Star Trek: Picard (2020–…): Season 2, Episode 8 - Mercy - full transcript

Previously on
Star Trek: Picard...

I think I'll steer
the ship for a while.

No. Wait...

- I'm in control.
- Not anymore.

A Borg Queen loose
in Los Angeles.

She's not the Borg
Queen-- don't say that.

Nanoprobes multiply,
Queen gets stronger.

Less and less Jurati.

We're witnessing
the birth of a new queen.

We're supposed
to save the future,

but we might've just doomed it.



- My life's work.
- You're scaring me.

I let myself believe
you were the one.

You'd make it.

Why don't I remember this?

Or any of these?

This one will be the last.

I will do anything

to make sure she survives.

Kore.

Dad, what did you do?

He's saying it's about me,

but it's deeply urgent to him.

That's unexpected.

You can't really want me
to summon a Q?



It didn't work.

We're closed.

One drink and I'm out
of your hair, please?

We could all use a dash of extra

with all this ordinary.

What is this?
Law enforcement.

I'm gonna need you two
to come with me.

Oh, finally!

Uh, it's, uh, Wells, isn't it?

I...

Uh, don't worry.

It's just an interview.

I don't like the word
"interrogation."

All right.

Let's see.

Question one.

Are you
an extraterrestrial life-form?

I can truly say...

I am not.

What are you writing?

Well, you're laughing,
so I'm making note

that your species has humor.

This is absurd.

Look, we have cooperated

and now we'd like to leave.

You can leave as soon as you
tell me about your plans

to sabotage the Europa mission.

And there it is.

This guy is buckets of crazy.

This is super "off the books."

We're in a basement

with a bunch
of broken filing cabinets.

That camera's
not even plugged in.

You're right.

This is super "off the books."

In fact, no one even knows
you're here.

In this FBI field office
basement.

And things do tend
to disappear down here.

Hopes, dreams.

As of today,

aliens.

♪

♪

♪

♪

We tracked Jurati to a dive bar.

- Okay, I'm coming to you.
- No!

No, you got to stay
on La Sirena.

Are you out of your mind?!
There's a Borg Queen...

loose in L.A.

You think I don't know
how bad this could go?

It's 2024.

People have trouble
with revolving doors.

They can't handle a Borg Queen.

She's more than a Borg Queen.

Agnes is in there.

Maybe.

You need to go through
every operating system

and make sure she didn't
Borgify anything else.

And figure out a way to contain

her majesty once we find her.
Out.

Abnormal life signs,
but they're too far away,

- or diminished to pinpoint.
- So she's anywhere

in a 15-block radius?

That's not good enough.

You're gonna have
to Borg up, lady.

No cranial implant equals

no Borg proximity transceiver--
I can't track her.

I meant analog-- you are her.

Loose with legs.

What do you do?

I don't know, Raffi.

I'm not Borg.

You are Seven, right?

And who is that exactly to you?

You know what? Never mind. Hey!

Uh, could I ask
about your window?

You a cop?

You don't want to talk
to the police?

I've seen how they deal
with nutcases.

Not exactly delicate.

That's why I want to find her

before the police do.
She's not well.

No shit.

She's my sister.

We're trying to get her into
a facility. If you could help...

She left here with a guy.

Big, red beard.

Which way?

She went that,
turned the corner.

Thanks.

- How's that for analog?
- I...

Believe me, we would be thrilled

to see the rocket
safely launch tomorrow.

Uh-huh.

I've got a lady friend
with the city,

shoots me an email
anytime something odd

pops up on the CCTV.

Like when someone shimmers into
existence on a downtown street.

Dropped your image
into our database.

And, uh... boom!

One of six known trespassers
at the Europa Gala.

I put this all together--
I think, why would aliens

crash a gala
for a space mission?

You don't seem like the kind
of guy they send in

to break terrorists.

Not getting
"FBI's Top Interrogator" vibes.

Something else put you
in that chair?

Tell me, Agent Wells...

...what makes you
the man for this job?

Think of me as just
a good, old-fashioned,

dedicated civil servant.

Work a lot.

Don't sleep.

Comes in all wrinkled
with your huge mug of coffee.

I'm a bartender.

I've seen your kind before.

This is personal.

That's, uh... quite a bruise

on your hand, sir.
Looks like it's from an IV.

I was dehydrated.

