‘Star Trek: Picard’ Recap – ‘Penance’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 202 of ‘Star Trek: Picard’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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When we last settled in to discuss the wondrous Paramount Plus series, Star Trek: Picard, the situation was quite grim. After all, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard and his friends were facing their end in the midst of a fight with the Borg Queen aboard the newly commissioned U.S.S. Stargazer and to complicate matters further… the return of the omnipotent trickster Q, revealed unto the audience that Jean-Luc at the very least… survived that particular nightmare, only to be deposited in a strange world that resembled Earth, but didn’t quite match it. Leaving all of us to wonder exactly what Q was up to, this time around, and what his little challenge was going to be for the admiral after all these years, since they hadn’t crossed paths since ‘All Good Things…’ and well, as it turns out, the next episode of this bold new season of the show… answered none of those questions.
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For ‘Penance’ wasted little time in informing us of the fact that Q wasn’t in a talking mood. In fact, he was in a sour, scornful place mentally. One where he was so angry with Jean-Luc and the path he’d taken that he was down to resort to physical violence and extreme shock therapy. The kind that revealed that Picard was now living with an alternate 25th Century. Where the planet’s climate was under constant duress and where the Federation had transformed itself into the Confederation of Earth. An organization that believed in human purity above all else and its most celebrated champion was General Jean-Luc Picard. A brutal and savage man that in this alternate world… killed some of the most infamous aliens in the galaxy in the name of humankind’s domination.

A new reality that left Picard beside himself. In large part because this alternate Picard did what he promised he was never capable of to Shinzon and let the echo triumph over the voice to murder countless innocents. To complicate matters further… Q merely told Picard he had to fix this but offered little else clue wise. To the point where Jean-Luc was unaware of what happened to his shipmates aboard the Stargazer and thankfully, the series took the time to inform us of that, while the admiral took a moment to collect his bearings. As it turns out, Elnor and Raffi were doing their best to survive an outright insurrection in Japan, one so violent that buildings were collapsing in the name of fallen species and had it not been for Raffi’s quick thinking, she and Elnor might have been put down by Confederation forces. 

As for Captain Rios, well he was on the front lines of an all-out assault on Vulcan, while Jurati languished in a lab back on Earth and as for Seven of Nine, well… Annika Hansen’s path in this world, didn’t involve a single moment under Borg control. Instead, her path took her to the top of the Confederation. For she was its President and thanks to her high standing, she was able to learn a great deal about this world. Such as the fact that the planet was set to celebrate a horrible holiday known as Eradication Day. Wherein the Vulcan rebels would fall, and the scourge of the Borg would finally be removed from the Galaxy and well, her vast power and the commonsense her friends exhibited, finally brought everyone back together in Jurati’s lab, wherein the truth about this horrible place was revealed.

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For the Confederation had in its possession, the Borg Queen. And since queens have a deep understanding of temporal mechanics, she was able to reveal to everyone, that time had been broken. Which mean that Q had changed the past and put Earth on a horrifying path, one that saw it indulge its worst instincts and the only way to fix it now… was to repair yesterday and restore the future and well, that was going to be a difficult task. For this rag-tag band of heroes were going to have to partner with the Borg Queen and use her technological prowess to travel through time in an old school manner; by using La Sirena to slingshot around the sun the same way the stolen HMS Bounty did in The Voyage Home. Provided of course, they could outwit the savvy Confederation forces and their transport inhibiting technology and fool the blood-thirsty folks upstairs long enough to escape.
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Which they eventually pulled off. Because once Raffi and (mostly) Elnor beat down a few bloodthirsty officers, they were able to at least lower the shields to help with transport and once Jurati removed the last of the inhibitor technology, everyone escaped aboard the ship and not a moment too soon. Since the crowd gathered for the execution of the queen, was ready to turn on its president and its hero since Jean-Luc didn’t kill the Borg Queen quickly with impunity. But even then, escape proved to be difficult. For Seven’s alternate timeline husband beamed aboard with his security attaché and held the crew at phaser-point, making it clear that the formidable Confederation was going to do its best to keep them in this nightmare and well, that’s a heck of a way to end an episode that quite frankly, is one of the darkest to ever grace the Star Trek Universe.

Because this place, is worse than the Mirror Universe. For it is a racist and selfish timeline, where all of our worst fears about humanity have been realized. Which means that in many ways, this was something of a cautionary tale. One that warned us that continuing to indulge the voices of people who do not believe in equality is a dangerous game to play and kudos to the show for finding a way to inject that message here and for pulling off the impossible… by making Q terrifying for the first time ever. Because this omnipotent being has always exhibited a whimsical and plucky nature, even when being stern. But here, he is angry and jaded and ready to punish and well, these are all fine storytelling decisions to make for certain, simply because they up the stakes like never before for Jean-Luc and his friends.

For if they fail in their mission, humanity is doomed to a future of fascism and potentially the final wrath of the Q Continuum, and their creativity knows no bounds and well… that most certainly compels us to continue this bold new journey. One that is going to slowly reveal its secrets as the season rolls along that is just fine. Because having Picard take its time with the story is allowing for engaging episodes to take place, such as this one. Since this story properly fleshed out this nightmare and was of course, full of twisted Easter eggs for certain and well… now that we’ve reached the end of our exploration of a world gone mad, we can turn our attention to next week’s tale. An adventure that is likely bringing us to 2024, so we can finally come to understand what singular moment motivated mankind to turn away from its better angels and indulge in its darkest demons. Until next time.

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