Recap / Star Trek: Picard S1E06 "The Impossible Box"

Rehughnion.

It Was A Dark And Stormy Flashback. Young Soji Asha is walking down a hallway clutching a stuffed toy, looking for her father. She enters a laboratory overflowing with orchids, but then a man calls her name. Back in the present, Soji awakens, and mentions to Narek that this has become a recurring dream.

Aboard La Sirena, Dr. Jurati (MD) gives her post-mortem on Bruce Maddox, whose heart simply couldn't take the abuse and who passed of his injuries. They then discuss the Artifact, where Maddox confirmed that Soji is. Elnor, whose Qowat Milat Brutal Honesty training apparently includes being very adept at reading other people's emotions, notes that Picard is not looking forward to visiting a Borg Cube, and Picard admits that his last visit to one was highly involuntary (see TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds"). Jurati points out that the Borg on the Cube have been cut off from the Collective, and may be different in nature, but Picard doubts it: "[The Borg] don't change. They metastasize."

Later, Rios is keeping in shape by kicking a soccer ball around. Jurati comes out, as she has been unable to sleep. Rios asks if she wants to talk about the death of her mentor... but Jurati, if her kissing Rios is any indication, has other things on her mind than talking.

On the Artifact, Narek finds Narissa in his quarters. She's messing with his tan zhekran, the eponymous impossible box (a.k.a. a Romulan Rubik's Cube). She admits that her first impulse with these things is to smash it open to get to the prize, but Narek shows her that if she simply takes the time to understand the darn thing, it will yield its secrets up to her. He relates it to Soji: he believes that her dreams are not some sort of random positronic firing-off, but rather her brain trying to reconcile what she was programmed to believe — that she is a normal muggle human — with reality — that she is a gynoid implanted with Fake Memories. Narek believes that caught somewhere in that maelstrom of forced ignorance is the location of the lab whence Soji, Dahj, and the others (remember, the Zhat Vash are convinced that there are more) came from. Narissa allows him to proceed.

La Sirena is about to leave the Former Romulan Neutral Zone and enter Actual Romulan Space. This will be a treaty violation unless they have a valid reason to be there. After juggling some ideas, particularly Dr. Jurati's (perfectly legitimate) credentials as a cyberneticist, the crew settle on fishing Raffi, drunk, out of her room. Raffi calls an old friend, Emmy, who is still active in Starfleet, and explains the situation— exactly as it is. If Emmy can't get them diplomatic credentials to visit the Artifact in, oh, three hours — yes, Picard did it all on his own, you know what that guy's like — there's going to be an interstellar incident. Emmy, angry, agrees. The crew applauds Raffi as she staggers back to her quarters. Later, Rios visits her to make sure she's okay, and she mentions that she has a son — not to mention a Romulan daughter-in-law and a granddaughter on the way — as a way to castigate herself about being too devoted to business.

Soji is, as Narek indicated, beginning to grow suspicious of her own nature. This increases when Narek mentions that every time she calls her mother, it lasts exactly 70 seconds. (He's not stalking her personally there— all transmissions into and out of a Romulan installation are monitored by procedure.) When she talks to her Mom that night, Mom mentions that she (Soji) must be tired and overworked, and Soji is almost overwhelmed by a need to sleep. When she manages to fight it by poking herself awake, "Mom" repeats the command and Soji passes out. When she wakes up, though, her memory remains. She grabs a scanner and goes through the objects in her room— her childhood diaries, photos of herself and Dahj, the stuffed animal that she was carrying in that opening flashback, the twin-rings necklace that she wears. All of them register as being approximately 37 months old.

The diplomatic credentials that Raffi's friend manages to wrangle up will only cover Picard, who is being sent as an envoy to the Borg Reclamation Project. Picard must go in alone, little though he cares to; he gives explicit orders to Elnor to stay behind. Once aboard the Artifact, flashbacks to his time in the Collective assail him, and he's caught between rampaging Borg drones on one hand and a bottomless drop on the other... until a voice rings out: "They don't want you to fall!" It's Director Hugh, and the Borg drones are actually xBs who just saved Picard from a very nasty fall. The two old friends embrace, and Hugh agrees to bring Picard to Soji.

