Recap / Star Trek: Picard S3E04 "No Win Scenario"

In a flashback to five years ago, Picard's quiet lunch at Ten Forward LA is interrupted by a gaggle of cadets who beg him for stories about his illustrious career, particularly a situation in which an Alpha Hirogen hunted him. Soon he is telling them about his adventures with Tamarians, with Jack Crusher Sr, and more.

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.

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. 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.

Seven has learned the identity of the officer being impersonated by the Changeling, transporter tech Ensign Foster. She reports to Riker, who decides not to re-instate her so that she can move more effectively. She consults Shaw for advice, and he looks up some data on the Founders. He suggests Seven Bluff the Imposter.

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...
Seven: If you were a Changeling and not just a dick.
Shaw: Now you're starting to catch on.

But since that won't work on a crew of 500, Shaw suggests Seven find the Changeling's pot. (Seven: "I'm assuming you're not referring to cannabis.") Since Changelings need to regenerate every 16 hours, reverting to liquid form, they typically have some sort of container to use as a bed. It should contain residue (or, as Shaw calls it, "resi-goo"), which Seven can analyze and then scan for using the ship's internal sensors. Seven indeed finds the Changeling's salad bowl in Foster's quarters, but as she takes it to the biolab, she's attacked by the Changeling, who vaporizes both salad bowl and resi-goo with a phaser.

Picard takes Jack to a holodeck simulation of Ten Forward LA, alongside some other crewmembers who are taking shelter there. The two start getting to know each other over (syntheholic) whiskey, swapping tales of their various adventures, but are interrupted by Shaw, who is still hopped up on painkillers for his broken leg, internal injuries and etc. He asks if Picard has told Jack about his adventures on Stardate 44002.3 — the Battle of Wolf 359, in which Shaw, then a lowly engineer, lost tons of friends and barely survived. In addition to his fury at Locutus of Borg — "the only Borg so deadly they gave him a goddamn name" — he is clearly haunted by Survivor Guilt by being one of 10 people chosen to escape the USS Constance on its only remaining lifepod: "Why— why me? I'm just some dipshit from Chicago. Now I'm lucky number ten." Picard, politely, withdraws from the holodeck; and Shaw, left with his crew, has a moment of self-awareness: "Forgive me. At some point, 'asshole' became a substitute for charm."

On the Shrike, Vadic cuts off her own hand. Don't worry, this is normal for her: she's a Changeling as well, or at least Changeling-adjacent, and the severed hand becomes some method by which she can reach her superiors. They order her to pursue the Titan and retrieve Jack Crusher at all costs, seeing her and her ship as expendable. Accordingly, the Shrike jettisons its portal gun, which cannot safely be taken into the nebula, and wades in.

Beverly has been timing the bioelectric energy pulses. They're repetitive and rhythmic, and she likens them to contractions. Whatever cosmozoan is in the nebula, it's about to give birth. She, Jack and Picard concoct The Plan and present it to Riker: to not only ride the energy wave out of the Ryton Nebula, but to use it to recharge the ship. Riker, feeling The Chains of Commanding, is unwilling to risk it at first, but is swayed by a Dare to Be Badass argument from Picard — and a reminder that the three of them have made that dare successfully before. However, to get the Titan moving fast enough that she can actually surf the wave of amniotic energy, they will have to divert power from all remaining systems — including, eventually, life support, though this will be held until last. They also need the help of "some dipshit from Chicago," the Mr. Fixit who oversaw the Titan's refit, to repurpose the warp nacelles to absorb the energy wave.

Shaw and Seven get to work, with Shaw observing that, if the Changeling really wanted to be a Spanner in the Works, this would be the perfect place to do it. Accordingly, when Sidney La Forge shows up to offer whatever "Wrench Wench is In the Blood" expertise she can, Shaw is already suspicious: they told Captain Riker to not send any sort of help whatsoever. When Ensign La Forge tries to explain herself to "Commander Hansen," the Out-of-Character Alert seals the deal; Seven opens fire, and the Changeling is dealt with for good and all. Meanwhile, the energy wave charges the ship, and Riker deals with the waiting Shrike by throwing an asteroid at it, disabling her for at least an hour and allowing the Titan to make her escape amidst a cloud of newly-born space jellyfish.

