Star Trek: Picard (Season 1, Ep. 1) Review

The title of Episode 1 is "Remembrance". As the description says: At the end of the 24th Century, and 14 years after his retirement from Starfleet, Jean-Luc Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart) is living a quiet life on his vineyard, Chateau Picard. When he is sought out by a mysterious young woman, Dahj (Isa Briones), in need of his help, he soon realizes she may have personal connections to his own past.

Earlier, I mentioned who you may have thought the girl was or might have heard youtubers guessed she was. She is not Picard's daughter. That was flat out debunked long before the end of episode 1.

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SCENE 2: KEEP THE GAME FROM ENDING

The show starts with a song titled Blue Skies (composed by Irving Berlin and sung by Bing Crosby). This is a very important clue that Star Trek: Picard is adapting to the film canon too. This is the very exact song that Data sings at William Riker and Deanna Troi's wedding in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).

As the Bing Crosby soundtrack plays in the background, the camera pans out from a deep space view toward a close up of a starship window. Then zooms in to display Picard playing cards with Data.

Something that fans will immediately find strange is that Data is using a specific uniform that is not known to those who watched the TNG series. If you take a closer look -- in the images I show below, the first one is shown in "PICARD" episode 1. The second image is the source of the uniform. Data wore that uniform in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).

Picard notices that Data is attempting to confuse him into thinking that Data has a tell while playing cards. Data dilates his left pupil in an effort to cheat Picard into thinking that he has a tell. In card terms, I assume this means "a bluff face." But his true tell is that he has none. When his eyes are normal, that's when Picard knows Data is bluffing.

In some level, this scene shows us the philosophical aspect of the TNG Picard, who is well studied and a book reader. Tries to find logic and wisdom in what surrounds him.

Data responds now he is confused as to what deception to employ in future card matches.

Data proceeds to bet 50, and asks Picard if he wants to fold. Picard says that's all he possesses. Let's be civilized. Then, proceeds to offer Data a glass of milk. Data declines. Sugar? Data declines. Picard then proceeds to drink slowly.

Data asks Picard why he is stalling.

Picard's answer is so sad and nostalgic: "I don't want the game to end."

Picard answers: I am all in. Betting everything he has on the table.

This is another WTF clue that most likely got the audience to cheer outloud.

Data reveals his hand -- showed his cards to Picard. They are all... five Queens of Heart cards. If you don't know the significance, there is a all-powerful entity in the Star Trek: The Next Generation; and Star Trek: Voyager mythos known as "Q" -- who appeared in the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and the last 2 episodes -- judging Picard and the human race. He appeared several times throughout the show, but those 3 episodes were interconnected.

Next, Picard looks through the window to see a view of planet Mars. He tells Data it was strange because he didn't know they were en route to Mars. When he looks back at Data... Data was no longer at the table. The ship shakes, and Picard goes anxious. Mars explodes, and the ship explodes.

This is when Picard realizes he was dreaming, and wakes up at his bedroom in Chateau Picard, in France (which is actually a vineyard somewhere in California, but to our effect it is France).

So we have here an enigmatic dream, but we will soon learn the relevance of Mars in episode 1. A lot has happened since TNG and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), and episode 1 is going to give us an introduction to a few big events that have happened in the past 20 years. Don't let the 14 years since Picard retired from Starfleet fool you. Star Trek: Picard starts 20 years after Star Trek: Nemesis.

A dog named Number One greets Picard while in bed. Picard walks toward the window to show a great view of the Chateau Picard vineyard.

This is a very familiar view to fans of The Next Generation TV series. Throughout the series, Picard visited his brother a few times. They had old grudges that eventually they ironed out, but his brother eventually died. This is probably the same vineyard -- which Picard inherited from his brother.

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SCENE 3: ACTIVATING A NEW WEAPON

(4:02)

The next scene takes us to Greater Boston, where the mysterious young woman is in a romantic setting with her alien boyfriend -- listening to R&B music. At their apartment.

While both are talking, she mentions that her boyfriend is Xahean.

Now this is a very peculiar and obscure easter egg because if you missed the CBS Star Trek: Short Treks, you might not have a clue what Planet Xahea is in relation to. It debuted in the Star Trek: Short Treks titled "Runaway" and aired on October 4, 2018. You can read a summary of that story here.

