Star Trek: Picard season 1, episode 6, serves as the tipping point for the series as the action finally kicks off and a long-awaited reunion is finally in sight.

Under the direction of Maja Vrvilo, “The Impossible Box” opens up Soji’s mind so that we can dissect the programming genius Maddox and company brought to life. Through a twisted network of fail-safe operational codes, navigating the programmed dreams, familial connections, and emotional responses.

It also asks us to consider the question that Philip K. Dick released into the world in 1963 — Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep? The titular question of Dick’s novel focuses on that of androids who can only be distinguished from humans if they are taken apart. Much like Maddox’s creation. The organic composition of Soji, coupled with her unconscious, are what set her apart from other androids. How much control does she truly have over her emotions if protocols are in place to shut her down when she reaches out for some form of connection?

There is an unknown wealth of resources stored inside of her — not to mention her physical strength — that if provoked will “activate” her. But what does this “activation” mean? She becomes self-aware and then… what? Elnor is just as, if not more, deadly when faced with adversity.

As episode 6 wraps up, it appears that all the pieces are in place for us to explore the inner workings of the Soji’s makeup, but also how that affects her connection to people around her. After the fallout with Narek, it will be difficult for her to let anyone in. Will Picard have any luck? Finally, the series is moving off course and the next steps seem completely uncharted. The series has been excellent up to this point, but I am unreasonably excited to have no idea where next episode will go! (Well, I know one place it will go!)

‘Star Trek: Picard’ season 1, episode 6 recap

No, they dream of engineered orchids

Soji does not dream of sheep. She does, however, find herself tossing and turning from a recurring nightmare that features a thunderstorm, a run in with her father, and a mystery hidden behind his “body of work.” Creating the persona of a botanist who engineers life in some form, was a clever insertion on Maddox’s part for the development of a backstory. The 37-month old, Soji may have the memories of a small child walking the halls of her home, but she does not inhabit the body of the child.

Whether intentional or not, I enjoyed watching the memories of Soji take place from a third-person perspective. I get the sense that Soji is also looking at the memories this way — seeing the necklace on the younger version of herself, watching her reaction to the thunder rather than feeling it, hearing the utterance of the word dad, but no actually saying it. These fabrications, whether she sees herself in them, or sees them through the eyes of that child, are not real.

But they do serve as a beacon to the truth. And as fans of the newer Trek will know — lightning storms in space are never signs of something good.

It seems that Soji has come around to Narek’s charms even though she gave him the boot at the end of Star Trek: Picard episode 5. Their date in the air vents left Soji questioning Narek’s inquiry into her past. How were there no records of her transport? But also, why does he care?

She asks him this question as they wake up in bed after her nightmare. Narek wants to know what could possibly keep a synth awake at night, and Soji is still uncomfortable with how intrigued he is by her life, “You are endlessly fascinated with the way my mind works, even though you think I am an imposter.”

Soji may not think that she is hiding anything, but Narek says, “Everyone is hiding something whether they know it or not.” This leads her on a fact-finding mission of her own — if he truly does care about her, he will reveal his real name. Romulans hold two names, one for outsiders and one for family, people that they care about and ones to whom they are willing to give their heart.

Even if you are not a fan of this pairing, the inevitable events that will follow this bit of knowledge are sure to be devastating. And reader… they are. Growing frustrated with her, he tries to piece together the information from her dream deciding to leave their little rendezvous earlier than she would like.

As she calls out his name when he is leaving, he turns to her and whispers, “That’s not my name.” Admittedly, I have not been a huge fan of Narek’s at all. But in this moment, well, he won me over a bit. I guess I’m just as hopeless as he.

It will help for now

Speaking of being completely hopeless, only one character needs to work less than Picard to win over my undying loyalty — Captain Cristóbal Rios. Who else could pull of those capri pants (that look like they ZIPPER off too allow for ankle breathing) while running some soccer drills shirtless? The Star Trek: Picard team knows exactly what they are doing, and I appreciate their service.