Back in the flashback, Picard begs for a chance to actually eat his lunch, but is interrupted by a young man in a baseball cap. It's five years ago, so Picard does not recognize a teenage Jack Crusher Jr. The civilian asks if Picard has ever had a biological family, and Picard, playing to his audience, declares, "Young man, Starfleet has been the only family I have ever needed." The ensigns applaud. The teenager disappears.

In the present day, Jack is washing his face when he sees, in the reflection in the mirror, a red spiderweb cloud spread on the wall. He is assailed with visions of a red door. "Find me. Find me. FIND ME."

---

Tropes:

• Actually Pretty Funny: Shaw's reaction when Picard repeats his own earlier description of himself.
  Picard: Captain Shaw, I realize that I am the last person you want to see right now, but I need your help, despite the fact that you are indeed a dipshit from Chicago.
  Shaw: *Beat* Nice.
• Almost Out of Oxygen: The Titan-A's rapidly depleting power also threatens life support, which is down to a few minutes. Riker has the crew congregate in common areas to extend supplies, meaning they'll at least live long enough to go down with the ship.
• Ambiguous Situation: 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 Artificial Limb, as a Changeling wouldn't need to amputate the limb manually.
• Art Evolution: Continuing from glimpses shown in the previous episode, the changeling shapeshifting and natural appearance was originally shown to be an amorphous bronze-colored goo accomplished with mid-90's CGI. The show alters it to have a bit more weight and substance, the goo is redder with a white membrane-like texture interspersed, making it look more like gory entrails.
• Awesome McCoolname: Horrifically invoked by Shaw when he angrily lampshades how Picard, in contrast to other Borg drones, was given a singular designation by the Collective.
  Shaw: (to Jack) You know where your old man was on that day? He was on that Borg cube, setting the world on fire! (to Picard) Forget about all that weird shit on the Stargazer. The real Borg are still out there, and they have a name for you: Locutus of Borg. The only Borg so deadly they gave him a goddamn name!
• Bad Boss: Vadic's superior makes it abundantly clear that her ship and crew are expendable in service of their goals, which means Vadic has no choice but to pursue the Titan-A into the nebula, even if it means ejecting the portal tech.
• Boisterous Weakling: All of Vadic's bravado, menac, and Laughing Mad behavior is revealed to be just an act. When her boss makes contact, she immediately drops the facade and reveals herself as a timid, stammering coward who can barely talk when faced with real authority.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Shaw describes Changeling material as "residue goo" before shortening it to "resi-goo".
• Brick Joke: One that took 34 years to pay off. In "Contagion", faced with a situation in which he had no weapons, Riker 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.
• Call-Back:
  • The episode title is of course a reference to the Kobayashi Maru Unwinnable Training Simulation, first seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
  • Picard compares the nebula entity to the aliens from the TNG pilot "Encounter at Farpoint".
  • In a flashback, Picard tells some Starfleet cadets about the events of "Darmok".
  • Shaw mentions how 11,000 people died at Wolf 359, like Admiral Satie did in "The Drumhead".
  • An angry Shaw confronts Picard over Wolf 359 much as Sisko did aboard the Enterprise-D 30 years earlier. The difference is Sisko and Picard at the time were only a few years removed from the tragedy and the trauma was still fresh (and Picard was equally just as angry at Sisko). This time, Picard and Shaw have both had to live with their anger and trauma for three decades (and Picard allows himself to take the brunt of Shaw's grief rather than fight back).
• The Cameo: Marina Sirtis makes her second appearance this season, communicating with Riker from Nepenthe.
• Casting Gag: Amanda Plummer (Vadic) spins around in the Shrike command chair much as her late father did as General Chang during Star Trek VI.
• Central Theme: Connection. The episode starts with all the major characters at odds with each other, and their arcs are about overcoming their grievances with each other. The Power of Friendship — and, more accurately, the Power Of Cooperation — is what saves the day.
• Chekhov's Gun: The Titan spends much of the episode getting hit by regular bursts of energy from deep inside the nebula. Those bursts turn out to be the equivalent of labor contractions, leading to the birth of space-dwelling jellyfish.