The mysterious girl named Dahj asks her boyfriend to guess what they are celebrating tonight. She says she was admited to Daystrom.

This is the Federation's Daystrom Research Institute located in Okinawa, Japan -- but there are several divisions (Technology, Archeology, and other sciences). This institute has been referenced in TNG, Deep Space 9, and Voyager. There are several colleges, as well, including one in planet Mars and various space stations. But if we search for a relevance in Star Trek: Picard, well, TNG fans might remember Commander Bruce Maddox worked at the Daystrom Technological Institute in his role as Associate Chair of Robotics in Starbase 173. He was the one who wanted to disassemble Data's positronic brain in order to study him.

Dahj reveals that she is going to become a fellow in Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Consciousness. Whoa...

Both laugh, and his boyfriend offers more wine; but she asks him to surprise her with something else. He stands up and walks to the replicator.

A loud shrieking-like sound startle them. It is a weird teleportation beam.

These masked black suit intruders teleport in, and one throws a knife at the boyfriend's chest.

They immediately subdue Dahj, who yells at the sight of her boyfriend's corpse.

They attach a device to her eyes area, and determine that she is not yet active. However, if you pay notice one of them speaks in a strange language, and a second one scorns him and commands him to speak english. Hmm... they are posing as humans before the young woman to hide their true selves.

They ask her: "Where are the rest of you? Where are you from?"

Dahj says she is from Seattle.

They couldn't get anything out of her that made sense to them, so her head was covered with a black bag to ask questions later.

However, somehow this triggers something within her. She is no longer the scared sweet young woman or a damsel in distress. Out of the blue, with her eyes in darkness, she starts knocking the krap out of them. One uses a gun to defend himself, but she knocks him to the ground and steals his laser weapon and shoots all three of them. Still with her eyes covered by the black bag... damn.

I don't know if there is a relevance of what race this weapon belongs to, but it pretty much looks like the Star-Lord weapon from Guardians of the Galaxy.

Dahj is bleeding red blood from her forehead -- I mean, a lot -- which immediately strikes you that she is human.

Dahj kneels before her boyfriend's corpse and grabs his face close to her chest.

She panics as some kind of jolt materializes a vision deep in her mind. As it coalesces... it is Picard's face.

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OPENING CREDITS

The Star Trek: Picard opening credits is like no other Star Trek TV show. Closest thing I can compare it to, considering the liberty it takes apart from the other Star Trek shows is Star Trek: Enterprise. It starts with the sky cracking -- as if reality was shattering. A specific crystal shard starts descending from the sky to show the Chateau Picard vineyard. Then the shard floats down a tree, and goes below the ground to reveal a digital realm beneath. The shard continues to descend further and all along it has been falling toward a fissure within a Borg cube.

The shard now falls several levels within the Borg cube toward a strange energy core. The shard disappears and the view changes to a single crystaline Dodecahedron cell? That cell divides in twine. It keeps splitting further spawning what looks like DNA sequences. The shard is seen navigating through the DNA strands. Later we see a circle, and strands growing outwards -- resembling the creation of an eye's iris. There is a quick camera change to what seems to be a mechanical sphere, then some sort of bloody orb desintegrates -- and the pieces start attaching to a face and ear. The shard we saw at the start of this intro now falls into place to complete the left chick of... Picard's face.

Super weird intro. Not sure I can come close to describing this correctly with my english limitations. This intro kinda hints at Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 3, Episode 26: The Best of Both Worlds) where the Borg Queen transforms Captain Picard into Locutus of the Borg. Just in this case, a full copy of Picard is being re-written into existence at the core of a Borg Cube creating new DNA strands from scratch in a DNA batch tank.

It is just an intro, but an intriguing one.

The intro ends with a short melody that evokes The Next Generation (TNG)'s.

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SCENE 5: AN IMPORTANT INTERVIEW

(8:34)

This scene starts with Picard walking his dog Number One along the fields of the Chateau Picard Vineyard. He starts talking to the dog in french.

