In “The Bounty,” the full scope of what Star Trek: Picard has accomplished this season is on full display. Not only are all seven members of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s main cast back on screen for the first time in more than 20 years, but the impact of the impressive new characters that have been introduced this season is also in full effect.
 
In a truly remarkable achievement for a season filled with nothing but high points, the reintroduction of two Star Trek legends (LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge and Brent Spiner as this new form of Data) is pulled off with a series of dynamic, interweaving stories that continue to highlight the impact of how each of us define family and what we take from ours.
 
That specific theme permeates throughout the action with Geordi butting heads with Sidney (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut) and Alandra (Mica Burton), his two accomplished children, both of whom are following their own unique paths while highlighting the strengths of their father — even if he sometimes has difficulty seeing it.
 

At the same time, we get Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) figuring out that not only is he the recipient of his father’s genetics (according to Beverly he is suffering from Irumodic Syndrome), but also that deep in his core many of his personality traits are reflections of his parents, including the one he has only known for a few days, Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). Jack comes to this realization after a heartfelt conversation with Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) remembering her own found family on the USS Voyager, the ship on which she was “re-born.”

These storylines flow together beautifully in this masterpiece of an episode that moves from one emotional revelation to another, highlighted by the discovery that what the crew has been looking for all along on Daystrom Station is actually Data himself, another offspring about to begin a journey to connect with the seeds of his creation.

Well, not quite Data: instead we have an updated version of the android that has been compiled into a new body, along with pieces of Lore, Lal. B4, and even bits of cyberneticist Altan Soong (Spiner reprising his role from season 1), who died before the work could be completed. Soong’s vision of this version of Data is that “in totality, something, someone, will rise to be the best of us,” but as it currently sits, the integration of these different minds has failed, leaving behind only anonymous personalities. We see these different personalities on display later in a typically inspired performance from Spiner who smoothly alternates between many of the incarnations of the characters he has previously portrayed.

In discovering this new version of Data, it’s Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Raffi (Michelle Hurd), and Worf (Michael Dorn) who are dispatched to infiltrate Daystrom Station, the home to Starfleet’s most experimental tech. As the trio work their way past the station’s elaborate security protocols, it becomes clear that Daystrom’s protective subroutines are connected to Soong’s new positronic AI and it is trying to communicate with the away team, not necessarily hurt them.

This is beautifully portrayed in the holographic crow seen flying through the corridors and the piercing notes of “Pop Goes the Weasel” echoing through the station, both are connections to the mind of Data. Of course, the harrowing presence of Professor Moriarty (Daniel Davis) is also there — but once Riker recognizes the tune and whistles a few bars, it deactivates the 19th century holographic villain and grants them access to Data’s location. Marvelous.

Seeing this version of Moriarty being used as a puzzle piece from the darker subconscious of “amalgamation Data” was an absolute treat, and Davis is as insightful and menacing as ever in stepping back into the role, no matter how brief. “Villain doesn’t do justice to my complexity, and only reveals your simplicity,” says Moriarty, perhaps foreshadowing the many layers of this new Soong android we are going to see in the episodes to follow.

Accompanying the exciting happenings on Daystrom Station is the re-introduction of La Forge, who is now a commodore and running things at the Fleet Museum in orbit at Athon Prime, where the Titan has arrived to ask for help while trying to stay one step ahead of the vessels pursuing them. Burton is at the top of his game, stepping back into a La Forge that feels comfortably similar to the two alternate future versions of the character we saw at the end of The Next Generation (as an author in “All Good Things” and as a captain of the USS Challenger in Voyager’s “Timeless”).

Even after a reunion on the ship and after Picard explains the dire situation they are in surrounding the Changeling infiltration at Starfleet and after Geordi acknowledges being very concerned about the Frontier Day plans he will be at the center of at the Fleet Museum – the longtime Enterprise engineer is still pissed off at Picard for getting him and his kids mixed up in all this. He’s worried that a compromised Starfleet could come after his family.