After all, I'm only human.

You certainly are.

Thank you, folks.

That'll be all for now.

If he believes
that we are tampering

with the Europa Mission,

then Q has no need to stop Renée

from boarding the ship at all.
The authorities

will just simply scrub

the whole launch.

And we will have
broken the future

on our own.

Frustration got
the better of me.

I know now...

this one will be the last.

I need to get in there.

Aspectus, extrapolate 2D video

to 3D environment.

What are you hiding, Dad?

Patience, mon petit.

Who the hell are you?

A friend. A fire-starter.

A simulacra--

a living program--
planted here

when I hacked
into your father's system.

Waiting for you to arrive
at this very moment.

So close to the answers
you seek.

I'm sorry
the others didn't make it.

Looks like you were
the strongest of the bunch.

That's a human genome.

What was he...?

Am I...?

Am I an experiment?

He created you.

But locked you in a prison.

I'm sending you the key.

Are you brave enough to use it?

Delivery available
in environ-safe airlock.

People are so easy
when they trust you.

I knew exactly
what to say to that guy.

It's like his face was a map.

- No wonder I'm president.

Shit.

Doesn't mean Jurati's
not in there somewhere,

- trying to fight.
- Well, if she is,

she's losing.

I'd want nothing.

In her shoes.

I'd want nothing except...

that connection.

If you felt it,
it's hard to think of anything

except... getting it back.

It's good. Good, just...
all right, all right.

Just-just keep going.

She hasn't been able
to assimilate or we'd know.

She can't have what she wants,
so she...

tried to recreate
that feeling of connection.

One-on-one.

Mm, why kill him?

Because it didn't work.

She didn't feel anything
one-on-one.

It wasn't enough.

She grew frustrated, angry.

Took it out on...
what couldn't satisfy her.

Wow.

I mean,
that's incredibly spot on.

Can you not?

That I can "access her,"
it's not impressive.

- You could just be a little less

happy that I'm defective.

Okay, I-I'm gonna try not
to take you personally now--

You manipulate.

Everyone has to be exactly
where Raffi wants them.

You think we don't see it,
but we all do.

This is probably his phone.

What's in cell phone batteries?

Um, uh, here.

Um...

Lithium ions.

They're a-a stabilizing metal.

High energy storage--
whoa, whoa, hey.

You all right?

When you're assimilated,
the Borg inject you

with stabilizing metals, so your
body can handle nanoprobes.

I can still remember the smell.

I was six.

I can taste it now.

If we can't contain her...

are we gonna have
to kill Jurati?

Jurati!

That's it, stop!

No...

No!

The thing is,
obsession's only obsession

until it pays off.

Then it's diligence.

Sorry... what?

IV bruise.

Clearly you wouldn't
have gone to a hospital.

So I got to thinking clinic,

clinic-- where have I
heard that recently?

You know who else went
to a clinic?

Your buddy.

He was arrested during
a Homeland Security raid there.

He also made this, uh...

completely innocuous statement.

Would you mind reading it
out loud?

"I'm stuck back
in a particularly

"primitive past,
trying to correct the timeline

"with a ragtag group of misfits,
including one cybernetic queen

"that I'm fairly certain is
just in it to wipe out

"all of humanity
with her old cohort...

"...a crusty old admiral who,
if I understand it correctly,

is now a flesh-and-blood robot."

Well, clearly
he has been subjected

to barbaric
interrogation techniques.

So, couple of things.

Wiping out humanity?

Be good to circle back to that.

And... I just had

said clinic searched.

How long you think it's gonna be

before my guys figure out
this technology's

not from Earth, hmm?

Ma'am.

If you wouldn't mind
accompanying

my colleague down the hall?

I'm gonna focus on your uncle.

This is Spaceman Sonic
to Planet Mars.

You can run, but you can't hide.

Pew, pew, pew, pew!

Launch missiles!

Hey, no.

Are you sure this is okay?

Oh, he can't hurt anything.

Ship's in diagnostic mode
for another hour

rooting around for any stowaway

Borg subroutines.

You guys hungry?

Anything you want.

Anything?

- Four cakes!
- Ricardo!

Oh.

- Mmm.
What's your life like...

- together?
- Chaos.

The effect of which
will surely...

screw him up
in a potpourri of ways.

