Impostors

 DVD, Picard S3 (Impostors)

Lovely to see Ro Laren again, however briefly it turned out to be. I never thought Michelle Forbes would return to Trek after her character defected to the Maquis in the penultimate 'TNG' story, 'Preemptive Strike,' one of those threads that was dropped in at the end of the series where Picard has something to feel aggrieved about, but which was never to be resolved. And since Forbes turned down the major (!) role of Kira Nerys in 'DS9,' it appeared her contribution was at an end. Yet she continued to work in TV, and I most recently saw her in the Bourne spinoff, 'Treadstone' that never went anywhere so I knew she was still active and working in TV, but even so, her reappearance was a surprise. When I first saw it I wasn't completely certain it was her, as despite Forbes not changing much over the years, still having that long, thin face, the hair didn't look quite right. Now I see that it's strange there's no grey in it, but at least seeing her relatively recently meant I knew it was her. At the same time it could have been a Changeling spy as we're meant to suspect (and which would bear out later in another big guest star's first appearance), and having that prior tension of betrayal helped to make the paranoia more realistic, even to the point that they both recognise the pain in the other which cements their trust in each other. The moment Picard admits he trusts her was probably the highlight of the episode, but even as great as having Ro back, I still had some problems.

Part of it stems from the strange way they deal with the Maquis. It's wonderful to hear such things again, so long after they were created, a bedrock for 'Voyager,' resolved in 'DS9,' but it was all a bit vague here. Ro claims she turned herself in after years with the Maquis - it makes it sound like a long time, but then you realise the Maquis were annihilated by the Jem'Hadar in the latter half of 'DS9,' so it could only have been around three years. And rather than say she just left them, which doesn't make any sense, it should have been because all her friends were killed and the organisation destroyed so she had nothing left but to go back to Starfleet. So although they're taking up the mantle of plots and races from 'DS9' I didn't get the impression they were entirely aware of the fine details, and in a season which was the first to bring back the Dominion as a possibility, not to be clear the Maquis was utterly slaughtered by them was an oversight, and in fact it almost sounded like the Maquis still existed, but are no longer considered an enemy! I'm not saying there couldn't have been a handful of colonists who weren't hunted down by the Dominion's foot soldiers, but the way they were talking didn't quite ring true to the narrative we knew from 'DS9' and 'Voyager,' and though it's only minor, such oversights rankle.

It also seemed to me they were undercutting Ro's guilt about abandoning the Enterprise and betraying her Captain, whom she swore an oath to serve under, by saying it was a little bit on both sides, Picard as much to blame for forcing Ro to live under his 'relentless judgement,' as she puts it, but the way I remember Captain Picard was as a very just and fair man who gave Ro a second chance which she threw in his face so it sounds like she's made up a story in her head to help justify her own guilt and Picard, being so old and feeble, just sort of has to accept her side of things and ridiculously asks her forgiveness at the end as she's about to die! Now I will say that coming to an understanding is a very Trekky result, and often missing from the spirit of modern Trek so overall I'd say it was well worth all the aggravation between them to see their differences resolved and able to work together. If there's another complaint it would be that Ro doesn't get enough time, just a few conversations - I knew as soon as they showed the shuttle travelling out of Titan she was going to die. They got that visual language right, at least, as you wouldn't show that otherwise - so bravely running a suicide mission into the USS Intrepid's Warp Nacelle when there was no other way off her shuttle with a bomb implanted and about to go off, was a typically heroic act worthy of Starfleet. At the same time you'd think the quick intelligence of said Starfleet would have enabled them to save her. I know Geordi's not there to find a tech solution to the inability to beam her off, and there was so little time, but it was just our heroes standing around looking shocked rather than coming up with a way to save her.

Interestingly, according to Terry Matalas he did plan to show her being beamed away so we knew she didn't die, but for some reason they didn't do that, though of course he could just be trying to placate fans after yet another 'TNG' guest returns only to be killed off (as happened in Season 1 with Hugh, Maddox, and from 'Voyager,' Icheb, and sort of Season 2 with Q), but it's a real shame we couldn't have added her to the roster as the main cast continue to draw closer into the same circle, however slowly (this time there's no new addition, but Worf finally speaks to Picard and Riker via screen). It would have been lovely to have Ro join the rest of the cast, and while we're at it, Wesley, and maybe a time displaced Tasha Yar... Okay, it could get overcrowded and force out the minor recurring players like the Titan's Bridge crew, but they aren't exactly letting us get to know these people, as evidenced by the fact the only time we really get a scene where it appears we're about to see them interacting together (specifically Esmar and Mura), it's actually just one of Jack Crusher's daydreams of violence as he murders everyone on the Bridge! Even Sidney's starring moment was to throw up at sight of her own dead clone body. So rather than actual development they prefer melodrama and mystery to prevail, a common problem in modern Trek taking cues from modern film and TV productions rather than doing what it always used to be so good at: straightforward character interaction.

