Disengage

 DVD, Picard S3 (Disengage)

We're drifting a little, falling into that trap of the first two seasons where everything takes three times as long as it needs to. At least there's more of a rationale for it, even if it's one of those bad guy tropes to give the goodies one hour in which to decide to capitulate, or come up with an alternative course of action. I mean seriously, what was this Captain Vadic of the Shrike doing giving them so long: she wants Jack Crusher and they should've had an ultimatum staring them in the face, give him up or be destroyed. Except that she clearly needs him so she's not going to risk destroying him. It does fit with her unstable, malicious character that she should enjoy toying with the hated Starfleet (if she'd had a moustache she'd have been twirling it), ringing up every so often to tell them about her ship, allowing them to scan it to see how packed full of weaponry it truly is. I will say Vadic is at least not full-on screeching harpy at this stage of the story, but I wasn't impressed by her singsong up and down manner of speaking, like she's mad and just barely able to hold a conversation without leaping out of her chair and doing somersaults round the Bridge in an ecstasy of insane giddiness. It's the theatrics I don't like about Trek made in this era, far from being grounded, plus I prefer a sympathetic villain. We don't know anything about her at this point, neither do the characters, assuming she's some kind of bounty hunter. And we haven't even put the two stories, the Titan and Raffi's Starfleet Intelligence investigation, together - they mention there's some kind of unidentified weapon in the Shrike's hold, which we'll soon have a demonstration of, but otherwise the A and B plots remain separate.

In Part One, I kept finding things to appreciate about all the unlikeable characters I encountered, but sadly, while there are less of them this time, I saw the direction of travel was the other way. Chief culprit being Raffi, who refuses to obey her Starfleet handler and... 'disengage' (hence the title!), and instead gets into an emotional tizzy, allowing her shock and horror at the terrorist attack and destruction of a large Starfleet facility (and her inability to prevent it in time), to affect her professionalism - basically reviving all that's wrong with 'DSC' in 'Picard'! She goes back to her loose cannon persona after showing she'd changed, and then it's back to 'Star Wars' bars or markets, though what planet we're supposed to be on I couldn't say, maybe it was mentioned in dialogue and I missed it, but when they started with so many onscreen names in the first episode you'd think they'd keep a better sense of place going. There also isn't much of a sense of connection with the attack - all we see is the effects work of a building imploding, but it remains distant and impersonal, merely rubble falling apart with no human interaction. Perhaps Raffi's emotional reaction was meant to stand in for such connection, but if so it's an entirely unsuccessful gamble. Once again scale and monumental special effects work is far less important than one single person being affected. Raffi's shock isn't enough, positioned as she is alone on a ship high above.

They don't even give her any of the Rios holograms to discuss it with, though that's probably for two reasons: one, that they were always used for comedy purposes previously, and the other is that they were trying to save money by dealing out Rios at the end of Season 2, but it's obviously incredibly easy in-universe to have Santiago Cabrera reprise the holographic roles if they'd had the wherewithal to keep him around! I must admit I'd much rather have had even the comedy holo-Rios' than fraught, headstrong Raffi, it's one of those bad decisions that affects an otherwise promising season, but at least she does eventually take more of a backseat as the episodes progress. Her real purpose is to give a true legend the stage upon which to reenter, another Trek great that hadn't been seen for over twenty years since 'Nemesis,' though not for lack of trying on his part: the incredible Michael Dorn returns as Worf! The man with the highest episode count of anyone in Trek comes back to add a few more notches to his score! That in itself would almost be enough to make the poorest episode worth watching, and this isn't a poor episode, it's just rather plodding. Much like Ambassador Spock's exciting return in 'TNG,' which began with only the briefest appearance at the end of 'Unification I,' he really only pops up at the end for one line, but unlike Spock, Worf will become much more integral for the rest of the season. It's a pretty strong way to reintroduce him, he's very much like his 'DS9' self where he was presented much better than on 'TNG' - there he was generally the whipping boy, it took the writing quality of 'DS9' to unlock his full potential.