I work so much.

when I get home, I just let him
stay up in my bed watching TV.

He's a nut.

He loves cooking shows.

I had a different upbringing.

Boundaried.

Reserved.

I'm not perfect,
but I'm not that.

He's a nine-year-old
who's obsessed with plants.

You're...

How about you?

I'll never see you again.

I would like to have more
in my memory bank

than all the times
I saved your ass.

I'd like to think
we saved each other.

At this bar,
you tell me something.

About yourself.

I've known you
for ten years, and it just...

...it brings me to tears.

I never knew that.

That's what I want you
to tell me now.

Before you fly away.

A fundamental, deepest truth

that, in another life,

it took me
a decade to learn about you.

That, um...

the moment I fell for you...

I...

Mom?

My tummy hurts.

Your fault.

♪

Details!

What are your intentions
regarding the Europa mission?

None, I assure you.

I'm not naive.

I know I'm out-brained.

You found Earth,
speak the language.

Clearly you're eons
more advanced.

But listen to me.

Everyone has pain receptors.

Your alien tech?

Paperwork's been filed.

Other people know now.

So talking to me is
as good as it gets.

The boys up the line arrive,

they get their answers
another way.

Then they cut you into pieces,

shove you under a microscope,

and the gist of your existence

will be redacted report
and rumor.

They are coming.

And to them,

you're nothing
but a pig in a jar.

This way, sir.

You?

You summoned me?

You must be Q.

Took your damn time.

And you are that multi-celled,
sanctimonious,

droning shrew known as Guinan.

Right, it's the 21st century.

Our paths have yet to cross.

I thought
the summoning didn't work.

"Summoning"?

The summoning is
a sacred ritual.

Not a chat by which you bipeds

exchange the nauseating minutiae

of your pathetic lives.

When the ritual stalled,
I felt something.

Emptiness and fear.

I thought it was me.

But it wasn't.

I feel it on you.

You're dying.

Another quality
I sincerely loathe

about your species.

Empathy.

I knew you could
kill each other.

- But otherwise, aren't you...
- Immortal?

So I believed.

Yet now...

for the first time as I look

across the temporal horizon,

it darkens.

You think I'm dying.

I prefer to believe
that I am on the threshold

of the unknowable.

When I first I felt it,

I thought to myself,
"This is good.

This is new."

Infinite life, after all,
has its drawbacks.

And so I prepared myself

to be enveloped in the warm

glow of meaning.

Well, that moment

has yet to come.

Not even a glimmer.

Dying stars burn brighter

as they spin towards extinction.

I, on the other hand,
seem to be simply

disappearing...

into nothing.

Why do you think it took me
so long to get here?

That's why
you walked in here today?

Why you're using humans
as your game pieces?

You see that?

I'm honestly trying
to vaporize you at this moment.

This thing you're doing
to Picard,

it's how you're hoping

to find... meaning in your life?

I now have a lifetime.

Can a single act
redeem a lifetime?

Why bring him to the past?

I did not bring him
into the past.

He did that on his own.

There are many forms
of time travel.

But he's trapped here.

The trap... is immaterial.

It's the escape that counts.

I'll see you when I see you...
unfortunately.

Humans.

They're all trapped in the past.

Hey.

Last night, uh...

Was all your talk
of fixing me a lie?

Because no matter what...

...I was never going to leave
this house, was I?

Like Persephone?

Persephassa?

Despoina?

Prosperina?

Like Kore.

Different names
for the same girl.

Daughter of Zeus.

Father of the gods.

My creator.

Explain your experiment...

Dr. Soong.

Technically...

...you were

created through somatic

nuclear cell transfer
and gestated

in a proprietary medium.

How many before me?

Lives of the first dozen were...

measured in hours.

The next few in days.

Your predecessor

almost made it
to her fourth birthday.

And then came you.

I did everything,

sacrificed everything for you.

You should've died
before you were six.

But when you didn't,

when you continued to live
despite defects--

to thrive--

I couldn't help but hope.

And with hope

came success!

I mean, look at you.

"Success"?

- Not love?
- Well...

of course I love you.

Stop! You don't.

You love your work!

You told me stories of a mother.

It made you happy.

It wasn't real!

"Real"?

Real?

Reality is a construct
of simple-minded fools,

who can't function
in the absence of boundaries.

Real.

Anyone can procreate.