Soji, shaken, confesses the nature of her belongings to Narek. He offers her a solution: a (normally-Romulans-only) meditation technique called the Zhal Makh. It's essentially a Pensieve Flashback: Soji first relives the dream, including the Catapult Nightmare component, and then, under the guidance of Narek as he continues to fiddle with his tan zhekran, takes control of the memory. Instead of jolting awake when her father yells at her, she presses through the orchids to see a lifesize wooden doll on a work-table... a doll that has her face. Looking up, she sees "two red moons, dark as blood, surrounded by lightning." Narissa, who has been listening in this whole time, congratulates Narek on finding the synth homeworld. Narek then bids Soji a tearful goodbye and locks her in the meditation chamber. He leaves behind only the tan zhekran... which opens to reveal poisonous gas. Mortal danger, as it did for Dahj at the start of the series, triggers Soji's Traumatic Superpower Awakening, and she smashes through the floor of the meditation chamber.

Picard, led by Hugh, apprehends her as she drops through the floor on another level. Basically, the only reason why she even considers following him is that he holds out Dahj's necklace, the twin-ring thing that is only 37 months old. Hugh leads them to the queencell (neither Picard nor Hugh has ever been there before, but the memories are there nonetheless), in which is secured a piece of technology called the Sikarian spatial trajector (see VOY: "Prime Factors"), which can send humanoid-sized objects up to 40,000 LY. Picard orders La Sirena to break orbit and meet them at Nepenthe (wherever that is), and Rios agrees, only to look around and realize: "Where's the kid?"

Romulan mooks arrive, but then so does Elnor's sword. ("I thought I told you stay on the ship!" "Yes. I didn't listen.") He and Hugh, now armed with a disruptor rifle, stay behind to Hold the Line as Picard and Soji escape, and the screen fades to black as the door of the queencell closes.

Elnor: Please, my friends, choose to live.

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Tropes:

