Star Trek: Picard Review: Broken Pieces (Season 1 Episode 8)

Star Trek: Picard Season 1 Episode 8, “Broken Pieces,” gives us a lot of answers while somehow leaving us yearning for even more as we head into the two-part finale. It’s hard to believe we’re already this close to the end, but I guess time flies when you’re watching incredible television. 

Written by Michael Chabon and directed by Maja Vrvilo, “Broken Pieces” rests heavily on strong character work as the fragments of the season’s overarching mystery begin to create a clearer picture.

We open this episode with a flashback that is as illuminating as it is mysterious. In an octonary star system, Commodore Oh inducts a new group of women into the Zhat Vash by having them go through the Admonition. They touch an artifact that gives them the same horrific visions that Oh poured into Agnes on “Nepenthe.” 

The destruction that these women witness is blamed on synthetic life, making the Zhat Vash fearful and vengeful, ready to wipe out an entire kind of life.

Most of the women who witness the Admonition are driven mad by it, tearing at their own flesh and killing themselves as they’re overwhelmed by the images. But Narissa stands above them all; she’s affected by it but isn’t driven anywhere near madness. Instead, she seems to be filled with a purpose, determined to wipe out all synthetic life by any means necessary. 

It’s telling that of all of these women only Narissa is able to withstand it. Star Trek: Picard is doing a great job of making her one of the most compelling villains I’ve seen in a long time. She’s pure evil in a completely unapologetic way, but she’s got a past, motivations that lead her to be the way she is an unparalleled depth of strength and a very small set of people whom she genuinely cares for. 

“Broken Pieces” reveals that Ramdha is Narissa and Narek’s aunt and that she raised them after their parents died. I’m very interested in seeing how deep this connection goes. Especially in regards to how Ramdha was able to destroy a Borg cube upon being assimilated.

Is there something in the memories of Zhat Vash members that clashes with Borg functionality? How does the Borg connect to the synthetic life that the Admonition warns of? Let me know your theories in the comments!

On The Artifact, Seven of Nine descends like a guardian angel in a blaze of glory, saving a very overwhelmed Elnor from Narissa’s Romulan henchmen. Elnor running to hug her is also exactly how I personally would greet Seven too. 

Seven goes right into action making some very difficult decisions on this episode in order to take back the cube from the Romulans. While it’s heartbreaking to watch Seven have to sort of re-assimilate xBs, it’s not quite clear what exactly her actions serve to do on this episode. Narissa is one step ahead of her, airlocking all of the yet to be de-borg’ed drones from this cube, forcing Seven to use the xBs to fight.

Seven uses the xBs and then releases them when they’re ultimately unsuccessful in defeating Narissa. It’s heartening to see how strong Seven is after all this time and how she’s able to make these difficult choices. But what’s next for the and Elnor is extremely unclear now. I hope that they’ll be able to join the fight in saving Soji’s homeworld in some kind of eleventh-hour save. 

All this to say, Jeri Ryan does an incredible job on this episode as we watch Seven make herself into a defacto Borg Queen for this cube even though it causes her a great deal of pain to do so. 

 

Meanwhile, on La Sirena, it’s Rios’ turn to fall apart. Upon seeing Soji, Rios appears deeply affected by her, retreating to his room and coping with alcohol and a long avoided trip down memory lane. Earlier in the season, Rios alluded to an incident when he was serving on the Ibn Majid that resulted in his departure from Starfleet and left him with an above zero amount of PTSD. 

Raffi has her best episode to date; on “Broken Pieces” she works on cracking her Romulan conspiracy theory and the mystery of what’s been plaguing her best friend. Michelle Hurd is electric as she settles into Raffi at her best. She’s in puzzle-solving mode, and there’s not a damn thing that can stop her now that she’s this close to the truth. 

The Emergency Holograms of La Sirena each looking like Rios and performing a different function for the ship all come together in one of the series lighter moments. Raffi gets bits and pieces for each of her theories from each hologram before she finally brings them all together to help crack the walls her friend has put up around himself. 

