Season two of Star Trek: Picard gets underway with a firefight on a Starfleet bridge, and Picard (Patrick Stewart) is right in the middle of it. The clock rolls back forty-eight hours and the the episode got underway on 3 March, 2022.

Written by Micheal Chabon and Terry Matalas, a name we’re going to see a lot of very soon, we find Picard on his vineyard, dealing with his loneliness and perhaps a chance at something more with Laris (Orla Brady) while serving as Chancellor of Starfleet. He also seems to be troubled and haunted by memories of his mother, Yvette (Madeline Wise).

He and Raffi (Michelle Hurd) see over a graduation ceremony that sees Elnor (Evan Evagora) become the first Romulan to graduate from the Academy.

Meanwhile, Rios (Santiago Cabrera) has returned to Starfleet, captaining the Stargazer, his relationship with Jurati (Alison Pill) having fizzled out. But when the ship detects a subspace tear, they go to investigate, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) who has taken possession of La Sirena (and is trying to figure out how she and Raffi fit into one another’s lives) makes her way to the same site, and they discover a message, a layering of voices, asking for Picard.

So off Picard goes, after a brief encounter with Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) to confide his regrets over a non-existent love life and some bad choices. And this is starting to sound like a variation on the episode Tapestry of The Next Generation.

When Picard arrives aboard the Stargazer, reuniting with his La Sirena crew, he encounters the Borg (and there’s a piece of info here that will carry through the third season as well, Borg tech incorporated into Starfleet tech), and despite their plea for peace, things go sideways quickly and the fleet is destroyed.

Picard wakes up in a shattered version of his vineyard, in a different outfit, and the reveal, from Q (John de Lancie) that he’s at the end of the road not taken…

It’s a fun, explosive start to the season, and I know it’s not everyone’s jam, but lets see if it plays better viewed as a whole instead of waiting week to week for the next installment.

Penance was written by Matalas, Akiva Goldsman and Christopher Monfette from a story by Micheal Chabon, Goldsman, Matalas and Monfette. It was first broadcast on 10 March, 2022.

Q, who is not well, has snapped Picard into an alternate timeline, one where the Confederation is at war with the galaxy, as they subjugate every species they encounter. Picard is a general, Seven is the president of the xenophobic Earth, and the rest of La Sirena’s crew slowly work on getting reunited as they attempt to understand what the hell is going on here.

Slowly reuniting over the course of the episode, they find that the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching) has been captured, and is slated for execution as part of the Eradication Day celebrations. She is also aware that time has become fractured, that something is wrong with this reality.

She is able to pinpoint the change and when/where it happened, 2024 Los Angeles so Picard comes up with a daring plan to escape with the Queen, beam aboard La Sirena, and travel back in time to fix what Q has altered and restore the timeline.

Unfortunately, they aren’t going to get away easy, as they are hooking the Queen into La Sirena’s systems, Seven’s husband (?! – that gives Raffi pause), The Magistrate (Jon Jon Briones) arrives, shoots Elnor and is about to execute Picard as we roll into credits.

So far, I’m enjoying this rewatch of season two. Everyone has moments to shine, and you can see that the characters have changed between seasons, there are actual relationships here.

We’ll see what happens next time, as I continue to explore more of Star Trek: Picard season two, which you can pick up by the season, in a series collection, or as part of the gorgeous Star Trek: The Picard Legacy Collection limited edition boxed set available now from Paramount Canada.

Boldly go.