You exist because

I willed it.

Of course I...

of course I love my work.

That doesn't mean
I don't love you.

I want you to look inside, Dad.

If I walk out
that door right now,

what are you afraid of losing?

Me?

Or your legacy?

Kore, stop! You'll--

The grass feels nice.

Freedom.

From you.

You don't get
to walk away from me.

You don't exist without me.

No, you follow me,
I call the cops.

You know, maybe it's you

who doesn't exist without me.

- Raffi, let me see your neck.
- Oh, no.

I'm good.
I'm all right, come on.

She's...

She went over there and...

Ooh. No.
I'm-I'm almost all right.

Just...

She could've killed me easily.

I know.

Mercy is not a Borg quality.

No.

It's a Jurati quality.

She's still in there somewhere.

And she saved your life.

So what next?

She kickstarted her endorphins,

ate a bunch of batteries.

She'll use the metals
in her body

to create primitive nanoprobes.

- That gives her the ability
to assimilate.
- Then what?

I don't know.

With imperfect metals comes
imperfect assimilation.

This is a means to an end,
some short-term plan.

- Well, plans require
resources, so...
- Right, so...

Whatever she needs, how does
she find it? She has no tech,

or it would've shown up
on our scanners.

Unless it's not our tech.

Maybe she used
that guy's cell phone.

Can we jump the battery
with our tricorder?

You know, when you said
I manipulate people...

- I'm sorry, I was--
- ...I do!

I do.

It's contradictory
that you're in need of Seven

staying on Earth
and fixing her ship

so she can leave.

Uh, I wouldn't say "in need."

My sense is you're doing this
to appear less wanting,

but it is, in fact,
quite transparent.

Okay, just, you know,
shh, mm-mm.

See this? This is supposed
to be a lesson

on deflector shield maintenance.

So you don't fail
basic tactical engineering.

You know you're gonna have
to take

that class if you went
into the security program.

I wouldn't make
a good security officer.

I've never been covert.

I prefer a more straightforward

vocation--
there's honor in truth.

Oh, yes, that's right.

"Choose to live."

You and honor.

Get a new thing.

You and undercutting
anything real

with nihilistic
and self-protecting humor,

- get a new thing.
- Oh, oh, okay.

You're getting good
with those comebacks.

Don't' worry.

I'll take care
of all your classes.

Zani contacted me.

They need me on Vashti.

I could delay Starfleet
for a year.

It'll bring me much honor
to repay a duty

to the Qowat Milat.

That's...

Wow.

I thought you wanted
to follow in my footsteps.

We had a plan.

Vashti is...

I mean, it's-it's not
really you anymore, is it?

It's so not the young man I see

in front of me,
but-but you know what?

If that's what you want to do,
I don't know,

I mean, I'm sure it'll be

fine, right, you know?

I don't know.

Hey... it's your life.

I'm the reason Elnor stayed
at the Academy.

I couldn't lose him, too.

He stayed...

for me.

And then he died in my arms.

Raff...

Search history.

What could she be looking for
there?

Whatever she needs.

I assume a lecture
on the futility of resistance

is not going to be necessary?

Am I dreaming?

Or is this a nightmare?

Ultimately...

that's up to you.

Why were you at the gala?

Look, the launch is in 19 hours.

If you don't give me
something now,

I'll call
Mission Control myself.

Picard...

All humans

are stuck in the past.

Stuck.

All humans are stuck
in the past.

Stuck... in...

the past.

What the hell's happening here?

Stuck.

In the past.

I know a haunted man

when I see one.

The things we hold onto.

The pieces of...

emotional shrapnel

that drive us all our lives.

What is it for you?

What is your moment?

What am I to you?

Perhaps...

an exchange...

of truth.

You?

You're the thing
I've waited my whole life

to come face to face with.

The thing in the night.

You're the monster in the dark.

Maggie.

Maggie.

Here, pup.

- Ma--

♪

Uh...

He grabbed me.

His whole hand was gonna...

pull my eyeballs out.

His-his fingers were

going into--

through my skin and then...

I don't know.

They-they vanished.

Just like you.

And at-- at that moment,
I knew

I-I wouldn't walk the earth
like other people.

Because if they were there
then...

...they'd be back.

And here you are.

Show me

what he did with his hand.

His-his hands, he--

he wouldn't let go, like he was

pushing into my head.

