7.22 — “Bloodlines”
Plot: The Enterprise encounters a probe sent to intercept it by Picard’s old enemy, DaiMon Bok. Remember Bok? The Ferengi from TNG 1.9, “The Battle?” No? His son died in battle against Picard’s old ship the Stargazer, and now he plans to take revenge… Dah dum Dahhh! against a son that Picard never knew he had.
Thoughts: The part of DaiMon Bok was recast for this episode. “The Battle” was 165 episodes ago, however, so you probably didn’t notice. “The Battle” is an odd episode to choose for creation of a sequel. None of the commentators in this community had it in our top 5 episodes for Season One! I didn’t have it in my honorable mentions, either.
This episode continues the trend in Season Seven where nearly every episode has to be about a relative of a main cast member:
7.1 “Descent, Part II” — Involves Data’s brother, Lore.
7.3 “Interface” — Involves the attempted rescue of Geordi’s mother (Silva), and an appearance by his father (Edward, played by Ben Vereen).
7.7 “Dark Page” — Involves Troi’s mother (Lwaxana) and father (Ian, first appearance), and reveals the existence of Deanna’s long-lost sister (Kestra).
7.10 “Inheritance” — Involves Data meeting his mother (Juliana) and encountering his father (Dr. Soong).
7.13 “Homeword” — Involves conflicts between Worf and his foster brother (Nikolai).
7.14 “Sub Rosa” — Involves Beverly’s family’s ancestral ghost (Ronin) and the funeral of her grandmother (Felisa).
7.20 “Journey’s End” — Involves Beverly’s son (Wesley);.
7.21 “Firstborn” — Involves Worf’s son (Alexander, at two different ages!).
7.22 “Bloodlines” involves Picard’s supposed long-lost son (Jason).
This is 41% of all of the Season Seven episodes so far (9 of 22), and includes family plots involving every cast member except Will Riker, who neither experiences the return of his father, Kyle (TNG 2.14, “The Icarus Factor”), nor that of his transporter clone, Thomas (TNG 6.24, “Second Chances”) (too bad).
In “Bloodlines,” we have a story that is far-fetched and not especially compelling. By Season Seven standards, it’s of at least average quality. The idea that Bok could fool Picard about this is ludicrous. Bok finds a woman who Picard dated briefly over two decades ago, and somehow finds out they had sexual relations. What makes him think he can fool Picard? How does he know Picard has remained out of touch? When and how does he kidnap Jason in order to “resequence his DNA?” Why doesn’t Jason remember this happening? I guess the sequence of your DNA is not a thing that has profound consequences (who knew).
Isn’t it lucky for Bok that Jason’s mother never told him anything whatsoever about his true father, even after becoming an adult? Highly unusual. I doubt, unfortunately, that we are meant to ask these kinds of questions. The unstated subtext remains “Cut us some slack, please! Can’t you see we’re not really trying?”
I wonder why they didn’t just allow Picard to have a long-lost son. It’s both the simplest answer to fit these facts, and the best dramatic answer for the characters. Is the “twist” where Picard outsmarts Bok worth it? It’s not. I feel like this is something that would have gotten fixed in editorial development, if anyone was invested in the editorial development process at this point in the season.
I do like the scene between Picard and Jason on top of the rock wall, when Jason says “You don’t understand. I’m not anybody you’d want for a son. Trust me, if you knew anything about me, you wouldn’t be trying so hard.” One moment that rings true in a sea of BS.
There are only three episodes left in the series.
2 of 5 under-appreciated archaeological artifacts.
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