That family now includes Sidney, the pilot at the helm of the Titan with whom his relationship is strained, and his daughter Alandra, who has followed in Geordi’s footsteps and is being portrayed here by the legendary actor’s real-life daughter Mica. Even in the shadow of her famous father, Alandra is sharp and confident in her own actions and seamlessly slides into the wonderful trifecta of the true next Next Generation characters alongside her sister Sidney and Jack Crusher.

Geordi is lamenting his own efforts to pass on the best aspects of himself to his kids, but Picard is way ahead of him, having experienced these same thoughts recently with Jack. Whether positive traits like strength and wisdom or negative flaws and “sins of the past,” Picard knows no one is in control of what elements are passed on to their children, something likely to be discovered in Soong’s creation as the production switches back at this moment to a recording of the positronic tinkerer discussing his efforts to imbue these elements on his new version of Data. A great example of the smooth connections in the like-minded narratives taking place in this episode.

In the end, La Forge tells Picard he can’t help the Titan, while at the same time protect his kids, a ridiculous notion that Sidney quickly relieves him of when he tries to tell her she needs to stay behind with him for her protection. Incredibly, the exchange that follows might be the best moment of the episode behind two masterful performances from Sharpe Chestnut and her on-screen dad.

After telling him that, “You would believe in this, if you believed in me,” Sidney crushes her father’s self-doubt by responding to his misguided advice (“They are not your family!”) by screaming at him, “Yes, they are! You taught me that! And I’m not scared to step up and help them. You are.”

Wow. Not sure how this show keeps pulling off scenes like this one, but what a stunning, jaw-dropping, hero moment for Sidney La Forge. A moment personifying the vast array of familial discovery we’ve seen throughout the season thus far.

Ultimately, the moment leads to the trifecta of Jack, Sidney and Alandra concocting the joyous plan to steal the Klingon cloaking device from the famed HMS Bounty — yep, it’s that ship! The time-traveling Klingon Bird of Prey from Star Trek IV: The Voyager Home.

It was Jack’s quiet conversation with Seven on the bridge of the Titan that helped spur his idea to steal the cloaking device. The conversation with Seven is a majestic, spine-tingling deep dive into Star Trek’s lore. A beautiful treatise on these starships and what they mean to each and every one of us (viewers and characters alike) as a connection to something more. Even Jack, who’s not that into Starfleet, loves a starship – he’s “a  Constitution-class man.”

As composer Stephen Barton lays the notes from Jerry Goldsmith’s classic Voyager theme underneath their conversation, Seven shows Jack her ship, the USS Voyager, telling him “she made her name farther out than any of these other relics had ever gone. I was re-born there. She was my home. They were my family.”

They continue talking about longing for connections and everyone being a little bit alone in the galaxy before Seven stops him and lets him know he really is his father’s son with these poetic, drive-by observations, but also acknowledging that they do help “make a person feel seen.”

As for Geordi, that confrontation between himself and Sidney spurs him to do the right thing, as he admits to his daughter that he is very proud of her and also disappointed in himself for not immediately doing what his younger self would have done. In the end, it’s Geordi’s engineering expertise that helps get that Klingon cloak functioning properly on the Titan — after all, the masterminds of the heist, Jack and Sidney, aren’t engineers.

The addition of that “superior Klingon technology” gives the Titan the cover they need in getting back to Daystrom Station just in time to attempt a last second rescue of Riker, Worf and Raffi, who are now under siege from “Starfleet” personnel (wink!) on board the station. And speaking of hero moments, this one belongs to Riker, who looks like a TNG-era version of himself fighting off their attackers.

Riker ends up doing just enough for Worf, Raffi and “Data” to escape on board the Titan who swoop in, decloak, beam them out and then warp away, just as Riker is being detained by “Starfleet” (wink!).

Back on board the Titan, Geordi is touched to see his best friend again and is now overseeing an attempt to activate what he refers to as “Data… something else.” La Forge knows that the information is all there and they can reboot android Data, but there is no way to isolate his specific personality, “so, we just don’t know what we’re going to get.”

And as previously mentioned, what we do get is a stellar performance from Spiner who slowly comes to life sounding lake Data, saying the names of his friends while acknowledging, “there are many of myself … but currently, one voice speaks to you more, more fondly than the others.”