• Alien Blood: The Romulans who die by Elnor's tan qalanq squirt green arterial spray.
• Alien Sky: Soji's homeworld has two red moons and constant electrical storms.
• Answer Cut: Immediately after Picard says, "Unless someone has concealed her," the scene switches to a close-up of Narek, who is indeed the person who brought Soji to the Zhal Makh chamber, which has been shielded from the Artifact's internal sensors by the Tal Shiar.
• Badass Boast: Hugh informs Elnor that it will take a few minutes for the Sikarian spatial trajector to power down and to conceal the queencell again, and he asks the young man if he can hold off the approaching Romulan soldiers for that long. Elnor's reply is:
  "I won't need a few minutes. Stay behind me."
• Better the Devil You Know: Hugh informs Picard that any Borg liberated at the Romulan Reclamation Site are prisoners of the Romulan Free State. Although neither of them are happy that the former drones have essentially traded one villainous overseer for another, both Hugh and Picard consider assimilation to be a Fate Worse than Death, so letting the xBs regain their individuality, even if it means that they have little to no personal freedom under the new Romulan government, is still better than the alternative. Between the Borg and the Romulans, the latter are the Lesser of Two Evils— at least it's possible to negotiate with the Romulans, especially now that they no longer have a homeworld. Hugh even puts aside his terror of being on a Borg Cube to be the Executive Director of the Borg Reclamation Project so that he can offer support to the patients during their recovery. (It helps that Hugh is a Federation citizen, so he can leave if he wants; he simply chooses to stay so he can help his de-assimilated brethren, and his protection under the treaty gives him the clout to do so.)
  Hugh: The outcomes are far from ideal.
  Picard: What you're doing is good, Hugh. There's no need for it to be perfect. After all these years, you're showing what the Borg are underneath. They're victims. Not monsters.
  Hugh: Still, we remain the most hated people in the galaxy. Just as helpless and enslaved as before. (whispering to Picard) Only now, our Queen is a Romulan.
• Big Brother Is Watching: As Narek explains to Soji, the Tal Shiar routinely monitors all incoming and outgoing transmissions on any Romulan facility, including the Romulan Reclamation Site. The system automatically flags any anomalies, which is why he knows that Soji's nightly calls to her mother last exactly 70 seconds every single time. The Zhal Makh meditation chamber is also under surveillance.
• Big Damn Heroes: Elnor and his sword show up in time to save Picard, Hugh and Soji from Romulan soldiers. Unlike the last time, however, Picard doesn't scold Elnor for killing their enemies, and he even thanks him for it.
• The Blank: Soji's father appears in her memories this way, which is a clue that they were faked.
• Blatant Lies:
  • Jurati covers up Maddox's murder by claiming that his death was due to the injuries that he had sustained on Freecloud.
  • After Narek sighs in frustration during their Walk and Talk, Soji asks him, "What's wrong?", and his false reply is, "Nothing." She doesn't buy it and follows up with, "Narek, what is it?"
• Brains and Brawn: Narek is the Brain to Narissa's Brawn. Their contrasting natures are evident when they discuss their attitudes towards the tan zhekran, a Romulan puzzle box.
  Narissa: I've never understood your fascination with this toy.
  Narek: It's not a toy. It's a tool. It helps me think.
  Narissa: The only thing it ever made me think of is smashing it open with a hammer to get the prize inside.
  Narek: The key to opening the tan zhekran is taking the time to understand what's keeping it closed. Listen, feel, move each piece ever so slightly, and then once you're sure... (he shows her the tan zhekran with the pieces in the right place)
  Narissa: Am I supposed to be impressed?
  Narek: Patience, sister. A quality you never had. (The tan zhekran then opens)
• Brutal Honesty:
  • Jurati doesn't appreciate Elnor pointing out what she's feeling.
    Elnor: [Picard] can't see that you're also... haunted by something you'd like to forget.
    (Jurati glares at him)
    Elnor: Was I in-butting?
    Jurati: That time, yes. (leaves the room)
  • Narek discloses Soji's true nature to her rather cruelly.
    Narek: Because you're not real. You never were.
• Call-Back:
  • Soji can dream just like Data. As with Data, the dreams are not a glitch, but serve an important purpose.
  • Picard's past as Locutus is brought up. Understandably, he suffers flashbacks after entering the Artifact. Picard is seen reviewing images from "The Best of Both Worlds", and another picture features Hugh when he was still a drone in "I, Borg".
  • Soji keeps her photos in an Adventures of Flotter lunch box, a children's holo-program that Naomi Wildman liked.
  • Narek's puzzle box reveals a poison gas generator, similar to the thalaron radiation generator Shinzon used to assassinate the Romulan Senate. Narek even says that the gas is radioactive.
  • Picard sees the queencell, a chamber from which the Borg Queen controls a Borg vessel.
  • The Borg gained spatial trajector technology after assimilating Sikarians ("Prime Factors").
• Character Development: The interaction between Captain Picard and Hugh wasn't particularly friendly in the past (Hugh had befriended Geordi La Forge instead), but in this episode, they are shown to be genuine friends.
• Civilization Destroyer: Picard invokes this when he furiously disputes Jurati's suggestion that the Romulan-controlled Borg on the Artifact may be different.
