There's A LOT to Talk About (Picard S3 E05 Spoiler Review)

oh my there was a lot to unpack in this episode hi all I’m Rick and this is my review for episode 5 imposters of Star Trek Picard’s season 3. when changelings became involved we all knew there was going to be a lot of Suspicion and paranoia to go around that’s just what comes when you are dealing with infiltration but it seems like the extent at which Starfleet has been compromised his rather Grand over the course of the episode the level of what we are dealing with is exposed through the reveal of a familiar face Roe

Lauren returns at the rank of Commander within Starfleet but I’m getting ahead of myself as the episode fills in Roe had betrayed Starfleet and joined the Marquee movement in opposition to the cardassians obtaining a series of colonies previously owned by the Federation in the episode preemptive strike revisiting this betrayal serves as a centerpiece for Picard in this story with the additional suspicions of the changeling infiltration the back and forth between Roe and Picard was tense to see and the introduction of crusher’s results that the changelings can pass the blood tests and maintained that tension just

when you thought it was easing similar for the Holodeck scene when it became clear that Roe knew what was happening and likewise was testing Picard imposters abound

it seems even within the admiralty of Starfleet and infesting many levels of its operation you can see why she would suspect Picard he participates in the diversion of the Titan beelines straight for his son a key figure in her investigation and he could very well be an imposter was always an outsider as stated by Riker but Picard holds people to high standards he places great emphasis on loyalty and

morality and for the most part of his career it is true that starfleets has often aligned with his ideals and thus it is easy for him to conflate morality and Duty I’m using many quotes from this episode quite frankly because the dialogue and understanding on show of Picard and Rose characters I think is on point and eloquently explained the card’s standards can be stifling especially for someone like Laren who is more prone to follow her impressions of right and wrong Picard has done this too in the past which does make him kind of hypocritical but

only when he felt someone else in stuff it was betraying its ideals quite simply he’s been hurt by her defecting and dwelling on it sorry rehearsing his speech for 30 years Blind Faith in an institution is not the same thing indeed and Picard was never necessarily blind it’s just his and starfleet’s ideals nearly always lined up the emotional catharsis eventually comes when he realizes that he had placed Great Hopes and respect on Lauren and she in turn on him but their views on morals versus loyalty differed slightly just enough to lead them into different paths

after all she returned to starflies to face her crime and embraced the Second Chance in Starfleet intelligence the card was right to see that she does value dedication and Duty just not to the extent that she would let them conflict with her doing the right thing this plays out in the positioning in the bar scene too with the counter initially being between them while they are confrontational and then they’re on the same side by the end of it much as the distance in the biobeds was with Beverly and Picard in that earlier confrontation in episode

3. Rowan Picard’s resolution is tinged with the tragedy of her sacrifice but the torch and her investigation was passed to someone she ultimately trusted changelings do have changed it seems they’ve become more Adept at shape-shifting down to the ability to replicate blood and internal organs as well as maintain the physical form they last took interestingly I don’t think we’ve seen them adopt any inorganic form yet so I wonder if this increased proficiency came at the cost of diversity and shapes the gains however are that they seem to be able to now bypass pretty much every

Security System created by starfleets during the Dominion War blood tests Transporters and even some funky new scanners devised to detect changeling physiology Beverly cite’s Evolution as a factor but I think it’s an artificial one after all genetics are a specialty of the Dominion and perhaps this new variation on these shape-shifting leaders are not just Renegades but unable to return to the great link who truly separated from it and dedicated to taking down the Federation another weakness seems to be that they’re apparently subject to the same vulnerabilities as a solid when in that form considering one

suffers a broken neck and there are more of them than just a handful it seems we see six that we know of already all now dead but there must be more the whole thing gives me tng’s conspiracy Vibes with a strong dose of Battlestar Galactica although that could just be from seeing Michelle Forbes again whoever is in command of the USS Intrepid for a start is clearly one but not only that they have all the pieces they need to place the blame on the USS Titan and its crew the setup has all the justification it