Picard now returns to the mansion grounds and he is greeted by something that definitely shocked viewers... a romulan couple working for Picard. Something extraordinary happened in these past 20 years for 2 Romulans to be openly accepted to live in Earth, considering that last time we saw Romulans in TNG, they were still enemies of the Federation. But we won't have to wait upcoming episodes to find out what the history here is. We learn in this very scene.

The female Romulan is named Laris (Orla Brady) and the male Romulan is named Zhaban (Jamie McShane).

Picard asks the replicator to make him a tea. Earl Grey. Decaf.

On TV, there is an FNN News special report: Across the Galaxy, Millions gather to mourn.

Simultaneously, a house security protocol alerts that a visitor has used the front entry transporter.

The visitors are the interviewers for a scheduled interview at Picard's house.

His Romulan servants keep pushing him to do the interview that he can no longer postpone and regrets accepting.

Here we have a time-frame of how long these Romulan couple has been working for him at Chateau Picard. Laris asks Picard to wash his hands, and complains it is been 10 years and still needs to remind him to do so. So whatever happened for Romulans to be accepted in Earth, happened 10 years before the Star Trek: Picard; and ten years after Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).

The Interviewer (Merrin Dungey) is shown through a holographic screen held at her face what lipstick color best to use for the interview. Her lips change color multiple times, and she chooses one -- before it is even applied to her lips. Nice virtual reality tech.

Elsewhere in the house, Picard asks Zhaban if he went over his terms to the interviewer before she arrived. He answers: three times, sir. The interviewer won't inquire about his separation from Starfleet.

Laris asks Picard if he has forgotten what he did. Who he is. Both Romulans have not forgotten. "Now go."

Zhaban says: "Be the captain they remember."

I do have to point out that I dislike some liberties the CBS production is taking -- as they did with the Klingon overhaul in DISCOVERY. These guys don't look Romulan. In TNG, Deanna Troi and Picard had to disguise as Romulans. You can see the strong V-shape ridge on the forehead -- which is missing on Laris and Zhaban.

The interview starts and now we start getting a dump of information about the history of these past 20 years.

The interview is taking place during the anniversary of the Romulan Supernova. This is an event that happened 10 years in the past where the Romulan sun went supernova.

This is the first interview Picard has given since he retired 14 years ago.

Picard called for a massive relocation of Romulans to save the Federation's enemies from their sun's explosion.

The Romulans asked for the Federation's help to evacuate millions of their people. Picard says the Federation had a profound obligation to give that help.

The interviewer says many Federation members felt there were better uses for their resources than aiding the Federation's oldest enemy.

Picard says the Federation eventually chose to support the rescue effort. He is known to be persuasive.

The interviewer says that Picard left the Enterprise to command the rescue armada that evacuated 900 million Romulans aboard 10,000 warp-capable ferries to worlds outside the blast of the supernova.

The interviewer compares his feat with ... the creation of the Pyramids.

Picard corrects her because the pyramids were a symbol of colossal vanity. He compares the Romulan Supernova evacuation more akin to Dunkirk.

Note: Dunkirk is in reference to a 1940 military operation during World War II code-named Operation Dynamo, also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers in northern France. The operation commenced after large numbers of Belgian, British, and French troops were cut off and surrounded by German troops during the six-week Battle of France.

The interview takes a unexpected turn with her intro to the next question: "... and then the unimaginable happened. Can you tell us about that?"

Picard's face goes pale. The interviewer completely disregarded the terms of the interview. This is what Picard wanted to prevent from being discussed -- why he left Starfleet Federation.

A group of rogue synthetics dropped the planetary defense shields and hacked Mars's own defense net. This wiped out the rescue armada and completely destroying the Utopia Planitia Shipyard. The explosions ignited the flammable vapors in the stratosphere. Mars remains on fire to this day. 92,143 lives were lost -- which led to a ban on synthetics.

Picard says that Starfleet Federation still doesn't know why the synthetics went rogue; but believes that the ban of Synthetic life-forms was a mistake.

Now the interviewer goes for the jugular and asks Picard if he ever lost faith on Lieutenant Commander Data. Picard answers: Never.

