“Assimilation” is the third episode of the second season of the TV show “Star Trek: Picard” and follows “Penance“. It’s available in the USA on the Paramount+ streaming platform and in many other countries on Amazon Prime Video.

Note. This article contains some spoilers about “Assimilation”.

Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his group must escape the forces of the Confederation in order to proceed with the plan to find the origin of the divergence in history that led to that dystopia. To do this, the onboard systems of the starship La Sirena must be connected to the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching), what could go wrong?

I was afraid that the cliffhanger from the previous episode would be resolved in 30 seconds. It took a couple of minutes but that’s not particularly comforting. This season seems to continue to use elements of the plot already seen, which are sometimes just trite clichés, to focus on the characters, their emotions, and their interactions. In this episode, the problem is above all that we only see an important moment in the relationship between Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd) and Elnor (Evan Evagora), which presumably became important in the period not covered in the show. In the first season, this kind of development that was missing significant parts was one of the problems.

References to the past of Star Trek also continue, to the point that the episode could be titled “The Voyage Home”. I guess everyone remembers where La Sirena got “parked”. Director Lea Thompson also has some experience with this type of storyline.

I was also expecting references to “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” double episode “Past Tense” but for now the problems existing in 2024 are shown to us in a fairly generic way with events and situations that, sadly, are common. The cliffhanger suggests further developments for this part of the plot as well. To indicate this moment as the one in which human history can move towards a xenophobic dystopia goes beyond the typical social commentary existing in Star Trek with roots that go far back, including in literature, with cautionary tales.

The very brief appearance of Q (John de Lancie) and even more the search for the mysterious Watcher, who is supposed to provide the clues necessary to put history back on the right track, indicate some elements for the developments we’ll see in the next episodes. “Assimilation” continues to show a well-crafted story but too much based on fanservice and on really obvious plot elements.