"The end is the beginning" is the third episode of the series, "Picard", marked CBS and Amazon Prime, set in the Star Trek universe.
Last week we had published the analysis of the second episode of the series in this article, while the investigation on the former had been published in the latter piece. Have you got to read them?
By now you know, a week has passed so the spoiler red alert has returned. In the following lines you will find not only the various easter eggs and all the quotes, but also parts of the episode explained. After this mandatory disclaimer, let us launch into the adventure without delay. Activate!
First of all the overture of "The end is the beginning"
In the first few minutes of “The end is the beginning”, after a very short period on Mars, we are once again projected into the past. A few weeks after the synthetics attack on Mars, Jean-Luc Picard and his first officer Raffi Musiker are in the gardens in front of the headquarters of the Starfleet. Here, after a brief dialogue, we understand how Jean-Luc tried, in vain, to persuade Starfleet to continue with the plan to evacuate the Romulan people. Unfortunately not even the threat of his resignation, in the event that his plan was shelved, is successful indeed, these are accepted! A further consequence of this attempted "blackmail" is that Raffi is fired and deprived of security clearance.
Back to the present, the action moves to the place that Raffi has chosen as the domicile of his self-imposed exile. The Vasquez Rocks can be seen in all their glory, together with the housing module of the former officer of Jean-Luc. It is precisely the module that is the first quote of the episode. An attentive eye will surely have noticed a writing on the door of the house: "Valtese Home Trailers". This reference is always linked to Picard's past, precisely the episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation "The Perfect Woman", during which the captain had to mediate a peace agreement between Val Minor and Krios. Among other things, that episode is also the first in which Professor Xavier has to do with Phoenix!
Ah, in this episode you will see many characters smoking. It was something that Gene Roddenberry deeply hated and this must also make us understand under what conditions the Federation is.
Me, Borg
After the earthly parenthesis, the episode focuses again on the Borg Artifact, the Cube in the hands of the Romulans, with the classic music of "The Balance of Terror".
It is precisely on the cube that we find, after so many years, an old acquaintance of the Star Trek universe, Hugh, or "Thug", as it was translated into Italian, the first Borg to achieve an awareness of his own being. Hugh has now gotten rid of almost all Borg prosthetics and I must admit that the precision in detail is always at the highest level. On the face, in fact, there is a scar in correspondence with the old Borg viewing device, the eye color is in fact dissimilar, the original dark one on the right side of the face and one more similar to an ice gray on the left side. Already Star Trek: Voyager taught us that eyes can be replaced and supplemented with Borg vision matrices, just as happened at 7 of 9.
To get to know the character better I recommend watching the episode "I, Borg" (TNG episode 23, season 5) and the episodes "Return of the Borg: Part 1 and 2".
My surname is Oh. Commodore Oh
After deep space, here we are again with our feet on the ground, near the Daystrom Institute. Dr. Jurati is listening to the aria of an opera that Star Trek fans have already had the opportunity to hear. The aria in question is part of a Kasselian work very dear to Dr. Culber of the starship Discovery. This listening is interrupted by the arrival of Commodore Oh, with a very elegant, as useless pair of sunglasses and a mess of degrees.
Around this figure, episode after episode, doubts increase. Why does the Commodore have sunglasses and badges in disorder? Could he be an infiltrator from the Mirror Universe like Lorca was in Star Trek: Discovery? Are you there to recruit Dr. Jurati? For now, all unanswered questions, but the real quote here is the reference to Jean-Luc Godard's feature film "La Petit Soldat" where the protagonist shows up with a slightly shabby dress and sunglasses, and then you want to wear the similarity of the director's name with the captain?
The Siren, Captain Rios in "The end is the beginning"
After a couple of scenes, which we will recover in more detail in a moment, Jean-Luc is transported aboard Captain Rios' ship. This is greeted by an OE (Emergency Hologram, remember the Voyager Doctor?) Who immediately takes him to the captain.
Captain Rios, like a new Wolverine, awaits Picard with a fragment of tritanium in his shoulder. The Italian dubbing here is wrong, and in fact refers to the splinter as if it were titanium, while the tritanium is the basic alloy with which the ships from the launch of the Enterprise-D are assembled.
Here there are two interesting ideas to better understand the characters. The first is that, when Picard is invited to take a seat in a chair, he is banned for a moment in the choice, and then avoids sitting in the captain's chair and heading towards that of the helmsman. Here he finds a volume by Miguel De Unamuno: “On the tragic sentiment of life”.