Now the interviewer asks what was it that Picard lost faith in. Picard has never spoken about his departure from Starfleet. That he resigned his commission in protest to the synthetics ban. Why did you quit Starfleet?

Picard bitterly answers: Because it was no longer Starfleet.

Ohh... I see. After the rogue synthetic attack on Mars, Starfleet called off the Romulan supernova rescue. So by association, we can determine that several more millions of Romulans were not rescued and were abandoned to die. People they had sworn to save. Picard found that dishonorable and criminal.

Picard proceeds to ask the interviewer if she knows at all what Dunkrik is. You are a stranger to history. You are a stranger to war.

As this is said, the interview is revealed to be LIVE when Dahj walks the streets of Great Boston and sees Picard's face on a screen.

Picard interrupts the interviewer and announces the interview is over.

That was a load of info, and that's only the first 16 minutes of Episode 1.

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SCENE #6: DAHJ FINDS PICARD

(16:39)

The camera starts from black to the Chateau Picard vineyard fields. Irrigation system vehicles fly by and away from the camera. In the horizon, there is a intriguing shadowy structure that is taller than the clouds.

Picard is sitting and caressing his dog while watching the vineyard view. Picard talks to the dog: "There's no legacy as rich as honesty." This is a clear reference to William Shakespeare who said: "No legacy is so rich as honesty."

Picard asks his dog who said that -- but the dog runs away to bark at an intruder. It is the mysterious young woman, Dahj (Isa Briones). Because of the interview, she learned where to find Picard... the face in her mind.

Picard asks why she is in his property. She responds she came here after seeing his face on TV. Dahj asks if he knows who she is. Picard has no clue. She explains what happened to her and her boyfriend at the apartment. She is crying as she explains they murdered her boyfriend. Picard wants to know who "they" are, but she doesn't know. Then reveals she killed all of them. Something inside of her simply knew what to fight. Compares the influx of that knowledge as "lightning seeking the ground."

Then she took the bag off, and there was so much blood. She has been running since not knowing where to go.

Picard asks her to calm down. She says she kept seeing his face in her mind. The same lightning that got her out of there alive led her to Chateau Picard, France. Everything inside her says she is now safe with Picard.

The camera switches to several minutes later. Laris is running a device along Dahj's forehead injury to seal it. Good as new. Zhaban gives her a poncho or garment to warm up, and Picard offers her Earl Grey tea.

As the Romulan servants leave, Picard finds Dahj's necklace a curiosity. She gives it to him to inspect. She says it was gifted to her by her father.

It is now that Picard asks what her name is. It is Dahj.

Picard tells her his first name, but Dahj interrupts to inform that she knows. Not because of the interview.

Picard interjects he has taught lectures and other means -- but she claims that's not how she knows his name. She knows him from a long time ago. Much, much deeper. She asks Picard if he think she is crazy. He says he believes that she believes what she is saying, and that if she was dangerous to him his dog would have alerted him.

With that, Picard asks Laris to escort her to her guest bedroom.

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SCENE 7: A CLUE HIDDEN IN A PAINTING

(22:07)

Early in the morning, Picard wakes up and opens the window.

Suddenly, his eyes focus on something he wasn't expecting.

Lieutenant Commander Data wearing his TNG suit.

Data is painting a woman, but he hasn't finished her face. Data turns around and asks Picard -- who is slowly approaching behind Data -- if he wants to finish the painting. Data offers the brush to Picard. He replies he doesn't know how. Data says it is not true, sir. Picard picks the brush. A clock bell chiming disturbs Picard. He was dreaming.

Picard wakes up from his desk, where he fell asleep the night before. When he stands up, he looked at the painting sitting above his desk. It is the same woman, but from a view that shows her back.

This itched Picard. The dream was a clue. Data painted a twin-part painting collection. One is hanging at his office. The other one is at the Federation Archives -- which shows the woman's face -- the unfinished face that he just saw in his dream was finished in that painting.

Picard says: No...

He makes the connection that the dream is referring to this painting in his office -- which reminds him the second version that he saw in the dream is stored at Starfleet's Archives building.

