In Review: Star Trek: Picard (S3 – EP3) Seventeen Seconds

Synopsis: In Seventeen Seconds Picard grapples with an explosive, life-altering revelation, while the Titan and her crew try to outmaneuver a relentless Vadic in a lethal game of nautical cat and mouse. Meanwhile, Raffi and Worf uncover a nefarious plot from a vengeful enemy Starfleet has long since forgotten.

The Story

Picking up on events from last week. Picard and the Titan Crew have to engage in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with Captain Vadic while Picard also has to deal with the fallout from learning that Jack Crusher is his son. When Captain Shaw is injured Captain Riker has to take command of the ship and has a major disagreement with Picard who is letting his fatherly instincts to protect his son compromise his strategic judgment. Elsewhere, Jack Crusher figures out how Captain Vadic is so easily able to track the Titan and seeks the help of Seven of Nine to stop the trail of breadcrumbs that they are leaving for their adversary.

Elsewhere, Raffi learns that her handler is the legendary Worf and the two of them learn that the threat that Starfleet is up against is an offshoot of the Dominion who refused to accept that they lost the war.

The Acting

We get some brilliant acting in this episode, which includes the long-anticipated scene between Patrick Stewart and Gates McFadden where Dr. Crusher explains to Picard the reasons that she kept his son from him. This is followed up with a flashback scene in which we see Picard and Riker celebrating the birth of Riker’s son, which cleverly refers to the seventeen seconds that it took Riker to get to see his newborn son while traveling in the turbo lift. This acts as a great bit of foreshadowing for a scene later on in which Picard has to make that same turbo lift journey to be there for his son who has been exposed to gas and is in a life-and-death struggle.

Michelle Hurd has some great scenes with Michael Dorn as the two actors establish solid chemistry as Raffi and Worf. I loved their opening scene where Worf announces himself with all of his titles and then changes beat entirely and ask would you like some Chamomile tea.

Amanda Plummer continues to chew the scenery as Vadic who is making for a brilliant adversary for Picard.

Finally, we also get a nice scene from Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut where we see Ensign Sidney La Forge pay a visit to Seven of Nine and express her support by telling Seven that her father Geordie LaForge would most likely have taken her side on the matter for which she had been confined to quarters for. It’s a wonderful scene that further establishes the character of Sidney La Forge.

Overall

This for me is the best episode of the series to date. I loved the conflict between Picard and Riker about whether they should be defensive against Vadic or take the offensive. This shows us how much Riker has grown since his time as Picard’s First Officer. I also enjoyed the reveal of the changelings as the threat against the Federation, but I am a little concerned that we might be getting a little spoiled in terms of Star Trek villains given that we are going to see both Moriarty and Lore later on in the series.

Overall. This was a really strong episode with a lot of easter eggs to unwrap.