‘Star Trek: Picard’ Recap – ‘The Impossible Box’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM. YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

At some point or another in our lives, we will experience an incredibly powerful moment. The kind that quite frankly rattles us like never before and brings us to our knees emotionally, and we will spend years working to recover from the pain that it causes us and sometimes… despite the effort we put into healing, it will continue to haunt us in ways we never thought possible. Because the universe and our minds are cyclical in nature and a simple reminder of that fateful day can resurrect a bevy of memories and sometimes, fate takes things one step further; and forces us to face our pain head on. And it just so happens that the lasting power of trauma, served as one of the focal points for this week’s episode of Star Trek: Picard.
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For ‘The Impossible Box’ brought the crew of the La Sirena into Romulan space, in the hopes of finding Soji aboard the Artifact and well, the entire journey there brought forth some seriously uncomfortable memories for Admiral Picard when he took the time to learn more about the Borg Reclamation Project. And it was quite fascinating to see this strong yet stoic man shiver in fear at an archived image of his disfigured and Borgified face, something that confirmed that Jean-Luc Picard never quite recovered from his time as Locutus of Borg, and all the sorrow that came from that forced transformation. Which left one to wonder how exactly he would handle stepping aboard that cube for the first time since the Collective kidnapped him from the bridge of the Enterprise­-D and, it went about as poorly as one might expect.

Because the instant the transporter deposited him at the designated coordinates, Jean-Luc was alone and surrounded by silence and memories of the Borg and the horrors he had to endure as Locutus and it didn’t take long for the fear to settle in. In fact, the Admiral outright had a panic attack while standing in this haunted place. But thankfully, an old friend in Hugh was there to save the day, and his warm and welcoming demeanor brought Picard back from any further alarm. But despite Hugh’s best efforts to show the Admiral how safe the cube was and that he and his team were doing some incredibly humane and wonderful things within its hull, Picard was still unable to move on from the horrible memories and feelings that were surging through his mind and his body.

For the Admiral continually shied away from the sight of former Borg drones walking these horrifying halls and his reaction wasn’t out of revulsion for their scarred appearance, instead it was out of sustained fear. Fear that they might suddenly approach him with nanoprobe tubules at the ready to welcome Locutus home. But Hugh’s work, and a fine reminder that the Borg and everyone they’ve assimilated are victims, put Jean-Luc’s heart at ease because he was no different than the suffering souls who were starting their journey back from the void that the Borg create, and this really was quite the brilliant storyline when all is said and done. Because at long last, the Admiral was forced to revisit his darkest hour and make some peace with it and it was wonderful to see Jean-Luc Picard grow and heal right before our eyes.

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Yet while this was powerful stuff in its own right, and chilling as well since a Borg Cube is one creepy place, the Admiral wasn’t here for a disturbing stroll down memory lane. He was here to find Soji and save her from potential harm at the hands of the Zhat Vash and well, this episode quickly turned into a race against time, thanks to the fact that Narek (whose real name we learned is Hrai Yan, maybe) finally made his big push to break Soji at last. Because a recurring dream she was experiencing, gave him the idea that perhaps her neural net and the flesh and blood surrounding it were trying to reconcile her human and android halves and that forcing her to discover her android roots would give him and his sister everything they need information wise and that’s when Narek went to work and planted some serious seeds of doubt in her mind.
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Oddly enough, Narek used an interesting tactic to make that happen, by informing Soji that her calls with her mother only lasted seventy seconds every night and that revelation allowed for Soji to realize that she gets incredibly sleepy when talking to her darling mother and an attempt to avoid that sleep, finally motivated her to really explore her life. To the point where she used Romulan technology to establish that she was less than three years old and this discovery left her filled with fear and uncertainty and that’s when Narek made his move. For her offered his hand and an ancient Romulan tradition to help her uncover the truth about her dreams and her past and she was of course willing to go through with it, in order to find some semblance of peace.

But unfortunately for Soji, while she explored that powerful dream, Narissa was watching the entire experience from afar, hoping to uncover the location of her home world. And unfortunately for Soji and Picard, the ancient ceremony worked, and she was able to reveal her roots and that put her in grave danger since Narek no longer had any purpose left for her. But unfortunately for Narek, his plans to end Soji’s life backfired horribly. For with her back against the wall, her programming kicked in and she quickly tore through the room she was trapped within, and thankfully, she ran into Hugh and Picard, and they led her deep into the cube where Hugh used some Borg Queen technology to send them to a world that Picard deemed safe. And just like that, an uncertain future awaits since Picard is now separated from his crew and the La Sirena is mere meters away from one of the deadliest ships in the galaxy.

In the end however, this really was one incredible episode. In large part due to the fact that it really dove into some quality character development, especially when it comes to the Admiral, and the past, he was reluctant to face. Because that simply made for some powerful scenes, and some fine acting from Patrick Stewart and this really is something that was long overdue for the Admiral. But more importantly, the plot definitely moved forward in leaps and bounds in this particular tale. For now, Soji’s android programing is active and her memories are starting to come to light, and it should be interesting to see where everything goes from here. Because in many ways, this episode felt like a season finale, but we are barely past the halfway point, meaning that incredible moments await on the horizon as Jean-Luc Picard works to save a life and so much more, since the Zhat Vash is now making its way to Maddox’s lab and all of its secrets. Until next time.  

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