Laris enters the office and announces the young woman is gone. Laris doesn't know. She woke up at 5am, and the door was open. She left before that time. The dog was on her bed, but she was gone. This little detail might be missed, but it is weird that the moment she appeared the dog liked her, and now even slept on her bed. That says on face value that she is human.

Laris finds troubling that the young woman doesn't show up in any of the camera feeds.

Picard tells Laris that he has somewhere to go, but if Dahj returns to contact him immediately.

The camera switches to a new location. This is yet another easter egg. The Starfleet Archives is shown to be near the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco -- but when you take a close look at the ground level as Picard walks around the outdoor premises... it is the Anaheim Convention Center.

At the Starfleet Archive building, he asks the AI Index played by Maya Eshet, if everything stored in the quantum archive is locked in stasis; and asks if only he has access to his archives.

As soon as the Index leaves, Picard enters some kind of mini-museum. This looks more like a holodeck than anything. The first thing that pops into view when Picard opens the door is a toy model of the USS Stargazer NCC-2893 (Constellation Class Starship). This was Picard's first starship. He served there as bridge officer in 2333. Picard became its Captain when the captain died and the first officer was injured.

The next scene of his mini-museum shows a book -- but it is difficult to specify which as he read many throughout the 7 seasons of TNG; and a Klingon Bat'leth bladed weapon (sword of honor). This weapon could be a gift from Worf, or gifted by his old friend. Might have to research.

Next view shows the Captain Picard Day banner. This is a reference to TNG Season 7, Episode 12: The Pegasus.

The next view shows the NCC-1701-E toy model, but that classification didn't match what one actually looks like. This looks more like a shuttle or a small yatch than a starship. It is because this is the model denominated as the Captain's Yatch.

After pressing a query to search for the painting's archive, a large square materializes. Picard picks it up and places it on a table behind him. The UI says Painting by Lt. Commander Data. His finger covers some letters, then reads "... on canvas." His finger covers the next line then: "... Federation Archive - 2386."

The armored square starts to break down and fold upon itself, unwrapping its content: the painting. And there we see the face on the woman that Data painted almost 30 years ago...

Picard is speechless.

Then he asks the Starfleet Archives' AI Index to identify the painting.

Index says Item 227.67 -- archives of Jean-Luc Picard, admiral, retired. An oil on canvas painted by Commander Data circa 2369. One of a set of two. Data gifted it to Picard on the Enterprise. The other one is hanging on Picard's wall at home.

Picard asks Index if no one else has been in this archive room. Not even for servicing. Index responds no one.

Picard asks Index this painting had a title. Index makes a database search and responds this painting is called: "Daughter."

HOLY $#!+ ---------- that was a huge reveal. But how? Why was she bleeding red blood from her forehead if she isn't human? Why does Dahj looks like a painting made by Data over 20 years ago?

Well, I don't think Data had visions of the future, so... considering that she was about to be a fellow in Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Consciousness at the Daystrom Technological Institute in Okinawa (I assume) this might be a simple Occam's Razor. It is not a vision of the future. It is the other way around. Whoever created Dahj, created her based on Data's painting, using positronic DNA (if we can call it such) based on Data's. Dahj is basically a very advanced "clone" of Data. This is all my interpretation after watching Episode 1. But wait, folks. This is only 26 minutes of the Episode 1 summary. There is much much more bang for your buck awaiting.

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SCENE 8: FOCUS AND FIND HELP

(26:34)

The next scene starts with a city-wide view of The Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Dahj makes a phone call to her mother. I find strange that her mother starts with a giant smile on her face. Feels fake. Maybe if Dahj is an android or advanced synthetic -- what she perceives to be her mother is a subroutine she believes to be true. Hard to tell as it is not revealed in episode 1 yet whether this is a real human who adopted Dahj, or an AI. Time will tell.

Dahj tells her mom everything that has happened, and her mom wants her to get somewhere safe. Dahj says she found a safe place, but she couldn't stay there and put anyone else in danger. Her mom says she needs to go back to Picard. Wait? Dahj asks how she knew? Dahj did never mention Picard. Her mom tries to downplay it by saying she did, but it is not true. If you take a close look at her mom at this moment, you will notice that she hesitates for a second and the screen flickers. This is the clue that tells me that "mom" is a subroutine AI that fills Dahj's mind with memories of a family in Seattle. Not proven to be true yet.

