Star Trek Picard — Series 1 Episode 7 — Nepenthe — A Review

2nd April, 2020.

Hmmm … 

I’m having a problem, here.

Or was.

I was trying to find a way to open this post.

Telling you I’m having trouble starting it?   Seems as good a way as any, to start.

At any rate, I’m in the UK: life under lockdown is … 

Well, quiet: the trains are running a Sunday shrive, the traffic’s a lot quieter … and the neighbours don’t seem to be out much.

Personally?

I’m still job hunting, laundering … 

And frankly?

Watching TV.

And frankly?

Watching yet another episode of Star Trek Picard, series one.

~≈Ç≈~

Episode 7 — Nepenthe — opens with the usual recap of the previous episodes … 

And then shifts to three weeks ago: when Agnes (Alison Pill) met with Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita).

The Commodore wants Agnes  to do her a favour … 

~≈Ç≈~

Moving forward?

Admiral Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Soji (Isa Briones) have arrived at Nepenthe: where they’re met by Kestra (Lulu Wilson), daughter of Picard’s old crew mates, Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis).

Long since married, and (semi) retired.

Picard needs they’re help: in making sense of who Soji is, where they need to go …

And Soji’s messed up memories …

~≈Ç≈~

Now … 

I’ll be frank, I’m feeling a little rushed, here: I’d like to get to bed early!

But I know you want me to tell you what I thought of Nepenthe, now don’t you?

Well, for starters, it’s pronounced knee-pen-THAY.

Which is nice to know.

But possibly beside the point.

Nepenthe — the episode, rather than the planet — has that dual plot line that I last remember seeing in  many episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Darmok is a good example, I think.

There’s an ‘A’ line — Captain Picard getting kidnapped — and a related ‘B’ line— Troi and Data trying trying translate the aliens language — which get tied together and resolved at the end of the episode.

Which is near enough — I felt — what’s happening here.

We have an ‘A’ and ‘B’ plot lines.

‘A’ is Picard and Soji visiting Riker and Troi*: and finding a least some information.

‘B’ is Rios, Raffi and Agnes (Santiago Cabrera, Michelle Hurd and Alison Pill) interacting on the La Sirena: a plotline with far darker elements to it.

There’s also a ‘C’ line: showing us what’s happening to Hugh (Jonathan Del Arco) and Elnor (Evan Evagora.)

All this woven together with an ease and clarity that had me thinking initially?   That Nepenthe was a filler episode.

Which it’s really not.

Calling it a filler would imply that Nepenthe is an episode that’s got nothing to it: when, in truth, it moves the episode forward, shows us how the characters — Soji in particular — are coping with their circumstances, and tells us more of how some old friends are doing.

Granted, we’ve not seen Will Riker and Raffi Musiker interacting: I’d love to see Picard’s two first officers meeting.

That’s a tale for another episode, I think.

But filler?

Nepenthe is FAR from being filler.

It’s not the action filled episode Remembrance — comparatively — is.

But most definitely isn’t filler.

*        Actually, I have to admit, being reintroduced to Star Trek: TNG’s most happily married couple?   Is lovely to watch.   The pair have grown together, well.   Their life’s not perfect — the death of their eldest son, Thad, is testament to that — but they have had a measure of contentment.   And a surviving daughter.   It’s a beautifully done piece of world building.