It’s an effortless performance from Spiner, who before long is sounding like Lore, then B4, then Soong – none of which stops him from finally revealing to the crew what the Changelings were really after when they broke into the station — and boy, is this reveal ever worth the wait.

In a nice callback to the conclusion of Picard Season 1, apparently the Changelings are now in possession of the remains of Jean-Luc Picard’s original body — replaced by a positronic upgrade in “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2” — which seems to correlate nicely with their mysterious need to get their hands on Picard’s only child, Jack Crusher.

If that cliffhanger wasn’t enough, showrunner Terry Matalas and episode scribe Chris Monfette have one more in store for us, as one of the Starfleet officers torturing and interrogating Riker turns out to be Captain Vadic (Amanda Plummer), who has outdone herself in terms of her villainy status by moving Riker to the Shrike… where she reveals Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) in a holding cell, ready to be used as leverage.

MOMENTS OF STASHWICK

We think Todd Stashwick and his portrayal of USS Titan captain Liam Shaw is destined for Trek icon status — each week this season, we’ll be highlighting one one of the character’s (and actor’s) best moments.

Easiest pick ever! Captain Liam Shaw, a former engineer and grease monkey, nervously idolizing the great Geordi La Forge is a gleeful moment for all involved.

SHAW: “Mr. La Forge, uh, as a former engineer, I just want to say what an honor it is to have you on board.”

Of course, Shaw can’t help himself when La Forge critiques his ship, letting him know it is “spewing fumes through layers of 21st century duct tape.”

SHAW: “Yeah, it’s been a weird week.”

Hopefully the two of them will get time to geek out together later.

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

• Daystrom Station is a nice conglomeration of designs combining Jupiter Station and the MIDAS Array.
• One of the Starfleet ships pursuing the Titan early in this episode is the USS Sternbach, named for longtime Trek illustrator/designer (and co-writer of the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual) Rick Sternbach.
• This is now Michael Dorn’s 278th episode as Worf, extending his record appearance tally in Star Trek. According to Worf it has been 11 years, five months and four days since he’s seen Jean-Luc Picard in person.
• “The Bounty” marks the first time in Star Trek history that series regulars from three different shows (in this case TNG, DS9 and Voyager) appear together on screen on a fourth show.
• A number of clips from Riker’s first meeting with Data are used from “Encounter at Farpoint.”
• I love the technobabble from Sidney that led the Titan to run from the Starfleet ships at Daystrom Station — they could become permanently trackable if hit by the “residual ionic energy” in the weapons being used by the Starfleet ships pursuing them. “Spoken like a true La Forge,” says Picard.
• Perhaps surprisingly, Seven identifies herself as Commander Hansen when contacting Picard to let him know Worf and Raffi are beaming on board.

• Stored in the dark recesses of Daystrom Station are fascinating objects like a genetically-modified ‘attack’ tribble, a Borg vinculum, a Reman Thalaron device (from Star Trek: Nemesis), a second Genesis device, and — most surprisingly — the body of Captain James T. Kirk, presumably recovered from his rocky grave on Veridian III (Star Trek: Generations). Even more curiously, there is audio of Original Series-era medical scan devices playing as the group passes by Kirk’s storage chamber… are those life signs!?
• For the first-time ever a cloak being engaged is shown via part of the interior of the ship warbling in-and-out of focus, so you can see out into space through a disappearing wall console. A fun and cool visual effect.
• “Stay away from my daughter,” is another great moment for Geordi as he jumps in to help align the Klingon cloaking device to get it working, after Jack and Sidney seemed to be hitting it off following their “minor larceny.”
• For those wondering whether Sidney and Alandra’s mother is still in the picture, we can confirm she is, as Geordi instructs his daughter “to tell mom we aren’t going to be home for dinner.”
• On Geordi’s office desk is a small statue of Zefram Cochrane. This is the same statue he described to Cochrane in person in Star Trek: First Contact, also seen in Jonathan Archer’s quarters aboard Enterprise NX-01. (This can be seen in production photography for this episode, but it does not appear on screen.)

