Jon Crunch: Review: “Star Trek: Picard” Season 1, Episode 9 (CBS All Access Series)

“Maybe all rationales for killing just boil down to fear.”

Soji Asha in “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1”

The penultimate episode of the first season of “Star Trek: Picard” is titled “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1.”

The title is a reference to a 17th century oil painting by Nicolas Poussin. Translated, it means, “Even in Arcadia, there I am.” The “I” refers to death. “Arcadia” refers to a utopian land.

My translation: Even in a utopia, death is a reality.

What’s significant — as it regards this particular episode — is that Poussin painted two (2) paintings under the title “Et in Arcadia Ego.”

That is important because this episode finds Picard & Co. “finally” reaching Coppelius — the remote “nest” planet that is the home of android twins Soji and Dahj Asha (Isa Briones).

The Romulan spy Narek (Harry Treadaway) followed the La Sirena on its journey to Coppelius. (Soji was able to lead her companions 25 light years in 15 minutes via the Borg transwarp conduit network.)

In addition, “7 of 9” (Jeri Ryan) “piloted” the Borg cube in pursuit. (Listen for an orchestral nod to the theme from “Star Trek: Voyager” when “7 of 9” appears in the downed vessel on the planet surface.)

Coppelius has an interesting planetary defense system — giant space orchids that are capable of disabling and commandeering spacecraft. I’m not exactly sure how they disable ships... or Borg cubes.

Anyhow, the reason the pair of 17th century paintings by Poussin is significant (as it regards the episode’s title) is that we discover the synthetic life forms on Coppelius were manufactured in pairs.

The androids in “Synthville” (as Raffi refers to it) are living a seemingly idyllic life under the supervision of Dr. Altan Inigo Soong (Brent Spiner). He is the son of Dr. Noonien Soong.

Altan worked with Bruce Maddox on his synthetic endeavors.

Many of the androids have sparkling skin and yellow eyes (like Lt. Commander Data). The synth named Sutra (also played by Isa Briones) has this look about her. Sutra is the sister of Jana — the synth referenced by Captain Rios (Santiago Cabrera) in Episode 8 (“Broken Pieces”).

It turns out that Sutra isn’t quite what she seems. As the episode progresses, we learn she likes Vulcan culture. She has apparently taught herself how to do the Vulcan mind meld.

This is the first time I recall a “mind meld” happening without a Vulcan as a participant.

The sequence yielded some interesting information for the audience: the idea that organic life’s pursuit of perfection ultimately leads to synthetic life… which ultimately leads to a desire to destroy it.

That said, Sutra’s ability to learn the technique seemed pretty convenient from a narrative perspective.

There is a creepy vibe to the android community. The mysterious feel shrouding Coppelius harkens back to “Star Trek” episodes of yore when various crews came upon remote, utopian-like settlements.

“I’m not sure how much I really trust them,” Rios confides in Jurati (Alison Pill) during the latter half of the episode.

We see a somewhat nefarious side of Sutra when she frees Narek (who was captured after landing on the planet).

I guess I should have mentioned (before now) how the first season of “Star Trek: Picard” draws a lot of inspiration regarding the ethical dilemmas posed by synthetic life forms in movies like “Blade Runner,” “Blade Runner 2049” (read my review), and “Aliens” (the android Bishop).

Overall, it was a pretty solid episode. But because there was such a long buildup to this episode, the impact of Soji Asha returning home was a tad bit anti-climactic.

This episode did, however, set up things for what will hopefully be an interesting season finale.

“Apparently, there are some sort of higher synthetic beings out there, watching us,” says Dr. Altan Soong to Picard at the end of the episode.

This nugget is based on information Sutra claims she gleaned from Jurati when she mind melded with her. At this point, we don’t know if Sutra is being truthful, or if she’s manipulating the situation for her own gain.

Her rhetoric at the end of the episode suggests that “all” organic life is a threat to synthetics. As a result, she might become the leader of what is a self-fulfilling prophecy — where synthetics become the prophesied “Destroyer.”

I’m curious to see how they'll conclude the first season. I think there have been some strong points to the first season. I also think there are aspects of the narrative structure that need to be tweaked going forward.

CBS ALL ACCESS PROMOTION

Patrick Stewart tweeted yesterday that “Star Trek: Picard” will return for a second season on CBS All Access.