Star Trek: Picard (1×05) Stardust City Rag Review

For our review of last week’s episode, click here.

Another flashback brings us to the Planet Vergessen 13 years earlier. A gruesome eye removal occurs as Borg parts are removed from awake human patients. Seven of Nine comes to the rescue, but it is too late and he asks for a merciful death. This man turns out to be an old friend of Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager showing what she’s been up to since the end of her series. Here’s what happened in “Stardust City Rag.”

The series Star Trek: Picard has been an interesting to say the least. On one hand, it has an intriguing premise as it dives into darker themes surrounding otherwise upbeat characters; but on the other, it is dreadfully slow in fulfilling its beats creating a sluggish narrative. After its first four episodes (out of ten I might add) felt like a drawn out premiere of overzealous exposition, finally the show gets into something a little more fun, a little more action packed and a little more Trek.

The episode of course becomes this fun, action-packed narrative by resorting to a formulaic heist where Picard and his crew cut a deal with some criminals by disguising themselves as space gangsters. These situations push the characters out of their moral comfort zone which creates the proper amount of anxiety and conflict to make for an entertaining hour of TV. Unfortunately, the heist does have its pitfalls, namely the absurd accent by Picard. How his French accent is so pedestrian and unpolished is beyond me, unless Picard is meant to be a terrible impressionist because Stewart himself can do a brilliant French accent.

The underlying problems with Picard are seen through the brilliance of this episode. When the series focuses on Picard returning to a world he once knew with a new crew that is developing relationships, the series excels. It’s within the Soji subplot that the story becomes too complex and stretches itself thin with ambitious intertwining plots. It would have worked better, especially in a shortened season, to leave the complicated stories that relate to Picard’s past to the second season as his fish-out-of-water scenario of returning to active duty as an independent crew was a great enough premise on its own that would have allowed for the same amount of exploration of darker themes with the fun moments that episodes like “Stardust City Rag” has to over.

What did you think of “Stardust City Rag”? Let me know in the comments below!

If you liked this, check out my YouTube channel The Film Fanatic, my other reviews and my website!

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook.

Dylan Phillips