Santiago Cabrera really shows off his range on this episode as he plays each hologram so differently from the last and from Rios that they genuinely seem like different people. Hurd and Cabrera play off of each other effortlessly, making the audience really feel the deep friendship between their characters. 

Rios’ devastation is palpable as he takes Raffi through his past on the Ibn Majid. The creation of synthetic life and the corruption of Starfleet are interwoven so heavily through the past and Star Trek: Picard has us on the edge of our seats, begging to know exactly how it’s all connected. It’s implied that the order to kill Jana and Beautiful Flower came from Oh, but does the corruption of Starfleet go deeper than a very powerful secret agent?

The lives of every person on La Sirena were deeply affected by the synth ban, all in negative ways. Star Trek: Picard has even shown us how far-reaching the effects of the ban were on so many people across the galaxy with the loss of Riker and Troi’s son on “Nepenthe.” 

Picard has a beautiful conversation with Soji and you can see how much they both learned during their reprieve with the Troi-Rikers. They can now see each other eye to eye in a way that allows them to be vulnerable with each other. 

Soji: Tell me about Data. What was he like?

Picard: Data was brave, curious, very gentle, he had a child’s wisdom, unclouded by habit or bias. He made us all laugh except when he was trying to make us laugh. 

Picard has always had a very difficult time expressing his emotions, which allowed him to relate so much to Data. They did love each other, and that fact is easily evident to Soji after this conversation. 

Soji: He loved you. 

I think that this is something that Picard absolutely needed to hear. The loss of Data has weighed heavily on him for the past 20 years, but with Soji and through his mission to help her, he might be able to finally find some closure, as well as a way to honor his lost friend. 

Agnes wakes up and shares what happened to her with Picard, explaining why she’s behaved the way that she has, but then she meets Soji. It’s still unclear if we can truly trust Agnes as she’s still plagued by the visions she received from Oh, but meeting Soji seems to spin her once more on a dime. 

Agnes is blown away by the work and artistry that clearly went into creating Soji, she’s a little bit like a proud mother. It’s quite endearing, but how can we trust that Agnes will be strong enough to resist submitting to the mission of the Zhat Vash. I believe that’s what Agnes wants to do but will her life-long passion for creating synthetic life win out over the horror she’s been brainwashed into believing will happen if they don’t destroy it all?

Raffi puts the whole puzzle together for everyone and Soji decides its time to go home. 

Rios and Picard have a profound conversation about how Starfleet betrayed itself and all life in the process when they decided to give in to the fear created by the Zhat Vash. It’s deeply reflective of our current political climate and it makes me want to believe in humanity again. 

Picard: The past is written but the future is left for us to write. And we have powerful tools Rios, openness, optimisim, and the spirit of curiosity. All they have is secrecy and fear. And fear is the great destroyer.

Star Trek: Picard is telling a powerful story about how to be a hero in trying times and I can’t get enough of it. This is Star Trek through and through and we can all stand to learn a few lessons from this crew. 

Starfleet Communique:

• The conversation between Rios and Picard is beautifully scored. This show has some incredible music moments. Hats off to those composers. 
• Soji getting out the compass Kestra gave her? Catch me crying. 
• Gosh, it was good to have a Narek free episode. I hope Soji gets to kill him next week. 
• If Beautiful Flower turns out to be Lore I am going to lose my mind. 
• Y’all I am upset that I have feelings about Narissa! She’s evil! Don’t show me her being soft and having feelings! But also literally please tell me everything about the Zhat Vash and Ramdha and WHO LEFT THE ADMONITION THERE?
• There are a few theories about who could’ve created the Admonition and left it in this Octonary star system. Which one are you leaning towards? 
• Really, I mean it, if Lore is behind the Synths or if Q is somehow connected to the Admonition I will lose my mind, and not necessarily in a good way. 
• I love Soji and I know she doesn’t need my protection, but I would protect her with my life.

What did you think of this episode of Star Trek: Picard? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Star Trek: Picard airs Thursday’s on CBS All Access.

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