Continuing the storylines of the previous two episodes, “The End is the Beginning” services as a conclusion to the first act of the season. Like last week’s “Maps and Legends,” the episode is exposition-heavy but somewhat more evenly paced. Continuing its character-based story arcs, we are introduced to two new main characters; Raffi Musiker(Michelle Hurd) and Cristóbal Rios (Santiago Cabrera). While still highly enjoyable, the episode does fail to keep viewers engaged at certain points.

Synopsis — Contains Spoilers!

Starfleet Command, Earth, 2385

A dejected-looking Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) exits Command where Lieutenant Commander Raffi Musiker awaits. In the aftermath of the brutal synth attack on Mars, Starfleet Command has decided to pull all its efforts away from the Romulan relocation missions.

Picard has just concluded a meeting with the Fleet’s top brass to propose a plan he and Raffi drafted. This plan would allow the Romulan relief effort to continue using mothballed ships and reserved personnel. In an attempt to put pressure on Command, the Admiral has threatened to resign. Much to his shock, Starfleet has accepted his resignation.

He expresses his view that half the brass do not wish to aid the Federation’s oldest enemy, while others are afraid to risk their positions by speaking up. He laments that he never thought he’d live to see the day that the organization he devoted his life to would “give in to intolerance and fear.”

Unwilling to accept that this is the final verdict on the matter, Raffi is adamant that they can come still up with a plan to save Romulan lives, even if it goes against the Federation’s wishes. Picard rejects this as he feels it would be impossible without Starfleet backing. Raffi is unable to understand how he can just walk away. She receives a communique from Command stating that the Commander in Chief wishes to speak with her. Now that Picard has resigned, she senses that her own career has come to an end. Full of anger she tells him that his decision has likely resulted in “her ass getting fired.”

14 years later

Picard is at Raffi’s home in the Vasquez Rocks (a frequent Star Trek filming location) outlining the events of the past several days. Outwardly hostile, Raffi expresses contempt for him. She is deeply wounded that since his departure from Starfleet, he has not attempted to contact her. His resignation resulted in her being stripped of her security clearance likely ending her career. She is hurt that he is only back in touch because he needs something from her. She mirrors Admiral Clancy’s sentiment that Picard’s ego prevents him from seeing or acknowledging the ramifications of his decision to walk away. Raffi has spent the last fourteen years living alone in a trailer, struggling with addiction problems.

She does reveal to Picard that she suspects that the Romulan secret police, the Tal Shiar, was somehow involved in the attack on Mars. She also clams she has concrete evidence of a high-ranking Romulan operative working within Starfleet.

He pleads with her to join his mission as he wants her unique vision. While Raffi remains resistant to providing direct assistance, she says that she does know a pilot with an unregistered starship who can help him. A few hours later, Raffi scrolls through classified Starfleet data when she is contacted by Picard who knows she is digging for clues. He forwards her everything he has on Bruce Maddox’s disappearance. As she searches, she finds something called “Freecloud.”

On the Borg Cube, Hugh (Johnathan Del Arc) meets with Soji (Isa Briones). Hugh, first introduced in the Next Generation episode “I Borg,” is the Executive Director of the Borg Reclamation Project. He is impressed with Soji’s work and has granted her the rare privilege of interacting with former Romulan drones called the “disordered.” For unknown reasons, these Romulans have not recovered from their time in the collective. She is particularly interested in talking to Ramdha (Rebecca Wisocky), who was an expert on Romulan mythology prior to her assimilation.

At the Daystrom Institute, Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) is enjoying her lunch break when she is interrupted by Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita). Oh, wearing some pretty funky sunglasses, states she has some questions for Jurati regarding her meetings with Picard.

Hugh and Soji arrive in a chamber housing the disordered. Hugh explains that these Romulans are the only ones known to ever have been assimilated by the Borg.

Picard beams aboard the La Sirena to meet with Cristóbal Rios about his mission. Rios, a former executive officer of a classified Starfleet vessel, lives in near isolation on his ship, with only a series of holograms — moulded after his own appearance — as companions. Picard senses that despite Rios’ issues with the organization, he is Starfleet to the core. Rios is willing to help Picard but doesn’t approve of being psychoanalyzed by him.