  Picard: (outraged) Change? The Borg? They coolly assimilate entire civilizations, entire systems! In a matter of hours! They don't change! They metastasize.
• Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Elnor and Hugh preparing to take on a contingent of Romulan guards while the door to the queencell closes behind them. When the scene cuts to black, Elnor says, "Please, my friends, choose to live."
• Come with Me If You Want to Live: Having just been betrayed to her death by her lover, Soji is understandably reluctant when Picard shows up claiming to be a friend of her father and urges her to come with him. She goes along more because she has no other choice if she wants to get off the Artifact alive.
• Constantly Curious: Elnor's habit of constantly asking questions is alluded to, and he's aware that it exasperates his crewmates.
  Elnor: What Artifact?
  (Picard and Jurati glance at him without answering)
  Elnor: Maybe that's none of my business, I should out-butt.
• Contemplation Location: The Romulan Reclamation Site provides a Zhal Makh meditation chamber for its Romulan employees. There's a winding path painted on the wooden floor, and around it are lanterns. The participant is expected to walk barefoot along the path which represents the "journey into the center of the mind's most intimate space, where deepest truths are hidden."
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Elnor cuts down three Romulan guards with his tan qalanq so quickly that they don't have a chance to pull the trigger on their disruptors.
• Cutting the Knot: While discussing Narek's tan zhekran, Narissa mentions that if it was up to her, she'd just smash it to get the prize inside, rather than take the time to solve the puzzle.
• Deadly Gas: Narek modifies his tan zhekran so that it releases a red poisonous gas that will kill Soji.
• Dirt Forcefield: When Elnor slices through Romulan soldiers like they're butter, there is a lot of arterial spray, yet not a single drop of green blood splashes on him.
• Disapproving Look: Picard is visibly displeased when Raffi takes a hit from her pipe.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • Picard referring to the former Borg drones as victims and not monsters may as well have been referring to rape survivors, refugees, or former child soldiers.
  • The puzzle box looks and works a lot like a Rubik's Cube, and Narissa expresses an all-too-familiar frustration with it.
• Door-Closes Ending: The final shot of the episode is of Hugh and Elnor preparing to hold off Romulan footsoldiers until the Sikarian spatial trajector can power down, with the queencell's chamber door closing over them.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Raffi hits the bottle hard after failing to reconnect with her son. She still manages to be coherent enough to talk a captain into giving Picard diplomatic credentials.
• Dutch Angle: Whenever Soji is dreaming, the angle of the floor slowly tilts from one side to another. When she's taught to take control of her dreams while meditating, this stops.
• Eye Cam: Soji's eyes flicker open when she wakes up from her Forced Sleep, and the framed photograph of herself with Dahj appears hazy.
• Fake Memories: Soji realizes that something is off with her memories after discovering that all her belongings and photographs are 37 months old.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • Picard goes on a tirade over how the Borg never change, although to his credit, once he sees the work that Hugh is doing, he realizes its importance in making people see the xBs as victims, not monsters of the Collective.
  • The Zhal Makh, a form of Romulan meditation, is taboo to non-Romulans.
  • The Romulan pejorative for humans is "round-ears."
• Fell Asleep Crying: Raffi has a tear streaming from the side of her right eye when Rios tucks her into bed, and she dozes off soon afterwards.
• In Love with the Mark: Defied; Narek falls for Soji and tells her his real name (which a Romulan would only disclose to someone that they're in in love with), but duty always comes first for a Romulan (especially for a spy), so he still carries out his orders to murder her, and he cries as she pleads for her life.
• Informed Attractiveness: Hugh describes Narek as a "dashing young Romulan spy."
• Instant Death Stab: The lives of three Romulan guards come to an abrupt end the moment they meet Elnor's blade, which includes at least two slit throats and flying arterial spray.
• Internal Reveal: Raffi tells Rios about her son and his family.
• Irony: The plot in "Prime Factors" centred around the Sikarians refusing to let the crew of Voyager use their spatial trajector technology. Turns out that the Borg just went ahead and took it.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: Narissa corrects herself from calling Soji "she," replacing this with "it" to show her contempt.
  Narissa: You are in love with her. With it. A program, a machine.
• Just a Machine: Narissa contemptuously refers to Soji as merely being this when chiding Narek over his affections for her. This is presumably the general Zhat Vash opinion on synthetics.
• Kill the Ones You Love: Narek follows his orders to terminate Soji despite developing romantic feelings for her.
• Kiss of Death: Narek imparts the symbolic variation to Soji when he kisses her because his plan is to murder her soon after.
• Last Kiss: Narek knows that the kiss he gives to Soji in the Zhal Makh meditation chamber will be the final one that they share, because he's determined to follow his orders to execute her despite his romantic feelings.
