Star Trek Picard Episode 2 Maps and Legends review, Spoilers and Speculations.

Star Trek Picard Episode 2 Maps And Legends review

Spoilers ahead, so beware.

  The episode opens with the events of the attack on Mars being revealed to us, a small crew of humans working at Utopia Planitia are turned on by the synthetic F-8, who is clearly hacked by some external agency before likewise hacking the fleet yards systems, lowering shields and making the planet defence system fail to live up to its job.
  In so doing F-8 actually shows a high degree of speed, accuracy and strength, although it’s impossible to tell if it compares to Data’s, F-8 quickly overpowers the crew, two security guards and hacks the systems in less than a minute, before turning a mining tool on himself to destroy his positronic net, most likely to cover up his hacked.

  Picard and his Romulans friends are reviewing the footage of the attack that killed Dahj and can find no trace of her or any Romulans in it. Laris speculates that this is the work not of the Tal Shiar, but a much deeper Romulan organisation, the Zhat Vash which Zahban dismisses as just their version of the Boogeyman.
  Nevertheless, Picard is intrigued enough to visit Dahjs apartment with Laris and the two quickly find that the place has been forensically scrubbed. They can recreate some of the events of the night of the attack, but everything from just before the attack onwards is gone.

  They do however manage to find some information on Dahjs communications equipment showing a log of calls from Soji that come from off world.
 
  Meanwhile on the Borg cube, Narek and Soji have indeed hit it off, as they share some pillow talk about the Borg Cube they’re working in, before being called off to work before they can start round two of their bedroom gymnastics session. Soji does seem genuinely into Narek, and if he’s just pretending to be interested, he’s making a good show of it.

  Back at the vineyard Pciard gets a visit from an old friend, Dr Benayoun from his Stargazer days. The two reminisce a little but the real reason he’s here is to deliver some bad news. While Picard does meet the minimal Starfleet requirements to go off into space, he showing signs of a medical condition that may kill him before old age gets the chance.
  Just which condition they can’t be sure without more tests, but the symptoms include mood swings and bad dreams, both of which are things Picard has shown in the last episode. Picard does manage to convince his old friend to write him up as fit for space travel.

  And so Picard returns to San Francisco, and Starfleet headquarters, literally stepping out of a new type of transporter that seems to allow people to beam in and out within a second of someone else using it. Dr McCoy would have a fit if he saw that.
  Inside the HQ he has to spell out his name to a male receptionist who is either totally clueless to how to do his job or just wants Picard to sweat a little after his interview on the news. With the look on his face, I’m tempted to go with the latter but there is grounds to say he might be starstruck at having come across a retired officer who must be required reading in the academy these days.
  And then we meet Starfleet's current CNC, Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy who is in a foul and barely hidden mood with Picard due to his interview. We actually find out a lot of information as to why the Romulans weren’t helped out during the supernova. 14 federation worlds refused to help and the Federation looked like it might collapse on itself. And while this might be a small number out of thousands of worlds, it’s still a large number in it’s own right to seriously rock the boat. Add in that attack on Mars, things were incredibly shaky for the Federation and it seems the ramifications are still felt to this day.
  Picards flare for diplomacy has certainly been lost, he’s not able to control his emotions and the already tense situation boils over into failure with Picard shown the door. 

  Soji helps out a new member of staff get into her safety gear. Her new friend is a Trill whose name isn’t stated (but neither woman introduces themselves). She managed to become part of the crew on her second attempt, her first attempt being canceled on her way to the Cube. They attend an orientation session led by a Romulan who’s safety speech Soji states is typical of Romulans liking “drama”. Both she and her new friend spot Narek and state they find him “hot” while the safety Romulan concludes his speech having mentioned issues such as prosecution and staying in your assigned areas, and that if your safety beacon flashes green, Run.
  I get the feeling there must have been an NDA to sign the size of a phonebook to join this mission, if they printed it out at all.
  Narek introduces himself to the pair, showing he already knows the Trills name, Dr. Naáshala Kunamadéstifee, which yes, I did have to copy and paste. He’s impressed with her work and even assures her of how safe they are in the Cube. He asks Soji if he can watch her work, and when she points out that he needs special permission, he notes to himself, he does not.