Her mom evades Dahj's questions and asks her to return back to Picard. He can help her.

Her mom asks Dahj to concentrate and focus on Picard. Dahj closes her eyes and sees Picard's face in her mind. Here is how we know now that Dahj is not 100% human. She tracks where Picard is as if she had just accessed satellite and camera feeds throughout the world in a matter of seconds just using her mind or a very advanced holographic computer HUD. WTF.

Then you hear her mom's voice: "Go!"

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SCENE 9: THE TRUTH ABOUT DAHJ

Dahj is hacking full Starfleet clearance like a pro hacker and getting access granted to classified data. She finds geolocation data for Picard and tracks him to San Francisco, California. The Starfleet Archives. Cough, Anaheim Convention Center.

Satellite views start to show up onscreen, and zoom in shots, until it shows Starfleet Archives mere feet from above.

Picard is surprised to find Dahj outside the Starfleet Archives and asks her how she knew he was here. Last time he saw her she was in France after she left his Chateau. She says she was afraid that the people chasing her would harm him. She knew how to track Picard. She knows stuff. She can hear conversations a block away.

Dahj claims to have done research and thinks she has schizophrenia. Poor thing still thinks she is human lol. Picard tells her no she isn't schizophrenic. Dahj says then she is a freak. Picard invalidates her idea as well and responds she might be very special. Now Picard tells the story of a dear friend named Commander Data. He was an android.

Dahj asks if Data was like the ones that attacked Mars.

Picard says not at all. The word "Android" conjures all kinds of wrong ideas. Forget them. Commander Data was a highly decorated Starfleet officer. Data sacrificed his life to save Picard in their last mission together, almost two decades ago -- as seen in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).

Picard continues to say that Data was an artist, too.

Dahj is lost and asks him what does all this story has to do with her.

Picard responds because Data painted her in canvas exactly as she is here and now. But he painted it 30 years ago.

Dahj says that is impossible.

Picard says Data named the painting: "Daughter."

Dahj is in denial, but Picard lists all the clues. She said she knew how to fight with her head covered by a bag as if it was lightning seeking the ground, she can hear conversations far away, and she just tracked him all the way to San Francisco. Picard asks her how she tracked him. She requires security clearance to track his geolocation data.

Picard believes that the attack she suffered at her apartment might have acted as some sort of positronic alarm bell, awakening her.

Dahj continues to be on denial. She was born in Seattle. Her dad was a xenobotanist. Their house was full of orchids. He spliced two genuses and named the orchid offspring after her: Orchidaceae Dahj oncidium. Yellow and pink.

Picard smiles and tells her that's a beautiful memory, and it is hers. No one can touch it or take it away; but Dahj must look inside, deeply and honestly.

Dahj interrupts Picard: That I'm a soulless murder machine?

Picard resumes: That you are something lovingly and deliberately created. Like Dahj oncidium.

Dahj asks if he is saying she is not real.

Picard says no. She is real. If she is who he thinks she is, Dahj is dear to him in ways that she can't understand. He will never leave her. He will go with Dahj together to the Daystrom Institute in Okinawa.

Dahj reveals she was accepted there as a research fellow there.

Picard is surprised as he did not know that.

She thinks it doesn't matter if she is not real.

Picard corrects her. If she is the daughter of Data, a man who was all meaning, all courage... be like him.

At this moment, Dahj gets an alert jolt. She tells Picard that they have found them. Move, now. They are almost here.

Picard is dragged upstairs by Dahj. They climb several stairs, but Picard loses his air mid-way, panting. She continues to pull him by the arm and drags him the last steps into the exterior top of the building.

More masked hunters start to teleport out of nowhere to shoot at Picard and Dahj. Dahj throws Picard to the ground and she goes into full-metal jacket Alita Battle Angel and takes them all out.

The battle coreography is beyond anything you have ever seen. Bones cracking as she moves like a blur to jump from hunter to hunter.

The last hunter teleports far away up a long stairway and starts shooting at her. She runs like a cheetah at him evading every shot and jumps over 100 feet in the air to land on the hunter. What the F%$#...

