Star Trek Picard* — Series 1 Episode 9 — Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 — A Review

6th April, 2020.

Right: I have to be honest … I’ve got some music on, at the moment.

Bass Culture, by the utterly hypnotic Linton Kwesi Johnson.

It’s not quite as heavy as his two earlier albums.

But still good to hear.

At any rate, I’ve been — you’ve possibly guessed it — watching TV.

Yes: I’ve caught another episode of Star Trek Picard’s first series … 

~≈†≈~

Episode 9 — Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 — opens with the usual summary.

Then moves: and show us La Sirena and its crew coming out of a Borg transwarp conduit, above Soji’s homeward, Coppelius.

Rapidly followed by a Romulan ship piloted by Narek† (Harry Treadaway) … and by a Borg cube‡ piloted by Seven of Nine.

All three ships are dragged to the planet’s surface by what looks like giant space going orchids … 

Orchids that crash all three … and leave Picard (Patrick Stewart) blacking out.

When he recovers?   Picard immediately makes a confession: he has deep seated brain abnormality, one that’s terminal, as of being capture by the Borg, many years ago: but is determined to fight on, immediately organising the La Sirena crew, so they can prevent Coppelius’s destruction.

~≈¥≈~

The team — Picard, Soji, Raffi, Rios and Agnes (Isa Briones, Michelle Hurd, Santiago Cabrera and Alison Pill) — get on the move to the one settlement on the planet: stopping only briefly at the crashed Borg cube to check on what Seven and Elnor are up to.

Then … ?

Moving to the base itself.

And meet Sutra, a Soong style android who is the spit of Soji: bar the yellow eye and golden skin.

And meet the man who — along side Bruce Maddox — made her, and the rest of the Synths on Coppelius.

Dr. Altan Inigo Soong (Brent Spiner.)

Things … could get interesting.

As Picard gets taken prisoner: and Narek commits murder in Synth paradise …

~≈¥≈~

Now … 

Good?

Hmm … 

I don’t know if I should be saying yes or no, just yet: as, after all, as this is the first in a two part finale to the series.

Saying that … ?

It’s a very good two parter: setting things up for an interesting finish.

We’ll have to see how that goes, won’t we?

*      The name come from a famous painting by a French artist called Nicholas Poussin: it loosely translates as “And in Arcadia, I … ”.   Quite what the person did, has been a matter fo speculation for centuries.

†        In a throw-away line, a couple of episodes ago, Rios reveals that the ship is a type of Romulan scout chip called a Snakehead.   The first time I heard the term?   It was to describe a type of Chinese people smuggler.   I don’t know if that’s where Star Trek Picard’s writers got the name: but it fits well enough, I think.

‡        That damn cube’s intimidating!