The next exchange shows how Picard doesn't trust a man who was, and perhaps still is, a part of Starfleet. In response Wolverine, uh I meant Rios, recommend to Charles Xavier, damn it, I'm always wrong, Picard, not to get into his head.
Hacker 2399
The action moves to Raffi. After Picard sent her some sensitive information, received from Dr. Jurati directly from the Daystrom Institute, we see Jean-Luc's former first officer analyzing it in search of something.
Here among the false leads and lots of data, there are some easter eggs hidden under a "Gorn Egg", the egg of Gorn, the mythical enemy of Captain Kirk in the episode "Arena". Another quote is under the heading Freecloud and Quantum Fingerprint (a reference to Data?) We have a data identifier "GNDN" (GoesNowhereDoesNothing) that can be found in many Star Trek series. This too could not be exempt.
OE Fanboy and the attack of the Romulans
After the confrontation between Jean-Luc and Captain Rios and the successful attempt of Raffi, we return on board of “La Sirena”. Here OE asks his captain if he doesn't feel intimidated, excited, or thrilled to have such a well-known character on board. His answer is emblematic:
“Main contact with the Q Continuum, implicated in the Klingon affairs of the Succession, savior of the Borg Invasion and captain of the Enterprise, not to mention the great Spock.
OE to Captain Rios
This exchange shows that Rios, like Raffi, are "broken" people. He too cannot go beyond a trauma experienced while in command of his previous ship, and this makes us understand why he tries in every way to keep his distance and not to empathize with Picard and the like.
The episode “The end is the beginning” continues, immediately after, in Chateaux Picard while Jean-Luc is preparing for the departure. Here his two "carers" demonstrate, in my opinion, their strength. While delivering supplies to Picard, Zhaban "accidentally" drops an apple at the exact moment of the attack, dodging a deadly blow.
For a few moments this psychological series transforms into a series of men. The weapons scattered throughout Chateaux are enough to outwit attackers Zhat Vash. One of them is killed by doctor Jurati, who arrived there "almost by chance", only one survives so that he can be investigated.
During the interrogation, before killing himself, he throws a strange look at Dr. Jurati, who returns him in a rather doubtful way. We will see how this will develop.
Ah, did you notice that the Zhat Vash blades are exactly identical to the ones Shinzon used in "Star Trek: The Nemesis"?
False door, assimilated Romulans, Romulan ears
We are almost at the end of the episode “The end is the beginning”. The action moves to the Artifact. Here Soji confronts the Romulans who had been assimilated and who now pay the price of their nature. For some sort of reason all assimilated Romulans who are detached from the Collective suffer from some sort of mental illness. We see these poor people wandering around as frightened and without having the slightest awareness of themselves, each intent on some manual operation. There are those who play with a “Rubrik's cube”, those who paint, those who read tarot cards.
This is all very strange. Every series, film, novel, comic and game has always presented the Romulans as logical and far from myths and legends, yet one of these is dedicated to the interpretation of the cards. Perhaps having been in the midst of the Collective has changed his way of thinking.
The reference to the "false door" is interesting. In every episode of Star Trek that involved Romulans on their home world, when houses were framed, it was actually possible to notice the false door of the houses, and the fact that Soji talks behind the back of the Romulan I took it as a real blow. as a teacher.
The chat doesn't exactly go well, and storm clouds gather on the horizon for Soji. Meanwhile, after yet another attempt by Narek to manipulate the synthetic girl, he and his sister, "Lieutenant Rizzo", meet again. The relationship between the two is not very clear. More and more it seems that both are part of the Zath Vash, but their intentions are still unknown.
Ponte de "La Sirena" and end of the episode
After the battle on Earth, Jean-Luc and doctor Jurati are teleported to the freighter "La Sirena". Here Picard reunites with Raffi, who, however, immediately makes it clear that he is only there to have a ride to Freecloud and then everyone on his way, as well as scolding him for having brought Agnes to the spaceship without having done a security check on her. Rios, meanwhile, advises the departure.
The captain's chair has a holographic interface similar to the one that Dr. Julian Bashir says he uses in the future, specifically in the episode "The Visitor" of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
The episode ends with the opening music of The Next Generation and Picard saying "Activate". Many memories!
Conclusions on "The end is the beginning"
This episode, like the previous ones, is also very well constructed. Almost all of the foundations have been laid and now I expect that in the next six episodes the story will grow and maintain the level of satisfaction to which we are getting used to. The new characters included are three-dimensional and full of their own backgroud and their own story, which, at times, was lacking in other Star Trek series.
A very pleasant episode, even if the quotes and references to X-Men were wasted!