I am kidding you not. She jumps from where Picard is in the image below to where she is seeing in the image -- and she hasn't yet landed, as the hunter is not on view. This is 1000% more powerful than Data.

Dahj knocks the guy off his feet and throws him downstairs as two more hunters teleport in to assist him. She quickly breaks his leg too. She quickly disarms both their weapons.

As she knocks the second hunter down the stairs, his helmet comes off. He lands at the bottom of the stairs right at the feet of Picard who is surprised by the big reveal of who her kidnappers are... Romulans.

A last hunter teleports in and attacks Dahj. She knocks him to the ground, and commandeers his laser shotgun. Before she is able to shoot him, something super awkward happened. You can see his face struggling. His teeth make a sound, and suddenly he spits a green liquid at her face, chest, and the laser shotgun.

Dahj is stunned not sure what just happened.

The Romulan hunter's face starts to melt. She looks at herself and the weapon filled with the green goo. Smoke starts to emanate from where it landed. Dahj throws the weapon to the ground.

Her face and chest start to dissolve. The green goo was acid, but before the acid completely disfigures her body, the acid on the laser shotgun triggered a massive explosion that knocked Picard several feet away.

Okay... let's digest this for a second. WHAT THE HELL!!! The main character of the Star Trek: Picard TV series... is now 100% dead. We couldn't learn more about her as she was never brought to Okinawa for analysis. There is nothing of her for him to analyze either. Was she really Data's daughter? What was her? I am pretty sure many fans got straight out angry watching this scene.

But... this summary only covers 33 minutes of episode 1. There is more...

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SCENE 10: A VISIT TO OKINAWA RESEARCH FACILITY

(33:50)

Picard awakes at the Chateau Picard vineyard under the care of Laris -- his romulan servant. Something that I find extremely off considering Picard was a former Starfleet Admiral. Minimum he should be under the care of Starfleet's best doctors.

As Picard comes to his senses, they tell him he was found with a bad knock on the head, but he's now alright.

Picard now remembers Dahj is dead. Laris asks how that's possible. The police said Picard was found alone and there was no one else in the security feed except for Picard. Zhaban interrupts Laris. She could have had a cloaking device and that's why they couldn't see her in the Chateau cam feeds.

Picard says Dahj's cloaking may have activated when she was in danger. Picard claims Dahj was a synthetic. The assassins were Romulan. Picard regrets that she died, because she had come to his home seeking safety, and bows to find out who killed her and why.

The camera view switches to Daystrom Institute, Okinawa.

Here, Picard talks to Dr. Agnes Jurati -- who I recognize from the trailers will join Picard's team aboard his new starship. Picard asks her if it is possible to make a sentient android out of flesh and blood.

Dr. Jurati disrespectfully laughs outloud at his face.

No, really. How can I...

Darn, Picard didn't like the laughter. Gives her the evil eye.

Is that why you've come here?

Dr. Jurati says that even before the Synthetic Ban... a flesh and blood synthetic was in their sights, but a sentient one... not for a thousand years.

Picard then says it makes it the more curious that recently one such sentient flesh-and-blood synthetic was drinking tea at his home.

Dr. Jurati goes speechless.

Camera switches to minutes later as they walk along the institute's corridors.

Dr. Jurati brings Picard to what is left of the Federation's Division of Advanced Synthetic Research lab.

Dr. Jurati reveals that the androids that destroyed Mars came from this lab. Now the division is only allowed to study, publish or run simulations, but not allowed to create any new models after the synthetic ban. Nobody makes synths of any kind anymore. It is a violation of galactic treaty.

Picard asks if it is possible to create a synthetic that looks fully human. She says no.

Shortly after, Picard opens a drawer. There are body parts and a head inside. Picard asks Dr. Jurati if this is B4. Picard finds he looks so much like Data.

Dr. Jurati says B4 was an inferior copy of Data. Data tried to download the neural net into B4 just before his death, but almost all of it was lost. No one has ever been able to redevelop the science used to create Data. Then came Bruce Maddox -- who recruited Dr. Jurati out of Starfleet. They continued their efforts to recreate Data, but then the division was shutdown after the synthetic ban and that crushed Maddox.