The impact of his new look isn't quite that astounding since that was used up when the cast images were released, but how thrilling it was then: Worf with the same pulled back hair and ponytail, the drooping moustache and neat little beard, except now they're all white! Once again it's easy to forget how badly the Klingons had been presented in the modern era, 'DSC' getting into all kinds of hot water by redesigning them as bulbous cone-heads complete with Orc-like hands (not to mention in an era when the population were supposed to be largely flatheads). In 'Picard' Season 1 we were afforded a brief image taken from 'TNG' that showed Worf, so we knew it was unlikely they'd remake the best known Klingon to suit the 'DSC' aberrations, and 'Lower Decks' also returned to a traditional build, but even so, it's great to have a proper live-action Klingon in Trek again! There is the little matter of style over canon-substance, since in Klingon years Worf isn't that old, barely in middle age, since the race appear to be as long-lived as Vulcans, lasting a good couple of centuries (if they survive all their battles, that is), so Worf sporting old-age makeup doesn't make a lot of sense. Except it does look so good, is such a striking image, and in the opposite of the similar warrior of 'Stargate,' Teal'c, who ended up far older than his contemporaries, having Worf look a lot younger than his 'TNG' crew-mates would be a little strange, at least to the casual audience, I'm sure. And of course Dorn isn't really a Klingon so he has aged alongside them, even if that's easier to cover up thanks to the prosthetics.

I'm glad Worf was brought in this early as he is one of the greatest Trek characters ever created and you want to be in his presence as much as possible. It's a shame he had to be paired away with annoying Raffi so much, but you have to take the rough with the smooth (or the bumpy-head with the smooth-head!), and really it's just fantastic to have him back in Trek again. I'd have liked to have been able to see the fighting style better, as they prefer to show the grand entrance from Raffi's perspective having just been dared into spraying some kind of drug in her eyes by the sneering Sneed, so it's all a bit blurry and indistinct by design. But you know who it is as soon as a warrior starts slashing around with a long knife or a short sword - he hasn't lost the moves! Perhaps, no for certain, they go a bit far by having him behead the Ferengi, Sneed, but they almost went even further which I would have made me distraught had it happened: it was revealed it'd been suggested Quark be the one Worf beheads which would have been absolutely horrendous, on the same level as the universally hated torturous eye-gouging murder of Icheb in Season 1, still the single most hateful scene in modern Trek for its malicious destruction of a well established character. Killing Quark in such a manner would have been far worse for me since he's my favourite in all Trek, and I'm very glad Armin Shimerman refused. Even as it was, slicing off a head is going too far for Trek, despite the apparent ghoulish pleasure they seem to have for it on this series - a Romulan also had his head removed, another for the vicious Season 1.

The addition of a Ferengi back in live-action Trek again was momentous, but it was also something I spoiled for myself by accidentally beginning the third episode which recapped this one and showed the Ferengi. I quickly averted my eyes, but with the brief glimpse I did have I thought it could be Shimerman as a new Ferengi (which I wouldn't have minded), and I was closer to being right than I realised at the time! As it was, I wasn't overly keen on the portrayal, it very much felt like it was pulled back from the traditional depiction of the race, but on this viewing I noticed more of the ticks and attitude in the performance, it's just not quite as pronounced as we were used to, another reason why it's reminiscent of Quark, since Shimerman was careful to try and rehabilitate the race after he was instrumental in shaping them in the very first episode, 'The Last Outpost,' as these animalistic, gesticulating monkeys with an extreme behavioural disorder! And he did a wonderful job in that goal, so having another Ferengi be much less expressive could be seen as a tribute to him (and we've seen them return in 'LD' as well as a non-speaking, almost bat-eared version in 'DSC' so they've slowly regained some footing in modern Trek). I enjoyed Sneed wearing the furs that point right back to 'The Last Outpost,' it's like they've come full circle. My only complaint would be that his ears were a little too small and feminine - no self-respecting male Ferengi would be happy with ears of that size, but again, I think it was part of an effort not to make them look as 'cartoonish,' even though that's the way they look, you can't escape it!

