Picard season 3 episode 6, “The Bounty,” ramps up the chase to capture Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew on the USS Titan. Changelings are in charge of the Federation, it seems, taking over humans left and right while also being undetectable. Picking up where they left off in the last episode, Vadic (Amanda Plummer) returns, and Picard is on the run biding their time to figure things out before getting captured.
Speaking of Vadic, she continues to be creepy as hell in a black duster only a supervillain could adorn. And supervillain she is, at a level that feels like she could carry a Star Trek movie. Her plan may reap some benefits for TNG fans since she’s going to capture his friends and likely dangle them as carrots.
Jack (Ed Speleers) isn’t taking it well that he’s somehow broken with implanted memories or some such messing with him. His mom Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), is out of ideas at the start of the episode and sends Picard to him to be a father and help him figure things out.
Props to the composing of this episode, which leans into the old themes when Worf (Michael Dorn) and Raffi (Michelle Hurd) arrive on the USS Titan. Seeing Worf and Riker standing together is something that’ll bring you joy. This episode leans into the friendly teasing of Riker and Worf, reminding us these two have a classic and excellent relationship.
Fans looking forward to Professor Moriarty — a prominent reveal in an early trailer — can prepare themselves for the computer AI turned sentient. We also get Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) entering the story finally. He might have the best line in the series so far when he says, “Leave it to you, Jean Luc, to turn fatherhood into an intergalactic incident.” So true, Geordi. It’s wonderful seeing him as a father — especially given the obsession TNG had with making him incapable of even speaking to a woman — and it’s great fun to imagine the development of the character since we last saw him.
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This show has been very tightly written, with good explanations for things that might not make sense or to catch us up on where the characters are now. One detail that’s a fun one in this episode is the topic of music. As we saw in a previous episode, Riker get insulted by Captain Shaw (Todd Stashwick) for liking Jazz. Turns out, knowing music notes saves the day midway through the episode.
It’s worth noting there are multiple kids of TNG characters popping up, but it never feels hokey or out of place. The creative team is approaching them as educated and professional, not like how Twilight handled characters placating to a younger audience. It feels very true to Star Trek since they are written like normal kids with illustrious parents.
Everyone will be talking about a major reveal of Lore midway through the episode. It’s no secret, thanks to the trailers, and it’s nice to see Brent Spiner back, even if Data permanently died in the last season. It’s a bit hokey how he’s introduced by Noonian Soong — how many times are we going to see this guy pop up, die, and pop up again — but it’s a nice way to bring Data back without ruining his goodbye. Yes, I said Data. It’s complicated!
It’s also nice to see the characters reflect on how Data has died twice already. We’re essentially getting an even more human version of Data captured perfectly by Brent Spiner. The character goes through a transformation in this episode that creates a chaotic nature in him. He’s not evil, nor is he quite purely good, it seems. It’ll be fun to see how this twist on Spiner’s long-running takes on the androids plays out in the rest of the season.
By the end of the episode, it does feel like the show is falling prey to some tropes as we near the finale. Riker getting split up from the rest of the crew, for instance, when really the audience is just dying to see the entire crew on the bridge one last time. We’ll get there, but the lack of details about the Changeling’s leader and plans leaves much of the narrative’s threat and stakes absent.
Smartly, the showrunners have Geordi and Picard connect as fathers, with their kids running off and breaking the rules. Picard season three continues to impress as it weaves in nods to the past while forging ahead.
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