Star Trek: Picard season 3 streams new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+ in the US and on Paramount+ and Prime Video in the UK on Fridays.
Synopsis
Crippled, cornered, and out of options, Picard stages a gambit to trap Vadic and reveal her true motive – a gamble that puts the Titan in the crosshairs and forces Picard and Beverly to question every moral code they’ve ever held.
Review
Are you ready to spend an hour on the edge of your seat? Star Trek: Picard returns with a brand new episode which is sure to please fans old and new. With only three episodes remaining after this it feels like the series is shifting into its endgame. There’s a lot of ground to cover this week in an episode which has to balance action with plenty of exposition.
Written by Jane Maggs and directed by Deborah Kampmeier, “Dominion” slows down the pace of the season but for good reason. Paired with next week’s episode, “Surrender”, “Dominion” is the perfect first-half of a two-part story. I won’t give any spoilers for next week but certainly “Dominion” sets up all pins ready to be effortlessly knocked down in part-two.
Many will expect the episode to pick up right where last week left off. With Captain Riker (Jonathan Frakes) kidnapped by Vadic (Amanda Plummer) who also happens to be holding his wife, Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), hostage. But Maggs and Kampmeier brilliantly side-step that plot point to deal with other things. It’s frustrating but in all the best ways as Star Trek: Picard keeps such a pivotal plot point hanging for another week. It’s also right for “Dominion” which could easily have become overstuffed with so much complex plotting to navigate.
With 36 hours to go until Frontier Day, the crew of the U.S.S. Titan is desperately searching for an ally. Only it seems there’s a stark realisation being dangled before then like a carrot on a string. They are well and truly on their own. Driving the point home is a beautiful sequence which see’s Tim Russ return to the role(ish) of Tuvok. The scene is a brilliant example of how season 3 evokes the legacy of the franchise but also plays cat-and-mouse with the audience. Seeing Ryan and Russ together, even over a hailing frequency, particularly teamed with the classic Voyager theme, is wonderful and hopefully a sign that we may see a little more before the season is over.
After dispensing with any and all support from Starfleet, “Dominion” has two very distinct plot lines to follow: the problem of Data (Brent Spiner) and the problem of Jack (Ed Speleers). The scenes between LeVar Burton and Spiner are a highlight of the series to-date. Fans of The Next Generation are so used to seeing them play best friends but to see the heartbreak caused by Data’s war inside his head with Lore (also Spiner) is traumatic. Burton does some of his best Trek work in pleading with his former friend to relinquish control of the ship. I can certainly tease that this emotional dynamic will carry over in to next week…
The situation surrounding Jack Crusher is really starting to come to a head. Developments in this episode take things another step forwards whilst also putting the character face to face with Vadic for the first time. It provides a point of action for the series, with Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart) and Beverly (Gates McFadden) using their son and the ship to lure Vadic in to a trap which goes horribly wrong. More on that next week though.
There’s a chilling tease from Vadic, “he was never really for you either”, as it becomes clear he may not be entirely human or even fully Beverly’s real son. But with so little time left, the reveal of who or what Jack really is has begun to outstay its welcome.
“Dominion” does add some heavy context to the villains motivations though. Spending time locked in a hermetically sealed forcefield gives Vadic the opportunity to lament her past with Beverly and Picard. It’s another cat-and-mouse game as the pair discuss their views on morality when faced with the chance to kill off their aggressor. Seeing these two legends of Starfleet discussing throwing away everything they’ve sworn to uphold is a bold move and it plays perfectly in to the idea of who they are as people and what they’ve been through.
Verdict
“Dominion” finds Star Trek: Picard reaching a number of turning points. Whilst it slows down the paces, it does so to necessarily carry the volume of exposition required to bring the series to its endgame. Amanda Plummer gleefully vile Vadic takes centre stage is a tense, nail biter of an episode.
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