It does seem hard to believe neither Picard nor Riker had ever heard Ro was back in Starfleet since she was so infamous - the first time round she was infamous when she joined the Enterprise, so second time would've made her even more notorious than that great mutineer of history, Michael Burnham (let's quietly draw a veil over that - we can fortunately pretend 'Discovery' doesn't exist during this season!). That's another reason it gave me the impression she returned to Starfleet many years later, because otherwise Picard was still active in the service. I know she was recruited into Starfleet Intelligence eventually, but it still doesn't tally that her return would go unnoticed, but I suppose that's the loophole they might use if they were to flesh this out beyond the few lines of dialogue we got here. And it was Riker who said it was thirty years ago Ro did what she did and the Maquis are no longer an enemy, which is true, but he should've said no longer exist! I did like that the old 'DS9' lore about dealing with Changelings is drawn upon: Seven (who barely features in this episode - shame she never got to meet Ro), says that since the Dominion War every crewmember passes through an internal imaging chamber, which makes sense, even if they were at peace with the Changelings post-war, mainly thanks to Odo, or at least that's the implication will happen at the end of 'DS9.' And of course Ro would keep a knife in her boot, that's exactly the sort of person she is - ideal for doing the old hand slit to show they bleed, except now we're learning this crop of Changelings can mimic internal organs and even blood, which only reverts to its natural state under 'intense dissection,' as Beverly puts it.

We'll eventually learn these are experimental Changelings, or Changelings that have been experimented on, though despite all that it never seemed that believable, and it really smacked of 'Battlestar Galactica' and how these machines could now pass themselves off as real humans (a series Michelle Forbes was an important part of). I prefer it when Trek forges its own path, and though there are only so many ideas and stories that can be told before appearing to duplicate something else, Trek used to be so good at making its own way. Here, there's supposed to be this atmosphere of paranoia, growing uncertainty and fear, but even on original viewing I never felt that, despite all Ro's talk of Starfleet being compromised at the highest level. It had the sound of 'Conspiracy' and I'm sure I entertained thoughts of those creatures coming back, but it would have been overkill to have Changelings and parasite bugs working together. These Changelings always come across as rather basic and stupid, too - even when there are four of them (four! The Dominion did so much damage with those kinds of numbers in the 'DS9' days and now they're just grunts!). They just look angry and foot-soldiery as if they're the Jem'Hadar - there was also the merest hint that the masked crew of Vadic are indeed Changelings since when the fake Security officers go to find Jack, they make a slight gurgling noise which we've only heard on Vadic's ship. Why? Who knows, presumably to do with the effects of experimentation, but if only Starfleet knew they could make a gurgle detector and smoke them all out!

The lack of intelligence and sense in these Changelings is a major failing in the season, and I know we do find out they aren't ordinary members of their species, but it doesn't matter: they're always going to be compared to the only Changelings we ever knew, which like everything in 'DS9,' were well, shall we say, 'fleshed' out and hence had more menace. Now they have flesh, they're less fleshed out - there's the irony! That's why they should never bring back 'DS9' because it's almost the only untouched area of old Trek that modern Trek has yet to fully exploit and demonstrate just how far removed from great writing they are. It is better writing this season, I even like some of it compared to the first two seasons, but it still bears the scars of modernity that were baked in from the moment 'DSC' chose to follow the style of the Kelvin Timeline films in both look and structure - doesn't matter how beautiful and ornate a house on sand is, it's still going to sink. Likewise, it doesn't matter how shiny and dramatic, or how many good connections to old Trek they make, it's built on weak foundations. One of those that's weakest is not knowing their own reality: Trek was supposed to be a Utopia, as misguided as that idea is in real life, Trek isn't real life, it's an escape, an alternative reality to enjoy, but far too often that has been tarnished and turned into a Dystopia.