• Chekhov's Hobby: Shaw mentions that he was an engineer on the USS Constance at Wolf 359, long before he became a captain. In order to take advantage of the energy pulses to ride it out of the nebula they had to bypass security locks on nacelle shielding. It so happens that despite being a modernized refit some of the internal systems are still 20 years old and he's the only one with the knowledge on how to get it done on a time crunch.
• *Click* Hello: The Changeling disguised as Ensign La Forge is interrupted by the sound of a phaser pointed right at its head by Seven.
• Continuity Nod:
  • As in Voyager, the holodeck is noted to run on an independent power cell. Picard justifies this as a way of making sure the crew has some respite even in the bleakest of circumstances.
  • Jack asks Picard how long he'll be keeping his hair. Picard tells Jack to enjoy the hair while he can, echoing the moment in the TNG episode "Bloodlines" where he told Jason Vigo - who the Ferengi Bok had misled into believing was his son - that he'd never look at his hairline the same again.
  • When Shaw recounts Wolf 359 from his perspective, archival audio of the battle (and Picard-as-Locutus) from "The Best of Both Worlds" and "Emissary" can faintly be heard in the sound-mix.
• Continuity Snarl: The Changeling shouldn't need a salad bowl to regenerate for 8 hours in resigoo state. Back on DS9, Odo did... but this was eventually revealed to not be a trait of the species as a whole, as was formerly thought, but a side effect of Odo being a Heartwarming Orphan who had to teach himself how to use his powers, and didn't fully master them. Since it moves the plot along, this particular bit of continuity is ignored.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: While Shaw technically is a returning character, the basic tropes still technically applies given his Captaincy of the Titan. Shaw is revealed to be one to Benjamin Sisko from Deep Space Nine. Like Sisko, Shaw is another survivor of Wolf 359 who lost everything and blames Picard (and finally confronts him in the Present Day). Shaw is what would've happened to Sisko if he hadn't taken the Bajor assignment, encountered the Prophets, and finally begun the healing. Shaw is instead what would've happened had Sisko held on to that all rage and trauma and let it all fester for 30 years.
• Contrived Coincidence: Played with, Seven realizes the Changeling had to be on board the Titan long before Riker and Picard showed up, indicating a conspiracy that merely placed the Changeling into an advantageous position but had been The Mole long before recent events.
• Dare to Be Badass: Riker isn't exactly sold on the "ride the energy wave" plan, but Beverly and Picard convince him that they need to do what they've spent their entire lives being good at: getting out of dangerous situations with insane plans.
• A Day in the Limelight: Captain Liam Shaw gets a significant amount of Character Development in this episode, showing his Dark and Troubled Past as a Shell-Shocked Veteran of the biggest Curb-Stomp Battle in Starfleet history, but also his decision to grab the Jerkass Ball to Never Be Hurt Again.
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: The Titan-A's situation, the result of the cumulative damage from the last two episodes. Lieutenant Mura even lampshades it, saying Titan is bleeding to death.
• Double Meaning: When Seven explains to Captain Shaw that Sydney La Forge always calls her "Commander Seven" out of respect, her tone clearly indicates that not calling her by her preferred name displays a lack of respect. Shaw acknowledges the point.
• The Dragon: The communication with her superior reveals that while the rogue Changelings are the final Season's overarching Big Bad, Vadic herself is not the conspiracy's leader as the Season's pre-release marketing had previously implied. Vadic instead actually occupies a subordinate role in their faction's hierarchy.
• Dramatic Irony: Seven speculating the Changeling Kill and Replace implies there's a larger conspiracy at work here. Only the audience is aware Seven's more right than she knows, as they've been cut off from the UFP and have had no idea what's been happening over in Raffi and Worf's investigation.
• Easily Forgiven: Riker and Picard patch things up after their schism last episode. Justified, as it's because their deaths are a certainty and because Riker, now that he's had time to review, admits Jean-Luc's aggressive strategy against Vadic was the right move.
• Everyone Has Standards: No matter how Jack feels about his biological father, even he's disgusted with Shaw using Picard — who was just as much a victim of Wolf 359 as every one of the 11,000 Starfleet casualties — as a punching bag for all his unresolved trauma.
• Evil Stole My Faith: Riker reveals that the reason he's taken some time away from Deanna is that the death of Thaddeus left him questioning if there's anything after death, and everything he's seen in the universe has failed to convince him there is. Seeing the nebula birth helps rekindle his faith, and he calls Deanna to assure her that he intends to work on it.