• Lens Flare: When Rios and Jurati talk because they can't sleep, the glow of the ship's engines behind them sometimes creates flares on the lens depending on the camera angle.
• Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: Soji takes her boots off and walks barefoot as instructed when she follows a path to find the missing memory inside her. She is forced to flee and teleport out of the Artifact while still barefooted.
• Manchild:
  • Narek still plays with a tan zhekran (a Romulan puzzle box), and Narissa criticizes him for being fascinated with what she considers to be a stupid toy.
    (Narissa fiddles with Narek's tan zhekran)
    Narek: (like an upset child) That's mine. Give it back. You'll break it.
  • Rios invokes this when he inquires about Elnor's whereabouts.
    Rios: Where's the kid?
  • Soji still has the cuddle toy that she had as a child (although that's fake as well).
• Man Hug: When Hugh and Picard meet on the Artifact, they warmly embrace each other.
• Manly Tears: Narek's eyes become very red and he sheds tears after leaving Soji to die.
• Match Cut: When Picard is looking at a projected image of himself as Locutus of Borg, there's a camera shot that lines up the face of Locutus with that of Picard.
• Meaningful Look: Rios and Jurati glance at each other because they had slept together the night before, but they're not subtle about it because Elnor immediately notices their shared gaze and remarks, "The obvious tension between you makes me uneasy."
• Multiple Reference Pun: The episode title could refer to Narek's puzzle box, the Artifact itself, or Soji. Narek compares her to his tan zhekran, being something that takes time and patience to examine while he figures out her inner workings.
• Never Bring a Gun to a Knife Fight: Contrary to the claim of a Romulan thug in "Absolute Candor", Elnor proves that a tan qalanq is indeed a match for an energy weapon in the hands of a Master Swordsman, because he slays three Romulan soldiers armed with disruptors in a few seconds with only his sword. He moves and reacts more swiftly than his foes, so they're dead before they can fire a single shot.
• No OSHA Compliance: Not that one would expect workplace safety on a Borg Cube, but Picard very nearly falls to his death because there are platforms with no guardrails over a vast chasm.
• No Time to Explain: When Hugh asks Picard to elaborate on what Soji really is, the latter insists that there's no time because it's urgent that they locate her first.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Hugh doesn't see much of a distinction between the Borg Queen and the Romulans in terms of how the (ex-)drones are treated.
  Hugh: Still, we remain the most hated people in the galaxy. Just as helpless and enslaved as before. Only now, our Queen is a Romulan.
• Obligatory Earpiece Touch: Narek taps his earpiece twice as he warns the Romulan Reclamation Site's head of security that Employee badge 74983 stroke 2 is extremely dangerous after Soji escapes from the Zhal Makh meditation chamber.
• Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Hugh has hopes that Picard will take up the cause of the xBs on the diplomatic stage, but Picard has a guilty expression given his past failures and uncertain future.
• Overcrank: Elnor attacks two out of three Romulan guards in slow-motion so that the audience can see in detail the arterial spray spewing from their necks and how brutal it is to die by his tan qalanq.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: For once, Narek comes out on top in his interactions with his sister.
• Perfect Solution Fallacy: Soundly defied when Picard sees the work being done at the Borg Reclamation Project. Having admitted two episodes ago that he "allowed the perfect to become the enemy of the good," he commends Hugh for doing an imperfect job the best way he can.
  Picard: What you're doing is good, Hugh. There's no need for it to be perfect.
• Poison Is Evil: Narek subjects Soji to a slow and painful death by exposing her to a toxic gas. What makes his action even more disturbing and reprehensible is that he's In Love with the Mark, yet he would still kill his beloved in this fashion.
• P.O.V. Cam: We get a brief glimpse of what the world looks like through Hugh's eyes after he says, "Out of the way, please." There are green Borg graphics which pepper his field of vision.
• Ransacked Room: Picard and Hugh find Soji's room like this; it's a variation where the person who owns the room is doing the ransacking, as she keeps scanning all her personal items and discovers that they're all the same age.
• Recurring Dreams: After Soji abruptly wakes up and startles Narek in bed, she apologizes to him and explains that she had a weird dream, and that she keeps having it.
• Refuge in Audacity: Raffi secures diplomatic credentials for Picard to visit the Romulan Reclamation Site by contacting a Starfleet captain and flat-out telling her that Picard will arrive at the Artifact in three hours no matter what, meaning that if she doesn't fork up the credentials, the incident might start a war between the Romulan Free State and the Federation.
• Releasing from the Promise: Subverted; Picard wants Elnor to accompany him and escape the Artifact by stepping through the Sikarian spatial projector, so the former releases the latter from his qalankhkai pledge to protect Picard with his life. However, Elnor declines to be released and resolves to stay behind so that the Romulans cannot trace where Picard and Soji have gone.