Are you certain that it wasn't

like this?

He wasn't a monster.

He was... a Vulcan.

And...

he wasn't trying to kill you.

He was trying to...

...mind-meld.

Trying to erase the memory

so you wouldn't be haunted
like this.

Clearly, it failed.

And now

for my truth.

I am human.

But I am from the future.

The 25th century,

to be precise.

And I am here

to save Earth.

To save the entire galaxy,

in fact.

But to do so,

it seems

I need your help.

♪

Transporter subroutine booting.

What's wrong?

Error-- transporter off-line.

Did I break it?

No, no, no.

Someone else.

Hey, let's go find your mom.

Rios to Raffi.

We got big problems.

Still no Picard?

Q was talking about you.

But he was talking
about all of you.

- It's what special about humans.
- Yeah.

Our inability
to escape the past.

The opposite.

When something
inside you is broken,

it stays with you.

You live in the past until
you're able to reconcile it,

even if it's painful.

You do the work...

because you want to evolve.

I almost forgot how unique

that is in the galaxy.

Any idea

what Q meant when he said

it was about the escape
not the trap?

Like I said,

he seemed crazy.

And dying.

How long till the launch?

I'm sensitive
to the space-time continuum.

I'm not a clock.

Whole life built
around this job.

Still... knew I'd get
the axe one day.

You've been fired?

- Why?
- The man who cried alien.

And was wrong

once again.

But paperwork was filed.

Oh, I lied.

I knew if I gave them proof, uh,
they'd sideline me,

send you to a military site.

I wanted to be the one
who proved it.

At least I thought I did.

Kind of a waste
of a life, though.

Maybe not.

My species...

we believe
in an ebb and flow to things.

That our destinies run
apart and together.

And that time is not

what we think it is.

And that some moments are
meant to happen.

Even at great cost.

Perhaps you had to be that boy.

So I could be this man here

letting you go?

Something to think about.

You two should get moving.

I never thought
I'd say this, but I...

almost can't wait to meet you.

Your primitive satellites are
excruciatingly slow.

What do you want?

Mm, faster satellite.

You're quite famous in a version
of where I come from.

But your potential is wavering.

Who else has more
to gain or lose right now

- than Adam Soong?

Nothing more to lose,
I'm afraid.

Only a legacy.

He took everything.

You'll get over it.

You're currently

at a fork in the proverbial
road-- two futures.

One leads to you
bringing humanity

back from the edge
of extinction.

They will call you
"the father of the future."

Your statues will grace
capitols.

Or you die alone, no glory.

Forgotten in a pool
of your own 90-proof vomit.

How do I, uh...

guarantee that other path?

Renée Picard either boards
a spaceship and makes

a discovery that renders
your work obsolete.

Or...

doesn't.

If she doesn't,

I've seen the result.

Earth in your time finds itself

in ecological freefall.

The man they turn to...

is you.

If only you're given
the opportunity.

You lose a daughter,

but become godfather to a world.

Any moral tethers
I should know of?

I can get us
into Mission Control.

First things first.

There's a man
who will stand in your way

as he know stands in mine.

- Picard?
- Very good.

Here's the arrangement.

Goddamn it, Picard!
Where have you been?

-Uh...
-Never mind. Rios says
the transporter's jammed.

The interrupt code is Borg.

Jurati.

I can get you face-to-face
with him in a matter of minutes.

I can also provide you with...

appropriate means
to dispose of him.

She's with Soong.

- And we know
where she's heading.
- There's only one reason

Jurati would want
to take over the transporter.

What do you need from me?

Your records indicate

you have access to
the raw ingredients I require.

Once I have the ship,

you can have your legacy.

The Queen is coming
for La Sirena.

She wants a 400-year jump-start

on assimilating the galaxy.

We have to defend that ship

if we are to make our way home.

We'll use Tallinn's transporter.
Let's go.

Good luck.

And you, my friend.

She'll be assimilation ready,
be sure of that.

So if she's coming for the ship,

she's not coming alone.

Thank you, General.

They look perfectly adequate.

Spearhead Operations.

All of them are
ex-Special Forces.

Best of the best.

So...

is someone gonna tell us
what the hell you want with us?

Don't worry.

It only stings for a moment.

Who's in the mood to add
a little of their biological

and technological
distinctiveness to our own?

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