With Worf's brief reappearance half the original gang's back now, and no matter the drawn out nature of this particular episode, it's still exciting to see the strings slowly drawing closer - they're not all together yet, only three are in a room, but we're getting closer to full-on reunion... One thing I didn't mind about the episode was the absence of Beverly until near the end - not because I don't like the Dancing Doctor, I do, very much so, but it left things in a vacuum for various people: Picard hasn't got all the pieces, though he and Riker talk around the fact this Jack could be his son, so he's unsure what course to take, and in that respect the enforced waiting for so many characters takes on an almost physical form, so much so that the atmosphere swells to a specific point: when Riker helps the injured Beverly dodder onto the Titan's Bridge and she locks eyes with Picard after twenty years of absence, they play it for all they're worth - it's electric and energises him, flicking a switch inside so that he knows what to do when things had been so uncertain before. To think that he'd been willing to let Jack beam himself over to the Shrike is quite shocking in itself, but Captain Shaw must take a lot of the flack himself for his reaction to the situation.

If Shaw came across as a bad man in Part One, full of sarcasm and disrespect for the inherent authority of his visitors, there was at least some justification in that his First Officer betrayed his trust in her, but in Part Two he just shows himself not to be much of a Captain. Not a weak one in the Harriman mould, which is the only other instance I can think of where the Captain of a ship has another, much more experienced and legendary Captain on his Bridge (Kirk in 'Generations'), and has to decide whether to turn over control to him in an emergency or continue stumbling on. The situation isn't exactly the same: Shaw is a well-established leader, while Picard is a shadow of his former self, and while Riker still carries that ringing authority in his voice (and continues to be the best thing in it, completely selling that swaggering, but generally good-humoured mode of carrying himself that sadly puts Stewart in the shade), they both know he's in the wrong for the deception, so there's no question of Shaw being uncertain in his own command. The thing is, either he twists Starfleet regulations to suit his wish to avoid conflict, or Starfleet have become extremely reticent in going into conflict, perhaps as a consequence of the Dominion War and its repercussions. The whole idea that they can't do anything because they're no longer in Federation space is ludicrous! Most of Trek occurs outside the boundaries of 'our' space, but that doesn't stop Starfleet from defending the rights of the few (or the one), even if that does fly in the face of the famous Vulcan proverb about the needs of the many - it just shows such things can be used to shore up a kind of cowardice if it needs to.

I'm not saying Shaw is a coward, but I don't believe what he said about a Captain's prime responsibility being towards safety for ship and crew above all else, nor that the Titan is 'only' an exploratory vessel and thus can't fight. It all sounds very weak and full of excuses rather than taking it on the chin and accepting that space is dangerous, the Starfleet life can end at any moment, and while they don't throw themselves into suicide, nor do they back down from danger. We are given the hint that Shaw has some psychological damage when the apparently all-knowing Vadic mentions something about his psychological evaluation, proving in one foul sweep she's got detailed knowledge of who she's dealing with, and has the malicious pleasure to use whatever she has to hurt her prey when and how she chooses. Either way, it should make no difference if they were in the heart of Federation space, or off in some distant star system that's never been charted, and I think as well as Shaw's mental problems that there's a slight confusion in the part of the writing, because there are moments like this where Starfleet is powerless, but that's in specific Neutral Zones, like the Klingon or Romulan ones, but that's a very different setting.

I hadn't thought Shaw was a bad Captain, just an unpleasant one, so when he dismisses Seven from the Bridge for ordering the crew to help the borrowed shuttle that took Picard and Riker to the Eleos, I thought it was simply a face-saving exercise, and once Seven had exited the Bridge he was going to do what she had suggested anyway. But in fact he sits on his hands, fails to act, and it takes her coming back to him later to point out he'll be remembered as the Captain that lost two legends, which takes away from his moral character! Seven herself doesn't come out of it well, either, as if she'd simply used tact she might have manoeuvred Shaw into helping the shuttle, instead she just assumes he's okay with her ordering the crew into position even though he's just made it clear her career in Starfleet is over - it seems she's unlearned so much of what she got from Voyager when she had such great lessons in dealing with people and what to do in so many situations, but then these aren't the same writers so they don't know the lessons that were learned by others. I will give Jeri Ryan credit that this episode is the most Seven of Nine she's been since she returned in Season 1 - the line about being more than certain Picard and Riker were able to find the Shuttle Bay without assistance was exactly the kind of thing Seven would have said, and the way she'd have said it, so I give great respect to the episode for these moments, however brief. They just need to write her more like that!