  Picard meanwhile is entertaining Dr Jurati who somewhat appropriately is looking over a copy of an Issac Asmiov novel. She scores points by asking for Earl Grey when offered tea. She advises Picard about her research on Maddox and Dahj, pretty much convinced Maddox used Data’s memory engrams to create the twins in the image of the woman in the painting.
  Juartis found evidence that Dahj’s identity was most likely created three years ago as while she had been accepted by the Daystrom Institute, and there’s evidence she had graduated her college, there was no evidence she physically attended it. Juratis states her regret at how she’d not met Dahj, and her disgust at her murder is obvious, but she’s also concerened about her sister, and just what her plans might be.
 
  Back on the Borg Cube, Narek is indeed watching Soji at work, as a Romulan doctor helps remove some implants from an ex drone whose original species is unknown, and referred to, much to Sojis disgust as the nameless. She actually shows great empathy towards the former drone on the operating table calming him down after his heart beat starts racing, which Narek takes a supprised note of.

  In Picards home, his clock on the mantlepiece strikes 9pm while the fire lights up the room. He goes to his desk, takes out a small tin and removes his old comm badge having made up his mind. Walking outside he sends a message to an old friend, asking for help and a ship.

  Back at Starfleet, Admiral Clancy is now talking to a stern and typically cold Vulcan security officer, Commodore Oh. Despite her hostility to Picard the admiral orders the Commodore to investigate his information, who quickly summons another operative.

  Picard meanwhile accidently enrages Laris by telling her his plans, so much so that she drops one of the many tea sets Picard seems to own. She doesn’t want him leaving the house, pointing out the danger that Tal Shiar pose and that only the Tal Shiar could protect him from the TalShia. Zhaban points out that they should both go with him, enraging his wife further who storms off.
  Zhaban points Picard would need a crew, even suggesting that Riker, Worf or LaForge would lend their help, and Picard admits they would out of loyalty, but Picard doesn’t want to put them in danger. Zhaban states that Picard would need someone that hates him. To which Picard points out that he’s already made the call.

Back at Commodore Oh’s office, her agent Lieutenant Narissa Rizzo walks in and get’s chewed out for her past behavior and the actions that lead to the death of Dahj, referring to her as “It” and “the thing”. Oh’s chewing out also reveals that she was privy to information that the Admiral did not give her, showing she has been monitoring her superior and shoots down the idea of Rizzo taking Picard out, stating she would do so herself if needed. Oh is also not impressed with Rizzo’s choice of operative, Rizzo states she would vouch for him with her life, Oh responds that she will.
  Which is all very un-starfleet behaviour.

  Picard touches down and is dropped off in a taxi shuttle nearby a small home only to be created by the owner, Raffi Musiker with a phaser rifle, telling him he has nothing to say that will interest her. Picard turns around with his hands in the air, a bottle of wine in one hand, and says words that do strike her interest, and the two settle down for a drink and a chat.

  Back at the Borg Cube, Narek gets a rather unexpected holographic call from Rizzo, which confirms a few things. Firstly, she's a Romulan deep undercover in Starfleet, and secondly, she’s his sister. Despite this familiar relationship, or perhaps because of it, he seems uninterested in what she has to say, taking a sarcastic approach to her and even walks away from her and through her at one occasion.
  She points out that his progress is slow and Commodore Oh wants results, and that she’s not

Speculations

Issac Asimov name drop
  We get various setups here for further plot points, some open up avenues we’ve never heard of before while others build on existing ones.
  There is a nice easter egg which becomes a brief topic of conversation to Issac Asimov, a noted biochemist and sci fi writer, who created the concept of the Positronic net that would be used for Data in TNG. Asimov acted as an unofficial consultant on some episodes of TOS and for the motion picture in an official capacity, having met and befriended Gene Roddenberry in a screening of an early episode.
  Asimov had been mentioned by name in “Datalore” and as the idea of a positronic network was his, it would be interesting to see if there will be any further mention of him.
  And that leads nicely to my next point.