There are more examples in this very episode, one of the most irritating being the Vulcan crime lord, Krinn. Krinn - it doesn't even sound like a Vulcan name, and if he'd been a Ferengi it would have made a lot more sense (maybe originally it was, which would explain the disconformity with the name as it does sound more like one of theirs), but we get yet another not-very-Vulcan Vulcan. They seem to think as long as they have them say, "Fascinating," or speak about logic that's all you need to do, but it's about speaking flatly without any emotion in the tone and actors now just don't seem able to do that! It's bizarre. And I know we've had all kinds of Vulcans before: gunrunners, serial killers, smug baseball-playing opponents (to name the three standouts from 'DS9'!), and they can always twist logic to whatever they want to justify, but Krinn's statement that there can be no utopia without crime, and that an organised criminal element is logical was utter nonsense! If it was truly a utopia there would be no need for crime because everyone would be well-adjusted and have all their needs met. And just what is the motivation for criminal enterprise when there's no money? Power? The ability to tell people what to do? Then we even get Krinn displaying overt emotion when the smell of Worf's Klingon blood, "Makes me sick!" he grimaces. So he's clearly a very poor Vulcan, yet another, and it's depressing. If he'd been an extremely stoic, repressed example (you know, as they're supposed to be?!), then I could at least accept him if he gave good reasons for his actions, flawed as his logic would be, but perhaps the point is that he's unbalanced, which is why he'd end up in that position.

Interesting that he claims he and Sneed grew up together as brothers as it's hard to believe a Ferengi and a Vulcan getting on (maybe that's the utopian part, only it led to crime!), so perhaps we can justify Krinn's name and behaviour if we speculate he was brought up by Ferengi on some colony? It's a reach, but even if we can accept Krinn's in-universe story, it doesn't mean the writers had to write another un-Vulcan Vulcan. Why can't we have actual Vulcan Vulcans, it's not that hard: look at T'Lyn on 'Lower Decks,' there's a recent example. But 'Picard,' even at this late stage with a dramatic overhaul, was still stuck in its own mired past that it could never pull itself out of. I'll say one thing for Krinn, and that was the realisation that what I took to be scratches under his eye, was actually a tattoo of Vulcan text - I was watching the DVD version and his scenes all take place in poor lighting so it wasn't until the end I noticed the musical note appearance of these lines and recognised Vulcan script. Not that it makes any more logical sense for a Vulcan to have a tattoo, but it was a nice touch and sense of detail. Shame about everything else to do with him! Something else I didn't like about the scene was how cavalierly a mobile holo-emitter is thrown in as if Starfleet uses them all the time! The Doctor's emitter on 'Voyager' was 29th Century technology brought back in time, and while it might be possible for Starfleet to reverse engineer it and create more, surely that would be a major temporal violation ('mind you, how do we know the Doctor didn't invent the thing,' to paraphrase Scotty in 'Star Trek IV,' not a film known for its good canon sense!), and would the Doc even allow his mobility to be impaired for the sake of research and development? But in the same way holograms are just chucked in whenever in modern Trek with no sense of the progression the EMH made and the impact his homecoming might have had on the technology, the emitter is just there for a cheap gag that doesn't even work out - Raffi's caught anyway!

I know Trek doesn't always have to be serious and sober (even though that's generally my favourite brand), but treating Trek tech like that for a trick does the whole history and fidelity a disservice. And I know it could be said that it's all just there in service of a good story, but the reality of the universe is what matters, especially when we don't tend to get good stories, but rather merely adequate ones. I could also complain about Worf claiming his death at the hands of Raffi was worthy, in the most un-Vulcan-like display of pleasure in violence and the entirely illogical pursuit of gambling when Krinn sets the pair against each other, or be killed, was not honourable, it was ridiculous - for one, we'd already seen him best Raffi quite easily once he'd had his fill of a workout on La Sirena (the bit where he holds off her furious attack one-handed was possibly the coolest Worf moment this season!), and what honour was there in a forced fight to the death by criminals? Obviously this complaint is retracted because it turns out it was a ruse (smells of trailer bait to me!), for him to then take out Krinn's gang and threaten Krinn's life. For a guy that's supposedly a pacifist... no, not even going to dignify that with finishing the thought! It was nice to hear him say, "Today was a good day to die," even if it really wasn't, and also mentioning Kahless' name as the great Emperor's technique of regulating the heartbeat to near imperceptibility is what allowed him to play dead so effectively. Although it was a big risk since Krinn may have shot a hole through him just to make sure! And I was expecting it to be about Klingons having redundant organs, which Raffi had deliberately plunged her knife into in order for a display of blood, but not actual life-threatening injury, but no.

