7x22 Bloodlines

[7.2/10] I wonder what kind of parent Jean-Luc Picard would be. For many impressionable young viewers, he was sort of a parasocial “Space Uncle,” with a mature, wizened approach to almost every problem imaginable. We’ve seen him use that knowledge and insight to guide young people like Wesley Crusher. Even in the rockier, pricklier days of the show’s first season, outside officers affirmed that he ran the Enterprise like a family.

But we also know he had a difficult relationship with his own father. We’ve seen the way he’s long been uncomfortable, sometimes outright disdainful, in the presence of children. Who knows how his intellectual diplomat approach to the galaxy would sync up with the unpredictable energy and self-possessed recalcitrance of a child.

Outside of his interludes with Wesley (and his meaningful experience in “The Inner Light”), “Bloodlines” is the closest we’ll ever come to finding out. Daimon Bok, the vengeful Ferengi we first met in season 1’s “The Battle”, returns with another plot to take his pound of flesh from Captain Picard. This time, Bok’s plan is to avenge his son by killing Picard’s own son, Jason Vigo, who Jean-Luc is only learning about now.

Dun dun duuuuun. I’m being glib there, but it’s a solid teaser. The episode channels The Wrath of Khan in the shock of a man who devoted his life to his ship and his career discovering a child he never knew about until now. Picard isn’t Kirk, so it’s less natural to expect a heretofore unknown offspring to come out of the woodwork. But we know from “Tapestry” that the stoic dignified officer now aboard the Enterprise-D was once a young, impetuous heartbreaker, so it’s plausible as a youthful event.

Setting aside questions of plausibility, the episode’s greatest strength is an awkward but well-intentioned Captain Picard trying to be a father to a twenty-three-year-old young man who didn’t know of his existence either. Jason Vigo, the apparent product of a passionate two-week dalliance, is not much like the fifty-something, decorated leader of men he encounters in the transporter room.

If anything, Jason’s more like the Outrageous Okona, a scruffy rogue and occasional ne’er-do-well who’s mainly interested in how he can take advantage of the situation or romance the distaff members of the crew. To his mind, he’s gotten by fine without a dad so far, and doesn’t need one now. For his part, Picard’s reluctant to press the issue, even as he’d like to make-up for lost time with the son whose missteps he blames on himself.

So he turns to Beverly, and it’s nice that, whether it’s Data or Jean-Luc or others aboard the ship, she’s a font of candid, parental advice to all aspiring caregivers. She asks Picard whether giving Jason space is what’s best for Jason or what’s easiest for him. The question is enough for Jean-Luc to make the effort to forge a connection, despite their differences and the awkwardness and scars of the situation.

Of course, he also has to protect Jason from a dangerous Ferengi with a grudge who’s trying to kill him for his parentage. I want to like the Bok storyline. I really do. It’s neat to bring back a villain from the show’s first season (even if it’s a different actor under the lobes this time). The notion that even the events of “The Battle” wouldn’t stop a father still understandably bitter and angry over the loss of his son. And it’s good that there’s some threat or problem to be solved amid Jean-Luc and Jason’s reunion, since it adds urgency to an otherwise languid hour.

It’s a struggle to like this element of the episode, though. Bok is essentially a Batman villain. He spends more time taunting Picard than actually executing his plan. You can excuse some of that as Bok trying to psychologically twist the knife in his foe before striking the killing blow. But there’s never much in the way of escalation on the part of the Ferengi, or of build from the crewmembers trying to figure out where he is and what his methods are. They’re a perfunctory part of the proceedings, and it shows.

The only interesting element is the idea that Bok is willing to use risky subspace transporter methods to beam back and forth over long distances to screw with Picard, a sign of his desperation and determination. (Shades of the terrorists using “inter-dimensional travel” in “The High Ground”.) Even then, it’s a mechanical explanation for a mechanical problem, without much in the way of juice or cleverness.

Picard’s efforts to bond with Jason thankfully has more impact. He handles a delicate situation in the gentle, giving manner you’d expect. He doesn’t push Jason, but he makes clear that he would have been there for his son if he’d known. He does his best to find common ground between them, despite their different lives. At base, he’s simply empathetic with the young man, coming to him from a place of care above all else, which is what characterizes the softer side of an occasionally stoic man.

Jason is rough around the edges. He’s understandably a little frazzled about finding out that 1. He has a living father he never knew about 2. That dad is a bigwig on an intergalactic starship and 3. One of his enemies is trying to kill you. The luxury of the Enterprise is out of step with a life where he had to scrape by with only things that have value if you can eat or trade them. And between losing his compassionate, charitable mom and growing up in a rough place, he’s had his run-ins with the law and failures along the way.

That’s why the best scene in the whole episode comes when he and Picard bond in the holodeck after rock climbing. Jason speaks lovingly of his mother. Jean-Luc speaks about how he doesn’t care about Jason’s past transgressions, only about caring for his son. There’s a moment of understanding that bridges their differences, and even an amusing crack about Jason never looking at his hairline the same way again. (It’s worth noting that Jason looks like the lovechild of Jim Carey and Kyle MacLachlan, and sounds like Timothy Olyphant.) The scene’s founded on the idea that love and compassion can cut through difference, and it’s a wholesome thought.

Of course, this is Star Trek, so it turns out there’s a crazy sci-fi explanation for everything. As part of his plot, Bok somehow resequenced Jason’s DNA. (Don’t ask how, it’s effectively handwaved.) The scene that ensues, where Picard uses experimental transporter technology to beam aboard Bok’s ship in the hope of rescuing Jason from his clutches, is a strong one. Picard is as steely as ever, and turns Bok’s conspirator shipmates against him by informing them there’s no profit and no ransom in the deal. The idea of a Ferengi more motivated by vengeance than acquisition remains interesting, and Picard using that as leverage to free his erstwhile offspring is clever.

But what makes the scene moving is that, by that point, Picard knows that Jason isn’t his son, and still risks his life to save him. I’ll admit, I remembered the twist from childhood, but that just makes it extra heartening that Jean-Luc will go to such lengths for Jason. Even if he’s not Picard’s son, he’s the child of someone admirable that Picard once cared for and someone Jean-Luc himself has come to care for in the brief time they spend together. The fact that he gives Jason the prayer stick the young man half-chuckled about earlier is a sign of that, and Jason’s touched acceptance and sign of their mutual understanding and attachment. It’s touching to see two people bond with one another like this, even under such unusual circumstances.

There’s a small look Patrick Stewart does at the end of the episode, looking away for just a moment after Jason beams off the ship. You can import whatever you want into that moment. Stewart’s a good enough actor that he conveys the sense of internal thought, the captain mulling something over in the aftermath of an experience, with some creditable ambiguity from the writers and directors as to what.

But I’d like to think it’s that for all his hesitance about family and the strangeness of the situation, Picard was glad to have a son, however briefly, and is sad to now lose one. Plenty of Picard stories before and since have examined the road not traveled, the family life Jean-Luc sacrificed in the name of his duty and his career. I suspect, despite that sacrifice, he’d be a pretty darn good parent, if his brief interlude with Jason is any indication. And maybe, now that he’s stepped into the role for a spell, he’s wondering what kind of father he’d be too.