With Frakes at the helm, you knew that “Seventeen Seconds” was going to be 17 seconds because he’s the type of person to take these things seriously. Directed by the serial leg-cocker himself, “Seventeen Seconds” had to be the early emotional heart of the series. Written by two women we’ve spoken about before: Anne, Bellevue, and The Man Who Fell to Earth writer Jane Maggs returns for her fourth episode; while Cindy Appel, known for MacGyver, Heartbeat (not that one), Young & Hungry, and best of all, Desperate Housewives, returns for her fourth of five episodes too.

Set deep within Raffi of Vadic, The Titan goes deeper into the “nebula” while the Shrike and Vadic follow. After 20 years apart and one 30-something playing a teenager later, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard and Doctor Beverly “wasn’t Marina and I oddly sexualized in the 80s and 90s” Crusher come face-to-face once again. However, what I think is more important is not only are we getting a note on last season’s daddy issues, but we’re also reminded that JL did want to shoot himself in the head back in season 5 of TNG with those kids in the turbo lift.

There is the emotional element, and not in the David Cage/CW show style, with Riker talking about the 17-second turbo lift ride to see his son after his birth. We also got the full title: “I am Worf, son of Mogh, House of Martok, Son of Sergey, House of Rozhenko, bane to the Duras family, slayer of Gowron. I have made some Chamomile tea. Do you take Sugar?” I smiled then and smiled again because I’m about to get really happy about some Star Trek. Better still, some Star Trek: Picard, finally.

I think this is where everyone watching collectively turned to each other and asked who this Terry Matalas was. I know I bang on about seasons 1 and 2 a lot, but it is a stark contrast to see a show called Picard that feels, finally, like the show and the universe it is continuing from. There is a proper heart, both comedically and emotionally, but also a sense of knowing the universe enough to play with that universe without breaking the illusion. Deep in the nebula, the sensors don’t work, so Shaw sending down two ensigns to look out the back window? Brilliant.

We’ll talk more about Matalas when it is right, but currently, he’s just the guiding hand above Appel and Maggs. As The Titan tries to evade the Shrike and Vadic, Raffi finally wakes up on the La Sirena – which I forgot is now owned by her because we’ve seen it change more hands than the paper with cocaine on it in your pocket. Now we get the reveal for those in the back chewing on their textbooks and licking windows, the person calling Raffi a warrior was in fact Captain Worf, as a “subcontractor.”

Once she’s learned he’s not going to harm her, and in fact, he makes a point of hardly ever killing, the two are set to work openly together on figuring out whatever it is they are doing. Something, something red herring, something, something Vadic’s ship has a mysterious weapon in the cargo bay and something, something these two are tracking something down stolen from Daystrum Institute. See, this is the thing, we’ve already connected the A and B series plots, and we’re only in the third episode.

The two track down the “guy” that paid off the now headless Ferengi, Sneed. All in a bid to hide what was really going on and who was behind this whole messy business of a building disappearing and dropping on another building through GLaDOS’ favorite toy. A thin-lipped bloke by the name of “Titus Rikka.” The two blacksite him on the La Sirena, and Raffi being the caring former drug addict sees his shaking as withdrawal. It was, but he needed a bucket for another reason than hanging one end over the toilet pan and one in a bucket.

With those two preoccupied with a man shaking and sweating, the crew of The Titan is shaking and sweating because Captain Shaw isn’t equipped for this “loosey-goosey” adventure business. I know I ragged on Picard a lot for swearing, but here a lot of it felt earned, more or less. Keep in mind, these two and a half episodes thus far (from 50% through “The Next Generation”) have only been about 6-10 hours. Picard only found out he had a son a little over 5 hours ago, since then the two have bickered and the Shrike is ready to rip them to pieces.

Now they’re hiding in the nebula, which the crew mostly say isn’t actually a nebula. Given where we’re going, I was ready (when I first watched) to shout Pah-Wraths and all that loveliness. Especially with the Bajoran next to Sidney La Forge. To burst the little bubble early, that’s not where we’re going. We could have even gone to one of the many sentient nebulas we’ve seen before, paid it forward, and all that. None of that this time around. But it does give us a great line from an exhausted Shaw: “Anyone else want to throw more weird shit at me?”

I know you are not supposed to like him, he’s horrible to Annika, he’s hard on the junior crew, he’s been harsh on JL and Bill, and he’s not the nicest person, but I think I love him. Not in a homosapien way, just for how he is as a character. He’s at his wits’ end, he’s not mentally or physically equipped to deal with whatever these two old men have dragged him into, he wanted his crew to be safe but this is out and out danger. So he just hands over the con to Riker, and that’s a character moment that seasons 1 and 2 should have taken notes on.