It did make me wonder how Kahless passed on this technique. Does every Klingon that reads his texts (they always have texts), know this secret? Or was it actually something the clone of Kahless, whom Worf met on 'TNG,' invented himself and passed on to the son of Mogh? Whatever the answer, Krinn proved to be an unworthy adversary, and needing to go to him to get a device that would allow them entry to Daystrom Station seemed to be a very roundabout way of moving the plot forward. As much as I love seeing Worf, I'm not here to see him tame and mentor Raffi, I want to see him back with his 'TNG' friends, and we're halfway through the season by this point so it very much feels like a story dragged out - not in the way 'DSC' Season 4 felt where almost nothing developed, and I'd certainly put this season head and shoulders above every other live action Trek of the modern era, but you can see them dragging their heels - once again we reuse the M'Talas neon streets set, because apparently everything happens there. And there's also the Guinan's Bar set where Ro and Picard have their proper conversation ("You do remember Guinan, don't you?"). Perhaps the only trope we don't get is that this is the first episode of the season not to begin with some pop music accompaniment post-title, for which I was grateful. As I was that Picard, Riker and Worf finally get to speak - a great reveal that Ro was his handler, as he was Raffi's, and great use of Ro's Bajoran earring (as well as discussion for why she's not wearing it after all that business of it being necessary on 'TNG'). And this must be the first time we'd ever heard Bajoran spoken (or at least with subtitles - there were prayers and such said on 'DS9' without translation, and in fact on 'Voyager' - 'Repression').

There were other fun Trekferences, too, such as the Klingon theme playing during Worf's training with Raffi (the music has generally been excellent all round this season), and then a list of... what was it? Possible associates of Sneed, or people in criminal circles that Worf knew? Seeing 'Morn of Luria' onscreen was a bit like back in 'DSC' Season 1 when Saru brought up a list of the top Captains of Starfleet and Jonathan Archer and Christopher Pike were both on there! But then there's Brunt of Ferenginar and the possibility that they were going to meet Jeffrey Combs reprising that role would have been amazing - it felt positively cruel to dangle that possibility in our faces and then end up going to Krinn! And they seem to absolutely adore Thadiun Okona (of Omega, apparently), as he gets yet another Trekference after appearing in both 'Lower Decks' and 'Prodigy.' I mean, I could have done without him showing up in live action, but at the same time it would have been twice as good as Krinn, if not more. And prize for most obscure Trekference goes to: Larell (apparently of Renhia - new information on a one-time character from thirty years ago - beautiful!), as an associate of Morn that only showed up once, in the 'DS9' episode 'Who Mourns For Morn?' (a lot of 'DS9' stuff, which is nice - interestingly, in the 'Star Trek Encyclopaedia' she comes just above a reference to Ro Laren, so I wonder if that's where the idea came from, a writer checking Ro's bio and getting further inspiration?).

It must also be noted that Picard mentions Admiral Janeway, the second time her name had cropped up so far this season, and another cruel tease considering she never did appear, though whether for contract negotiations failing or Mulgrew wanting something meaningful rather than one scene with Seven, I don't know. Michael Eddington's name wouldn't have gone amiss in all this talk of the Maquis, too! Sometimes Trekferences can be more disappointing than fun shoutouts, because it makes you wish for something else, but hey ho, that's the way it goes, at least these people were acknowledged in some small way, which seemed impossible only a decade ago (and looks increasingly unlikely as Paramount bleeds cash). One thing I appreciated, at least in part, was the formal handover of command from Riker to Shaw, despite continuing to be an obstinately unpleasant fellow he does give us more Trekferences, though in opposition to Riker and Picard hoping for leniency from Starfleet since they've saved the galaxy a few times - he cites the Enterprise-D's saucer section being dropped on a planet, Picard 'snogging' a Ba'ku villager against the Prime Directive, and the Devron System time paradox from 'All Good Things...' I'll give him the first and last, but we never actually saw Picard kiss Anij in 'Insurrection,' it was deleted from the film, so unless Shaw has a bootleg copy with additional scenes reinserted, that never happened! Nor was it a Prime Directive issue: the Ba'ku were spacefarers who'd given up a technological way of life, so it comes across as Shaw trying to be snide and nasty, which seems to be his coping mechanism since he's had very little power over all that's happened to him and his ship. Not that that excuses him, he continues to be a thoroughly unlikeable character. Which leads me to Jack, as usual, who isn't on the same level, but continues to be annoying, this time upsetting his Pa by saying Starfleet isn't for him (I agree, let him go off and be a Traveller or something, that's how they got rid of Wesley, and Wes was actually not so bad compared to this guy!).