• Right in Front of Me: While talking to her friend Emmy, Raffi drops some casual insults regarding Picard, who's sitting just off to the side out of viewscreen range.
  Raffi: You know Picard. Every part of that guy that's not ego is rampaging id.
  (Picard raises both his eyebrows in surprise)
• Robo Cam: There is a shot of Hugh's point of view, and the Borg technology that is still embedded within him can analyze life forms, objects, and the surrounding environment more accurately than human or Romulan eyes can. For instance, he can see Borg Holographic Terminals on the Artifact that are invisible to everyone else who doesn't have a Borg ocular implant.
• Sarcasm Mode: Rios doesn't have much faith in Picard's ability to slip past the massive security at the Romulan Reclamation Site and not get killed in the process.
  Rios: In a few hours, we'll be crossing out of the old neutral zone and into Romulan space... which puts us in breach of galactic treaty. But I'm fine with that because I know that you have a plan for how to access a restricted Romulan research facility on a Borg Cube crawling with Tal Shiar, without authorization. Also, without dying.
• Sex for Solace: After murdering Maddox, Jurati sleeps with Rios, although he naturally thinks that it's just because she's upset about his death.
• Shirtless Scene: Rios is bare-chested when practicing soccer moves.
• Sinister Surveillance: While standing in a different room with a Holographic Terminal, Narissa can see and hear everything that goes on in the Zhal Makh meditation chamber while Narek guides Soji during a session.
• Slashed Throat: At least two out of three Romulan guards die in this manner when Elnor severs their jugular vein with his tan qalanq, and green arterial spray gushes out from their wounds.
• Spotting the Thread: Hugh is quick to note that Picard would not suddenly come to the Artifact after all these years for whatever official purpose he claimed, then promises to help however he can.
• Stealth Expert: The Romulan guards don't notice at all that Elnor is on the ceiling above them until he leaps down and lands just behind them, taking them by surprise. He carves up all three of them with his tan qalanq before they can fire a single shot from their disruptors.
• Stunned Silence: Picard, Soji, and Hugh are dead quiet for a few moments after Elnor saves them from three Romulan soldiers, whom he butchers with his sword, which causes his victims to unleash a fair amount of arterial spray.
• Tears of Joy: A newly freed ex-Borg breaks down in tears at seeing his face mostly restored to normal.
• Technicolor Toxin: The Deadly Gas that Narek has chosen to kill Soji with is red.
• Terrifying Rescuer: While experiencing traumatic memories on the Artifact, Picard sees two Borg grab him and starts fighting them until it turns out that they're xBs pulling him away from a bottomless chasm.
  Hugh: They don't want you to fall!
• Tomato in the Mirror: Soji learns that she isn't "real," although the particulars are left out given the current situation and Picard promises to fill her in.
• Trauma Button: For Picard, the bad memories start coming back en route to the Artifact, making him increasingly agitated and snappish. Then he sees a picture of himself as Locutus, leaving him stunned speechless and instinctively touching his face where there used to be lots of Borg components. Things go way downhill for him after he beams onto the Artifact and his mind is assaulted with flashbacks of his time as Locutus. At one point, he can barely stand and would've fallen into a chasm if he wasn't grabbed by two xBs.
• Understatement: Emmy summarizes the bad blood between the Federation and the Romulans in a single sentence.
  Emmy: The Romulans are in a 250-year bad mood.
• Walk and Talk:
  • Narek and Soji discuss her nightly calls to her mother as they're walking in a large hallway on the Artifact.
  • While having a conversation about how unpleasant it is to be on a Borg Cube again, Hugh guides Picard through the maze-like corridors that are part of the Borg Reclamation Project.
• We Do Not Know Each Other: A Romulan subcommander tries to stop Narek from taking Soji into the meditation chamber for xenophobic reasons, and Narek threatens to arrange for his demotion if he doesn't stand aside. Turns out that the subcommander is a Tal Shiar operative, and the exchange was arranged so that Soji won't realize that she's being Lured into a Trap.
• You Are Number 6: Soji's numerical designation at the Romulan Reclamation Site is Employee badge 74983 stroke 2, and Narek identifies her as such when he notifies the security chief that she's hostile.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: After Narek gains information from Soji about her homeworld, he locks her inside a room and tries to kill her with his puzzle box, in which he had placed a tiny canister that emits a poisonous radioactive gas. Fortunately for Soji, her android strength activates and she escapes by punching her way through the floor.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Raffi grabs a bottle and flees the bridge when Picard starts clapping after she arranges his diplomatic credentials, having just alienated someone else in her life to do so.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Elnor and Hugh stay on the Artifact to hold off pursuit while Picard and Soji escape, also ensuring that there is enough time for the Sikarian spatial trajector to shut down and be concealed again before the Romulans can find it and trace Picard and Soji's destination.

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