Seven and Raffi return to La Sirena to try and hunt down Dr. Jurati, who is not answering her combadge. However, when they try to run a scan, they find themselves locked out of the ship's systems. Seven recognizes the encryption as Borg, and is able to decode it; surveillance systems show Jurati, in her red dress from the gala, introducing the encryption. By using Los Angeles traffic cams, they find a place where Jurati smashed out a bar's window, and Seven identifies the endorphin rush that the Borg Queen is using to power herself up. "We need Picard," she pronounces.
Rios is assigned to run interference with Teresa and her son Ricardo, whom she could not find a babysitter for. She is a bit irked that these strangers are using her clinic to do... Whatever it is they're doing, and freaked out when Rios calls for a neural stabilizer for Teresa to use on Picard, and it's beamed directly into his hands. However, the Unresolved Sexual Tension between them is thick, and Rios makes a good impression on Ricardo (and an impression on Teresa) by beaming the three of them to La Sirena.
Picard is trapped in his own mind, remembering a Starfleet-mandated psychiatric evaluation run by a therapist (guest star James Callis). The therapist questions why Picard is unwilling to open up, and Picard begins telling a story about a queen who loved to tell stories — his mother, Yvette Picard. Maman was scared of monsters, and would sometimes take young Jean-Luc to hide from them... including in the tunnels under the estate (established in a previous episode as dating back to World War II), against the strictures of her husband Maurice, who often took on the role of the monster. The implication is that Picard's father, whom Picard described in TNG as being distant at the best of times, physically abused his wife. Into this memory is inserted Tallinn, using her jury-rigged mind meld. She helps play out the scenario, and eventually it links with that of Picard and the psychiatrist — who, in Picard's uncontrolled subconscious, is "played" by Maurice. Maurice helps him understand the truth: that Yvette's bipolar disorder was largely uncontrolled, and that Maurice was forced to restrict her movements after she endangered their son one too many times. Picard is left with a better understanding of his father. Tallinn is left with an understanding that this is not the end of the story.
Returning to consciousness, Picard realizes that Q's investment in humanity's trial is far too strong to be anything but personal. He decides to find out what that investment is, and turns to the only person he knows who can summon a Q: Guinan the El-Aurian. Unfortunately for them, the ritual does not work. Even worse, it does seem to summon someone: an unassuming everyman who drops by the bar to drink. He reveals himself to be an FBI Agent and has Picard and Guinan taken into custody.
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion: This isn't the first time that Jay Karnes played a law enforcement officer, or dealt with time travellers. Or played a law enforcement officer who dealt with time travellers.
- This isn't the first time James Callis played a figment of an android's imagination.
- Call-Back:
- When Tallinn enters Picard's mind, she hears echoes of his dialogues from certain TNG episodes.
- Rios tells Teresa that he didn't really know his dad, so he seeks out father figures. That's exactly how he felt about his former CO, Alonso Vandermeer.
- When the FBI agent shows up right after Guinan performs the summoning ritual, she uses the hand gesture from "Q Who" to see if he's a Q.
- Dramatic Drop: Teresa and Ricardo drop their coffee cup and toy ship respectively when Rios beams them aboard La Sirena.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Picard realizes that whatever is going on is actually about Q.
- Foreign Cuss Word: Teresa warns Ricardo that she's going to swear at Rios, but the worst she says is the Spanish equivalent of "Goddamn".Ricardo: You didn't even use the good swear words!
- Identical Grandson: Tallinn reveals herself to actually be Romulan; Picard theorizes that she is indeed related to Laris in some way.
- Jaw Drop: Rios finally decides to tell Teresa and Ricardo the whole truth and beams them onto his ship. Teresa's jaw practically drops to the floor along with her coffee mug in utter surprise.
- Madwoman in the Attic: Picard's mother was apparently this, although Tallinn thinks there's more to the story before Picard wakes and breaks the mind link.
- Mama Bear: Teresa warns Rios:Teresa: If you're lying, and I brought you around my son... they will never find the body.
- Mythology Gag: Once again, someone from the future is from Earth, but only works in outer space.Teresa: Are you from outer space?
Rios: No, I'm from Chile. I just work in outer space. - No-Sell:
- Guinan attempts to summon Q with much sturm und drang, Screen Shake, flickering lights, Dramatic Shattering of bottles, etc. And then it... completely fails to work. Guinan is flabbergasted and at a loss for words, in a way that communicates that this means something very strange is going on.
- The bar patron who turns out to be an FBI Agent is having none of Guinan's and Picard's attempts at deflecting and laughing off the footage of Picard beaming onto the street in front of her bar.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Seven and Raffi find out that Jurati had locked down La Sirena's computer system with Borg encryption.
- Seven realizes that the Borg Queen is still creating endorphins in order to accelerate the process of turning Jurati into the new Borg Queen — which could lead to the Borg assimilating everyone on Earth.
- Picard and Guinan realize, too late, that the unassuming guy in the bar is actually an FBI agent who promptly places them under arrest.
- The Reveal:
- Picard's mother was suffering from mental illness.
- The Q and the El-Aurians warred in the past, before hashing out a peace treaty. How exactly this worked isn't explained, though it does explain why Q reacted to Guinan the way he did back in TNG.
- Shaped Like Itself:Picard (reluctantly telling the psychologist a story): Once upon a time, there was a queen, with fiery red hair.Psychologist: Like the sun. That's very good. Carry on.Picard: And she was... female.Psychologist: ...telling stories is not really your thing, is it?
- Undercover Cop Reveal: An intruding FBI agent shows up in Guinan's bar this way and places her and Picard under arrest.
- You Monster!: Picard (both old Picard and young flashback Picard) call Maurice a monster for what he did to Yvette. Maurice reveals that the truth isn't what Picard remembered.