needs Picard and Riker going rogue tricking Captain Shore into acting out the death of the person sent to investigate them Roe followed by the seeming attack on the Intrepid while harboring a fugitive from an outside perspective even legitimate people within Starfleet can look at this and place the Titan on a Wanted list and that’s a scary thought Jack Crusher on the other hand seems to have no problem identifying changelings no his problems seem to be rooted in something else his Visions are getting worse and he seems to be unaware of their origin too witnessing branches

now and snaring people and also entering a trance state where he’s unaware of his actions he seems to be even having trouble telling reality from these Illusions and worryingly finds himself even beginning to act out his Visions I’m glad he has confided in Beverly because for a while I thought he would keep it to himself the moment where he has to put on the uniforms to hide in plain sight was preying off his fears the questions racing through his mind when he finds himself acting out violence on the bridge crew in a uniform a very

uncharacteristic in both act and appearance only to then have to Don one well it throws him and the questions raised amplifier are these prophetic Visions intrusive thoughts we hear a voice too it’s phrase book getting ever expanded including calls like find me and it all sounds like a call to him to return home to something so the question has to be asked is Jack himself some form of changeling hearing a call to return which may be why they are after him but but if that is so what about him being Picard’s son I don’t want

to see Jean-Luc robbed of another chance of family and what of Beverly now I don’t think Jack is a changeling or anything so severe but the thought has entered my mind and I can’t be the only one the mystery surrounding him is a deepening with every episode and every time we get an answer to one aspect of his life another question Rises now I do think I know an upcoming reveal thanks to an apparent subtitle issue but I’ll leave that to the very end because spoilers are one thing but yeah this may be a mistake

that led to an unintentional reveal crin was a great element to a criminal Vulcan who cites logic so back up his reasoning he clearly has emotional triggers despite his calm facade and straight away we’re having an interesting character that is deeper than just a new bad guy he has history from the experiences he cites and the scars he Bears Wharf and Rafia are making a very good team and it’s appearing I would never have suspected but I’m really enjoying I can never tell which one is going to play the bad cop and which is going

to be the good one and their Dynamic keeps flipping yet they remain on the same page with the USS Titan now on the run I think we can see why things are beginning to slot into place when it comes to the icy reception at the hands of laforge later on in the series clearly they will Target the daystream facility at some point soon and with the mentions of an AI security program who wants to bet it’s Moriarty with law being present there too it looks like daystrom was researching Advanced AI it’s too much of a

coincidence to have the two most complicated programs created in one place speaking of holograms it’s interesting to see that Starfleet has reverse engineered the mobile emitter I noticed the emitter on rafi’s arm earlier and was happy to see it pay off little moments like that not going to lie give me a little smug moment well that’s fine because other parts of this show have me scratching my head in confusion and set my theory crafting a light watching Captain Shaw this episode was honestly delightful the Glee that git has in having Picard and ryko faced the

music was unprofessional and discourteous yes but I can’t lie it brought a smile to my face he cites the films of generations Insurrection and the finale of all good things as incidents where Picard and Riker had jeopardized their career or the Federation which is a point as a viewer we were there for those events and can see the justifications but just like a third party proposing Kirk’s personnel file you can easily see the times where reprimands were lacks that has to irritate a Straight Arrow like Shore especially as it centers on locutus and triggers some

deep personal issues still I think he’s already come some way in developing on to that spoiler now so subtitles apparently attributes Jack’s voices to the Borg Queen so he may have inherited a connection to the hive mind from his father how that factor Zin however remains to be seen But it adds to the daystrom AI Theory too but why the changing involvement still unanswered questions here overall this episode has both a culmination and unraveling of one mystery and the reveals are large enough to set up some truly Hefty Stakes going forwards we get the loss

of another Legacy character but Rose departure was one of defiance and heroism while sticking it to the bad guys in a way that did not endanger the innocence of all the Intrepid definitely a way she would have wanted to go out there’s plenty left to explore for the next episode so I’m looking forward to seeing it and thank you for joining me on this review I’ve been Rick thanks again and goodbye foreign

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