• Will Riker’s mother is named “Betty” per his Starfleet personnel file (displayed at Daystrom Station); this is the first time Kyle Riker’s wife has been named.
• The transponder decoy from the USS Titan seen in the opening shot of the episode looks like the 25th century version of the subspace amplifiers deployed by the NX-01 at the start of the Enterprise episode “Silent Enemy.”
• Where is La Sirena now? With Raffi along for the ride aboard the USS Titan, is the ship simply parked back at M’Talas Prime, or has it docked inside a shuttlebay?
• Data’s holographic crows are references to his dreams in “Birthright.”
• There are two references to Data previously dying. “Twice.” (One from Raffi and one from Picard.)
• Upon being awoke, new Data refers to himself as Daystrom Android M-5-10. Seems appropriate for the Daystrom Station. (Also, Data’s R2-D2 mode of showing a holographic presentation from lights shining out of his eyes is a cool addition for the android.)

• The whole “no Changeling has ever harmed another” thing sure seems to be out the window with Vadic, who is seen early in the episode killing off one of her Changeling crew members when they push back on her failed attempts to get their hands on Jack.
• What is meant to be parked in Hangar Bay 12?!? Fairly sure we are going to find out. (In case you missed it, Alandra suggests “Hangar Bay 12” as potential solution to help the Titan during a debate between Geordi and Picard. But neither she or Geordi elaborate on it.)
• There is an episode of Enterprise called “Bounty.” The similar naming convention in Star Trek is also seen with “The Emissary” (TNG) and “Emissary” (DS9), “The Muse” (DS9) and “Muse” (Voyager), “The Eye of the Beholder” (TAS) and “Eye of the Beholder” (TNG), and “The Sanctuary” (Discovery) and “Sanctuary” (DS9).
• The episode is the second in Dan Liu’s two-episode directorial block, the third overall episode of Star Trek he has helmed.
• The episode was written by Chris Monfette, who now has four writing credits on the series.

STARSHIP SPOTTER

Starfleet’s orbital museum began its life as the massive Earth-orbiting Spacedock seen in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock — and has since been relocated to Athan Prime for historical preservation along with its collection of starships, which include:

• The Defiant-class USS Defiant (NX-74205), which clearly survived its encounter with the USS Protostar in Star Trek: Prodigy last season;
• The Constitution-class USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A), last seen in Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country;
• The Intrepid-class USS Voyager (NCC-74656), safely home after its adventures in Star Trek: Voyager;
• The Klingon Bird of Prey dubbed HMS Bounty, brought back to Earth in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home;
• The Constitution-class USS New Jersey (NCC-1975), a previously-unseen ship of Original Series design named for showrunner Terry Matalas’ birthplace (and the year he was born), notably NOT the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds starship model;
• A Constellation-class starship, perhaps Picard’s original USS Stargazer (seen in “The Battle”);
• An Akira-class, a Nebula-class, and a small Sabre-class starship;
• An Original Series-era Romulan bird of prey;
• A Klingon K’t’inga-class starship, perhaps the Kronos One vessel from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country;
• The Excelsior-class USS Excelsior (NCC-2000) and USS Pioneer (from Star Trek Online), both listed seen in the end credits sequence;
• The Doug Drexler-designed refit Enterprise NX-01, the updated version of Captain Archer’s starship from Star Trek: Enterprise. This modification of the ship was unveiled in the 2011 Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendar, and was finally canonized last season when the Eaglemoss model of the NX-refit appeared in the Picard family home seen in “Hide and Seek.”

Never in a million years would we have guessed an episode called “The Bounty” would have been about the return of THAT ship! But that’s what we got in this inspired episode of Star Trek: Picard — even if it did take them awhile to find the ship cloaked at the bottom of San Francisco Bay.

Next week: “Dominion.” I wonder what that might be about?

Jim Moorhouse is the creator of TrekRanks.com and the TrekRanks Podcast.
He can be found living and breathing Trek every day on Twitter as @EnterpriseExtra.

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 will continue with “Dominion” on March 30 on Paramount+ in the United States and on CTV Sci Fi Channel and Crave in Canada — following the next day in the UK, Australia, Italy, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The series is also available on Amazon’s Prime Video service in most other international locations.