Review of 'Star Trek: Picard' 2.2

Star Trek: Picard 2.2 was dominated by two very different villains: Q and the Borg Queen.

Q, as ever, is a combination of witty, philosophically savvy talk, and seemingly effortless fundamental reality-shifting alterations of the universe. He irritates, frustrates, enrages Picard, who starts out, in these encounters, being Q's pawn or victim, thrust into an alternate reality not of Picard's making or liking, yet figuring out a way to get back to where he belongs, sooner or later. At this point in the second season, we're just at the first phase of that two-part process.

And the most frightening part of that first phase is the presence of the Borg Queen. I've always seen the Borg as the most frightening entity we humans have ever encountered in the universe. Picard was a centerpiece of their destruction. He still hasn't totally recovered from his experience of being assimilated by them, and he likely never will. He certainly doesn't want another interaction with them, which raises the question of why Q would place him in this position in the new reality Picard now inhabits.

Which brings the whole second season, at this point just two episodes in, back to Q and his inscrutable motives. Best case scenario is Q is deploying Picard to destroy the Borg totally, once and forever, or if not that, neutralizing them so can't do any damage, in any form. Of course, this raises the question of why doesn't Q -- or someone else on the Q Continuum -- take care of that little piece of nasty business him or herself? And that, in turn, returns us to the question of who or what exactly is Q?

Such questions are fine by me -- I'm glad Q is already more than a cameo in this season -- and I'll see you back here next week with my review of episode 2.3.