Why do the Romulans hate artificial life forms?
  This is a new one, a revelation about the Romulans not having their own version of androids or synths or artificial intelligence in general. At least one part of Romulan society, at the very least, the most secretive part of it, has banned such technology, apparently out of fear of it.
  Admitably we’ve never seen the Romulans make use of artificial lifeforms of any sort previously, and we’ve known so little about the technology they use that this it very open to interpretation as to just what their technology is capable of or how it works. Off the top of my head I don’t recall ever seeing a Romulan officer call out to their ships computers in the same way a Starfleet character would give vocal commands to theirs. If anyone can recall any cases, I’d love to have a point in the right direction.
  It is however known that the Romulans do have cyberneticist, and they were aware of Data’s existence, and given how there are teams of Romulans salvaging Borg technology from an abandoned Cube, it might be they are going down the route of using the kind of technology they have previously refused to use.
  But could those Romulan cybernetics have had to stick to purely theoretical work, like the Daystrom Institute had to?
  And just how far back does this hate go back? Could this have something to do with the split of the Romulan people from their Vulcan ancestors, or be a holdover from even before that event?

Has Starfleet been infiltrated, again?
  We see a Vulcan commodore, Oh in charge of Starfleet security, and in cahoots with and giving orders to what we later find out is a deep undercover Romulan posing as a human, who she sends off on a mission to keep an eye on Picard. But does she actually know that the officer is indeed a Romulan and has therefore betrayed Starfleet and the Federation herself, or has Starfleet been showing just how lackluster their security screening is and has another Romulan posing as a Vulcan?
  At the very least, although the admiral who denies Picards request and is somewhat understandable hostile to him from the beginning, she is at least competent and professional enough to realise he might be onto something. But I doubt she’s part of any conspiracy or is a traitor of any kind.

How can Picard beam into Dahjs apartment?
  Picard and Laris beam into Dahjs home and do their own CSI StarTrek, just like the first Romulan Death Squad. But this does beg the question, just how did he do this? In Voyager Tom Paris noted that personal transporters are very much a thing, so it’s possible Picard has access to one of these, but the fact that you can use one to just beam into someone else’s home univinted? That is a very scary thought to me. I’m pretty sure some sort of privacy law has just been broken.

And continuing from last week. Picards dreams.
  Picards dreams may very well be a result of a medical condition, possibly the same condition he was supposed to have in the final episode of TNG “all good things” which saw him jumping around from three points in time. His present day in season 7, to events just before season 1, and an alternate future which was set around the same time as Star Trek Picard which is 2399.
  Of course in “all good things” it’s implied that was all down to Q causing interference, or at least, trying to help Picard in the only way Q knows how to. But it would seem that Picard is destined to die not from old age, but from a medical condition that even in the 24th century they have no cure for. And just like the TNG episode, he wants to go out doing some good.
  Of course as it is 2399, does this mean we might get to see Star Trek celebrate a new year and a new century at some point in this series?

The Romulans didn’t want Dahj dead at all.
  Not only do we find out that there is a deep undercover Romulan inside Starfleet, but her brother is Narek, the same Romulan we saw putting the moves on Dahjs sister at the end of episode 1 and in bed with her in episode 2. This relationship seems chilly and he seems to be somewhat resentful of her in what looks to be far more bitter than simply sibling rivalry.
  They definitely wanted these girls alive, but as to what ends, we can only imagine right now, but given our rounded ear spy and her Boss both refer to Dahjs and Soji as “it” or “machines” suggests that they don’t see them as living beings, but I’ve got a feeling her brother might not agree with her on this.
  Dahj and her sister may also only be maybe three or fours years old, with a lot of their memories of growing up having been faked by their creator, even though they both look to be in their early twenties. Which begs the question, who or what was Dahj in contact with really when she spoke to her “mother”? Where did that call connect to?
  One good thing though, this episode pretty proves one hundred percent that Picards two Romulan friends are indeed true friends, and totally loyal to him.