I didn't get why his medical activities are considered criminal, either, even if they aren't officially sanctioned. It also made no sense for Seven to give him a Starfleet uniform so Security from the Intrepid couldn't track him down, but even before we see the fake Security officers going along with a PADD featuring headshots of him, I was thinking they'd recognise his face! And how did he get to be Jason Bourne, taking out four Changelings on instinct and with the greatest of ease? His ultimate reveal as a Borg transmitter, or whatever daft essential he was to them doesn't explain that, nor his dark daydreams of death and destruction, though I can at least see now that the red branches or veins that permeate these visions do have a similarity to Borg lesions (seen best when they cover Esmar's face). One major mistake, unless it was a deliberate misdirection, was having Jack's eyes glow red. If you're playing with 'DS9' connections, especially to do with the Dominion, not to mention bringing back a high profile Bajoran character, the immediate implication to a Trekker is going to be Pah-Wraiths. I have to assume they meant us to think that way so as to continue to keep the Borg's involvement hidden, but if so it was a poor decision (and if not, they don't know the subject matter as well as they needed to!), just like teasing Morn or Brunt and then giving us Krinn, except this was a key component of the season. Very unwisely done, but another example of 'mystery' trumping story or plain sense in presentation, just another example of modern storytelling preferring sensation, designed to keep you guessing, which suggests even the best of this era are going to be harder to rewatch over the years, as I've noted in these reviews with how plodding the overall plot has been.

One other thing I did like was in Picard's trying to ignite a spark for Starfleet in Jack's future when he says it's built on the ideals of reason, so different to the emotional connection we're more often meant to be drawn to, but which is less attractive in its overdone nature. Reason is something all these Treks could do with a big dose of! As they could with developing characters - we see Beverly and Dr. Ohk working together, now side by side as colleagues, Ohk apparently resigned to the fact this intruder has come in and taken over her Sickbay, Morgue and whatever else - but we were robbed of any kind of moment showing them coming together and Ohk accepting Crusher, the kind of little detail they would have worked in, in the past, but which gets trampled underfoot in the race for more mystery and 'suspense' over the nature of Jack or the Changelings, the melodramatic stuff winning out over little scenes of interaction that should be there to fill out the reality of the environment. There's something about Ohk I like, maybe that she seems so accepting and not angry with Crusher, but even so she's barely allowed a line in their interactions and it may as well have been Beverly alone doing the autopsy on the Sidney Changeling. At least they discover these Changelings can pass the 'traditional blood test,' as Beverly put, which I liked (even though the concept, again, is too 'BSG').

We get what I think is our first look at Daystrom Station, in all its Starfleet glory, much like the Argus Array we'd seen before, though would a Starfleet facility really be 'manned' purely by a sophisticated AI? Especially after the debacle of 'DSC' Season 2 where the (groan), Section 31 facility was the same, and that didn't work out well... And were they drones fixing the hull of the Titan (even louder groan), I just hate that Starwarsification! And why are Phaser bolts so irritating! It really does get to me, these blat-blat shots. Ugh! Humph! Grump! Yes, I take this stuff far too seriously and that's why I can't quite bring myself to rate this episode higher, although I will say I would put this at just about top of the episodes so far this season, despite all the niggles, nitpicks and 'nnoyances that detract for me. Not having Vadic helped again (though they'll shortly be 'rectifying' that, unfortunately), and it's not that there are no great moments, either - take the escape from the Intrepid, this beautiful, swanlike ship shape (although why isn't it an Intrepid-class, the same style as Voyager, which would have been more exciting to see - I know it's decades later and there's no reason why there wouldn't be yet another Intrepid, after at least three of different classes before it, but still...), that reminded me of the last-second warp-out in 'Generations' as the system is consumed by an exploding star. Except it was directed from the wrong angle for maximum tension: from the Intrepid's view as it fires torpedoes and at the last moment before impact the Titan warps away. But it's like in old films and TV when they show a car coming towards or going away from the camera and it makes the action seem slow, whereas seeing it from the side (like 'Generations'), gives it that instant excitement. A small thing, but it sums up the episode for me: nearly there, but not.

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