With more writers and story editor credits for one episode than there are brain cells that put together for “Et in Arcadia Ego,” I’m sure “Remembrance” can start and continue a great sequel series. Sarcasm aside, Picard was one of the shows I was most excited about when it came to modern Star Trek, especially following the disaster that was Discovery’s first season. Dusting off the old, retired admiral, giving him a new adventure to go on, something to breathe life into the series… Well, we’ll get to that, eventually.

Set several years following TNG (of course), the former Captain tries to enjoy retirement when he gets a strange feeling. That’s all it is, a feeling. In a dream where he’s playing Poker with Data, he has a nightmare that rogue synthetics are attacking Mars, as they did in Short Trek‘s “Children of Mars.” Meanwhile, attractive young Mcguffins smuggler, Dahj is having wine with her partner only to be interrupted by masked assailants who kill the Xahean boyfriend and attempt to kidnap her, only for her to “activate.” Followed by a vision of the old man on a ship.

Paint me intrigued, there is an interesting setup and we’ve got a decent first episode on our hands. This was only made more so by the old man finally talking about his experience as Captain in a TV interview, on the anniversary of the Romulan Supernova, during which he left his post to help with the rescue effort. An event Picard likens to the 9-day allied retreat of over 338,000 soldiers at Dunkirk, not only done by military ships but small commercial fishermen crossing the Channel to save the men fighting for them. Oh you saucy minx, Picard, tease me like that more!

There is the weight, the drama, the gall to hammer home that this Captain we’ve loved for more than 30 years made a mistake, one that led to the ban of Synthetic lifeforms. The termination of one of his dearest friends, Data. This was how to tease me just right. It was almost perfect, you could say. A former Captain, asked why he left his commission as one of the Federation’s highest revered individuals, with his only explanation, “It was no longer Starfleet.” The man who embodied its ideals, on the anniversary of a tragedy, calls the thing he is thought to represent a bunch of cowards.

An interview topped off next time with the only thing we don’t often see in Star Trek, and I argue should be held back as much as possible. Something Discovery often forgot, as it effed and Jeffed, left, right, and center. Clumsy exposition aside, Isa Briones’ Dahj finds herself seeking help from the old man in the interview, the one from her mind, the one she’s had visions of, the Jean-Luc Picard the rest of the Galaxy has sought for help so many times. The name she has known for a long time, a name she’s supposed to feel comfortable with.

Something about the show, Picard, is that it was always nostalgia-bait. While that is true, sometimes it can be used to the show’s overall detriment. Once Dahj leaves Château Picard, we’re off on an adventure with Patrick to see Picard’s vault/storage locker with all his artifacts. I.e props fans are supposed to cry over as we see the “Captain Picard Day” sign, the Stargazer (his true love), and more. With only a modicum of plot relevance. Data painted two images, one of a woman facing away that hangs in Picard’s study, the other of Dahj. The latter is titled, “Daughter.”

I might have misgivings with the series from episode 2 all the way to season 3, but Picard certainly had a lot of hope on its shoulders to bring that TNG feeling back. In some ways, Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer, Alex Kurtzman, and James Duff’s “Remembrance” has portions of that series we enjoy so much as Star Trek fans. Then, sometimes it has some fantastical nonsense you might find in Discovery or lower-quality shows. Not that Picard is great quality at this point either.

For as much love as I’ll give Patrick Stewart for his beloved, sweet, and heart-warming Captain Jean-Luc Picard, by this point he was an old man. Despite their best efforts, writers have a hard time bringing out the Jean-Luc we know for more than a few minutes, be it poor writing or Stewart’s disinterest in less-than writing. We’re talking about a trained actor of the RSC: Hamlet, Henry V, King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, Othello, and more, now playing a doddering old man as written by the Batman & Robin writer.

As much as I have given the episode a good kicking in this latter half, I do think “Remembrance” is one of the best episodes of the series. This isn’t saying much given it is the first, but the point I’m making four years after its initial release is that this was a good beginning. I could do with slightly better action direction from director Hanelle M Culpepper, known for a vast number of projects, including some Discovery before this and S.W.A.T. Though, to be fair to Culpepper, I doubt Isa Briones is known for action work. Her double previously worked on The Orville in place of Halston Sage’s Alara.

Stewart and Briones are only one part of the cast, with arguably the other big name thus far (outside of returns) being Alison Pill, as Dr Anges Jurati. Maybe it is knowledge of the forthcoming episodes or I don’t like her in what little else I’ve seen her in, outside of Scott Pilgrim, I can’t say I’m excited by her performances much. Nor was I ever excited by Harry Treadaway as Narek (who I’ve called Evil Spock.) Be still my beating heart, a doctor who knew someone high-up from Daystrom and a Romulan Spock-lookalike with an interest in Dahj’s sister.

Hypothetically, if something is pulling me through Picard at this point on my first viewing, it is the mystery followed up by the nostalgia. Quickly that is going to shift here, and already you can see I’m not excited to boldly go where sadly we’ve been before. At this point, Picard isn’t a last hurray for an old Captain, but his midnight stumbles to the bathroom as he searches for the light switch. Something that we’ll later find out was sadly by design.

Overall, “Remembrance” is a dose of nostalgia for fans of The Next Generation, a comfortable place for Star Trek fans many times over. From shots of “Captain Picard Day“ posters, a model Stargazer, and yes, even a Borg Cube being worked on by scheming Romulans. This is the highlight (in retrospect) of the first season of Picard. We’re set to stumble out of the blocks after not hearing the starting gun, having great form on the line wasted by a lack of knowing where the finish line is or how to get there.

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Star Trek: Picard "Remembrance"

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Shoot that nostalgia into my veins.
• A great set-up for a mystery, that will sadly be ruined.

Cons

• Clumsy exposition.
• Not the best direction for action.