Back at his Chateau, Picard says goodbye to Laris (Orla Brady) and Zhaban (Jamie McShane). He confesses to Laris that despite all his efforts, he never felt truly at home on the vineyard. As he is about to depart, the trio is attacked by Zhat Vash soldiers. While they manage to take out almost all the intruders, one manages to get close to Picard and is about to stab him when Dr. Jurati enters the room, and shoots the Romulan with a discarded weapon.

Jurati informs Picard of her meeting with Oh and demands to come with him to find Maddox. One of the Zhat Vash soldiers awakes and while Laris and Zhaban attempt to integrate him, he kills himself using the same acid that killed Dahj. Before he dies, hee warns Picard that Soji is the “destroyer and end of everything.”

On the cube, Soji talks with Ramdha. Soji recounts that Ramdha’s ship was the lost one assimilated by the Borg before the cube malfunctioned, but is unsure how she knows this information. Ramdha says she recognizes Soji from ‘tomorrow’ but doesn’t know if she is the sister who lives or dies. Soji is taken aback by this statement. Ramdha suddenly grabs a guard’s weapon and pointing it towards Soji, calls her “the destroyer.”

Soji contacts her mother who insists Dahj is fine and is thinking of adopting a puppy. As her mother continues talking, Soji slowly loses consciousness as if being put to sleep. She awakes to find Narek (Harry Treadaway) at her door. When she tells him what happen he whispers in her ear that he is falling in love with her.

Later, Narek meets with Narissa (Peyton List) who has returned from Earth and restored her Romulan appearance. Narissa tells Narek he must get the information from Soji or she will have to take matters into her own hands.

Jurti and Picard beam aboard the La Sirena. Picard is shocked to find Raffi aboard. She knows that Maddox is hiding in a location called Freecloud, but reiterates to Picard that she is not here to help him. She simply wants passage to Freecloud and then he is on his own. The La Sirena breaks orbit and jumps to warp.

Anaylsis

Like last week’s episode, “The End is the Beginning” is engaging but exposition-heavy. With the majority of the new cast introduced, the show is finally taking Picard to space.

The new main characters are well-written and fully realized by the actors. Unlike Picard’s old shipmates on the Enterprise, this crew is made up of troubled and deeply damaged individuals — Picard included. It seems as if this mission will give them a sense of purpose that their lives have been lacking for some time.

Hugh’s reintroduction into the franchise was a highlight of the episode, and it’s wonderful to see Jonathan Del Arco reprise his role after almost thirty years. Hugh has been ‘deborgified,” but still bears many physical scars of his assimilation. It seems that unlike 7 of 9 (Star Trek: Voyager), he lacked access to highly skilled medical care. It will be interesting to see how much of his backstory we will get in the coming episodes.

Raffi’s character is the true standout in this episode. Michelle Hurd imbues her with strength but also with an intense sadness. Her chemistry with Stewart is terrific, and there’s a clear feeling of a mentor-student relationship between them.

Picard’s motivation to not do anything further after he resigned from Starfleet does seem out of character. There are a number of situations in which Picard was willing to put himself and his career on the line due to disagreements with Starfleet — the film Star Trek: Insurrection is a vivid example of this. That being said, his decision does help to underscore the shame he now feels. It is clear that part of the reason he cut himself off from people like Raffi, not to mention the Enterprise crew, was out of a sense of guilt.

The real weakness of this episode is the Borg storyline. It was slightly confusing and hard to follow making it and the interesting aspect of the episode. It felt a little too ‘inserted in the script’ so that the episode could be stretched out to 45 minutes.

Longtime fans are likely going to be divided about the portrayal of Earth, Starfleet, and the Federation in this episode. It is well established in The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager that Earth is effectively a paradise. The tone for Picard does have a slight dystopian feel to them that may irk some. Humanity seems a little less evolved in this iteration of Star Trek than what appeared in the past.

There are two possible continuity errors in this episode. Hugh states that the “disordered” are the only Romulans ever assimilated. The third season Star Trek Voyager episode “Unity,” featured several Romulan ex-Borg. Also, Commodore Oh is seen wearing sunglasses. Vulcans have inner eyelids that protect them from the sun which makes wearing protective eye where redundant — unless, she actually isn’t actually a Vulcan.

Overall, this episode does suffer slightly from over exposition but is better paced than last week’s episode. In order to give more backstory on the new characters, some scenes contain a but too much ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’

“The End is the Beginning” is effectively the conclusion of a three-hour pilot episode, and as such, ramps up anticipation for what is to come now that Picard is back in space. This episode merits a solid 4/5.