On the other hand, there is Jurati, who has been shortchanged in terms of development this season. They mystery of her encounter with the undercover Tal Shiar agents remains just that — a mystery. No more clues surface as she talks through the events of Maddox’s death, eager to change the subject from covering up the fact that it was premeditated murder and not heart failure. Admitting that replaying his death is, “harder than you can imagine,” she does manage to flip the conversation to gathering some intel about the Artifact.

From the second that Jurati goes to ask a question about the Artifact, you know that she is about to run through the field of landmines with Picard. Locutus of the Borg, Picard’s assimilated persona has been at bay for quite some time, but it is never far from reach. In the company of Elnor and Jurati, he admits, very quietly that he is not looking forward to returning to the cube, not at all. Jurati brings up his time as Locutus — Borg studies were mandatory reading for someone in her profession. Tick. Tick. Tick. But as she tiptoes around the topic, eventually she lets her guard down too much and says, “well maybe they’ve changed.”

Boom. “Changed? The Borg? They cooly assimilate entire systems in a matter of hours. They don’t change, they metastasize.” Picard leaves without another word. To quote Elnor, Jurati should have “out-butted.”

In contrast to Picard’s outburst at the idea of the Borg’s ability to change, Elnor’s careful consideration and digestion of the mood here is stoic and reserved. He seems to digest every emotion in the room, but never give off a single inkling to what he is feeling. Evan Evagora is able to do so much with very little dialogue. It almost pulls focus. He does notice that Jurati is haunted by something in the same way that Picard is, but that will remain with her for now.

Jurati takes her sadness to Rios (jealous). “You know if you want to talk about anything I am here,” gives Jurati the push to kiss him and then admit that she is fully aware that she is making a mistake.

Her hesitation to keep going is enough to signal to Rios that he should push her to open up to him. Their connection, though ill-timed, is one that I feel Rios has with a lot of people he meets. Holograms excluded. He wants to be of assistance, not just because of his Starfleet sensibilities, but because he has a heart. Jurati admits that she is feeling, hollow, hopeless, lonely, and afraid. She does, however, reconsider her initial offer and takes Rios to bed.

The Brother-Sister dynamic finally works

When unlocked, the puzzle box that Narek has had from childhood reveals a fully formed girl figurine. His sister has never understood the patience it takes to get to the prize at the center. But rather than smashing it with a hammer, damaging the contents, it takes a careful series of calculated moves to bring about pristine results.

Perhaps too on the nose for comparison sake, the box does finally bring about a brother sister interaction that is far less creepy than anything we have seen from these two thus far. Narissa is still too jealous and slimy when she talks about Narek’s relationship with Soji, but she cannot deny that he has made some progress even if his course of action does not produce answers fast enough.

“You are in love with her. With it.” We’ve seen this language before, from Maddox, who refused to call Data, “he” until the end of the episode. Like Narissa, he viewed Data as a program, a machine. But what Narek can see is that every piece of a synthetic’s design serves a purpose. So, why give her dreams and nightmares? What purpose do they serve?

All of the physical evidence of her world — the lack of records, the fact that nothing she owns is older than 37 months, those seeds of doubt that spool into a data bank, are a vulnerability. And Soji is on the brink of breaking down. Narek’s latest observation — that her outgoing calls to her mother only ever last 70 seconds — triggers a different reaction in her programming. Panic.

Scanning everything she owns from photographs to stuffed animals, reveals that she, and everything in her life, is only 37 months old. As she spirals, two people are coming to her rescue. Both have every intention of helping her, but only one has the intention to save her.

The Romulan, the XB, and Picard

My notes for Picard’s next move after leaving Elnor and Jurati say it all: “Back in the chateau, Picard is not having a good time.” Instead of asking “Computer” to search for keywords, he should have said, “Alexa, play ‘Man in the Mirror.’”

Luckily, just as he is watching images of Locutus of the Borg overlay with his face, a pair of familiar eyes appear — HUGH.

With only a few hours to make a plan before the ship and crew find themselves in breach of galactic treaty, Picard calls on Raffi to sweet-talk the Federation for a diplomatic clearance. Raffi, swallows her pride and the last of her alcohol to chat up Emmy, who reluctantly gives over 24 hours of access for Picard to meet with the executive director and old friend, Hugh.