Though there are these moments of goodness, the episode is also dragged down by an overriding soapiness that extends to both plots: on one hand we have Raffi going to another 'Star Wars' location (or the same one, who knows?), to meet her ex-husband, Jae, where we're dragged back through the mire of her drug addiction history, learning that hubby was into that, too, but managed to summon the will to escape because of needing to take care of their son, Gabe, whom we met in Season 1 and we know distrusts his Mother for all her conspiracy theory attitude and failure to support him. It was always rather hard to believe in this positive Federation future where all one's needs are taken care of, leaving everyone free to pursue whatever calling they have an aptitude for - look at how drugs are seen in Season 1 of 'TNG,' they're alien and it's almost impossible to understand why someone would do that to themselves, and a good thing about this season is that we'd be largely getting away from that dystopian view of the future that had seeped, nay gushed, into the Trek universe, largely thanks to 'DSC,' but also 'Picard' (which is why 'LD' went down relatively well as it returned to the optimism and goodness of that time, which we're supposed to see), so it's a bit miserable to be reminded of this miserable character's miserable past. And then this guy isn't exactly on the level anyway, which is why Raffi goes to him to arrange a meeting with Sneed and he offers her the horribly unfair choice of either putting in a word to Sneed, or to their son, and is then disgusted she chose the Ferengi!

If Raffi has reverted to the bad memories I had of the character, then there's another character just as bad, if not worse: the big question mark, Jack. He's quite irritating, coming across as a bit of a dodgy geezer, getting around planets, supposedly to bring medical supplies, but he's also transporting weapons. The old-time music of the first episode was out of place enough, but this time it opens post-recap with rock and roll as if to say Jack's 'cool' and so different in taste to Pops. His English accent and resignation to defeat reminded me of Malcolm Reed of 'Enterprise,' except I liked Reed! We see a flashback of him dealing with some Fenris Rangers, which I still don't understand the significance or position in the Trek galaxy: are they somehow connected to Starfleet and the Federation, because the scarred South African-sounding guy demand a Federation access code for the Eleos to be allowed to enter a planet Jack wants to help, then accepts bribes of weapons and stuff, I didn't understand that at all! Who gives these Rangers their authority, or were they not actually even Rangers and were just posing as such? It was all very confusing and unsatisfactory as they seemed more like pirates than anything else, very little official about them. And where was Beverly? He's another character who shows scant respect for his elders (though he did at least have a point when they're eventually rescued by the Titan whipping between the Shrike's Tractor Beam and the Eleos to cut it off, like the Enterprise-E protecting the Defiant in 'First Contact,' and he notes how his Mother told Picard to trust no one and he's brought 'everyone'!), such as saying history remembers Picard with one less pip - in other words his time as Admiral didn't make an impact, unlike his Captaincy, which is another reminder of the miserable state Picard was in at the start of the series. Bleugh!

There's a continuation of Picard looking foolish when he suggests they try to negotiate with the massive Shrike hanging in front of them like a many-bladed weapon, while it's clear there's no chance of that and the Picard of old, while always preferring diplomacy first, would have instantly recognised and understood the situation, but now his powers are dim. So we're seeing the dystopian views of characters, the misery, the slow pace to get to anything, and it's starting to feel a bit too much like the previous seasons, with only the fact we have Riker, Beverly and Worf to make it watchable. At least Picard does take one wise action, setting up Transporter inhibitors to prevent anyone being beamed off the Eleos. They weren't the big tripod things seen so much from 'TNG' to 'Voyager,' sadly, but it was a sensible precaution, even if I did think at the time that surely being even further in the future, all Federation ships would have inhibitors as part of their design, anyway! And what happened to shields? You can't beam through shields, and instead they 'bring down the blast shields' which is just so 'Star Wars' it hurts! Starships never used to need blast shields and they didn't have a load of windows on the Bridge, either! This sort of stuff just makes me groan. Much like the repeated use of the foghorn to remind us how huge and deadly the Shrike is - enough with the foghorn! Stop trying to be like every other sci-fi out there, be yourself, 'Star Trek,' just be yourself!