• Face Death with Dignity: Shaw notes that he and his shipmates on the Constance didn't panic when they discovered only one lifeboat with ten seats was left for the fifty crewmen that made it to the deck.
  Shaw: We were all friends. They were all my Jack Crusher. We weren't...we didn't fight over who should live or who should die. No we...(pounds bartop) we waited for orders.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Shaw was at odds with Picard, Riker and especially Seven over the last few episodes, finally revealing in this episode he is still struggling with surviving Wolf 359 and has been difficult because of dealing with two former Borg on his ship. But working together to beat an impossible scenario lets them hash out their differences and understand where everyone is coming from. In luring the Changeling into a trap Shaw trusts Seven to have his back, and when she affirms she prefers the name Seven instead of Commander Hansen there is a sense of mutual respect.
• Flashback Echo: Shaw has a monologue describing the evacuation of the USS Constance after Wolf 359. Faint sound effects can be heard of weapons fire, alarms and a murmuring crowd as he describes what happened, none of it diegetic but underlining that he is reliving those events.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Shaw wonders aloud why a changeling would replace the transporter room duty officer, when there are far more important positions it could have targeted.
  • Though Shaw is aware of what Picard accomplished in the previous season in creating a kinder, gentler Borg, he disregards it: "The real Borg are still out there."
  • Jack's hallucination while washing his face is nearly identical to the nightmare his father experienced back in Star Trek: First Contact.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Shaw reveals that he met Picard once before, something Picard is visibly surprised by. Then Shaw reveals it was at Wolf 359...
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • When the Shrike detaches the Quantum Tunneling device, it flies at the camera. If you pause just before it passes the camera, you can see 'DAYSTROM INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED ROBOTICS' emblazoned on the device.
  • As Shaw explains the Changeling's bucket, he hands over a PADD with a report. In the bottom-left corner is a picture of the person who, presumably, filed the report: Odo. (Given René Auberjonois's death in 2019, it can be assumed that this is all we will ever see of the character.)
• Freudian Excuse: Turns out that the root of Captain Shaw's dickish attitude towards Picard and Seven of Nine is because he's still traumatised by the battle of Wolf 359.
• From Bad to Worse: The Titan-A is sinking down the gravity well of the Ryton Nebula. Power's failing, weapons are offline, and Vadic's still out there. And then to make things more fun, there's apparently some kind of anomaly in the middle of said gravity well generating energy pulses that are building in intensity.
• Going Down with the Ship: As Shaw exposits on how he was one of a lucky ten out of fifty to escape the Constance at Wolf 359, he takes a moment to note that the lieutenant that picked who got to live did not choose herself as one of them.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Vadic gets a taste of her own medicine when Riker uses the tractor beam to pitch an asteroid at the Shrike as they're riding the wave out of the nebula. The size and speed of the projectile leaves the Shrike dead in the water.
• The Hunter Becomes the Hunted: Picard tells the Starfleet cadets of how he and Worf turned the tables on a Hirogen who hunted him, making him the prey instead.
• Imposter Exposing Test: 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. Seven immediately shoots to kill.
• Innocently Insensitive: A two-way version. A flashback shows that Jack did indeed visit Picard at Ten Forward, but just asked if Picard ever had a real family without introducing himself. Surrounded by a bunch of cadets and that being an understandably sore subject given the death of his brother Robert and nephew Renée, Picard simply says that Starfleet is the only family he's ever needed, not exactly the thing Jack came to hear.
• In the Blood: Jack is shown to have the same knack for piloting as his father, calculating the path of an asteroid and the amount of thrust required to dodge it on the fly.
• In Vino Veritas: Just before Shaw begins laying on his story about Wolf 359, he says he is "out of sorts" with Doctor Crusher having prescribed him a generous dose of painkillers.
• Jerkass Façade: After Captain Shaw details his Survivor's Guilt to Picard, he turns to his crew to apologize for ruining the mood.
  Shaw: Forgive me. At some point, "asshole" became a substitute for charm.