Picard and Hugh’s on-screen relationship is not a long one. However, their reunion here is one that warmed my heart in a way that I was not expecting. Picard’s first few moments in the Artifact are riddled with flashbacks as a flood of fear washes over him sending him close to the edge. A literal edge that is, but as he fights off the XB who are coming to his aid, Hugh comes to his aid, “They don’t want you to fall.”

Picard and Hugh walk through the Reclamation project as Hugh shows off the work that he has been doing there. While, yes, it is hard to live on a cube, working to rehabilitate the XBs and all the prejudices that come with that, are worth it. He wants to show that the Borg are not monsters, they are victims. Once all the machinery is reclaimed, they have the potential to be their own person.

That applies to all persons who were assimilated. It is not a Borg cube anymore after all, it is the Artifact. The name is what gives it power. Jean Luc Picard is not Locutus anymore. And the name given to Hugh aboard to Enterprise is what gave him the start of his new identity.

Patrick Stewart does something phenomenal aboard the Artifact — his head is mostly kept down. He does not walk with certainty, he does not want people to know who he is, or worse, recognize who he was. If he could fold in on himself, he would. But Hugh carries him through, working through the evidence that brought Picard to him, pointing out that something seemed amiss when a dashing young Romulan spy showed up a few weeks ago.

As Hugh and Picard get closer to finding where Soji is on the ship and the type of trouble she is close to finding herself in, Narek intercepts first.

If Narek’s sly humor earlier in the episode tipped the scales in his favor, watching him calm down Soji’s spiral is what has finally won me over to his side. I understand his obligations to the Tal Shiar, his people, and their history, but I also appreciate his inability to resist connection. Soji trusts him, he has grown that, tended to it, over time. Just like Jurati, the Tal Shiar has something over him, and it is pressing against his desire to build a meaningful relationship with the enemy.

Zhal Makh

The journey into Soji’s programmed unconscious will begin through a Romulan practice known as Zhal Makh. The intricate room built for a physical and mental journey, akin to meditation is meant to lead one to Vri Glam — the center. Before Soji’s journey can begin, Narek takes their journey to an arbitrary end point of their relationship.

“You asked the other day if I care about you,” he begins, admitting that he wanted to tell her, but there are things that he cannot discuss out in the open. In the safe space where it is just the two of them he tell her his name is Hrai Yan.

So glad I am falling for these two. Now nothing can go wrong ever! A nice simple walk through the room!

Of course, that is not how things go. As Soji pushes forward through the phases of Zhal Makh, she gets closer to seeing what lies behind her father’s fake, coded work. She realizes that her father, a faceless man, a flaw in the programming has her on the table apart in pieces like the B-4 we saw earlier this season. But that is not what Narek needs, instead it is a detail of two red moons and lightening storms that give Narissa enough to go on. Narek places the puzzle he has been working on down, revealing not a perfect girl at the center, but a radioactive gas that is meant to kill to woman who is screaming his name. His outsider name.

Escaping comes easy when you can punch your way through floors, but less so when the Romulans are after you and you’ve aged quite a bit since your last space voyage. Hugh is able to intercept Soji, Picard is able to win over her trust by showing her Dahj’s necklace, and the two make their way into a secret facility that neither Hugh nor Picard have seen but know well.

The Queen cell, a programmed hidden chamber in the Artifact is accessible to those with intimate knowledge of the Borg and it provides the emergency exit that Picard and Dahj need. It will send them anywhere within 40,000 lightyears and so Picard picks the perfect spot (more on that in a minute) and sets a rendezvous with the rest of the team. Well, almost all of them.
“I didn’t listen.” Classic Elnor. His chivalry is noted and appreciated, but also comes at the cost of having to leave him behind. Will we ever see him again? I sure hope so, but if not, his last words will be, “Please, my friends. Choose to live.”

Before final thoughts, let’s talk about the final shot of the trailer for 1×07 really quick. RIKERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Ok, moving on.

Final thoughts on ‘Star Trek: Picard’ 1×06

Star Trek: Picard will release new episodes on CBS All Access in the U.S. on Thursdays, on CTV Sci-Fi channel in Canada on Thursdays, and on Amazon Prime elsewhere on Fridays.