I did like that the inhibitors then prevented the Titan from beaming out the occupants to safety and Picard gets to show all those times on the Phaser range in the Holodeck weren't for naught as he pinpoint knocks out each one in succession, but then I can also complain about his lack of care when it comes to killing: Riker chucks some kind of pulse grenade at the forces that beam aboard Eleos, and Picard says hopefully they'll realise they're sending their forces to their deaths! Whatever happened to stun your enemies, and he doesn't bat an eyelid! And while I'm complaining, why would Picard and Riker believe the Titan had gone? Did they really think they'd just leave behind a valuable shuttle? Then there's the issue with the Medpod Beverly's inside - apparently it's running out of power, but other than plot reasons I don't see why that would be! Forgetting that this is a MEDICAL ship, and just like last episode I was concerned that there's apparently no medkit aboard with which to be able to treat Dr. Crusher, the essential stasis pod is also running down? Either it's not proper Starfleet tech or it's seen vast overuse. It's not a big problem, I know it's just there to increase jeopardy, and I suppose this isn't supposed to be a Starfleet ship, despite its configuration, but I do feel they needed to make it clearer if this is some rundown old vessel on its last legs because it never looked that way: you can't have your shiny ship and eat it, too!

Going back to Jack, he's presented as this 'intergalactic fugitive' and with his Lunnon accent he's sold as a ducker and diver, apparently all taught by his Mother. None of this endeared him to me, regardless of whether he might be Picard's son - at this stage I was wondering if he was some kind of clone or experiment, you're really not sure, but something's up with him. The eventual reveal was pretty daft and makes you wonder if that was the best they could come up with, but at least if he'd been more of a likeable person, rather than the typical teen with attitude and issues (even though he's in his Twenties!), who wears a leather jacket it wouldn't have seemed so bad. As you can tell, as much as I consider the season an improvement on the dire Season 2 and ugly Season 1, it's not without its deep-seated problems. And so far we haven't got enough of the 'TNG' reunion side of the story to distract from the issues at hand. It was interesting to see the Brig, even if it was farfetched that Jack could escape it so easily with just some little gadget, but the set reminded me of Odo's cells on DS9, or the Brig from Voyager. Sadly, we didn't get a very good establishing view of the Transporter Room, though you can see the dumpy-faced suspicious guy who'd prove to be a baddie later on, as the Transporter Chief. So how does that work - surely if he's a Changeling he'd have enabled the Transporter so Jack could beam over to the Shrike (if that's where he was really going - he could just as easily have been beaming into a shuttle to force his way off the Titan, and away), or even agreed to go with him, but he doesn't have any input at all, you just notice it's that guy.

Credit to the sense of a real starship Bridge on the Titan, and T'Veen came across very Vulcan with that clipped, precise manner of speaking, despite her hair also being clipped entirely to nothing! Sidney La Forge takes on a little more of the Ortegas spirit, unfortunately, in her comfort with speaking out, but even she had a nice moment where she gets to technobabble us out of a problem: Vadic catapults the Eleos against the Titan, Shaw orders shields up (you'd think they'd have been up as soon as Picard and gang were aboard - he really isn't much of a Captain, is he...?), then it's the skintight version of shields they so love in much of modern Trek, rather than a more believable visual of an oval bubble projecting out equally from a central point (though we'd get that also this season, eventually...), so the hull gets mashed up, then Sidney covers it over deftly tripping the description off her tongue of it being due to a 'reverse Tractor Beam with anti-gravitational polarity phasing!' Loved it, that's proper Trek-speak right there! Then before you know it, Picard's getting them to go full tilt, firing all the way and dive into the nebula which once again gives it that 'Insurrection' feel, especially when the Son'a– sorry, Shrike ship follows in after, and since Vadic cackles her way out of the episode it seems she expected this and is further enjoying playing cat to the Titan's mouse because she's entirely confident there's nothing they can do to escape, so it ended well again, and there's still the anticipation of Picard and Dr. Crusher meeting properly for a discussion. But there's still a lot of anticipation so far, more than good episodes in themselves.

