Jack Crusher is Jean-Luc Picard’s son, and that might be one of the worst kept secrets in the entire entertainment industry. That’s Picard season three, episode two, “Disengage.” We’ve got a captain who’s got some attitude problems, and we’ve got Crusher’s kid, who could be someone, may not be someone, and I don’t think any of you were surprised either.
The official line on this one: aided by Seven of Nine and the crew of the USS Titan, Picard makes a shocking discovery that will alter his life forever and puts him on a collision course with the most cunning enemy he’s ever encountered. Meanwhile, Raffi races to track a catastrophic weapon and collides with a familiar ally.
The 25th Century Is Where I Want to Be
I’m very much all about it, between the transporter technology and all the different variations on some of the things we’ve seen in the past. I’m actually really excited for the course they’re putting us on. They’re clearly establishing that here is the 25th century, here is the time period we’re going to exist in for a while. If the stories are true, Terry Matalas has said that he does enjoy working and operating within this time frame, and I’ve got to admit, I like them being here. That’s just me.
Over the week I was talking in circles, because we all talk. I was talking with some friends of mine who are also in the space, meaning doing this kind of stuff, and one of the things we talked about was the possibility that Star Trek as a whole is happiest when you’re telling certain kinds of stories. I feel like right now they’ve reached a stride where Strange New Worlds is doing one kind of work, Discovery is doing another kind of work, and if you had something along the lines of Picard, or something else, whatever you want to do that’s in this time period, you’ve covered a huge swath of time in storytelling. I think that’ll enable you to just keep cranking out really great stuff. At the end of the day, this is when I’m happiest.
Shaw Is Right, and I Still Don’t Like Him
We pick up almost exactly where we left off. Shaw is so mad at Hansen, or Seven as we know her. He’s livid. But at the same time, I do empathize with the guy. Whether or not he’s a jerk has nothing to do with the fact that Seven absolutely was insubordinate. Picard and Riker absolutely did just stroll in there throwing their clout around, which we knew was the case. Riker even kind of owned up to that when they first started this whole thing.
That’s the problem you have with these characters. They’re entering their Admiral Kirk phase. By that I mean, if you remember, in the movies Kirk is like, you know, I can really do no wrong, I’m just in it. That’s kind of where they are too. They can just throw their weight around and do and get whatever they want.
So finally Seven manages to convince Shaw. Do you want to be the captain who let two legends die, or do you want to be the guy who saved them? The hero who saved the heroes. And he’s like, oh, you suck.
It’s so funny seeing him, because the guy who’s playing him is doing such good work. I love him, and only because I’m enjoying not liking him. I don’t like Shaw at all. Not that I don’t like him as a character. I don’t like Shaw the person. So I’m very much engaged in who the character is and what he’s doing. I do like the character. I don’t like the guy. Does that make sense? And he knows what he’s doing. He knows his assessments are right.
The Reveal They Telegraphed From 100 Miles Away
So they go and they rescue them, and once they do, they get a call from the woman on this ship. By the way, does this not have shades of the Scimitar from Nemesis? We’re reaching into that grab bag. There are things from Nemesis I believe are going to come back to bite us this season, and we’ll see about that.
Apparently the kid is named Jack Crusher, but he’s a big kind of con artist and whatnot. And the implication, which is made without ever saying the words until the very end, is that Jack Crusher is Jean-Luc Picard’s son.
I don’t know if that’s the worst kept secret in any fandom ever, because I feel like we all kind of thought that was going to be the case. I know I did. I know we talked about it a bunch of times last week on Best Trek Worst Trek. I’m not surprised, and I don’t think any of you are surprised. They telegraphed that thing from 100 miles away.
Not to mention the fact that Crusher has no accent. But clearly the way Star Trek does it is, if they’re your kid, they have to have your accent. I don’t know. So I guess Chekov’s child would be “hello there,” the whole bit.
It was supposed to be this big dramatic moment, and because of all that, it kind of let me down, if I’m being a fair critic. Because of how badly they telegraphed this, I would have had Riker, instead of being the emphatic person he was, be like: wait, you don’t see the resemblance? Really? You didn’t know that? I knew that the minute I saw him. Make it kind of an “oh yeah, totally, how could you not have gotten that.” Something along those lines. Then you sort of lampshade the fact that, yeah, we didn’t keep that secret well.
Now mind you, I know that’s a fandom judgment all day. Having worked in television, I know 100 percent this thing was planned out way long ago, and there’s no chance it could have changed. We as fans sit here like, well, why didn’t they just read the room better? It’s because this particular drawing was painted way before the room was even here. Seriously, last year they were done with the production.
Vadic and the Bigger Gun
Her name is Vadic, and Vadic is the, I would say, bad guy, bad girl, bad whatever. I originally thought there was some Romulan connection because of the ship, because my relationship to it is that it looks a lot like the Scimitar, the Scimitar being the Romulan ship from Nemesis. I don’t know that that’s the case. I think she’s probably just a space pirate at the moment. I think there’s going to be more.
Right now it just seems like she’s snarky. They call her cunning, but no offense, if I had a bigger gun I guess I’d talk all the smack I could too. So I’m not impressed by her. They’re saying she’s the most cunning villain Picard’s ever had to experience, and I don’t know that I agree with that. I can think of a half dozen enemies Picard’s experienced who are more cunning.
We’ll see.
I Got Hit by Acting
It isn’t a bad episode, man. Especially the big reveal that, oh my goodness, it’s Picard’s kid. Well, yeah, whatever. But no, it was good.
What did it for me was the reunion. Here we are in the second episode, and Crusher and Picard have an exchange. Riker gets her, wakes her up and brings her to the bridge, and there’s this moment where they just look at each other. And you kind of go, wow.
The best thing I can compare it to is, you’re just kind of standing there and all of a sudden, oh God, I got hit by acting. It just hit me. Part of me was like, this feels like better acting than this series deserves right about now. Not that it doesn’t deserve good acting. I’m just saying, wow, did you guys just elevate the temperature?
I was impressed.
Let me know what you thought about the episode, and if you’ve got questions about it, ask them. I’d be happy to clarify, because after all, I am Mr. Know-It-All, and it’s kind of my thing. The conversation lives in the comments on the video above.