• Kill and Replace: The Changeling killed a transporter operator days before the Titan-A was launched and replaced him. This leads Seven to believe there's a much greater conspiracy, because that would imply they knew well in advance that their presence there would be required.
• The Main Characters Do Everything: It seems very important to Picard that it be Jack who calls the oncoming asteroids, for reasons that are unclear when there's an entire crew available; surely that sort of thing is one of their jobs, not that of a non-Starfleet doctor. For that matter, when Riker tells Picard "You're the only one here with experience flying blind," he seems very sure of this without asking the existing crew, or for that matter, the helmswoman currently on duty.
• Meta Twist: One of the dicta in The Next Generation's writing room was that Gene Roddenberry forbade having the bridge crew disagree or squabble with each other. As such, this episode — whose plot is rooted solely in Poor Communication Kills, Right Hand Versus Left Hand and everyone overcoming those things to form a team — represents a major departure for these characters.
• The Metric System Is Here to Stay: A rare inversion when Riker tells Picard that Thad's grave was six feet deep instead of, say, something close to two meters. Then again, it may just be for the longstanding tradition about how deep graves are.
• Misblamed: Like Sisko before him, Shaw hates Picard for his role as Locutus and the Wolf 359 Massacre — never mind that Picard was just as much a victim as the other Starfleet casualties, that he was forced into the Collective against his will, and there was literally nothing he could've done to stop them.
• Mood Whiplash: In-universe with Vadic after she ends her 'progress report' with her Changeling superior. Vadic, having been timid, frightened, and deferential, immediately 'puts' her mask back on and reverts to her Faux Affably Evil and Laughing Mad persona.
• Monster Is a Mommy: The nebula entity is revealed to be in the final stages of giving birth, the energy pulses being akin to contractions. The resulting lifeforms are space jellyfish.
• Morton's Fork: 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, they'll fall into the gravity well even faster than they already are. And on top of all it, they have to use systems, but the more systems they use, the faster their remaining power is depleted.
• Mythology Gag: Picard's story about surviving in a crippled shuttle with Jack Crusher is similar to the Framing Device of the novel The Kobayashi Maru, in which most of the TOS senior staff, trapped in a crippled shuttlecraft, pass the time by telling stories about their time at the Academy and their experiences with the titular test. This, of course, ties into the Title Drop: the "Kobayashi Maru" Unwinnable Training Simulation is the original No-Win Scenario.
• Noodle Incident:
  • The Starfleet cadets ask Admiral Picard about an encounter with the Hirogen some time after Voyager's return (since one cadet asks whether Picard had any help from Admiral Janeway). In the same breath, they ask how a Hirogen ended up clear across the galaxy from the Delta Quadrant to begin with.
  • Jack tells his father a story about resetting an Andorian's broken antenna, but the scene transitions midway to Shaw and Seven.
• The Nothing After Death: Riker tells Picard that after Thad died, he lost any faith that there was anything beyond the mortal world.
  Riker: When we buried our son... I watched the coffin being lowered into the ground. It was only six feet, but it was so dark. It was like infinite emptiness. And you and I have traveled to the far reaches of space, and yet there's nothing, nothing that proved to me that there is anything... after. And I've tried to shake that. (sighs) Deanna, as you know, feels everything. But she couldn't live with me feeling nothing. And neither could I, which is why I left and I came here. I was running from this. Only to find it again. Well... This is the end, my friend.
• Oh, Crap!: When Ensign La Forge shows up offering to help, Shaw has one when she asks a rather specific question about what would happen if they only had one of the two nacelles open... while holding a torch in her hand and standing over the man who is the only one able to open the nacelles. Being in on the plan, he's no doubt acutely aware that this Changeling plans to murder him.
• Oh, No... Not Again!: As soon as Shaw mentions Wolf 359, Picard's face takes on a haunted 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.
• Out-of-Character Alert: Discussed between Seven and Shaw when trying to out the Changeling spy. He gives an example by praising her as captain material, which Seven dryly notes is something he would say if he were a Changeling and not just a dick.
• Plot Hole:
  • The Changeling saboteur crippled the warp drive last episode. While there's obviously been time to address it, these mission-critical repairs are handwaved by Seven's quick request that Shaw is needed because everyone else is working on the warp core.
  • Riker, in "The Next Generation", implies that he and Deanna are having marital problems. In this episode, he explains that the death of his son Thaddeus has weighed heavily on him, causing him to become a nihilist; and Deanna, The Empath, couldn't deal with that darkness. The only problem with this is that neither of them showed any evidence of this during "Nepenthe". This turns out to be a Chekhov's Gun for a later episode; additionally, parents will do whatever they can to keep things together for the sake of their children, and there was still Kestra to think of.
  • Picard's "Starfleet is the only family I have ever needed" rings hollow when you recall that this conversation took place in 2396, when he had already resigned from it in the wake of the Romulan Supernova and the destruction of Mars (PIC: "Remembrance"). The cadets are apparently starry-eyed enough to ignore the inconsistency, and Picard has numerous reasons to be more charitable towards Starfleet in this moment than he would in a more honest setting.
• Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Riker kicking Picard off the bridge at the end of the previous episode was quite the Wham Line, although tensions are high they don't start speaking to each other until a little past the halfway point of this episode. Riker ending up admitting that Picards' advice was sound, they just couldn't anticipate all the complexities of this engagement.
• Precision F-Strike: Picard drops one while sitting in a holodeck recreation of 10 Forward, talking about the time he and Jack Crusher managed to bring their disabled shuttlecraft back to the Stargazer. (This was actually ad-libbed by Patrick Stewart during rehearsals; the creators decided to keep it because it felt real in the moment.)
• Psychological Projection: Shaw's furious words to Picard on the Holodeck show that like Sisko 30 years earlier during "Emissary", he likewise blames Picard for Wolf 359 and losing everything. Unlike Sisko, however, Shaw's words reveal much of his anger at Picard is really towards himself and his self-loathing and hatred from his Survivor's Guilt.
• Red Right Hand: Vadic's distinct red glove is revealed to actually be part of her Changeling communications method.
• Resolved Noodle Incident: Shaw's Dark and Troubled Past, which Vadic alluded to when mockingly quoting his Starfleet psychological profile during "Disengage", is revealed: He's a Wolf 359 survivor.
• The Reveal:
  • Vadic is working for the Changelings (and may possibly be one herself), as shown when she cuts off her hand as part of a bizarre communication device and then reabsorbs it.
  • The Changelings want Jack Crusher as part of their plans, and he's important enough that they can't allow him to die.
  • Shaw was at Wolf 359, hence his hatred of the Borg and Picard in particular.
• Riddle for the Ages: No really, how did the Hirogen wind up in the Alpha Quadrant?
• Rock Beats Laser: The Shrike is noted to be armed to the teeth and is basically designed to be a ship used to fight in wars. So how does Riker finally beat it to get the Titan to escape? By just hurling an asteroid, essentially just a big rock, right at it! This is actually justified as it doesn't matter how advanced the Shrike's shields or hull is, being hit by something fast and big enough WILL do monumental damage to anything.
  • Also justified because the Titan was racing as fast as it could to keep up with the wave and heading right at the Shrike at high speed. Riker snagged an asteroid in passing and then let it go at the right moment, transferring all of that momentum into the asteroid, which then smashed into the Shrike at that same very high speed.
• Rousing Speech: Riker addresses the crew of the Titan before executing the plan.
  Riker: Crew of the USS Titan. This is Acting Captain William Riker. We have a plan to escape, but to do so, we'll need to draw every ounce of power that we have left on this ship. We're gonna use these energy waves to jump-start us. I'm not gonna lie. It's a hell of a risk. Anything goes wrong, well... anything goes wrong, we'll all know pretty quick. I know many of you don't know me. But like any captain, I know something about you. I'm only as effective as you are. And I also know from experience that if we all hang tight and work together... we're gonna get through this.
• Rousseau Was Right: From Shaw's tale of Wolf 359, those who gathered at the last remaining escape pod didn't fight over the limited seats, but instead waited for orders. The one who chose the survivors didn't include herself either, but instead willingly chose to die.