That’s what I think is working over “Assimilation” and “The End is the Beginning,” we’re getting those Star Trek character moments, not season 2 of Lost or season 5 of NCIS: Space. Jesus, I shouldn’t give CBS ideas. You have that bit where Bill and JL are drinking in the bar, even swearing, just being men (normal, innocent men) and that heavy 17-second turbo-lift conversation. Something that hits a little closer to home than it should given it was Tetralogy of Fallot I was born with. I see it from the perspective of seeing and hearing a parent who went through that worry.

Between this and the conversation between Bev and JL, there has been more weight on season 2 here than in all of season 2. Why? Because it uses the whole story of Jean-Luc Picard, not just picking and choosing to fit a boring story that felt about as important as the Ferangi’s henchmen. The characters feel like they have a voice, a personality, a list of goals and things challenging them, and actual conflicts that don’t feel like they are just being thrown at the characters.

I hate to be that person, but when it comes to seasons 1 and 2, they always felt as though they were those stories in a season you know is doing something big but because it is adventure-of-the-week storytelling, we need that reset. You could argue that’s because of (forward) time travel and where Discovery is by this point, but I think the point still stands. As a viewer the first time, I had no idea where we were going, and coming back for a second viewing – knowing where we’re going, but not exactly how – I’m excited for how we got there and what it does to the characters.

Even the direction is improved, which for Frakes is like saying a Picasso is getting hung up on the fridge. You can look at The Orville, you can look here, and you can look at other episodes he’s done in the franchise. He is always among the best directors. However, there is one shot I need to mention above all else: It is the one where The Titan is sinking into the gravity well and Patrick is standing there feeling small. Picard is simply pleading due to a mistake but it is a close-up of Riker with Picard in the background.

Sounds innocuous, but it is the subtlety of Riker turning to face Picard, previously behind and now in front, but the camera stays on the back of Riker’s head and Picard’s face. Without knowing it that seems like nothing, but it is selfless of Frakes, because when that line hits, “Remove yourself from the bridge, you’ve doomed us all.” You are focused on nothing but the raw emotion of a man disappointed not only in himself but also in how he let his friend down. One of his closest friends, that man he called “number one!” literally.

Of course, I have to call out the fan service, I can’t let that slip here after last season and before. It is nice, I love it, but it is wasted time and movement in a script that is otherwise so tight. I get that it is a feel-good moment that pays forward to the heavy “you’ve doomed us all,” but in the moment it pulls you out or it slows that continued movement we have. Though if we’re bringing up things that somewhat pull you out of the moment, I can’t forget Vadic’s special weapon.

After escaping and being found, escaping and being found, and escaping to only be found again, the Shrike fires something in front of The Titan. Looks like a big hole in space that the ship is continually moving towards and can’t stop before. It is a portal gun if you missed the GLaDOS reference earlier. No matter how cool the idea might be, I can’t let drama settings slip, it might mean changing the idea bulb. The first time there is that panning and it is almost instant – the one foot on both sides idea. The second time it is fully through, pan, and now it is coming through. No, naughty Frakes.

That’s what was stolen from Daystrum, right? It isn’t said by puddles– Oh, by the way, we’re doing the Dominion Wars part 2 and I’m stiff as a rock. Not The Rock, Jeri might get confused. I think it might have been the fact this is the second viewing or that all White men look the same to me, I am sure I saw someone who looked a bit off in that scene where Picard boards The Titan. That’s another thing this season has over the others, on a second watch you can pick apart the mystery a bit more because it isn’t one thing.

That and the Changelings are a mysterious entity in the first place. Though that’s exactly what we’re getting: A captain who hates Jean-Luc Picard, changelings, holes in space that move you places quickly, Worf, Ferengis, Bajorans, and good storytelling. We’re just getting another season of DS9 but in the form of season 8 of The Next Generation. I love it! While also doing the whole Wrath of Khan thing and other movie references too. I know it is a boring review when I come out here and say “It’s great,” but it is great.

Ultimately, when am I going to complain about Star Trek in its Julie Andrews cosplay as it sings Rodgers and Hammerstein? For those still in the back not getting these references, that’s The Sound of Music and “My Favorite Things.” There are things I don’t love about it, the drama settings on the Portal gun, the fan service that might feel stilting, and Doctor Perky with her “it’s been 20 years, out the way granny” to Bev. Otherwise, it is a brilliant episode of Star Trek, maybe the best episode of Picard thus far. Which isn’t saying much.

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Star Trek: Picard "Seventeen Seconds"

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Worf's whole title.
• I love Shaw, he's too good for this world.
• Direction, especially that shot on the bridge.
• Someone finally lit the ship a little bit. Finally.

Cons

• Get your degree before telling Bev she's not up to date.
• Call me your number one, Goose.
• Drama settings gun.