Star Trek: Picard season three episodes one to five recap

Star Trek: Picard season three has had half of its episodes come out, so now is a great time to recap what has happened so far. And without further ado, let’s get started.

Episode one, titled ‘The Next Generation’ opens with none other than Beverly Crusher, but it isn’t a happy reunion. She’s under attack, and though she manages to escape and send a distress signal to Picard, she’s badly wounded and with a mysterious man. Picard gets this transmission, and it confusingly asks him to trust no one, not even Starfleet. 

Picard meets with Riker as the pair discuss a plan to steal a ship, though they’re being watched. We also meet Raffi, undercover to stop a mysterious weapon, though she fails. Picard and Riker meet First Officer Seven of Nine aboard the U.S.S. Titan, and the pair try to convince Captain Shaw to reroute the Titan, which also fails. But come nightfall, Seven of Nine reveals she’s rerouted the ship for Picard and Riker, and arranged a shuttle. They arrive about Beverly’s ship and learn that the man is none other than her son called Jack. 

But the reveal of who his father is comes in episode two, titled ‘Disengage’. It opens with a flashback of Jack and his mother, and their ship being boarded by Fenris Rangers. They interrogate the contents of their ship, and report to an unknown figure. This is why they’re being attacked, and in the present day they find themselves attacked again. Shaw begrudgingly rescues them, and the unknown assailants show themselves. 

They are led by Vadic, who demands they hand Jack over for breaking many different laws. Shaw decides to believe her, and not only does he throw Jack in the brig, but strips Seven of her duties. Picard goes to speak to Jack, to try and find out who his father is, and the audience gets a knowing glance implying it’s Picard. Jack breaks out of prison and tries to hand himself over to Vadic, but is stopped. The final few minutes show Raffi wanting to pursue the investigation into this mysterious weapon, and disregarding a plea to stop from her unknown handler. 

Episode three ‘Seventeen Seconds’ raises the stakes for the crew of the Titan. It opens, with Vadic chasing the ship through a nebula, causing the crew to glare at Jack, who they blame for causing this mess. Picard goes to see Beverly to ask her some crucial questions, like why she never told him about Jack. She answers by telling him she was afraid that it would put a target on Jack’s back, and that Picard wouldn’t have left Starfleet for them. This understandably upsets Picard. Elsewhere on the ship, Riker is trying to convince Jack to give Picard a chance to be his dad. 

But this emotional first part of the episode gives way to an action piece. Vadic attacks again, and injures Shaw. Riker takes over command, but Vadic uses the portal weapon from episode one to get them into her clutches. Jack and Seven figure out the Titan is leaving some kind of trail for Vadic to track, and try to fix the leak, but are attacked by a traitorous  ensign, who uses poison gas to attack Jack. He starts to hallucinate, and the episode leaves the Picard side of the story with the titular character enduring the turbolift ride to his dying son. It cuts to Raffi’s side of the story, and audiences find out her handler is none other than Worf. 

‘No Win Scenario’ is the title of the fourth episode, and it opens with yet another flashback from five years ago. It’s one of Picard telling Starfleet cadets they must be steadfast no matter the scenario, an apt thing to say given the present day situation. The Titan is in a dire condition, and Riker presses Picard to spend the last few hours they have with his son. He does, changing the Holodeck to the 10 Forward Bar. Seven begins investigating a new threat on the ship, as more and more crew members go to the bar. Captain Shaw makes a grand entrance and reveals why he hates Picard and the Borg, when Picard was Locutus, he rained fair on Shaw’s ship, with only ten people escaping. 

Beverly comes up with a plan to escape their situation, and needs the help of Shaw and Seven to pull it off. They’re joined by Sidney La Forge, but realise that she’s a Changeling. Their plan succeeds, and they even throw an asteroid at Vadic. But despite this victory the episode ends on a rather ominous note, with an unknown voice telling Jack to find them. 

‘Imposters’ is the title of episode five, and it reveals the true scope of the Changeling’s plan. It opens with a Jack dressed in a Starfleet trying to kill everyone, but it’s just a dream. Seven is reinstated, and Picard volunteers to take the fall for everything that’s transpired. U.S.S Intrepid is sent to question everyone onboard the Titan, but something is clearly off. Picard makes a suggestion that will turn Jack’s dream into reality, and asks him to put on a Starfleet uniform. Among those among the crew of the Intrepid, is Ro Laren, someone Picard knew when she was an ensign. She tries to prove she isn’t a Changeling by cutting her hand to see blood, but Picard isn’t convinced.  

While investigating a Changeling in the med bay, Beverly discovers that they can now make human organs and blood, and thus fool Starfleet’s tests. In a tense exchange, Ro leads Picard to the Holodeck, and eventually convinces him she isn’t a Changeling. She tells Picard that the Changeling plot is far bigger than anyone realises, but everytime she tries to do anything she’s locked out. She’s convinced something big will happen on Frontier day though, when all the fleets are present.  

Switching to Raffi and Worf, they now decide to track someone called Krinn, as he is their only lead. They find him, are captured, forced to fight to the death, and then spring a trap of their own.

Ro takes a shuttle back to the Intrepid, but realises it has a bomb on it. She crashes her ship into the Intrepid just as the bomb goes off, and dies. As this happens, Jack is attacked by four Changelings, but beats them off. The Titan escapes the Intrepid before it attacks. The last few minutes of the episode begin to play, with Worf contacting Riker and Picard, and Jack admitting that there’s something very wrong with him. 

And that’s the first half of Picard season three. Episode six comes out on Friday 24, March, and will hopefully unite Worf with Picard properly.