Faux Ro or no?

With the immediate crisis over, Riker returns command of the Titan to Shaw, but not before Jack’s nightmare flashbacks get Imposters off to a freaky start, after being hinted at in previous episodes. It’s the return of the narrative through-line that links all three seasons of Star Trek: Picard: a child who is more than they think they are as a MacGuffin.

As soon as he’s back in command, Shaw contacts Starfleet and in very short order the USS Intrepid arrives and sends across a boarding party by shuttle to arrest Picard and Riker. The delegation is led by Commander Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes) whom Picard hasn’t seen since she betrayed Starfleet and Picard by joining up with the Maquis years earlier – but is she who she claims to be?

Meanwhile, Raffi and Worf continue working their way up M’talas Prime’s criminal hierarchy but fall foul of Vulcan gangster Krinn (Kirk Acevedo), who has presumably prioritised corruption over Kolinahr, in their attempt to determine what else might have been stolen from the Daystrom Station.

Liam Shaw is really starting to grow on me. In some ways, he’s a fun audience surrogate, or the Star Trek equivalent of The Simpsons’ Frank Grimes as he looks on, exasperated at Riker and Picard’s nonsense and ability to get away with the most flagrant breaches of rules and regulations seemingly at whim. His curt “already did” when Riker returns command and tells him he’s free to contact Starfleet is a wonderful moment. The glimpse of repair drones flitting around the Titan’s hull is a nice touch too.

The return of Ro is set up in such a way that long-time fans are primed to recreate the Leonardo DiCaprio Rick Dalton pointing meme, and it’s especially rewarding that for once the characters share our initial confusion. How is Ro back in Starfleet instead of prison? And isn’t it a bit rich for her to be accusing Picard of treason when she ran off to join the Maquis? It forms the basis of a tense tango between the two of them as they try to determine whether they are who they say they are and whether each can trust the other.

There’s a lot going on in Imposters, a welcome resumption of pace after the slowdown of No Win Scenario. Beverly’s autopsy of the changeling traitor is revelatory. It hasn’t reverted to its liquid form upon death and in fact only does so at the individual organ level. Are we dealing with a new kind of changeling? Or is it a fake-out and something else is going on?

There’s certainly something else going on with Jack, that’s for sure, as his visions show him wearing a Starfleet uniform, standing over the bodies of several crewmembers – a vision that starts to come true when Seven provides him with a uniform so he can “hide in plain sight” from the Intrepid’s inspection.

Imposters has a rich seam of paranoia running through it, and the brittle, hard-won reconciliation between Ro and Picard is nicely handled. Picard, it turns out, has been nursing a grudge against Ro Laren for her betrayal of Starfleet, yes, but of him personally and I love that it’s through their mutual anger and hurt at each other that they finally verify their authenticity. Also well-handled is the necessary exposition dump that occurs as Ro outlines her suspicions to Picard: that the Changeling conspiracy has compromised Starfleet’s highest levels, a suspicion that is proved valid when her shuttle is sabotaged as she attempts to return to the Intrepid just as a squad of changeling saboteurs attempt to transport Jack off the Titan. Jack’s trance-like state takes over and he quickly dispatches the squad – to his horror when he comes round, but Ro isn’t so lucky, sacrificing herself to cripple the Intrepid and give the Titan a chance to run.

An episode which moves the plot along as much as Imposters does is something new for Star Trek Picard and modern Trek in general, but my firm assumption that the series would absolutely bungle the continuity of Ro’s return only for it to be extremely plot-relevant gave me pause to reflect my (very justified) prejudice against the series. Perhaps its time for me to finally lower my shields and trust the show? Even if Jack’s visions are starting to suggest we’re heading back into very familiar territory. The whispered “Find Me” and “Hear Me” sound a little like the Borg Queen? The actual Borg Queen, not the Co-Op Jurati version and it’ll be a bit disappointing if Picard goes back to the parched Borg well once again, especially when seeing the Next Generation crew up against Deep Space Nine’s signature adversaries is a much more interesting idea.

It’s only Word and Raffi’s subplot that lets the episode down a little. It’s fine and all but getting a bit repetitive and Star Trek has never really been able to do “organised crime” well, A Piece Of The Action being the only exception. There’s a moment when it feels slightly feasible that they may have just killed Worf, but it ends up being a fake-out and it’s Ro who ends up being the trademark Star Trek Picard one-and-done sacrificial cameo.

So, the Changelings have evolved and are back, but why do they want Jack? What’s behind the red door in Jack’s visions? Dammit, I think I’m actually invested in the plot, which is a novel experience for Star Trek Picard at this point in a season. The cherry on top is, of course, the revelation that Worf and Raffi were working for Ro all along and when Riker and Picard figure out Ro’s Bajoran earring contains a data chip with all her evidence plus a communicator that links them directly with Worf and Raffi, it feels like the kind of crafted, cohesive writing we haven’t had on Star Trek in years.