There is a theme you can stretch to fit all the pieces, but probably because it's a very broad idea: the title itself, disengage, can be seen at the most basic level of Raffi being told to step away (they cunningly misdirected Worf being her handler by having him communicate only in text, with the female computer voice of La Sirena reading it out (as opposed to the one on the Eleos or Titan), although there were clues, such as using the word 'warrior,' but I don't think I ever expected him to be in Starfleet Intelligence). You can also say it's about Picard since his catchphrase used to be "Engage," (and is again at the end when he chooses not to disengage), and now he's very much a bumbling old man who isn't very engaging, though he does try to engage with Jack. Then there's Shaw who seeks nothing more than to disengage from this potential conflict staring him in the face, and keeps disengaging Seven. Raffi's shown to be disengaged from her family, Sneed's disengaged from his head, I'm sure you could just keep rattling off instances of the theme, so you could say it was thematically strong, at least, even if it was mostly reliant on tension rather than much development.

There are still some Trekferences, though less common (especially if you've become used to the over-saturation in 'LD'!), quite apart from the species we see, such as Ferengi or the Romulan blamed for the terrorist attack (Lurak T'Luco, which sounds like something right out of 'DS9'), though I'm sure in this case two heads (beheadings), are not better than one. But there was the tantalising potential for Klingons, even before Worf showed his knotty face: Jack mentions he had difficulties with various factions, first the Fenris Rangers, last some guys in Starfleet uniform, but also some Klingons! How I wish we could've seen that part in the flashback as one thing missing from this season would be having Klingons, and I'm still very disappointed we never got Martok in live-action, since Worf was part of his House and so close to him, and it's not like J.G. Hertzler had given up acting as he's appeared in 'LD' a few times! Raffi mentions Starfleet (or was it the Federation), doesn't value money, which needs to be said, as so often you're not sure about that these days in Trek. Sneed says she 'smells' of Section 31, though I'm so glad there has been a distinction between this practically rogue element within the Federation, and Starfleet Intelligence which is the legitimate investigative branch. We even get a snatch of the Klingon theme dating back to 'TMP' when Worf rescues Raffi, which is an absolute joy to hear.

The most obscure Trekference must be the Captain's Chair Vadic sits in, high-backed and swivelling: it's very similar to General Chang's in 'Star Trek VI,' who was played by Christopher Plummer, who was Father of Amanda Plummer, who plays Vadic. Applause for that - even more obscure, they have Vadic smoking while in it, which could be an allusion to Director of that film, Nick Meyer, smoking a cigar in the chair as a promo for the film! Now that's obscure. Interestingly, Vadic prods Picard by making reference to it being him, 'in the synthetic flesh,' a minor concession to one of the terrible subplots of past 'Picard' seasons. We also learn the Titan is crewed by five hundred, and there's the suggestion this is the third Titan (so surely it should be the 'B'?), since in the Ready Room or conference area, whichever it was, there are three little ships on the wall (apparently there's a whole background that Saavik was Captain of the first Titan toward the end of the 23rd Century, the shuttle Vadic destroys was named for her, but none of this is explained at all, more's the pity) - still, always good to find out more about a ship, and though it does have those shiny floors and the big glass window on the Bridge, there's something about it I like more than most of the modern starship iterations. You get the impression there's detail in there that makes sense, and this is the 25th Century, too, so it fits in that regard. It doesn't prevent me being bothered about how the lineage of everything post 'Star Trek XI' has used that as a jumping off point, I hasten to add! It's the last we'd hear of Amy Earhart as the Eleos Computer, but she's also the Titan's Computer, so it's good to have consistency across the fleet as they used to do when it was mainly Majel Barrett, but in the current era it's been so many different voices. Dr. Ohk makes her debut, and I don't know what it was about her, but I liked her immediately. It's hopeful the Titan's crew are more real and dimensional than the snubbed examples of 'DSC,' you need the colour of the background parts to make it a real place (even if it annoys me the Bajoran guy doesn't have the proper earring, grumble, grumble...).

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