STAR TREK: PICARD
SEASON 1, EPISODE 1
SEASON 1, EPISODE 1
Remembrance
Series: Star Trek: Picard - (2020 - 2023)Season: 1
Episode #: 1
Original Airdate: January 23rd, 2020
Writer(s): Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer, Alex Kurtzman, and James Duff
Director(s): Hanelle M. Culpepper
Guest Stars
Brent Spiner as Data
Orla Brady as Laris
David Carzell as Dahj's Boyfriend
Merrin Dungey as Richter (Interviewer)
Jaime McShane as Zhaban
Sumalee Montano as Dahj's Mother
Co-Stars
Maya Eshet as Index
Douglas Tait as the Tellarite FNN Assistant
Uncredited Guest Stars
Arlene Rodrigez-Lopez as the Trill FNN Assistant
De Niro as Number One
Stardate: Unknown
Synopsis
Onboard the Enterprise-D, which is slowly moving through a colorful nebula, Admiral Picard is playing poker with Lt. Commander Data in ten-forward. Picard teases Data about faking a tell to throw his former commanding officer off, thereby confusing Data. Then, when Picard goes all in, he ekes out the last moments of the game because he doesn’t want it to end. As Picard gazes out the window, he notices that the ship is in orbit around Mars. Puzzled by this, the Enterprise begins to violently shake as Mars begins to explode in the background.
Suddenly, Picard awakes in a dark room, his trusty pit-bull “Number One” anxiously by his side. Living in Chateau Picard, Paris, Picard’s retirement seems to be one of utter bliss. Aside from Number One, he lives with two Romulan companions, Zhaban and Laris, who tend to him and his home. But Picard’s outward contentment is a mask for his inner turmoil. Waking up to reality is a greater nightmare than his dreams, especially on this particular day when Picard has agreed to do an interview with the media.
The interview commemorates the anniversary of the Romulan supernova from decades ago. Picard isn’t doing the interview for glory; he is using the opportunity to bring awareness to the effects of the supernova aftermath. Picard led the Enterprise and convinced Starfleet to evacuate the Federation’s greatest enemy from their home and relocate them to as many planets as possible. When the interviewer probes Picard about saving Romulan lives, he corrects her by saying that he and the Federation saved millions of lives. None of this really interests the interviewer – she wants to know about Picard’s separation from Starfleet. Despite Laris getting the interviewer’s assurance that this topic wouldn’t be touched on, the interviewer recounts the events that led to Picard quitting the establishment that he held so dear.![]()
[ Screencap Index ]
During the relocation effort, a group of rogue synthetics on Mars wiped out the armada that Picard was leading, along with the Utopia Planitia Shipyard. The attack left nearly 100,000 dead and rendered Mars uninhabitable while also halting any efforts to rescue the Romulan population from certain death. Those circumstances led the Federation to initiate a ban on synthetics. Furious with their decision, Picard left Starfleet because of the ban and because they abandoned the very people they promised to rescue. Having vented his feelings about Starfleet, Picard ends the interview and leaves.
In Greater Boston, young Dahj is celebrating her fellowship at the Daystrom Institute with her boyfriend when they are attacked by three masked soldiers. The attackers kill the boyfriend and put a hood over Dahj. The attack ‘activates’ her and she ends up killing all of the assailants. Confused by her actions and the taken aback by the destruction she just caused, an image of Picard appears in her consciousness. Still numb, Dahj walks the streets of Boston before stumbling across a video of the Picard interview.
Back at the Chateau, Picard sits with Number One, drinking some wine when Dahj approaches him. Clearly shaken, she asks Picard if he knows her. Puzzled by her questions, she explains the events of the past few hours. Dahj can’t explain how she killed her attackers or her connection to Picard, but he lets her stay overnight to get some rest. He’s intrigued by the necklace Dahj is wearing – two intertwined circles resembling an infinity loop. Dahj explains that her father made it for her.
Dahj disappears the next morning as Picard awakens from another dream about Data. This dream is about a painting that Data made for Picard, it was one of two paintings of a woman at the shore. Picard has one version in his home, while the other is locked in the Starfleet Archives. The painting is called ‘Daughter’. When Picard looks at the painting closely, he realizes the woman is Dahj.
Dahj, in the meantime, contacts her mother, explaining her situation. Her mother instinctively tells her to go to Picard, even though Dahj hasn’t mentioned him. Something is not right with this interaction, but Dahj is desperate to locate Picard again. She finds him at the Starfleet archives and he explains that Dahj is probably Data’s daughter. Meaning, Dahj is a synth. Picard insists that Dahj’s memories of her family are fabricated, leaving the girl even more perturbed.
Before they can delve deeper into their conversation, more masked attackers pursue Picard and Dahj. Picard is feeble in his old age, but Dahj is a force to be reckoned with. The attackers turn out to be Romulans and one of them spits acid at Dahj and her phaser rifle. Suddenly, the rifle explodes, killing both the attacker and Dahj while hurling Picard through the air.
Picard wakes up at home raging against the death of Dahj. He’s disgusted with himself for wasting his life writing books about history that no one wants to remember – he’s been biding his time waiting to die. But now he must fight to find the truth. Picard goes to the Daystrom Institute to meet Dr. Agnes Jurati, who heads the defunct Division of Advanced Synthetic Research. Picard wants to understand how Dahj was created, but Agnes doesn’t have the answers. When Picard shows Agnes Dahj’s necklace, she immediately recognizes it.
Her mentor Bruce Maddox hypothesized that it was possible to create a sentient human-looking android from a single positronic neuron from Data, but all of Data’s neurons died with him. Even B-4, who Data transferred his neural net to, was unable to process them. B-4 now lies disassembled at the Institute. Picard believes that Maddox was able to create Dahj using his theory. But that isn’t explained any further because Agnes informs Picard that the synths created in this way would come in pairs. Out there is Dahj’s twin.
Onboard a Romulan Reclamation ship, the Romulan Narek rendezvous with Dr. Soji Asha. She wears the same necklace was Dahj, and tells Narek about how it was a gift from her father – one necklace for her and one for her twin. Narek wistfully recounts the death of his own brother, whom he was very close to. As the two continue to talk, the nature of the Romulan Reclamation ship is revealed to be none other than a Borg Cube.
Trailer
Posters courtesy of J.J. Lendl and Laz Marquez
