‘Star Trek: Picard’ Recap – ‘Assimilation’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 203 of ‘Star Trek: Picard’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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There are a great many reasons to love the Star Trek Universe. Such as how it presents to us, a future where mankind has finally put their differences aside to traverse the stars and better our species, giving us hope that a better tomorrow might be achievable. Plus, you can’t go wrong with the social commentary present in the STU, since that allows for us to recognize real issues in our world and inspires us to make a difference. But of the many reasons to love this franchise, the biggest one of all… is its versatility storytelling wise. For this that rare franchise that is eager to wow its audience with stories that offer something different week to week, and its versatility is top of mind today, because it was on full display in the next episode of Star Trek: Picard.
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For shortly after the crew of La Sirena escaped the clutches of the Confederation’s Magistrate and the small fleet assigned to terminate their lives in ‘Assimilation’, the crew made their daring run toward the 21st Century and thanks to the help of the Borg Queen… their desire to arrive in 2024 was a success. Since they crash landed in the middle of nowhere on Earth and confirmed as best, they could that the queen’s temporal calculations were correct. But alas, this voyage home was not without great cost. For the queen was forced to syphon power to stay alive and that meant… Elnor suffered greatly in sickbay. For the BioBed was no longer receiving power and his wounds from the battle were worsening and well… that led to the unthinkable.

In that, Elnor passed away on that table in a time he never knew on a ship that offered no kindness or care thanks to the changes in the timeline and that surprise… brought about great division among the crew. For Seven and Raffi were ill over the fact that Admiral Picard allowed for the queen to live in the slightest, since that cost Elnor his life, and his death put Raffi in quite the dark place. One where she decided that the best way to fix this mess, was to find the Watcher post haste and fix the timeline so that Elnor would hopefully return to them in the 25th Century. And while and she and Seven, and Rios made their way to Los Angeles to fix the shattered timeline… Jean-Luc and Agnes took a moment to repair the ship in the most dangerous way imaginable.

Because in order to get everything up and running again, the queen had to regenerate and the best way to make that happen quickly… was within the framework of her mind and someone would need to go in there and help her heal. An option that Jean-Luc did not want to sign off upon, because of the risk inherent of assimilation, but Dr. Jurati believed she could accomplish this goal and escape the fate of becoming a 21st Century drone, with Picard’s help. For he could pull her out of the queen’s mind if the situation became too dangerous and after much pressing, the good doctor got her way and was lightly assimilated into the collective. Wherein she did indeed conduct the proper repairs and in the process, she came close to bringing Picard’s worst fear to life. But thankfully, Jean-Luc pulled her out of that strange mental space between spaces and wonders did come about from her decision.

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In that, the ship did finally get the power it needed, so major repairs could take place to make the old girl functional enough to complete their mission, and the queen lived as well, giving them a way home. And as an added bonus, Agnes ended up blindsiding the Borg Queen. For while she was in the echo of the collective, she straight up stole pertinent data and information, the kind that the away team would be able to make great use of, since the actual coordinates of the Watcher were present in the queen’s mind as was the actual date of the temporal divergence. But alas, those critical tidbits of information will have to be used at another time… since the away team's time in the City of Angels, brought forth some pressing matters to deal with.
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Because while Picard and Agnes were playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the Borg Collective, the search was on in Los Angeles for the Watcher, in a messy manner. Because the transporters plopped all three members of the away team around L.A. and nowhere near their destination, which was the highest skyscraper in the city. And when Seven and Raffi arrived there to scan for the Watcher, the results were poor. Since the signal they thought they had was weak in nature, giving rise to thanks that Picard and Agnes were able to get something useful from the Borg Queen. But what matters more, is that this duo ran into a lot of resistance and trouble on their way there, making it clear that the 21st Century will be a tough place to navigate, and that their safety is not guaranteed at the moment, and the away team’s problems didn’t end there.

For Rios, never made it to the rendezvous point, since he rematerialized about three stories above ground, leading to a nasty concussion and some injuries and thanks to the kindness of a stranger, he was brought to a low-income clinic, where a kind doctor named Theresa healed his wounds and cared for him until he was ready to move on his own and that’s when the real trouble arrived. Because ICE showed up at the worst possible time to instill fear and indulge in their special brand of racism and because of the fact that Rios stayed behind to do the right thing and help… he’s now in a lot of hot water. Since ICE placed him into custody, putting a man from the future behind bars, and leaving his tech behind for anyone to discover.

Which really is quite the juicy cliffhanger to throw into this story, since Rios being captured is a huge deal with all kinds of implications for his safety and the timeline for that matter as well. But while we wait to see how the crew handles his arrest, we can bask in the majesty of an epic tale that truly had it all. Because Elnor’s passing made for some powerful emotional moments for certain and there was plenty of action and adventure to be found here, with a tinge of danger courtesy of the Borg Queen storyline and that many surprises in a single episode, speaks to the versatility of this franchise and this show and it also means we should expect the unexpected as Admiral Jean-Luc Picard’s desperate push to save the future continues along. Until next time.

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