The stress of the situation doesn’t let up for a second in the third episode of Picard’s final season, Seventeen Seconds. Written by Jane Maggs and Cindy Appel, it was directed by Jonathan Frakes and was first broadcast on 2 March, 2023.

As Vadic (Amanda Plummer) and the Shrike continue to stalk the Titan (injuring Captain Shaw (Todd Stashwick) ) through the nebula, seeming to always know where it is, Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Crusher (Gates McFadden) have an emotionally wrenching discussion about their son, Jack (Ed Speelers) and Picard’s lack of involvement in his life.

As upset as Picard is, and he is, and it is his series, so we partially come down on his side, it’s very easy to understand why Crusher did what she did.

And all of this is going to turn the tension up higher and higher, keeping Picard and the rest under added strain.

But it’s Jack who figures out how the Shrike is tracking them and works with Seven (Jeri Ryan) to disable it, uncovering a dangerous secret – there’s a saboteur aboard and they are a changeling!!

Jack and Seven’s efforts play out for naught as the Shrike is the quantum-tunnelling device to redirect Titan’s own torpedoes back at her, disabling her as she plunges into a gravity well at the nebula’s centre, and leads Riker (Frakes) and Picard into a verbal conflict as they clash over command and tactics.

Picard may have just killed them all.

Raffi (Michelle Hurd) and Worf (Micheal Dorn) continue investigating the attack and discover the involvement of changelings, and realize that as dangerous as the quantum-tunnelling device may be in the wrong hands it may have been misdirection for something else that may have been stolen from the Daystrom Institute.

Emotions are high all over this episode, and it’s interesting to see characters we treasure and have grown with come into conflict with one another over their different experiences. Picard and Riker going at it is especially hard to see, but it pays off in terms of narrative and pushing the characters in new directions. Their discussions over sons, Riker lost his, Picard just discovered his and how that changes everything affects both of them, and it puts them at odds for once. A great idea!

This one is cinematic and gorgeous, and so far this season is going three for three. Wow. Action and emotionally packed.

No Win Scenario was also directed by Frakes, and was written by showrunner Terry Matalas and Sean Tretta. It was first broadcast on 9 March, 2023.

While the Titan continues its dark descent into the gravity well, everyone seems to be resigned to the fact that this is it. They can’t win, they won’t survive this. So Picard and Jack have a heart-to-heart, and we get a glimpse of a moment they shared from two different viewpoints.

Crusher may have partially figured out a way to get them out of the nebula and the crush of the gravity well, but there’s still the fact that there’s a changeling running around on the ship. So it’s going to take all of the major characters introduced on the Titan so far to pull it off.

But not before there are some truly profound and powerful emotional moments, and Stashwick’s Shaw gets to deliver an already iconic speech about what happened to him at Wolf 359.

Seven and Shaw have to work together, have a bothersome encounter with Sidney La Forge (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut), and not only to outfit the dying engines properly but to draw out the changeling, while Riker and Picard both deal with their emotional issues, and Riker rediscovers his connection to Deanna (Marina Sirtis) after facing death.

There’s a triumphant escape from not only the nebula (which delivers a nice little nod to Encounter at Farpoint) but a nice moment with the Titan, at least momentarily, dealing with the Shrike.

Unfortunately, on top of all of that, whatever is going on in Jack’s mind, the Red Door, seems to be getting more and powerful.

The race is on to get back to Federation space, but what will happen next?

I’ll find out next time as I explore more of Paramount Canada’s Star Trek: The Picard Legacy Collection, a gorgeous, limited edition boxed set available now.

Boldly go.