Dr. Jurati says Maddox disappeared after the ban. She has tried to find him, to no avail.

Picard analyzes the wording used earlier by Dr. Jurati and points out: "You said despite Data's death, meaning that any new synthetic would have to be made from Data.

She responds, advanced ones, yes. If you had Data's neural net, perfecting a flesh and blood host body would be relatively simple.

Picard smiles. But his neurons died with him.

She then confirms why she responded it was impossible to create a flesh and blood sentient synthetic. Not in a thousand years.

Picard shows Dr. Jurati the necklace he borrowed from Dahj at the Chateau. Does the necklace mean anything to you?

She asks where he got that necklace from.

Picard responds from his tea-drinking companion... Dahj. The one she said couldn't exist.

The necklace is a symbol for fractal neuronic cloning. A radical beautiful idea of... Bruce Maddox's. His theory was that Data's entire code, even his memories, could be reconstituted from a single positronic neuron.

If there is a synth out there who is perfect, like you say, then Data or some part of him, an essence of him, would be alive.

Picard now believes that Maddox modeled her on an old painting of Data's. Data always wanted a daughter.

Dr. Jurati says: a female. Yea, I guess he could make them that way.

Picard is taken aback. He asks: sorry? Them?

Dr. Jurati says... they are created in pairs.

Picard asks: Twins?

She confirms.

Picard reclines back on the chair, and exhales. So there is another one.

The necklace comes into view, then transitions into a view of deep space.

---

In the background of space, a massive nebula is shaped like the necklace. This is a Romulan starship.

The Romulan starship pierces through what feels like a hangar's shield screen.

A Romulan emerges from a corridor. His name is Narek (Harry Treadaway).

He says: Dr. Asha?

Whoa?! This is Dahj's twin sister. Onboard the Romulan Reclamation Site. Her full name is Dr. Soji Asha. She has the same necklace that Dahj wore. She says the necklace was built by her father. One for her and one for her sister.

Narek says he had a brother who died last year. But she is too much a busy woman to listen to his sob story. Dr. Asha says: Guess again. As if telling him she is all ears and wants to listen to his story.

The Episode 1 ends here, as the camera pans out showing more and more of the Romulan Reclamation Site. They were in a midsection that faces a well-trafficed hangar.

The camera continues to pan out through several layers of levels until it shows Romulan ships leaving the hangar's shield screen and now pans out to show the full view of the Romulan Reclamation Site from miles away...

SUPER CLIFFHANGER...

What in the world is Dahj's sister doing in this place?

---

I simply don't know what to make out of this whole burrito of information in Star Trek: Picard -- Season 1, Episode 1.

There are Romulan survivors who Picard and Starfleet rescued. Yet I thought I read that many of those Rescue ships were destroyed in Mars by the rogue synthetics. Are survivors of those who were killed by synthetics now the same ones at Reclamation Site (the Borg Cube)? Are they blaming Earth since they originated from Starfleet's Okinawa institute?

Were these Borg Cube Romulans the same that killed Dahj? If you recall, they wanted to know who she is and where she came from. But then again, how comes her twin sister is in the Borg Cube to begin with. How comes they don't know she is the twin of Dr. Asha.

Each time it circles my mind, it makes less and less sense. Are there 3 different factions of Romulans then? Those who survived the Mars killings, those in the Borg Cube, and a rogue faction that is out killing synthetics? (goes Jar Jar lip wobble)

Mind-blown. I can't wait to watch episode 2 and what remains of Season 1 to find out more.

That first dream of Picard with Data showing a stack of 5 cards as Queen of Hearts... it is difficult to tell if it was meant as a mere reference to Q... or if it is a clue of things to come in Season 1. So far it has been revealed in the upcoming episodes trailer that Picard will encounter William Riker and Deanna Troi; Seven of Nine; and I read a few days ago in the news that Sir Patrick Stewart invited Whoopi Goldberg to reprise her role as Guinan. She accepted the invitation.

One of the preview trailers show a woman with borg-like dots in her eyebrow, and her chin. Probably a former borg humanoid. She points a gun at Dr. Asha and calls her... "You are the destroyer."

I'm highly interested in this series.