What a bunch of losers.
When last we left our heroes, they were adrift without power after a spectacular friendly fire incident where they fired a full spread of photon torpedoes at themselves thanks to an entirely predictable deployment of the Shrike’s portal weapon. And as we rejoin them, we can only assume that very little has changed because instead of rejoining the Titan, we’re instead treated to seeing Picard about to tuck into some fish and chips in Guinan’s earthbound bar (no sign of Guinan though) when his dinner is interrupted by a group of cadets asking about an encounter he had with the Hirogen.
The flashback does eventually give way to contemporary matters (although we’ll be back there soon enough) and when we do rejoin the ship, very little has changed. With only a few hours of power remaining on the Titan, Riker apologises to Picard, admitting that his advice to fight was the right one (even though it led directly to their current predicament) and suggests that the Admiral might want to spend his last moments bonding with Jack.
In the holodeck, Picard and Jack share some of their experiences and they are joined by a group of crewmembers who enjoy listening to Picard’s stories – until Shaw joins them and contributes his bitter experience as a Starfleet engineer during the Battle of Wolf 359, when Picard had been assimilated by the Borg and was attacking the Federation as Locutus of Borg.
Vadic, meanwhile, is revealed to also be a Changeling, and is ordered by a mysterious (and gloopy) skull-faced master to pursue the Titan at all costs even though doing so within the nebula conveniently requires disengagement of the portal technology.
At the last minute, Jack, Riker, Beverly, and Picard develop a risky plan to use the increasingly frequent energy pulses from the nebula to recharge the Titan‘s systems and while Shaw and Seven make the necessary engineering changes, Seven identifies and kills the Changeling impostor.
The newly repowered Titan damages the Shrike on its way out of the nebula, just as the energised gas cloud transforms into millions of jellyfish-like space creatures.
I’ve never cared for the very modern habit of not immediately resolving an urgent cliffhanger but instead opening the following episode with a seemingly unrelated scene. Doctor Who did it a few times during Moffat’s reign and I liked it just as much then as I do now.
No Win Scenario is another curious episode where it feels like the Riker/ Picard relationship isn’t quite right and the preponderance of flashbacks makes it feel like there wasn’t quite enough plot for a whole episode. It’s also a disappointing answer for those who’ve always wondered just how our redoubtable Next Generation heroes might handle a no-win scenario as it turns out: they just give up. In the face of a seemingly unsolvable power drain and critical damage, it feels grossly against character for Picard and Riker to simply give up and turn to making peace with their imminent deaths. It also beggars belief that in the middle of an energy crisis when the ship has mere hours of power left for life support, Picard would think – and be permitted to – use a holodeck, especially as a venue to drink and tell stories, even if they are about the Next Generation episode Darmok. While we’re swapping stories, exactly how would Picard have ever encountered a Hirogen in the first place, given their hunting grounds are tens of thousands of light years away in the Delta Quadrant?
Although it’s used to poignant effect as, after the Titan successfully evades the Shrike and warps away, Picard realises that he briefly met Jack during his impromptu supper club story time five years ago and blew off his question about family with a glib “Starfleet is the only family I’ve ever needed”, the fondness for flashbacks continues to be one of Star Trek Picard’s most frequent failings, especially as the flashbacks often serve to do urgent groundwork for whatever brainfart plot development is about to be unveiled in the present.
Credit where credit is due, though, No Win Scenario manages to find time to tell a good old-fashioned sci-fi story amidst all the maudlin reminiscences and when the nebula dissipates having incubated a new swarm of space-faring lifeform, it’s understandable that Doctor Crusher’s preferred reference is to Encounter At Farpoint instead of oh, say, Galaxy’s Child.
The very end of the episode sees Riker place a call to Troi, having come to his senses after staring death in the face and the tentative reconciliation is very welcome but I couldn’t help but thinking that even if we’d had a fight, and even if I’d nearly died, the main thing Mrs Craggus would be wanting from me at that moment isn’t a heartfelt apology but to spill the tea on Beverley and Picard’s new son.
