot for the episode and could have been left out entirely without changing anything.
- Patrick Stewart Speech: Picard gives one to Renée on the nature of fear.
- The Reveal: Kore discovers she's not a natural human but the latest in many attempts by her "father" at cloning and genetic manipulation.
- Small Reference Pools: 24th-century humans continue their tradition of having an encyclopedic knowledge of late-20th-century American popular culture: in this case, the œuvre of Pat Benatar.
- Spontaneous Choreography: Jurati starts to belt out her song and the band follows along with her after one or two bars.
- Super-Strength: Jurati has been given Borg super strength by the Queen's assimilation.
- Swiss-Cheese Security: Turns out the security guards that arrested Jurati completely missed the very large canister of Knockout Gas she had stashed on her thigh.
- Tempting Fate: "How much worse can it get?", said by Raffi. Right before we see that the Borg Queen, who has Jurati under her control, is on the loose in the city.
- Theme Naming: A Soong family tradition. Adam names his daughters after mythological figures, particularly the many names of Persephone. And of course, his own name comes from The Bible.
- Unorthodox Holstering: Jurati has a thigh holster to hold onto her knockout gas.
- Wham Line: "I thought you'd be the one who lived!"