• Save the Villain: Averted after the Shrike is crippled by Riker. After everything Vadic put them through over the last three episodes, nobody aboard Titan feels particularly inclined to offer to render assistance to their adversary (plus leaving Vadic and company behind gives them a head start to make it back to the safety of Federation space).
• Series Continuity Error:
  • When Picard wants to exit the holodeck to give himself distance from the angry Captain Shaw, he commands "Computer - Arch". An Arch command is for when people inside the holodeck want to have the physical computer interface visible, during a running program, to be able to physically reprogram the simulation and/or to perform diagnosis of the holodeck systems. The proper voice command is "Computer - Exit" if a person wants to leave the holodeck.
  • 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 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, was once forced to rest in Lwaxana Troi's blouse when the pair were trapped in a turbolift). This actually got pointed out by a fan on Twitter, leading Terry Matalas to joke that it would be explained in a 12-issue IDW comic detailing the Changeling's backstory.
  • Upon being killed, 'Sidney' doesn't revert back to a liquid state and ultimately ash (as had previously occurred with deceased Changelings throughout Deep Space Nine). However, the next episode will reveal this wasn't an error and is actually a plot point.
• Sinking Ship Scenario: The Titan's descent down the Ryton Nebula's gravity well is akin to a sinking submarine/ship scenario. Riker even lampshades it.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Again, Shaw is a survivor of Wolf 359 and is still haunted by the trauma almost 40 years later.
• Somber Backstory Revelation: Shaw describes his experience at Wolf 359 in a tense monologue, providing the context to explain why he is a Jerkass and Commander Contrarian. Captain Shaw’s namesake is a Shout-Out to actor Robert Shaw, as his monologue scene revealing his backstory is an Homage to Quint’s Somber Backstory Revelation scene in Jaws.
• Something Only They Would Say: Inverted. Sydney always addresses Seven as "Commander Seven", so when "Sydney" calls her "Commander Hansen" instead, Seven confirms that she's the Changeling and kills her.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Again, no matter how advanced the Shrike's armaments and shielding are, it still has to obey the laws of physics. So, if it gets struck by something with enough mass and kinetic energy as the asteroid Riker throws at them, it will do damage.
• Survivor's Guilt: Shaw was an engineer during Wolf 359, and was one of ten officers out of fifty who was ordered to evacuate in the remaining escape pod. He doesn't get why he, "some dipshit from Chicago," deserved to live more than those other forty souls.
• This Is Gonna Suck: When Shaw tells Picard that they first met on Stardate 44002.3, Picard quietly realizes that he's about to get an earful from a Wolf 359 survivor. Again.
• This Was His True Form: Averted with the Changeling, which doesn't melt into goo when killed, in contrast to all the other times a Changeling has been killed in the franchise. This becomes a plot point in the following episode.
• Troubled Sympathetic Bigot: Shaw is an established asshole, with a strong hatred of any ex-Borg. The revelation that he's a traumatized survivor of Wolf 359 puts all that in a much more sympathetic light.
• 2-D Space: Par for the course, the Titan manages to escape and recharge energy reserves by matching the speed and riding a wave of energy coming from the center of the nebula, which is depicted as a standard Planar Shockwave that perfectly matches their position.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Both versions are shown with Shaw and Seven:
  • Shaw recommends that Seven find the Changeling's pot, find any "resigoo" in it, and then have the ship's internal sensors scan for that same goo. She finds the pot, but the Changeling attacks her and vaporizes it before she can do any scanning.
  • As Shaw and Seven work to open the nacelle housings, Shaw notes that if the Changeling is going to sabotage something, it'll be what they're doing right now. To that end, Seven contacts Riker, and the viewer only hears Riker ending the conversation. When Ensign La Forge shows up to help, Seven reveals that she ordered Riker to not send anyone under any circumstances.
• Unusual User Interface: Vadic cuts her hand off at the wrist, and the Changeling tissue morphs into a communication interface. Once she's done, the tissue reforms into her hand once more.
• Villainous Breakdown: Vadic has a minor one when their ship is knocked off-line from the asteroid collision.
• Wham Line: Shaw joins the conversation while Picard is sharing stories about adventures he had with Jack Crusher's namesake.
  Shaw: But, uh, speaking of harrowing stories... Did your old man ever tell you about the time that he and I first met?

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